Memory Verse 4/30-5/6

Simon Peter answered, "Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!"

John 6:68-69 (HCSB)

Memory Verse 4/23-4/29

Don't work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him.

John 6:27 (HCSB)

Salvation, Islands, and Gandhi

I relieved a survey from a student who was writing a paper on what different denominations believe. His questions in the survey are below. What are your answers?

Hi, my name is (name of sender) and I am doing a research paper on different denominations and their beliefs. I was wondering if I could ask a few questions about your doctrine and beliefs as a Southern Baptist congregation.

First,
How do you receive salvation?

Second,
If a man were on a desert island and lived and died without hearing the Gospel, where would he be? Heaven or Hell?

Third,
Gandhi lived a moral life and he said that he liked Jesus and His ideas. Does this mean that he is saved?

Memory Verse 4/16-4/22

Don't work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him.

John 6:27 (HCSB)

Compassion for Souls

As part of our church's evangelism team, it has been difficult to arouse excitement for evangelism. After reading the book "Spurgeon Gold" (of which there will be a review on the church website), I came across this sermon excerpt by Charles Spurgeon which has become my prayer for all of us:

"Let me beseech you to believe that it is needful as well as justifiable that you should feel compassion for the sons of men. You all desire to glorify Christ by becoming soul-winners - I hope you do - and be it remembered that, other things being equal, he is the fittest in God's hand to win souls who pities souls the most. I believe he preaches best who loves best, and in the Sunday-school and in private life each soul-seeker shall have the blessing very much in proportion to his yearning for it. Paul becomes a savior of many because his heart's desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved. If you can live without souls being converted, you shall live without their being converted; but if your soul breaks for the longing that it has towards Christ's glory and the conversion of the ungodly, if like her of old, you say, 'Give me children or I die,' your insatiable hunger shall be satisfied; the craving of your spirit shall be gratified. Oh! I would to God there should come upon us a divine hunger, which cannot stay itself except men yield themselves to Jesus; an intense, earnest, longing, panting desire that men should submit themselves to the gospel of Jesus. This will teach you better than the best college training how to deal with human hearts. This will give the stammering tongue the ready word; the hot heart shall burn the cords, which held fast the tongue. You shall become wise to win souls, even though you never exhibit the brilliance of eloquence or the force of logic."

page 175-176 "Spurgeon Gold" compiled by Ray Comfort

Memory Verse 4/9 - 4/15

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die - ever. Do you believe this?"

John 11:25-26 (HCSB)

Easter Door to Door Evangelism

For the Easter service, I made up some invitations to pass out throughout the neighborhood. On the front it had some church information, and on the back explained the gospel. Pastor Kevin and I walked around the neighborhood to about 50 houses and gave them out. You should have seen the people's faces light up. Many people didn't even know the church was in the community. A few even responded that they haven't been to church in a while and will try to come tomorrow morning. Others said they already had a church but it was good to see us out doing this work. Praise God that many gospel seeds were planted and pray that He blesses our faithfulness with more laborers and fruit of repentance. The shyest of people could have shared the gospel the way we did tonight. God bless you all. See you in the morning!!!

If you were curious, here is the message on the back of the invitations:

Nearly 2000 years ago, the world was changed forever by the death and resurrection of a man that is celebrated every year at this time. Many celebrate Easter without much consideration of what this even has to do with their own lives. Traditions and rituals have been mixed in with the Christian message of Easter to confuse the understanding of it for much of our culture.

Jesus Christ said the two greatest commandments were to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Have you always put God first in all your affections? Is the supreme Creator of the universe, who gave you life and health, family and friends, and a country where you are free to express yourself, the One who has complete authority in your life? The Bible says we are appointed once to die, and then there will be a judgment. On that judgment day, will your conscience be clear; if the video reel of your life (including every secret thought that you wouldn’t want your mom to know about) were played for all to see, would God find you innocent or guilty of violating His commands (lying, stealing, dishonoring your parents, lust, hatred, giving God His rightful worship). God, who is perfect and righteous, will send all who have broken His law to a place of eternal punishment called Hell.

