Psalm for Prayer and Praise:

Psalm for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 46 (NASB)

1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;

3 Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.

6 The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has wrought desolations in the earth.

9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.

10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 46:10-11

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Praying through the Psalms

Day 1 ~ The Lord, a Present Help

Read: Psalm 46, focus on verses 1-3

Consider:

For Adults: How is God the “very present help” that psalmist speak of in v.1 when we face tragedy? Is Christ the basis of your confidence today for bold Christian living? Why or why not?

Older children: What sort of things can happen in great earthquakes and other natural disasters? How can God be a refuge for people even for those who have suffered great losses in natural disasters?

Younger children: Have you ever been afraid? How do your parents help you to not be afraid? How does God help us not to fear?

Family Application: Talk together about how God is a refuge for all who call upon Him in truth (last week’s psalm). How does He sustain His people even in times of terrible tragedy?

Pray: Pray together through these verses of the Psalm. Praise God that He is our rock and refuge in every trouble. Thank Him for prayers answered in the past and for prayers that He may even be answering now. Confess your temptation to act and think out of fear instead of faith and ask Him to strengthen your faith for the week ahead.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ The Dwelling Place of God

Read: Psalm 46, focus on verses 4-7

Consider:

For Adults: Notice that while the calamities in the first section of the psalm are both natural and man-made(v.6), the call to rest in the character of God is the same in both instances. What could this be suggesting to us about God’s sovereign rule over the universe?

Older children: What does it mean to be in “The City of God” in verse 4? Is this a place, something else or is it somehow both? Why does the psalmist feel so confident in God despite the calamity and unrest people are causing in the first part of verse 6?

Younger children: God is everywhere. God is also “specially” present in His church. Does that mean God lives in His church-buildings, or in His church-people?

Family Application: Consider together some of the different types of hardships that people can face and how we can rest in God and find refuge in Him through them all. How is it actually a comfort that face the clamoring of the nations (v.6), God’s voice alone is powerful enough to melt the the earth?

Pray: Pray through today’s verses of Psalm 46. Thank God that He promises to dwell with people (His “city”) and to provide for them and protect them. Thank God that He is sovereign and unthreatened by any natural, social, or political calamity. Confess to Him any struggle that you are having resting in Him and ask Him to strengthen your faith in the knowledge of His character.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ Security in Sovereignty

Read: Psalm 46, focus on verses 8-11

Consider:

For Adults: We see in this Psalm that God wields His awesome power to command the attention of the nations by asserting His Sovereign power over all human military might. Scripture shows in detail how he has done this in the past and declares that He will do it fully and finally in the age to come. How do we rest presently in this future hope?

Older children: Why is it important that the Psalmist mentions God’s power to bring “desolations” on the earth? Is it better for someone to obey God because they fear His power or because they love His mercy?

Younger children: How do feel when you see your friends fighting and arguing? Do you feel better when a grown-up makes them stop? Did you know that one day God will stop all fighting? How does that make you feel about God?

Family Application: Talk together about how we should seek to “cease striving” and to rest in God in the patterns of daily lives. Talk about how God uses his power to bring peace and ultimately how he brings peace through the gospel of Jesus.

Pray: Pray through today’s verses of psalm 46. Thank God that He calls His people to rest in the knowledge of His sovereignty and that He will one day bring a full and final peace on the Earth through the glorious return of Christ.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Hymn of the Week

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/r/e/rejtlord.htm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Generally speaking, we often find it very easy to complain about problems and shortcomings in our communities, and those problems are real.  However, at the root, the problems we face here are no different then the problems faced in China or Brazil or Pakistan or England or Nigeria or Canada.  The universal human problem is sin, and the only universal solution is faith in Jesus Christ.  Thus, just as we would labor to reach the unreached on the other side of the globe, we should labor to reach the unreached on the other side of the street.

On March 27th, we will have a Community Missions Service Day where we will have the privilege of serving our own community and, Lord willing, opening many doors for true gospel witness.  The event will last from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon (a few teams may go slightly longer).  Child care will be provided for nursery age children and those in grade school will have a ministry activity to participate in.

We will have teams serving our Hands of Christ Ministry Center in Chisholm, some serving our shut-ins, and some serving other community needs organizations.  We will also have teams engaging in evangelism and outreach projects, our children will be singing in nursing homes, and we will have events here on our campus for our senior adults to participate in.

I hope you will set aside this day on your calendar, because all of us have a role to play.  This event is structured to include every able-bodied member of our congregation.  By God’s grace, we will be able to touch many, many lives with the Gospel, and the joy we will glean from our obedience and witness will be an immense blessing.  I love you all!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Psalm for Prayer and Praise:

Psalm for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 145 (ESV)

1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

² Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

⁴ One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

⁵ On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

⁶ They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.

⁷ They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹ The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!

¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,

¹² to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

¹⁶ You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

²⁰ The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 145:4-5

One generation shall commend your works to another, And shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

Praying through the Psalms

Day 1 ~ Worship the Lord

Read: Psalm 145:1-7

Consider:

For Adults: Verse 4 is one of the many verses encouraging us to pass on the faith to those that come after us. What roles do both the family and the church play in this? Are you involved in declaring God’s glory this way? How can you be?

Older children: What is a “Generation?” What is it that the Generations are supposed to be telling each other in this Psalm? How can you do this?

Younger children: Why is God so great? What has God done to show His greatness?

Family Application: Talk together about the people and/or family members who have gone before us who where faithful to share the Gospel to the generations that followed them. Talk about how you can be more faithful to follow the good examples of those who have gone before us.

Pray: Pray together through these verses of the Psalm. Thank God for preserving a witness to Himself through His word and the testimonies of the saints who have gone before us. Ask Him to help you be more faithful to declare His glory to the generations to come.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ The Lord is Good and Faithful

Read: Psalm 145:8-13

Consider:

For Adults: Notice that almost every instance of the Psalms directing us to worship points us toward an aspect of God’s character or work as a basis for praise. What are some of aspects of His character in this psalm that lead us tp worship?

Older children: What does it mean that God is slow to anger? Do you think this is related to His “steadfast love?” How can you be more like Jesus in this area of your life?

Younger children: What are some of God’s works? (v.10) How do things in creation point you to God’s greatness and glory?

Family Application: Consider together what a wonderful thing it is that God is gracious and merciful “over all that He has made.” Talk about some of the specific ways in which you have seen God’s mercy and commit to worship Him for them.

Pray: Pray through today’s verses of Psalm 145. Thank God for specific mercies in your life and ask Him to make you more faithful to remember His mercy in times of trial and doubt. Praise Him that his Kingdom is “everlasting” and that His mercy is eternal for all those who trust Him in Christ Jesus.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ The Lord Provides for His People

Read: Psalm 145:14-21

Consider:

For Adults: Can you remember the last time you went through a significant trial? How does verse 14 help us in such times? What do verses 19- 20 suggest to us about the types of cries that God answers? How does the Gospel help us understand these verses?

Older children: How is God merciful even to the wicked through His “common grace?” What should be the response of all people to God’s provision and mercy? Does God ever ignore those who call out to Him in repentance?

Younger children: Who gives you your food? Where do they get it from? How does God provide for all of creation?

Family Application: Talk together about how God is merciful to all, but promises special mercy to those who fear Him. Talk about what the “Fear of God” is for Christians and how we receive His mercy in Jesus.

