Purpose, Promise and Passion

Here lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about my purpose as a follower of Christ. It caused me to take a look at these words of the Apostle Paul when he was standing before King Agrippa on trial in Rome. You will find the account of Paul’s trial before King Agrippa in Acts chapter 26.

"I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ In this passage we see our purpose, a promise and a passion."

Here is the purpose, Why did Paul say that Jesus said He had appeared unto him? Jesus said to Paul: I have appeared to you for this purpose; to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. Our purpose is to be a witness of all that Christ has done in our lives and of His power to save.

Next in this passage I see a promise that Jesus made to Paul,  a promise to “deliver you from the Jewish people, (see verse 21) as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, (vs 20) Whenever we stand up for Christ He has promised to stand with us.

Finally, there was a passion that consumed Paul’s life. His passion was to “open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me (Jesus.)

So, join me in living out the purpose of witnessing to the lost about what Christ has done, hanging onto the promise that Jesus will be with us as we do it, and in living out the passion of seeing lives changed for the glory of God. Mark

With Upward Basketball in the mix, the weekly schedule is quite busy! Here are two things to remember for your calendar:

• This Sunday (February 1): Lord's Supper in the AM service
• This Tuesday (February 3): Zaxby's fundraiser for the youth, 5-8PM

Pretty straightforward! And here are two things to keep in mind:

• Please continue giving to our newly-dubbed "Go and Tell" Mission Fund! We are on track to raise $30,000, and we'd like to raise more! Please consider giving an extra $5 this Sunday (just designate it on your offering envelope).
• Part of the purpose of this fund is to help our members do mission projects right here in the area. Your Sunday School class is one of the most important ministry teams we have at FBC; bring up an idea for a local mission project on Sunday and then let the Missions Committee know how we can help you fund it. If we want to Serve the World Together, we have to be active about it!

A number of our church members are studying Nehemiah right now. It's a wonderful book, easily applicable to our lives today. There is a major underlying theme to the triad of Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah: God has an unstoppable plan, and His plan includes you being where you are right now. The book of Esther includes the famous challenge from Mordecai to Esther, "How do you know that you weren't put into your position for such a time as this?" but all three books focus on people who discovered that God gave them their circumstances, positions, and connections so they could be used to make a difference in the lives of people in need. So that's point #1: God *can* and will use you to make a difference.

That's still true today. We should all take stock of our lives realizing that God can use any circumstance (no matter how strange or discouraging) to put us in the right place at His time to change someone's life. But that brings us to the second point: Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah could easily have been caught up in the larger struggle of things beyond their control, but they didn't. They stayed focused on the things they could accomplish (which were admittedly large because they were in a unique position of wealth and contact to the king). In other words, they worried about the need in front of them. This is something I struggle with being new in Thomson - I see so many needs around us, don't know what I can do or where to begin, and then give up before I even get started. I think we can struggle with that as a church. Here's the solution from Nehemiah: God wants you to focus on the difference you *can* make, not be defeated by the needs beyond your reach.

We learned that Nehemiah had been looking for his opportunity to help his fellow Jews for a long time before it finally came. And when it came unexpectedly, he was ready. He had spent so much time in prayer and done so much planning that when God opened the door for him, he could plunge right through it. And that's the final thing for us to consider: when we see the needs around us, do we simply pray that God would meet those needs, or do we pray that God would show us how we can help *and* take the time to put together a plan of action? What a great and amazing challenge to us all! When you talk in Sunday School (or wherever) about the needs around us in Thomson, make sure you stop and ask God to show you how you can help and ask God to give you a plan to help. That's point #3: God wants you to be ready (through prayer and preparation) when He gives you that opportunity to make a difference. God bless you - mww 

• Saturday (1/17): Don't forget that at Upward Games, our Upward Cafe is there to raise money for missions! Drop in and support them!
• Sunday (1/18): Quarterly Conference at 5:30 followed by Crosscurrents
• Monday (1/19): The church office will be closed for Martin Luther King Day, but the gym will still be available for Upward and the Men's Outreach Class will still host the Brotherhood Dinner
• Next Sunday (1/25): Cornerstone Preschool Sunday :)
• Next Monday (1/26): Youth Pancake Supper from 5:00-8:00

New Missions Fund and Using the Missions Fund

I am very excited to see how well our Missions Fund has started and pray that more of you will consider donating $5/week to this fund. That said, it's time to start encouraging church groups to consider how they might want to use the missions fund. We set a percentage of these gifts aside for use in and through FBC. If your Sunday School class talks about a need in our community (like I mentioned above) and wants to meet it, but there's a financial barrier, our fund is here to help. We have to put a cap on the amount of money we can give you, but we will have an application available to any group in our church who wants to make a difference in our community (or nearby) for Jesus but needs a little financial assistance to get started. Be on the lookout for more information soon!

As I write this I am preparing to head to Gatlinburg, TN, for Friday and Saturday to a retreat for the Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries board of directors, on which I now am serving.  I am excited about the time to get to know the other board members better and together help missionary Bill Black craft a new model of how the ministry will function, raise funds, and carry out God’s mission as a new 501(c)3 organization.  I’m also looking forward to hearing Bill’s great stories of lives touched and changed by the power of the Gospel.  I invite you to visit www.smrm.org and learn more about this important ministry in the resort areas of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville, Tennessee.  Not only are visitors to these parks and resort towns being reached, but so are the hundreds of international students who come there to work seasonal jobs.

But I am also reflecting on the ways we as a church are always looking for fresh approaches to how we accomplish God’s mission for us here in Thomson.  One way we are trying this year is our new Mission Fund approach to financially supporting various missions and ministries such as Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries, MANNA, Disaster Relief, Global Hunger Fund, the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home, the Kilpatrick Baptist Association, as well as our own mission projects such as wheel chair ramps, helping people through drug and alcohol recovery, Mission: McDuffie, West Virginia, and Honduras.  If you have any questions about this fund, please refer to the Missions Fund page on our website.  If each family in the church gave an extra $5 a week above your tithe, we could fund these causes far more than we have in years past!

Be in prayer for SMRM, for our missions efforts, and for our church as we seek to Come and See the love and power of God in weekly worship and Bible study, and as we Go and Tell a lost and hurting world about His great and powerful love for them.

David

This Sunday (January 11)
 4:00 Committee Training Workshop for ALL committees!
 5:30 Crosscurrents begins!

• "The God Conversation" led by David Lambert
• "SHAPE" led by Matt Ward
• Acteens, Challengers, and Children's Choirs!

Next Wednesday (January 14)
5:15 Family Supper, Chick-fil-a
6:00 Re:Connect

• "Good and Beautiful Life" led by David Lambert and Leonard Dupree
• "Hebrews" led by Matt Ward
• "Mocha on the Mount (for Ladies)" led by Shelly Ward

Sunday, January 18
5:30 Quarterly Church Conference followed by Crosscurrents

ALSO REMEMBER

• Give to the new FBC Missions Superfund! If every family just gave $5/week to this fund, we would raise more than $40,000 to give to Manna, the Kilpatrick Baptist Association, Georgia Children's Home, Global Hunger Fund, Disaster Relief, Honduras Missions, Smoky Mountain Ministries, and local mission opportunities! Please refer to our Missions Fund page for more details about how this works.
• The Youth Pancake Supper is Monday, January 26, from 5:00-8:00, $5/plate, dine-in or carry-out. All proceeds go to the student ministry!