|
 Pastor's Notes
Greetings and grace to you in the
wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing this newsletter after FPKids at Piney Chapel on 9/26/19,
and thinking about the various students who attend the club each week. Some have been attending since we
started and we know their names well, and even their family members. Others
just started this year, and personally I am struggling to learn the new
names. We all like to be called by name,
knowing people care enough to remember our name. Had the privilege to teach the lesson
this morning and couldn’t help but notice the various attitudes. There were some students hanging on
every word; eager listeners and hungry for the things of God. Others, well, not sure if they even
heard a single word or cared. Not
being critical, just honest observation.
Then the Lord gently reminded me that I am like that sometimes. There are times of eager listening and
hunger, but there are times of distraction and unconcern for what my heavenly
Father is teaching me at the time.
Father, always make me eager to hear your truth; give me always a hunger
for the things concerning You and a willingness to follow You and do my best to
bring whosoever will with me.
October has arrived, but the heat of summer has not been told yet. The Lord has led us to plan several
opportunities this month. The
Hoedown is certainly our big annual fall outreach event, as well as a
children’s ministry event. It
will take place on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the LeSueur’s, beginning at
3:30pm with children activities.
Please invite your unchurched family, friends and neighbors. Everyone is invited to participate in
this ministry outreach. Bring your
favorite stew, soup or chili and the fixin’s for it and a desert. Cokes, water and hot chocolate will be
provided. There will be gospel
music and a presentation of the Gospel of Christ. Currently we have a mission team
scheduled to go to Haiti and help GSM with light construction Oct. 29-Nov.
5. Please continue praying for the
situation in Haiti to remain calm and for Bro. Bill to be able to purchase fuel
and needed supplies, which will be the determining factors of whether this team
actually travels.
“That I may know him, and
the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death;”(Philippians 3:10)
The last phrase is our focus this month. Yes, we can be “made conformable
unto His death.” Indeed God says it is a past fact (Rom. 6:6), but for it to
be a reality in mine and your lives, it must be a present act (Rom. 6:11). By faith, we must make ours what God has
stated to be true in His Word. We
only do this as we absolutely surrender ourselves in obedience to the will of
God. This is the truth of the
inspired writing of Paul in Philippians 2:5-8. The mind of Christ, which we are
commanded to have, and which is already given unto us in our completeness in
Christ (1 Cor. 2:16; Col. 2:10), is the mind of surrender and obedience unto
the will of God. It was God’s
will for Christ to die on the cross. And, it was surrender that made the
supernatural overcome the natural.
Christ, Who is life and holy God with no
beginning or ending of days, and Who was without sin, surrendered to the will
of God and became sin for us, died on the cross, and was raised to everlasting
life again on resurrection Sunday! (2 Cor. 5:21) We too must therefore surrender
“self” unto death daily (1 Cor. 15:31) and live unto God moment by
moment! This is what Paul did (Gal.
2:20). Much of the above was
written in the April Newsletter, but the Lord made me revisit this great truth
in an intimate and personal way this week.
The Lord reminded me that I must be a dead man to be a man alive unto
Him. Truly the crucifixion must
necessarily precede the resurrection.
Father, make me a dead man in order that I can truly live. Oh, “That, I may know Him!”
By His grace,
Toney
|