Pray: Pray through today’s verses of Psalm 145. Thank God for His promise of mercy to all those who call upon Him “in truth.” Ask God to help you to be more honest about yourself and your true needs as you approach Him in prayer. Worship Him today for His mercy and kindness to all creation and especially for the saving mercy He provides through the cross of Jesus.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Hymn of the Week

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/w/owtking.htm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Galatians 6:11-14

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: Of Wine and Wineskins

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

The Ecuador missions trip will be June 18-26.  Have you considered how God would have you be involved in this partnership this year?  Will you send or will you go?  Please be open to being involved in our Ecuador partnership this year and consider whether or not God would have you go on this trip or financially and prayerfully support those going.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Course Descriptions

Dates: March 21 – June 13
Times: Sunday Evenings 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm

Sign up sheets for M.I.T. will be available Sunday.

Parenting Young Children 300

Instructor: Jim Smith
Textbook: Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
Room: 329 (Adult 3)

Are you a first time parent, or are you the parent of young children? If so, this is the class for you! Scripture is full of practical and detailed instruction about how parents ought to teach their children the gospel of Jesus Christ. Learn what the Bible teaches about how to train young children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The Doctrine of God (Special Elective) 200

Instructor: Jon English Lee
Textbook: The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink
Room: 322 (Adult 1)

What is the nature of God? What is He like? The most important thing about a person is what he believes about God.  This course will cover attributes such as the knowledge of God, the supremacy of God, the power of God, and the love of God.  Come learn what the Bible reveals about the nature and character of our great God.

Theology of Missions 300

Instructor: Judd Hough
Textbook: Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper and Mission in the Old Testament by Walt Kaiser
Room: 321 (New Members Room)

Do you want to learn about God’s heart for the nations? From cover to cover, the Bible declares that God’s purpose is to redeem a people for Himself from every tribe and tongue to display the fullness of His own glory. God invites and commands us to call others from every people group to worship Him joyfully! Come learn what the Bible teaches about the vital importance of missions.

Biblical Theology 102

Instructor: Tom Hicks, Jr
Textbook: According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
Room: 331 (Adult 4)

Have you ever wondered how the Bible fits together as a unified whole? The Bible is a single book with a single story running through it. Part two of biblical theology will work through the Bible, beginning with Exodus and working through the rest of the Scriptures, showing that Jesus Christ and redemption in Him is the Bible’s main theme!

NOTE: To get a certificate of lay theological education, you need six 100 level courses, six 200 level courses, and six 300 level courses for a total of eighteen courses. Following this approach will balance your studies.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Psalm for Prayer and Praise:

Psalm for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 37:1-11 (ESV)

1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!

2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!  Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 37:8-9

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!  Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Praying through the Psalms

Day 1 ~ Delight in the Lord

Read: Psalm 37:1-11, focus today on verses 1 through 4

Consider:

For Adults: Verse 4 is quoted often among Christians to suggest that God will supply whatever our deepest heart’s desires are. How can this verse be misunderstood? What are the heart desires of a person who delights themselves in the Lord?

Older children: Have you ever been envious? Why should we not envy the wrongdoers of verse 1?

Younger children: What does grass look like in the winter time? Is it better to be like grass or like a tree in the winter? How does God make His children like trees?

Family Application: Talk together about the types of prayers that God loves to answer and the types of desires that He promises to fulfill. How does this compare or contrast to the desires of the evildoer and wrongdoer of verse 1?

Pray: Pray together through these verses of the Psalm. Ask God to give you a heart that truly delights in Him. Thank Him for His promise to bless His people and to give them deep and lasting joy in Himself through Jesus.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ Wait Upon the Lord

Read: Psalm 37:1-11, focus today on verses 5 through 7

Consider:

For Adults: Have you ever found yourself yearning to be vindicated in the eyes of others? How difficult do you find it to wait for God to act when you feel falsely accused? What is the solution to this anxiety?

Older children: What is your only hope of having true righteousness before God and others? How can you be truly “just” or “justified” in God’s sight?

Younger children: When was the last time you had to wait for something or someone? Is it easy to wait? Why should we be patient?

Family Application: Consider together what is means to hope in Christ and to wait upon him for a salvation that will only be fully revealed to the world in the judgment. How can we be both patient and gracious with those who deem hope in Christ to be foolishness?

Pray: Pray through today’s verses of Psalm 37. Thank God that he has revealed Christ to us and clearly shown us the way that he desires us to follow Him in His word. Praise Him for His faithfulness to act on behalf of His people according to His word and ask Him to give you patience, grace and humility with others as you wait for God’s purposes to be fulfilled in your life and in the universe.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ Find the Peace of the Lord

Read: Psalm 37:1-11, focus today on verses 8 through 11

Consider:

For Adults: What does verse 8 tell us about the outcome of looking on the prosperity of the Godless with envy, anger, or even anxiety? How is trust in God’s plan and character a remedy against this? What is the specific hope that gives peace found in verse 11?

Older children: What will eventually happen to those who refuse to submit to God and trust in Christ? Should we want to be like them? What should define the lives of Christians according to verse 9?

Younger children: Have you ever been angry? Does anger usually help you to do good or make you want to do bad?

Family Application: Talk together about how the Bible encourages Christians to always remember God’s sovereignty and His ultimate victory over all sin as a source of peace, hope and joy. Consider how Christians are tempted to desire the things of the world when they forget this. Consider how delighting in God develops peaceful meekness in the heart.

Pray: Pray through verses 8 through 11. Ask God to help you to delight in Him and not in the things that are temporary and destined to pass away. Praise Him for His promise of providing the creation free from sin in the last day to all those who are trusting Him in Christ. Ask Him to help you to be more peaceful, humble, and patient as He works out His plan for your life.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Hymn of the Week

http://nethymnal.org/htm/m/y/myhopeis.htm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: You Will Reap what You Sow – Part 4

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: To Sup with Sinners

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

For the sole purpose of approving the recommendation of some students to seminary.  Additionally, we will have the regularly scheduled Membership Business Meeting.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

The diet of the Turks consists of a dense bread, olives, cheese from sheep or cows milk, onions, molasses from grapes, fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Meats such as fish, wild game, or poultry are only eaten once a week.  Pray that the Turks of Turkey would know the Bread of Life, so that they will never hunger again. (John 6:35)

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: You Will Reap what You Sow – Part 3

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Psalm for Prayer and Praise:

Psalm 32 (ESV)

1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD” — and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.

7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.

10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 32:10

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.

Praying through the Psalms

Week of February 14, 2010

Day 1 ~ The Joy of Confession

Read: Psalm 32, focus today on verses 1 through 5

Consider:

For Adults: Consider the mood of the psalmist and his struggle with sin that he was refusing to deal with. How was God’s “heavy hand” actually a work of grace to the psalmist. Is God’s hand “heavy” on you for something?

Older children: How do you feel when you hide something that you have done wrong? How did the psalmist feel? Does God want us to hide our sins?

Younger children: What is sin? What does every sin deserve? What makes someone a sinner?

Family Application: Talk together about the terrible consequences of sin both now and in eternity. Consider together how you can be better as family about confessing sin both to God and to one another. Consider how the gospel frees believers to be honest about their struggle with sin.