But the great news of Easter is that God, who expects perfection and will by no means clear the guilty, is loving and merciful, and to demonstrate His love He sent His Son Jesus to earth to live a perfect life and to die on the cross in your place. Instead of you receiving your just punishment, He took the punishment for you. After He died and was buried, He rose from the grave proving He was God and has power over death. All who turn from their sinful lifestyles and trust Him with their lives will inherit eternal life in heaven. Please join us this Sunday to celebrate the glorious salvation offered to us by the One we have offended. If you cannot join us, we encourage you to pick up a Bible and read it every day, find a group of believers to have fellowship with, and pray to God to grow you in His truth.

Happy Easter, God bless you,

Adam

Fast Food Evangelism

We all make excuses for not being obedient to the Great Commission. If striking up a spiritual conversation with a stranger scares you, start with handing out gospel tracts. I have heard many testimonies from people affected by tracts. Start small with tracts, God will bless your faithfulness and give you strength to grow in your witness. You can get some tracts next to the pastor's office or search online (try Living Waters for a bunch of fun ones that people love to take).

A cool idea for passing out a couple tracts that I just heard on the radio: Next time you go through the drive-thru at a fast food restaurant tell the teller at the window that you want to pay for the order behind you also. Then, when the teller is shocked at what just took place, hand her two tracts, one for her and one for her to hand to the person behind you. Have the person tell the car behind you that Jesus just bought them lunch and wants them to read the tract. Give it a try and let the rest of us know how it went.

For God's Glory,
Adam

Why do I serve.....

I listened to a sermon this week about why it is imperative for Christians, by definition, to be satisfied with God. By satisfied I mean content in whatever circumstance Christ has placed me, joy in Christ that is able to tower over my disappointments in life, a deep sense of security in the love of God given to me in his commands, and a joyful positive response to the will of God.
So, why is this so important?

When you serve other people, you will get easily hurt if your joy comes from their response and not your satisfaction in God. If you serve merely for them, they might hurt you or not appreciate you. If you serve primarily for God, then the approval of man is only a nice bonus -- should you happen to get it. Ultimately, you serve other people because it proves that you are truly satisfied with God. If you plead for and desire the praise of others, it merely reveals the lack of deep satisfaction with God to begin with. That is why spiritually mature people are so difficult to offend. Although the mature person naturally desires the approval of others, his or her joy is not dependent on it.

The cross born by serving others through difficulty proves the joy I have in Christ. May we all be joyful servants, "...and the second is like it, love your neighbor like you love yourself..."

Memory Verse 4/2 - 4/8

This weeks verse to memorize for April 8, 2007 recital:


¹² So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:12-13 (HCSB)

Tell the Preacher

I am reading through a book of sermon quotes from the "Prince of Preachers" Charles Spurgeon and came across one that reminded me of why I think we need this blog, to encourage each other in our ministries.

There was a man of God who had been a very distinguished preacher, and when he lay dying, he was much troubled in his mind. He had been greatly admired, and much followed. He was a fine preacher of the classical sort, and one said to him, "Well, my dear sir, you must look back upon your ministry with great comfort." "Oh, dear!" said he, "I cannot; I cannot. If I knew that even one soul had been led to Christ and eternal life by my preaching, I should feel far happier; but I have never heard of one." What a sad, sad thing for a goodly company of people at the grave, for he was highly respected, and deservedly so. One who heard him make that statement was standing at the grave, and he noticed a gentleman in mourning, looking into the tomb, and sobbing with deep emotion. He said to him, "Did you know this gentleman who has been buried?" He replied, "I never spoke to him in my life." "Then what is it that so affects you?" He said, "Sir, I owe my eternal salvation to him." He had never told the minister this cheering news, and the good man's deathbed was rendered dark by the silence of a soul that he had blessed. This was not right. A great many more may have found the Lord by his means, but he did not know of them, and was therefore in sore trouble. Do tell us when God blesses our word to you. Give all the glory to God, but give us the comfort of it. The Holy Spirit does the work, but if we are the means in His hands, do let us know it, and we will promise not to be proud.

taken from "Spurgeon Gold" compiled by Ray Comfort

Coming Soon

Hello brothers and sisters at Emmanuel. I am working on setting up a blog for the church where we can share thoughts, ideas, and encouragement with one another throughout the week. I am quite new at blogging and web design, so any tips, pointers, or cool ideas for this blog, let me know. In the mean time, I will be thinking of ways to make this page prettier and things to post that would generate more excitement within our church to serve Christ in as many ways as possible.

God bless