IMITATION:

the sincerest form of
DISCIPLESHIP

April 22 – May 20

Come learn about Old Testament figures and the discipleship characteristics that they exemplify!
Not only that, but also learn how to incorporate these characteristics into your everyday faith journey.

Come join us – we hope to see you there!

“I’m hungry!”  How many times have we said that?  Yet most of us don’t know what it means to be truly hungry.  We live in a culture of plenty.  Yet, the majority of people in this world don’t know what it is to have enough.  Jesus tells us that when we feed those who are hungry it is the same as if we were feeding him.

On Saturday, June 16, you and your family have an opportunity to help feed those in need.  On that date a group of 59 volunteers from First Baptist will be traveling to Schaumburg where we will pack meals at the Feed My Starving Children warehouse.  Feed My Starving Children is a Christian organization whose vision is to strive to eliminate starvation in children throughout the world by helping to instill compassion in people to hear and respond to the cries of those in need.

Children at First Baptist  are collecting money to help supply food for needy children.  Our goal is to raise $500.  Each meal cost 22 cents.  If we reach our goal that means we will be able to pack and supply 2,160 meals for those in need.

If you and your family would like to volunteer to pack the meals on June 16 please contact Lisa Poland.  You can also volunteer by registering on the Feed My Starving Children website at www.fmsc.org .

JULY 16-20 / 9:00-NOON

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

We’ve all heard these words uttered (usually with a grin) across the lips of our parents, our grandparents, and even our great-grandparents. They sat across the table watching us lower the nutritional value of our baked potato by the second, as we heaped on sour cream and butter. So, as I sat and thought about this old saying, it quickly dawned on me that I have no IDEA what I eat! I mean, who knows what the contents are that make up beef jerky…hot dogs…the surprise fillings of those boxed chocolates we all get for Christmas…or, dare I say…those delicious chicken nuggets from the drive-thru window.

It was during this mouth watering reflection as my mind strayed away to chicken nugget and french fry land, that I couldn’t help but realize that this very same message is plastered across billboards, television commercials, t-shirts, and even baseball stadiums!  All the media marketing aimed at today’s youth is conveying to them the idea that “What they consume (eat) defines who they are”.  The media tells youth that if they wear the ‘right’ labels, eat at the best restaurants, own the latest cell phone, then they will be popular, good looking, smart, funny, and…normal. What a great marketing tool! What a great way to raise a generation of consumers! What an excellent marketing strategy to a generation of youth in search of acceptance! Too bad it’s not real…

Here’s the problem, today’s popular culture tells us that our identity is wrapped up from the ‘outside-in’ whereas Scripture seems to focus more on the mind and the heart…that would be, from the inside-out.  In Romans 12:2, Paul reminds us not to conform to the world, but to instead be “transformed by the renewing of our mind”. Furthermore, the 119^th  Psalm, discusses the wonders of not only seeking God with all our hearts, but also hiding God’s word in our hearts. How easy it is to forget that we have already been given our identity through Christ! We are all children of God, saved by God’s grace through Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross.

So what can we do?

Just watch MTV in order to see the results of the promises of the secular media. Music video lyrics roll off the tongue easier than prayers, and today’s youth know more details about Lindsay Lohan’s imprisonments than the Apostle Paul’s imprisonments. I say again, what can we do? How can our youth become producers of the Christian culture rather than consumers of pop culture? Let’s ask Moses…he knew a thing or two about leading people…

Deuteronomy 6:5-7: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

So what do we do with this tremendous power to reach people and connect?  I hope that we can do something positive with this amazing ability to connect.  I love to read positive stories about what people are doing at their church.  It is awesome to see when someone posts on Facebook a passage from the Bible that has really impacted their life in a meaningful way.  I see all the time people coming together and praying for someone that is in need on Facebook.

In Acts 1:8 we see reference to when Jesus was talking to the apostles and states that when the power of the Holy Spirit comes on them they will be his witness to the ends of the Earth.  If you follow Christ then you have the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witness.  In our time we literally have the ability to be a witness to the ends of the Earth with nothing more than a post on Facebook.  If you use Facebook think about what you post, what type of witness are you?

I Peter 3:15 encourages us who follow Christ to always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks to give the reason for the hope that we have.  The last part of this verse is very important.  Please do this with “gentleness and respect”.  Currently we are so blessed to be able to openly and honestly share what we believe.  Make the most of these days to be a witness for Christ, think about how your time on Facebook may offer hope to a friend or a friend of a friend.