Pray: Pray together through these verses of the Psalm. Thank God for how He sent Jesus to provide a way for our sins to be “covered” and forgiven. Ask God to reveal any sins to you that you may be cherishing in your heart and, hence, are hurting your fellowship with Christ.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ The Mercy of God

Read: Psalm 32, focus today on verses 6 through 9

Consider:

For Adults: According to v. 6, when is the appropriate time to call out to God? When is it too late? What is the proper response of “The Godly” to times of trouble?

Older children: Why does the psalmist say that we should not be like a horse or a mule? Have you ever done what is right, but only because someone made you do it? How are God’s people to obey Him?

Younger children: What do you use a hiding place for? How can God be a “hiding place” for believers?

Family Application: Consider together why God allows His people to go through hard times even when they are under His protection. Talk about how God wants us to earnestly seek him and treasure Him at all times.

Pray: Pray through today’s verses of Psalm 32. Praise God for being a God who makes Himself known so that He can be found. Confess to Him your need of His sustaining care at all times and thank Him for being a “hiding” place for all those who call upon Him. Ask Him to move in your family to give you hearts that are eager to follow Him in obedience and pray that you would learn to follow Him with joy.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from Day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ The Joy of the Godly

Read: Psalm 32, focus today on verses 10 through 11

Consider:

For Adults: How does the knowledge of God’s mercy translate into “gladness” and rejoicing in your life? How has God’s lovingkindness surrounded you as you have trusted Him?

Older children: How do you feel when people sometimes appear to be rewarded for sin and evil? Why is true happiness only to be found in following and trusting in Christ?

Younger children: Can wicked people be happy forever? What “sorrows” come from choosing to sin?

Family Application: Talk together about how the Bible so clearly states that sin always eventually leads to sorrow and misery even though it may sometimes appear to bring happiness. Talk about the kind of lasting joy that God wants believers to experience through trusting in Him and how that should work itself out in our day to day attitudes.

Pray: Pray through verses 10 and 11 of Psalm 32. Praise God that he is a God of perfect justice who will allow no evil to go unpunished and also a God of abundant mercy for repentant sinners. Pray that He would help you to trust Him more and that He would restore your joy as you seek Him this week and give you a heart that overflows in worship and gladness.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Hymn of the Week

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/f/hfirmafo.htm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Tuesday, February 23
12:00 Noon

Jeff Downes, Deputy Mayor/Chief of Staff, will be our speaker and will speak on Revitalization and Remodeling of Montgomery.  Sign up in Sunday School or by calling the church office at 272-2304.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

During the most recent business meeting, Shawn presented the MMT’s proposal for adopting specific people groups.  Please be in prayer for the proposed “Unreached” and “Last Frontier” people groups.  Pray that God would make clear to us what our involvement should be regarding these people groups.  Also, continue to remember the Ecuador Seminary partnership upon which we have already embarked.  Pray for the construction of the building and the work being led by Steve and Carol Thompson.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

FRIDAY Schedule:
Students meet Friday, February 12th at Taylor Road Baptist Church
at 6:00 pm.  Bring your luggage to TRBC.
Doors open for Citywide Rally at 6:30 pm.
Students will leave TRBC at 9:15 pm for Host Homes.

SATURDAY Schedule:
Students will be studying the life of Daniel in the host homes, serving at a mission site in the afternoon and
conclude the evening with a Worship Rally at Dalraida Baptist Church.
**Parents, please pick up your student(s) at Dalraida Baptist at 8:15 pm on Saturday.

SUNDAY Schedule:
Student Breakfast in the Big Room at 8:45 am.  Big Room Dnow rally with band and message at 9:20 am.
Dnow worship at 10:30 am followed by a lunch for students, leaders and host home families in Armstrong
Hall at 12:15 pm.  Parents, please pick up your student(s) at 1:30 pm at Morningview Baptist Church.

What to Bring list? Bible, pen, casual clothes for Friday and Saturday, jeans and Dnow T-shirt for Sunday,
sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, 2-liter soft drink, and a snack to be shared at host home.

Pray for God to transform hearts and minds during our Disciple Now weekend.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

While proclaiming the gospel is to be our primary platform and purpose in engaging society, there is still value in letting our distinctively Christian voices be heard on moral issues that the Bible directly addresses.  We have the privilege of living in a democratic nation, and though we would all admit to the imperfections of this system, it still affords us freedoms that we should exercise for the glory of Christ.  Thus, the children of God should seek to protect the lives of the unborn and to care for orphans.  We should seek to protect the institution of marriage from divorce-happy heterosexuals as well as radical homosexuals.  We should be good stewards of the environment, though not in an unbiblical way that assaults biblical freedom or the primacy of humanity as God’s unique image-bearers.  And we should be first among those caring for and protecting the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, and the homeless.

That is why we should let our voices be heard on the issue of gambling.  Gambling is an industry in America that victimizes families and poor people in the name of entertainment and tax revenue.  It fosters an addiction based upon human greed where the promise of quick, abundant wealth is continually communicated and never fulfilled.  In fact, as it regards the particular issue here in Alabama, addiction counselors have called video slot machines the “crack cocaine” of the gambling industry because it is so addictive.

Gambling is bad economic policy.  Gambling is a form of regressive taxation, as studies have shown that the poor and uneducated tend to gamble at a higher rate and with a much greater proportion of their income than the middle class, the rich, and the well-educated.  Studies have proven that when casinos open, other local businesses suffer and often close as both discretionary and necessary income is funneled into gaming and profits sent out-of-state.  According to John Warren Kindt, in his statement before congress in 1994, “For every one dollar of revenue generated by gambling, taxpayers lose three dollars in increased criminal justice costs, social welfare expenses, regulatory costs, and increased infrastructure expenditures.

Gambling increases crime.  The Department of Justice and the National Institute for Justice have found significant links between gambling, crime, and druge use.  A 2004 study by E. L. Grinols at MIT found that counties with casinos had notably higher crime rates than non-casino counties.  A University of Nebraska study by John Jejkal in 2000 concluded that problem gambling is as much a risk factor for domestic violence as alcohol abuse.

Gambling destroys homes and families and children.   SMR Research Corporation has called gambling “the single fastest-growing driver of bankruptcy.”  Gambling related bankruptcies in metro Detroit increased by as much as 40-fold within 18 months of the opening of Casino Windsor, just across the Detroit river.  Three years after casinos were legalized in Deadwood, South Dakota, felony crimes had increased by 40%, child abuse had increased by 42%, and domestic violence assaults had risen 80%.  In Indiana, a review of the state’s gaming commission records revealed that 72 children were found abandoned on casino premises during a 14 month period.

In the National Gambling Impact Study, done at the university of Chicago in 1999, they found that the lifetime divorce rate for problem gamblers was 39.5% and for pathological gamblers it was 53.5%; for non-gamblers, it was only 18.2%.  Dr. Rachel Volberg, President of Gemini Research, has noted, “Suicide attempts among pathological gamblers are higher than for any other addiction and second on to suicide attempt rates among individuals with major affective disorders, schizophrenia, and  a few major hereditary disorders.”

In short, when gambling is legalized in a commnity or state, an ever-growing tide of human wreckage ensues and the economic situation of the populace worsens.  Thus, our response to gambling interests should be certain and strong.  Because we belong to Christ, we share His concern for the poor, for families, for children, for marriages, and for human lives.  Gambling fosters greed, neglect, indebtedness, crime, a poor work ethic, and ultimately, the loss of human life.  Let us therefore pray for strength for those who are fighting the Casino Moguls, let us pray for many of our legislators to be released from their blindness to the facts, let us be heard in their ears as we make the biblical viewpoint known, and let us be seen at the ballot box if they take it that far.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Psalm for Prayer and Praise:

Psalm 27 (ESV)

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life;  of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!

