Do you see the beauty @ Church?  Have you stopped lately and truly looked around, a deep and profound look?  Many a fault, many a lack, but a thousand times over there is such beauty at our church.

Precious people, loving babies, vibrant children learning about God, teenagers with energy abounding for Him.  Young adults on the road of life for Jesus, and adults with direction and Godly wisdom.  We can see the faults and mistakes, but rather, would you not like to see the beauty at His church?

So we build and carry on in this generation as others have done in years past.  Sunday at church is still important in the 21st century!

The month of March is packed full of Godly activity and worship of our God.  We will have the Lord’s Supper on March 3rd P.M., our annual Laymen’s Day on March 10th with our men leading out in the services, March 17th our Student Ministry Day will be a great welcome as we see our Main Event Ministry lead out, Palm Sunday March 24th we will honor Dr. and Mrs. J. E. Sims for a life dedicated to God, and then that blessed day of Easter we want to pack God’s Church out for His Glory!

Now, Winter 2012-2013 has played havoc on our church and class attendance and we want to remedy that and get our church family back in Sunday School and worship.

God has given us a great church to enjoy.  Let’s do our best to see the beauty of God here!
                    Dr. Adams


 

Some Sunday mornings, our family wakes up and it is just perfect for a family outing.  Since my family is supposed to be my first “ministry,” isn’t time with them a substitute for church on Sunday?  

Well, you are partly right – your family is your first ministry.  If every parent believed this, we would have fewer problems in our world.  I caution you, however, not to take your “ministry” lightly.  Being the father, you are the authority in your home.  This responsibility is not license to rule with an iron fist, but an admonition to be the spiritual leader of your home.

 Any vibrant ministry needs to be focused first and foremost on Jesus Christ.  Next, a ministry has three distinct, but inseparable functions: it meets physical needs; it leads people to Jesus; and it helps people to grow in
their faith in Jesus (John 6:1, Matthew 28:19-20). If your ministry fails in one of these areas, it fails in all three.

 So what are your plans for Sunday? Do you lead your family in prayer, Bible study, and worship? Do you minister to others’ needs? Are you leading your children and others to faith in Jesus Christ? It is very difficult to do these things without the support of the body of Christ in a Bible-believing, Christ-honoring church.  For that reason we should not forsake the “assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25).  There is simply no
substitute for corporate worship. 

There is nothing wrong with an occasional outing with your family.  Vacations can be a wonderful opportunity to grow with your family and teach your children.  Please, though, don’t fall into the trap of placing your family
before God (Exodus 20:3).  You will love your family best if you love God first.
                          
- Dr. Adrian Rogers

1) Recommendation Vote  In behalf of our Church Finance Committee and myself, I appreciate the Christian manner and concern shown about the future of our church and youth program.  The vote was 140 for, 22 against for an 86.4% tally.  We pray God’s blessings on Bro. Trent Thompson and our young people of First Baptist Church.  They are our church now and in the years ahead!  Pray for them!

2) Dr. J. E. Sims has announced his retirement date for March 31.  Bro. J.E. is our co-worker and Christian friend and I wish to salute him for his faithfulness to God’s cause these 40 plus years and these last 8 years at First Baptist Church.  More will be said about this in weeks ahead, but I openly want to thank God for he and Ms. Cherry and wish the very best for them.  Announcements about the retirement schedule will be made in March and a special committee has been appointed by me  as we bid Dr. Sims goodbye from this Associate Pastor position.  I am so glad that they are going to be our neighbors out on “the Bud” for years ahead.

3) As Pastor I have shared with our Chairman of Deacons, Deacons, and committees that I will openly discuss the direction of our church music and choir ministries on Sunday April 7th  in the A.M. service.  Please pray that God will give us clear direction and goals as the Lord leads First Baptist Church in this 21st century.  We desire His will and His alone.

4) Please pray about one of the alive bills before the Mississippi legislature.  House Bill 1112 and Senate Bill 2633 designate school assemblies as “limited public forums” attempting to clear the way for students to pray before those gatherings, it also bans teachers from discriminating against religious viewpoints in academic works.

  

One day, a Genie appeared to a woman and said, “This is your special day! I will give you 3 wishes.”
“Yeheey!” the woman squealed.  “But on one condition,” said the Genie, “Whatever you ask for, your husband will receive 3 times more.”  The woman frowned, “What? But I hate my husband!  He’s a despicable man!”
The Genie shook his head. “I’m sorry. I repeat: What you ask for, your husband will receive 3 times more.”

The woman said, “Oh, okay. My first wish: Make me very rich. I want $1 million.” The Genie asked, “Are you sure? Your husband will have $3 Million.” She says, “Oh, never mind. What is his is mine and what is mine is his.”
“Very well then!” the Genie said, and with a wave of his hand, and “Poof!” the woman had $1 Million – and her husband had $3 Million.

“My second request is that I want to be very beautiful.”
The Genie asked, “Are you sure? Your husband will look like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio put together. This is very dangerous. The girls will flock to him.”  The woman said, “Just as long as I’ll be beautiful.”

And with the wave of his hand, “Poof!”, and she became utterly beautiful and the husband three times more handsome.

The woman then said, “For the third wish, I would like to have a very mild heart attack.”

-Copied for a good laugh!-