Click below to read more about the Facebook research

Facebook Study

In his book, Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts, Harold M. Best discusses the reality that we are all, by design, “unceasing worshipers”. An undeniable, fundamental truth that provides the foundation for this statement is this: at this very moment, and for as long as the world endures, each and every one of us is bowing down to serve something or someone – an artifact, a person, an idea, an institution, or God through Christ. Acknowledged or not, this worship shapes who we are and creates within us the inherent pursuit of some measure of fullness, whether of righteousness or evil. Anyone can deny it, but none can escape it. As Best puts it, “we are, every one of us, unceasing worshipers and will remain so forever, for eternity is an infinite extrapolation of one of two conditions: a surrender to the sinfulness of sin unto ultimate loss or the commitment of personal righteousness unto infinite gain.”

Too often we as Christians compartmentalize certain elements of the Christian faith. When we hear the word worship, our mind immediately gravitates to music on Sunday morning. There are two severe misconceptions within this association.

The first misconception is that worship wears one face. Historically, this belief has not always been so widely embraced, and perhaps the church itself is to blame for the “labeling” of our Sunday morning service elements. Our word “worship” derives from the Old English weorthscipe, which literally translates “worth-ship”. Considering its origins, worship can then be more broadly defined as “to ascribe worth to”. With this new perspective on worship, we can then see that worship can take an infinite number of faces. The fact of the matter is that anything we do in this life – a decision, an action, a word, an attitude – can be (and is) an act of worship, ascribing worth to something or someone.

The second misconception with the common associative linking of the word “worship” with Sunday morning music is that worship can be localized to a specific time frame. Armed with the understanding of worship as “ascribing worth to”, it can be easily concluded that an act of worship is not something that can be scheduled or planned. Yes, a specific time can be set aside to gather and intentionally worship together in a unified activity, but your life outside the doors of the church is not then suddenly without intention or purpose. For everything we do, there is a reason. Sunday morning worship is simply a time set aside for us to attempt to collective “focus” that reason and intention on our heavenly Father.

Drawing back to Best’s original claim, one can see a bit more clearly the reality of his statement. At any given moment, our lives – our actions, our decisions, our words – are ascribing worth somewhere. This leaves us with the obvious question – “If I am an unceasing worshiper, who or what am I worshiping?”

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

                                                                                                            Romans 12:1

You are lost in the woods at night. Earlier in the day you decided that you needed some alone time and some fresh air, but as quickly as the darkness fell you realized that you were indeed lost. You know that your car is just a few miles east…at least, you think. It’s dark, you’re nervous, you’re alone. So you continue to do what you’ve been doing for the past 45 minutes, you continue to follow this thin, dirt path that is winding you turn by turn through the woods. The only thing keeping you calm is the hope that following this path will take you somewhere, where there are people who can help you. After walking on the path for about an hour, the one thing you were most worried about happens…there is a fork in the path! You don’t know which way to go! Left, or right? There are no signs marking either path. What do you do?  Then you hear it. A storm is coming; you can hear the thunder in the distance, there isn’t time for a wrong decision! Choosing the wrong path could lead you further into the woods! Then suddenly, you hear a voice…and they are calling…your name?!? You look to where the sound is coming from and you notice it’s coming from the road that veers to the left. You then take a long look down that road, and notice that there is someone about 200 yards down that path…you squint your eyes to get a better look and you can see that they are not only calling your name, but they are aiming a small flashlight on the path behind them as they walk. You freeze in place so as to not make a sound, so you can listen more clearly. A few seconds later you hear your name again. You smile, let out a deep gasp, and confidently head down the road that leads to the left.

Children and Teenagers are all on this journey we call LIFE. Life is hard, life is scary, life presents choices, life presents challenges, and as the 3^rd chapter in the book of Proverbs teaches us…without fully acknowledging God in all of our ways, life will present us with crooked and divided paths. Knowing this, our enemy is quite skilled at distracting our children and teenagers so that they DON’T keep their eyes on the One who will make their paths straight. If you are a parent, a guardian, or even just a grown up who loves kids…you are the one who is a little further down the path of life, who can shine a light and  call out a name, and help guide these young ones down the correct path. You are uniquely equipped to help children because you already know many of the dangers and distractions that lie ahead for them because you’ve already either seen, or experienced these dangers for yourself. Children and Teenagers crave direction…so let’s be there to help. For discussion on how to become better equipped, come join us here at First Baptist Church on Sunday, November 13^th from 4:30pm – 6:00pm in the gym. We’re calling this gathering, “Understanding Your Teenager”, where we will be answering your questions about the pre-teen and teenage culture. There will be a Question and Answer session, time for discussion with other parents, as well as topics presented BY teenagers themselves, in order to give you an unedited glimpse into the life of pre-teens and teens today!