8 You have said, “Seek my face.”  My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help.  Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!

10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in

11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.

13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

Scripture Memory

for the Week: Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

Praying through the Psalms

Week of February 7, 2010

Day 1 ~ Our Salvation

Read: Psalm 27, focus today on verses 1 through 4

Consider:

For Adults: Compare verse 4 to verse 1 and consider whether God has been the “stronghold” of your life today. Does your heart reflect verse 4?

Older children: What is a stronghold and what does it mean that God is a stronghold? How does this help you to overcome fear?

Younger children: Where is God’s house? Can you touch it with your hands? Is there anything to be afraid of in God’s house?

Family Application: Talk together about what it means for God to be our salvation and stronghold and how we should desire to know Him more. Talk about how we can know Him through His word and how we can use His word as a guide for our prayers to Him.

Pray: Pray together through these verses of the Psalm. Thank God for how he sent Jesus to offer us shelter from the consequences of our sins and how God protects the souls of His people. Ask Him to give you the heart of psalmist that you might truly treasure the beauty of His person this week.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ Our Secure Shelter

Read: Psalm 27, focus today on verses 5 through 10

Consider:

For Adults: How do hard times affect your walk with Christ? How did they affect the Psalmist? What lessons can we carry from hard time to good times?

Older children: What does verse 8 remind us that God has commanded? How can we obey God in this?

Younger children: Does God ever forget about His Children? Does He ever leave His children to take care of themselves without His help?

Family Application: Consider together why God allows His people to go through hard times even when they are under His protection. Talk about how God wants us to earnestly seek Him and treasure Him at all times.

Pray: Pray through verses 5 through 10 of Psalm 27. Thank God that even though everyone else may forsake or fail us, He remains faithful to His children. Ask God to give you a heart to seek Him at all times and eyes to see and appreciate how He directs even our hardships for our good and His glory.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from Day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ Our Hope

Read: Psalm 27, focus today on verses 11 through 14

Consider:

For Adults: Do you have people in your life who act as enemies toward you? How does verse 11 inform how we think and act toward them?

Older children: What do you think verse 13 means? How can Believers know God’s goodness before they meet God finally in Heaven?

Younger children: Does God want us to be patient? (v.14) How has God been patient with us?

Family Application: Talk about how God promises that we can know His goodness in “the Land of living” and how His word guides into Christlikeness even and especially when others make themselves enemies to us. Consider how our hope in Christ can strength us against persecutions and even empower us to love our persecutors.

Pray: Pray through verses 11 through 14 of Psalm 27. Thank God for His promise of present blessing in Christ. Ask Him to help you be more Christ-like in adversity and toward your adversaries. Ask God to help you treasure Him even more during times of hardship to better exemplify Christ this week.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

Hymn of the Week

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/cochrist.htm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: You Will Reap what You Sow – Part 2

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: The Folly of Accusing God of Blaspheme

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Week of January 31, 2010

Printable Version

Psalm for Prayer and Praise:  Psalm 23 (NASB)

1 The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

3 He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Scripture Memory for the Week:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

~ Psalm 23:1-3 ~

Praying through the Psalms

Week of January 31, 2010

Day 1 ~ The Shepherd

Read: Psalm 23, focus today on verses 1 through 3

Consider:

For Adults: What does it mean that God leads us, as a shepherd in paths of Righteousness?  Is this only by His providence or also by His word?

Older children: How does God restore souls?  Why are quiet and rest good things?

Younger children: What animals do shepherds take care of?  How does God take care of you?

Family Application: Talk together about some of the things that each person “wants.”  What are differences between good “wants” and bad “wants.”  Talk together about what it means to really trust God to give us all of our good “wants” and to let our bad “wants” go.

Pray: Pray together through these verses of the Psalm.  Thank God for how He tenderly cares for His children as a shepherd for his sheep.  Thank God for sending Jesus to be the great “shepherd of our souls.”  Pray together that your family would follow Him more closely this year and that you would learn together how to live following Jesus joyfully into righteousness.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ The Shadow

Read: Psalm 23, focus today on verse 4

Consider:

For Adults: Think of the last time that you experienced such a crises that you felt as the psalmist describes here.  Did you lean on Christ?  What do you think it means to be comforted by Jesus’ staff and rod?

Older children: Why is it that the Christian can truly “Fear no Evil?”  How can knowing Him help you at school?

Younger children: How can God be with us all the time?  Can you see God?

Family Application: Consider together why we can trust God even when bad things happen.  Talk about how Jesus calmed the storm and how Jesus says that He does not lose even one of His children.  Consider again the eternal life that He gives to all those who trust Him in repentance and faith and how walking in His salvation gives them hope that can conquer every fear.

Pray: Pray through verse 4 of Psalm 23.  Thank God for his abiding presence and the hope of eternal life that He gives to all His children.  Thank God that death is only a “shadow” for those who trust in Him.  Ask Him to strengthen your faith and to help you live daily in the joy of gospel.  Thank God that the gospel is the antidote for fear and for the kind hand of His providence which orders all things for His Glory and for the good of His children.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse.  Make new note cards of any of the cards from Day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ Our Sonship

Read: Psalm 23, focus today on verses 5 and 6

Consider:

For Adults: What do you think of when you read verse 5.  What could it mean that God’s provision and blessing comes even in the “presence of my enemies?”

Older children: Does God want to bless his children?  How does God show us His goodness and mercy?  Does it ever stop?

Younger children: How long is forever?  Where is the “House of God” that Christians can live in forever?  Can you get there in a car?

Family Application: Talk about how God provides for us even when things are hard.  Talk about the blessings that God pours out on you that are both material and spiritual.  Consider how lavishly He blesses us in Christ and talk about how we should continually be refreshed by meditating on how God has loved His children.

Pray: Pray through verses 5 & 6 of Psalm 23.   Thank God for His mercy to you and His provision.  Ask Him to help you see how lavishly He has blessed us in Christ and rejoice in the promise of Eternal life that He gives freely in Jesus.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse.  Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 23:1-3

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Hymn of the Week

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

The Kaiser Family Foundation has just released a new study on the online lives of children and teenagers, and the statistics are simply astounding. America’s children and teenagers are now spending an average of more than 7 1/2 hours a day involved in electronic media.  As the report states: “As anyone who knows a teen or tween can attest, media are among the most powerful forces in young people’s lives today. Eight-to-eighteen-year-olds spend more time with media than in any other activity besides (maybe) sleeping — an average of more than 7 1/2 hours a day, seven days a week. The TV shows they watch, video games they play, songs they listen to, books they read and websites they visit are an enormous part of their lives, offering a constant stream of messages about families, peers, relationships, gender roles, sex, violence, food, values, clothes, an abundance of other topics too long to list.”

And it’s not just that these kids are devoting 7 1/2 hours of their daily lives to media immersion — their multitasking means that they somehow consume nearly 11 hours of media content in that 7 1/2 hours of time. Over the last ten years, young people have increased their consumption and use of every type of media with one exception — reading. As the researchers make clear, the vast increase in the amount of time teenagers are able to access the media is due almost entirely to the fact that their mobile phones allow an online life that can be carried in the pocket (and in far too many cases, taken to bed). “The mobile and online media revolutions have arrived in the lives — and the pockets — of American youth,” notes the report. “Try waking a teenager in the morning, and the odds are good you’ll find a cell phone tucked under their pillow — the last thing they touch before falling asleep and the first thing they reach for upon waking.”

The report indicates that 66 percent of kids now own their own cell phone, while 76 percent own an iPod or other MP3 player. Interestingly, these kids are using cell phones as mobile media devices, rather than as telephones. Young people spend an average of only a half hour each day talking on their cell phones, but their use of these devices for the consumption of media consumes far more time.

The report also offers a portrait of the media-saturated character of the average American home. That home now contains an average of 3.8 televisions, 2.8 DVD or VCR players, at least one digital video recorder, two computers, 2.3 console video game players, and assorted other media devices ranging from CD players to radios. In an amazing percentage of these homes, the television is on virtually every waking hour.  Even as the family home is populated with various media devices, the bedrooms of America’s children and teenagers are virtually saturated with media. “More and more media are migrating to young people’s bedrooms, enabling them to spend even more time watching, listening or playing,” the researchers report.

Another important section of the report indicates that the young people who spend the greatest amount of time with media report lower grades and lower levels of personal happiness and contentment. All this should serve to awaken America’s parents — and all who care for America’s young people — to the level of media saturation that now characterizes the lives of American youth.  This important report serves as an undeniable warning that America’s young people are literally drowning in an ocean of media consumption.

There is every reason for parents to be concerned about dangers ranging from the content of this media, to the way digital saturation changes the wiring of the brain, to the loss of literacy and the reading of books, to the fact that many teenagers are far more connected to their friends through social media than to their own families in their own homes. Teenagers are forfeiting sleep and other important investments of time because they experience panic when they are digitally disengaged for even a few moments.

What is the impact of all this media saturation on the soul? Of course, that is a question that must be posed to America’s adults, as well as to our children and adolescents. At the same time, parents bear a responsibility many are clearly forfeiting. We cannot simply accept that constant media saturation is now a fact of nature and a matter of constant need. These technologies and devices have their places, but the role of parents is to establish rules that protect children and teenagers from being dominated by technology and an army of digital devices. At the end of the day, parents must find the courage and wisdom to know when to disconnect.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Financial contributions for the Haiti relief efforts should be sent through the IMB’s Haiti Response Fund or through gobgr.org.

Contributions will go 100 percent toward relief efforts. Baptist Global Response (BGR) is a Southern Baptist relief and development organization working with other Southern Baptist entities to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Baptism

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

6:30 pm

Come and join with our church family for a focused look at what it means to know God through the practice of praying His word.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Ladies, it is not too late to join us on Fridays at noon for a wonderful study of the book of Philippians.  We are using Elizabeth’s George’s book, Experiencing God’s Peace as a guide.  We are still in the first chapter of Philippians, so come jump in with us as we learn more of God’s word and make practical application from Paul’s rich writings.  Bring a lunch if you would like, and drinks will be provided.  “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

There are others who are opposed to the idea of membership.  They believe that Christians only need to be part of the universal body of Christ by believing in Him, and that any formal, subsequent commitment to a local body of faith is uneccesary.  They overlook the example of believers identifying with local churches in the book of Acts and excuse themselves by stating “Membership in a local church was never explicitly commanded.”

There are a vast number of others who simply take their church membership for granted.  For them, joining a church is nothing special or serious.  They believe anyone who wants to join a church should be able to do so and that it is no more serious a commitment than picking a grocery store or registering to vote.  If they want to get married, buried, or have a need, their name is on the role, thus giving them access, but otherwise they manifest no serious commitment to the Lord’s body, to those who are supposedly their spiritual family.

Ideally, all Christians should endeavor to have a biblical perspective of church membership, a perspective that sees commitment to a local family of faith as one of the natural fruits of a true relationship with Christ.  Those who love Jesus and who have Jesus abiding in them will share His love for His bride, the church.  They will manifest a commitment that encompasses the desire to be accountable for faithfully living out the grace of Christ, the desire to be active in fellowship that is centered around the ministry of the Word of God, and the desire to be equipped and available to serve the body and the community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is realities like these that are represented in our Church Covenant.  We recited it together before we took our last communion, and we rejoiced together as we watched our New Members sign it this past Sunday.  A Church Covenant is certainly not as authoritative as the Bible itself, but it is derived from the Bible.  It represents, in a succinct fashion, a commitment to God and to one another to faithfuly embody the lifestyle, character, and priorities of a disciple of Christ.

All of us will stumble at times, and that is when the Spirit will convict us, the Word will instruct us, and our church family will encourage us.  However, when we have members who continually and unrepentantly violate their commitment, the most loving thing we can do is to seek to restore those members, or ultimately, if they refuse restoration, remove them.  Removal is grievous step to take, but it protects the witness of Christ through the body, the example of Christ within the body, and it protects the one in open error from confusion and self-deception regarding the Lord’s view of their choices.

In his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark Dever writes, “If the church is a building, then we must be bricks in it; if the church is a body, then we are its members; if the church is the household of faith, it presumes we are part of that household.  Sheep are in a flock and branches are on a vine.  Biblically, if one is a Christian, he must be a member of a church.  Leaving aside the concrete particulars for a moment—whether membership lists are kept on white cards or on computer disks—we must not forsake our regular assembling (Hebrews 10:25).  This membership is not simply the record of a statement we once made or of affection toward a familiar place.  It must be a reflection of a living commitment or it is worthless, and worse than worthless, it is dangerous.  Uninvolved members confuse both real members and non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian.  And active members do the voluntarily inactive members no service when they allow them to remain members of the church, for membership is the church’s corporate endorsement of a person’s salvation.  Again, this must be clearly understood: membership in a church is that church’s corporate testimony to the individual member’s salvation.”  May God, in His grace, guard our hearts from apathy and make us a fully committed family of faith.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: You Will Reap what You Sow – Part 1

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: The Demons also Believe, and Shudder!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Week of January 24, 2010

Printable Version

Psalm for Prayer and Praise:  Psalm 19 (ESV)

1The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  In them he has set a tent for the sun,

5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors?  Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Suggested Baptist Catechism Questions:

Question 51: What is it to believe in Christ?

To trust in Christ alone for salvation.

(Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 Jn 5:11-12)

Question 52:  Can you repent and believe in Christ by your own power?

No. I can do nothing good without God’s Holy Spirit.

(John 3:5, 6; 6:44; Romans 8:2, 5, 8-11; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14; Galatians 5:17, 18; Ephesians 2:4-6)

Question 53: How does the Holy Spirit work repentance and belief in a sinners heart?

The Holy Spirit works repentance and belief by the hearing of the Word of God.

(Galatians 3:1-5; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:12)

Praying through the Psalms

Week of January 24, 2010

Day 1 ~ “General Revelation”

Read: Psalm 19 – focus today on verses 1 through 6

Consider:

For Adults: This section of the Psalm speaks of what is called “General Revelation.”  What is it, exactly, that creation declares universally in every language?

Older Children: How does is make you feel to know that God commands the movement of the sun?  How should that help us when we pray?

Younger Children: Who made the sun and tells it when to rise and set?