For a little over an hour (right before bedtime) my wife and I and my oldest daughter started to talk about what we were doing for Halloween this year.  The conversation started because my daughter had deeper questions about Halloween this year and what it is all about.

A Brief History of Halloween

From what I could find, the roots of Halloween date back about 2,000 years to an ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.  These tribes celebrated their new year on November 1.  This time marked the end of summer and the harvest period and the beginning of winter.  With winter coming there were often a significant number of deaths.   Their tradition involved costumes and fires with a desire to celebrate the good and ward off the bad spirits.

When the Roman Empire conquered Celtic territories by 43 AD they began to mix their fall traditions during hundreds of years of occupation.  In 609 Pope Boniface IV began claiming traditionally pagan holidays for the church and established the Catholic feast of All Martyrs days.  Pope Gregory III (731-741) later expanded this to include all saints as well as all martyrs.

By the 9^th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands.  As traditions and practices were blended the holiday was established as The All Saints Day (All-Hallows or All-Hallowmas).  The night before became known as  All-Hallows Eve.

Today we celebrate Halloween as a commercialized holiday where Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.  Not to mention that 25% of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween

What Happens Now?

So in the coming days there will be pumpkin carving, bonfires, apple bobbing, haunted attractions, hay rides and my personal favorite trick – or – treating.  The reality is that we live in a diverse culture with diverse celebrations.  Halloween has not been always pagan or always Christian, but it has been a regular part of our culture and many different cultures.  Are we going to define our traditions for our family or let someone else define them for us?

I don’t think removing ourselves from the conversation is the answer.  How are we going to be a light and share anything good if we alienate ourselves from the people we are supposed to love?  The reality is that you have freedom in Christ.  I like the Apostle Paul’s approach,  he became all things to all people so that he may save some. (1 Cor. 9:22)

Christians should not respond to Halloween like superstitious pagans. Pagans are superstitious; Christians are guided by the truth of God’s Word. Evil spirits are no more active and sinister on Halloween than they are on any other day of the year; in fact, any day is a good day for Satan to prowl about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). But “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). God has forever “disarmed principalities and powers” through the cross Christ and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through [Christ]” (Colossians 2:15).

Take this opportunity to teach your child what you believe.  Study the matter for yourself and follow your convictions.  Let others do the same without condemnation from you.  You may be wondering what we are going to do this year as a family.  The truth is we have not decided yet.

I imagine we will express our personalities as we get dressed up in fun (not scary) costumes.  We will have fun together as a family using the creativity that God has blessed us with to carve pumpkins.  Some of us may go out trick – or –treating.  Maybe this year we will talk about that pumpkin being lit on our front porch to remind us that we are supposed to be a light in our community as the love of Christ grows in us.  We will celebrate the changing season and give thanks to God for His provision in our lives.  I am glad to be at a church that finds ways to express what is important to us as a believing community.  So on Saturday the 29^th we will be at church for the Fall Jubilee.

For some more information about the history of  Halloween you can click on the links below

Halloween on History.com

Halloween on Wikipedia

Have you ever just started out wrong?  Maybe today.  Or this week.  Or this month.  Maybe you gave someone the wrong first impression.  Or put your foot in your mouth.  or arrived late to an important first meeting.  (Or like me, you may have experieneced each of these things.  Thankfully not all at the same time…)

This is when you wish desperately for the reset button!  Or a do-over.  Or a new day.

That’s why I love this promise.  Not only does God give us His grace to overcome our false starts; He promises to make a better end, even when we have a bad beginning.  He promises a fresh start, to make all things work together for our good, even when we feel we’re off to a “good start”.

Is there an area you feel you could have made a better beginning?  Ask God to redeem your time, situation, or relationship…and make something beautiful anyway.  Then leave it in his hands and watch what happens.

Joni says that singing the doxology, the “church’s anthem of victorious praise,”helps keep her life in focus:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

 Praise him all creatures here below. 

Praise him above, ye heavenly hosts,

  Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

“I like to think that my prayers of praise are like one or two small drops in a vast ocean of joyful adorations that have gone up before God for countless ages.”

Many of us who sing the doxology understand what she means.  We are lifted from our distress and cramped circumstances to heavenly dimensions.  Instead of feeling submerged under the weight of the world’s evil, we sing our priase to God for his wonder and for his power over the forces of evil.  Phillips Brooks writes,

Do not pray for easy lives.

Pray to be stonger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.

Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

When we express gratitude to God and praise him for his wonderful works, we acknowledge our weakness and invite his power.