Family Application: Talk about what it means that creation declares God’s glory to every language.  Talk further about what it means that everyone everywhere has knowledge of God through creation?  What is that creation can’t tell them and why is it that we must send and be missionaries?

Pray: Pray together through the verses of the Psalm.  Thank God for His rule of creation and how He reveals Himself to all people through it.  Ask God to help you think of Him and praise Him as you see His sovereign hand guiding and sustaining the world we live in.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ “Special Revelation”

Read: Psalm 19 – focus today on verses 7 though 10

Consider:

For Adults: This section of the Psalm celebrates God’s “Special Revelation,” which is His inspired word.  What is the psalmist’s disposition toward God’s word?  Is this your disposition?  Why or why not?

Older Children: What does it mean that God’s word “rejoices the heart” and “enlightens the eyes?”

Younger Children: Is God’s word more valuable than money or treasure?  Why?

Family Application: Consider together the great value of God’s word and why it is that seeing God in creation is not enough to save us.  Talk about what “right” is and how we can know “right” from “wrong.”  Also talk about how the word of God can make us wise and why that is something the psalmist celebrates.

Pray: Pray through verses 7 through 10 of Psalm 19.  Thank God for His word and how it tells us how to be wise and to be saved.  Ask God to help you love His word just as the psalmist does and ask Him to help you make His word more central in your life and home.  As you pray, think of “the pearl of great price” that Jesus speaks of and ask God to help you to see and feel the surpassing value of His word and His kingdom in your life.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse.  Make new note cards of any of the cards from Day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ “Living by God’s Word”

Read: Psalm 19 – focus today on verses 11 through 14

Consider:

For Adults: What is that we learn in the word of God that can leads to being truly “blameless” in God’s sight?  How does the word of God help us to be more like Christ?

Older Children: What is the great reward that comes from keeping the word of God?  Can we “discern” our own errors completely without the word of God?

Younger Children: Does God know that we think?  What type of things does God want us to think about?

Family Application: Talk about how we need God’s word to correct us when we are wrong and the benefits a family gets from following God’s word.  Talk about how all of God’s word points us to Jesus and how only He can make us truly innocent before God.

Pray: Pray through verses 11 through 15 of Psalm 19.  Thank God for how His word gives us warning and shows us how to live godly lives.  Thank God for the blessings that flow to believers as they follow God’s word in their daily lives.  Pray that God would use his word to keep you from sin and its destructive consequences.  Ask God to help you meditate upon His word more often for the sake of your own joy and fellowship with Him.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse.  Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Hymn of the Week

Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Classical Christian Academy

Information Meeting
Tuesday, January 26
7:00 pm in the Church Chapel

Cornerstone Classical Christian Academy was formed in response to the vision of members of Morningview Baptist Church.  For one year a founding committee faithfully met to pray and plan for the school’s beginning.  In August 2005, the leadership of the school was given to the Board of Directors to govern and commence operations.  The school enrolled its first students in the 2006 academic year.  For the past four years Cornerstone has grown and is now registering students for kindergarten through twelfth grades.  Our school has faithfully trained students in Biblical worldview thinking by presenting a sound academic program taught by qualified teachers.  You are cordially invited to attend the information meeting on January 26 and learn about the benefits of classical education for your child.

For further information, you may obtain an information packet from the school office or visit the school’s website at www.ccamontgomery.org.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Week of January 17, 2010

Printable Version

Psalm for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 15 (ESV)

1 O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;

3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

Suggested Baptist Catechism Questions:

Question 50: What is it to repent?

To be sorry for sin, and to hate and forsake it because it is displeasing to God.

(Lk 19:8-10; Rom 6:1-2; 2 Cor 7:9-11; 1 Thess 1:9-10)

Question 51: What is it to believe in Christ?

To trust in Christ alone for salvation.

(Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 Jn 5:11-12)

Question 52: Can you repent and believe in Christ by your own power?

No. I can do nothing good without God’s Holy Spirit.

(John 3:5, 6; 6:44; Romans 8:2, 5, 8-11; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14; Galatians 5:17, 18; Ephesians 2:4-6)

Praying through the Psalms

Week of January 17, 2010

Day 1 ~ Fellowship with God

Read: Psalm 15, focus today on verses 1 & 2

Consider:

For Adults: What does it mean to dwell with God? How is your fellowship with Him? What are the standards that God requires?

Older children: Who is only person who ever was truly “blameless?” What does that mean?

Younger children: How does God feel about lying? How often should we speak “the truth?”

Family Application: Talk about what is means to fellowship with God and what God requires of a person to be in fellowship with them. Consider how the Gospel offers sinners a way to be “blameless” before God and how Jesus provides “blamelessness” to lose who repent and believe.

Pray: Pray through the first 2 verses of Psalm 15. Praise God that He has made a way for sinners to be “blameless” before Him through the work of Jesus. Ask God to deepen your fellowship with Him by leading you into Christ-likeness. Pray that God would give you a deep love for the truth and that He would help you to be like Jesus in truth-telling.

Meditate: Write this week’s memory verses on a white board in your home and/or on index cards that each family member can carry with them during the week.

Day 2 ~ Loving Good and Hating Evil

Read: Psalm 15, focus today on verses 3-4

Consider:

For Adults: What are the characteristics of one who walks in fellowship with God that are seen in these verses? Are these virtues increasing in your life? Could your fellowship with God be hindered by not keeping your word to others?

Older children: What could it mean to despise a vile person? What should our attitude be toward sinful behavior in ourselves and others?

Younger children: How should we talk about others? Can we hurt people by the things we say?

Family Application: Consider together how important our relationships with other people are to our relationship to God. If liars and promise-breakers do not dwell “on the hill of the Lord,” then what does that tell us about how God wants us to honor Him in our relationships with one another?

Pray: Pray through verses 3 -5 of Psalm 15. Praise God that He cares about people and how we treat one another. Pray that God would reveal to you any ways in which you have slandered others and ask Him to help you make amends if necessary. Ask God to help you to become more like Jesus in your faithfulness to Him and to others.

Meditate: See if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Make new note cards of any of the cards from Day 1 that may have been lost.

Day 3 ~ Kindness towards others

Read: Psalm 15, focus today on verse 5

Consider:

For Adults: What does it mean to take a bribe against the innocent? Have you ever been tempted to take advantage of the weakness of another for personal gain?

Older children: What does God expect us to do with the blessings He gives us? How can we honor Him with our money?

Younger children: What is a bribe? Do bribes please God?

Family Application: Talk about how God has called Christians to help the weak by both sharing our blessings with them and by defending them from those who would take advantage of them. Consider together how important it is that laws protect the “innocent” and consider what Christians should do to support justice in their local governments.

Pray: Pray through verse 5 of Psalm 15. Praise God again for sending Christ to perfectly fulfill the righteousness that the law requires on the behalf of all of those who come to Him in repentance and faith. Ask God to grow the character of Christ in you in order that joy in God and your fellowship with Him will be ever increasing.

Meditate: See again if anyone in the family can quote this week’s memory verse. Talk about any ways that this verse has encouraged or taught you this week.

Scripture Memory for the Week: Psalm 15:1&2

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right

and speaks truth in his heart.

Hymn of the Week

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: Lord Over the Storm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

David Hardgrave will be the guest speaker with the topic of the History of Hymns.  Sign up in Sunday School or by calling the church office at 272-2304.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

3:30 pm – 4:45 pm (in time for MIT)

Light refreshments will be served

Church Chapel (Adult Five Class Area)

This meeting is open to all who would like to be involved in visiting and ministering to our senior adults who are shut-ins. We are asking for people to visit these senior adults, most whom are unable to attend church, a minimum of once a month.

Please call the church office if you are able to attend and would be willing to serve in this capacity.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Recovering daily, meaningful prayer is a matter of self-discipline – a matter of learning how to say “No” to lesser pursuits, “Yes” to the Holy Spirit who guides us to God’s presence in prayer, and “I will” to what Scripture sets before us as instruction in prayer.  From that point, it is a matter of being a “doer” of the Word by praying – by simply talking with God.

Prayer is a matter of opening up your heart in genuine sincerity and offering yourself and all of your concerns up to God.  It is confessing your sins before Him and savoring again the grace of Christ in forgiveness.  It is the humble acknowledgement of your complete dependence upon the sovereign Lord of the universe.  It is seeking the fruit of His presence, His gifts, and His promises in what is truly an act of worship.  It is casting upon Him your burdens, thanking Him for His grace, being still and waiting upon Him in faith, and celebrating His splendor.  Finally, it is maintaining an ever deepening expression of all of these things without falling back into a “rut” of empty repetition.

This is where praying through Scripture is so valuable.  Scripture is God’s inerrant, inspired, sufficient revelation of Himself and His purpose of redemption.  When we take the truth of God’s Word and use it to guide our hearts and inform our minds and frame our speech, we realize a prayer life that encompasses a height, width, and depth that we have scarcely experienced before.  The benefits of this discipline are many, but here are three of the most important:

1.  Praying Scripture will lead you to explore and give expression to previously unprobed areas in your life.  Just as expository preaching through whole books leads you to discover all the precious jewels of Scripture, praying the Scriptures leads you to personally meditate upon and express all facets of God’s Word.  For example, if I were to pray through a short chapter like Philippians 4, I would would be drawn to consider and pray about standing firm in Christ, the harmony of my relationships with others and how to have a forebearing spirit, my Christian joy, being free of anxiety through prayer, how the peace of God guards us, and the chief things my mind is to dwell upon.  And all of this is just in the first 8 verses!  When was the last time your prayers were concerned with any of these things?

2.  Praying Scripture will help you to enrich and vary the language of prayer.  When we pray, we too often fall back to repeating cliche’s and statements we have heard from others in prayer rather than depending on God’s Spirit and truth to give proper expression to what is in our own hearts.  When we articulate the realities of our own hearts through the lense of biblical truth, we develop the habit of praying biblically rather than the habit of praying repetitiously.  Consider the beauty of what we have in Psalm 1:1-2 – “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”  That is indeed rich language to be guided by in prayer!

3.  It directs us to focus more on the person of God rather than upon ourselves.  The average Christian believes prayer is more about expressing our needs than it is about worshiping God.  Don’t get me wrong – we are certainly to be dependent upon God to meet our needs, yet the greater priority of prayer is being still, and knowing He is God. (Psa 46:10)  When was the last time your prayer consisted mainly of celebrating the attributes of God?  When was the last time you recounted to Him the splendor of how He has revealed Himself in creation?  In redemption?  In your sanctification?  Consider what it would be like to pray Job 38-42, Psalm 19, or Romans 11:33-36.  Great prayer is birthed through meditating upon our great God.

These a just a few of the numerous benefits that come through praying God’s Word, so commit now to join with your church family in praying through Scripture in 2010!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: Zeal, But Not Devotion

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Winter Quarter:  January 10 – March 14

Sunday Evenings 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

Christian Worldview 200
Text: Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey
Room: 329 (Adult 3)  Ben Robinson

New Testament Survey 200
Text: New Testament Introduction by Donald Guthrie
Room: 321 (New Member’s Room)  Joel Thompson

Biblical Theology 101
Text: According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
Room: 331 (Adult 4)   Tom Hicks

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Thursday, January 14

7:00 p.m.

Ladies, please join us at Sarah Jones’ house.  We will discuss The Dangerous Duty of Delight, by John Piper.  It is available in the office for $10.00.  Please join us whether or not you have the book.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Winter 2010

Apologetics 2:
The Reason for God by: Timothy Keller
Led by T.J. Weaver
Location:  Room #304
Cost for book:  $15

Overview:  How do you ‘contend for the faith’ in our skeptical culture?  Tim Keller gives us the reasons for believing in our Almighty God and how to defend your faith in Him.  This class will strengthen your resolve and your love for God while equipping you to give a defense for Him.  You’ll enjoy understanding the ‘reasons for God’ for yourself and to share with your circle of influence.

Theology 2:
Christian Beliefs: Twenty basics every Christian should know
by: Wayne Grudem
Led by Randy Breedlove
Location:  Room #302
Cost for book: $9

Overview:  This guide to twenty key Christian beliefs is a condensed version of Grudem’s larger volume on systematic theology.  You will learn about the Bible,
characteristics of God, the purpose of the church, election, what will happen when Christ returns, angels/Satan and demons, and much more.  This class is a must for
every Christian serious about deepening their understanding of their faith.

Christian Worldview
Book:  Total Truth by: Nancy Pearcey
Led by Ben Robinson
Location:  Room #329 (Adult 3)
COst for book:  $15

Overview:  A Christian worldview is necessary for any person who wants to live a Christ-honoring life in a secular society.  This course will apply biblical truth to many areas of public life (law, education, business) that many in the culture consider ‘off limits’ to the church.  The benefit of cultivating a Christian worldview is that believers can know Jesus more intimately as Lord over every aspect of their lives.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

This event includes the Friday night rally with Chris Brooks speaking, mission project, great sessions, good food, and your friends.  Total of $40 due by January 31st.

The weekend kicks off Friday, February 12 at 5:45 pm at Morningview Baptist Church, 125 Calhoun Road.  See full schedule and brochure at www.morningview.org/students.

What to Bring…
Bible, pen, casual clothes for Friday and Saturday, jeans and ‘Provided’ DNow T-shirt for Sunday, sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, 2-liter soft drink, and a snack for host home.  Cell phones are allowed but must be on silent or off during all sessions.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Is gratitude a bad motivation for obeying God?  It can be a bad thing if we conceive of acting out of gratitude as returning favors, like when somebody invites you over for dinner and out of gratitude you feel the need to invite them over to dinner. If that’s the way we’re thinking about our relationship and obedience to God, it’s bad.

It’s going to be legalistic and devastating. And it’s going to dishonor God, because it says, “OK, God made a deposit in my life of some good and some kindness. Now, as I face the future and ponder what my motivation is for pleasing God or for doing good things that he commands, I must now do something good for him because of what he has done for me in the past.”
It’s that structure of thought that I think is so dishonoring to God, because when I turn to do something good for God, when I turn to take another step in the path of obedience, I need to not say, “God helped me in the past; now I must do something for him in the future.” Rather, I need to say, “God helped me in the past, and now I need his help for the very next moment of my life.”

We don’t give God anything, according to Acts 17:25, but God gives us life and breath and everything. So when a person takes a step of obedience and thinks, “I am paying back to God what he has given to me,” they’re making a profound mistake. They’re not paying anything back if they’re living the way they should. They are depending on new grace to take that step, and therefore they go deeper in debt.

That is why I sometimes call gratitude-based obedience “the debtor’s ethic.” You shouldn’t think of obedience as a mortgage payment, trying to pay God back month by month until you get the debt paid off. Rather, we should think that obedience is going deeper in debt to God every moment, because it takes more grace to be obedient this afternoon than I had yesterday.

So I get more and more from God. I go deeper and deeper into debt, and that’s the best and happiest way to live. We will never get out of debt to grace. And so the thought of gratitude ethic as a kind of payback ethic is devastating to increasing the glory of God’s grace in our lives. We go deeper into debt in grace, not pay it off.

So the greatest Christian is the one who reaches the finish line with the most debt to God?  Exactly, the most conscious debt to God. I want to say “conscious” to emphasize that it is right to be dependent on God moment by moment. And if we’re dependent on God moment by moment to supply grace and ability and everything we need spiritually, emotionally, and materially, then we’ll get out of our head once and for all the notion that we will ever get beyond radical total dependence on him so as to assume a position of payback.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: 2 Timothy 2:22-26

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: The Power of the Curse Undone

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Celebrating Passover at Christmas

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Winter 2010
Dates: January 10 – March 14
Times: Sunday Evenings 5:00 pm – 6:15 pm

Sign up by filling out Sunday’s M.I.T. bulletin insert or call the church office at 272-2304.

New Testament Survey 200
Instructor: Joel Thompson
Text: New Testament Introduction by Donald Guthrie
Room: 321 (New Member’s Room)

This course is an overview of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. The uniqueness and importance of each book will be seen in light of their central message and major themes.  Introductory matters of historical background, date of composition, original recipients, occasion and purpose of writing, and interpretive challenges of each book will also be addressed.

Biblical Theology 101
Instructor: Tom Hicks
Text: According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
Room: 331 (Adult 4)

What is the overall story of the Bible?  How do the Old and New Testaments fit together?  Getting a grasp of the unity of the Bible and its central message from Genesis to Revelation will help you to understand the meaning of any single biblical book or passage.  Systematic theology examines topics arranged logically, while biblical theology studies biblical themes arranged chronologically through the unfolding of redemptive history.

Christian Worldview 200
Instructor: Ben Robinson
Text: Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey
Room: 329 (Adult 3)

A Christian worldview is necessary for any person who wants to live a Christ-honoring life in a secular society.  This course will apply biblical truth to many areas of public life (e.g., law, education, business) that many in the contemporary culture consider “off limits” to the church.  The benefit of cultivating a Christian worldview is that believers can know Jesus more intimately as Lord over every aspect of their lives.

To receive a certificate of lay theological training, students will need to complete six 100 level courses, six 200 level courses, and six 300 level courses for a total of eighteen courses.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Christmas Eve Worship

Thursday, December 24, 2009
5:00 pm

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Celebrating the Gift of Christ at Christmas

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Parents please be reminded that Awana will not meet over the next two weeks.  We will start back on January 6th at 6:00 p.m.  Please encourage your children to review over these weeks. Speaking for the Awana leadership, Wednesday evenings are a time when we come together in support  of your efforts to impress scriptures upon the hearts of your children that they may know Christ! We are looking forward to the New Year and all the opportunities God will bring to us!  Merry Christmas.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Many people know very little about Charlotte “Lottie” Moon or what she did.  Born in 1840, Lottie Moon was a missionary to China from 1873 until her death in 1912.  She poured out her life for the Chinese people by giving them her home, money, food, and even her very being.  In fact, on Christmas Eve in 1912, she died from starvation–a quiet starvation which resulted from her giving all of her food to the Chinese during a time of war and famine.  She led in the campaign against the practice of feet binding. She suggested the idea of furloughs for missionaries.  Her influence helped establish the WMU and she was the originator of the idea of the annual missions offering at Christmastime which now bears her name.  In her words, “Is not the festive season when families and friends exchange gifts in memory of The Gift laid on the altar of the world for the redemption of the human race, the most appropriate time to consecrate a portion from abounding riches and scant poverty to send forth the good tidings of great joy into all the earth?”

Today what is significant about the LMCO is not just the life and influence of a missionary named Lottie Moon.  The LMCO is a lifeline for missionaries on the field.  We, as Southern Baptists, have over 5000 missionaries on the field who depend on this annual missions offering.  On hundred percent of the offering is used for missionaries and their ministries.  A friend in Central Asia describes below how the LMCO impacts their ministry.  (The names of the missionaries and their specific country of service have been omitted due to security reasons.)

“As one of your missionaries serving in Central Asia, I can’t begin to express how thankful I am to the Lord for the LMCO.  Through the LMCO, the Lord faithfully meets our financial needs and allows us to concentrate our attention on the calling he has given us.  Unfortunately, many of our faithful non-Southern Baptist peers have to travel from church-to-church and person-to-person hoping they can raise the funds to live and serve overseas, and then even while on the field must work to maintain that financial support.  What a blessing it is for us to know that the Lord year in and year out raises up fellow Southern Baptists to give faithfully to the work of world missions!  As we serve in Central Asia our family is able to live in a comfortable home, have means of transportation, and benefit from health insurance when needs arise (and with four small boys, needs always arise!).

Even in a year of financial crisis, God has richly blessed our denomination in many ways, and Southern Baptists have always been aware that “to whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48).  Therefore many have given sacrificially, often giving up worldly possessions or even bypassing vacations in order to see God’s name proclaimed around the world.  We all look forward to that day when those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gather around the throne.  And I’m thankful the Lord will bring that to pass through the work of world missions, supported faithfully by Southern Baptists through the LMCO.”

Thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering every year.  Last year the national goal was $170 million and, as a denomination, we fell short of that goal by nearly $20 million.  Consequently, the International Mission Board had to delay appointing some missionaries and suspend some short term mission programs.  This has a very real impact on reaching the nations.  The missionary quoted above, who works with one of the least evangelized people groups in the world, is losing one third of his team due to last year’s LMCO shortfall.  This year our church goal for LMCO is $25,000.  Let’s do our part in being senders of missionaries by giving faithfully to the LMCO.  Please consider how God would have you give to this offering.  Please give sacrificially knowing that all of the money you give will go to the field to support missionaries and their work.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

As you all know, I received my PhD from Southern Seminary this past week.  I wanted to tell all of you, my church family, how much I love you and appreciate your consistent support through the entire process.  Since you may not see it otherwise, I also wanted you to see what I said about you in the preface to my dissertation:

“I am grateful for Morningview Baptist Church and its partnership throughout the writing of this dissertation. It is an inexpressible delight to serve as your pastor. Thank you for believing in the value of this labor, for encouraging me each step along the way, and for providing the large amount of time and resources that were required to complete it. Thank you most of all for being a church that values diligent study in its pastors, and for believing the historic Christian faith, once and for all delivered to the saints.”

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: On What Foundation Have You Built?

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Liberty-Destroying Legalism

The Bible gives us the moral law as a rule of life, but it does not tell us how to act or what to do in every circumstance.  Some decisions we make, such as the choice between Coke and Sprite, are not moral decisions at all – they are morally indifferent.  Other choices have moral elements in them, but the nature of the particular case makes it difficult to know how to decide.  That’s why believers need to develop a thorough knowledge of the Bible and cultivate biblical wisdom so that they can grow in the ability to apply the Bible’s moral principles to all decisions.

Liberty-destroying legalism short circuits that process.  It stunts the process of Christian growth in wisdom by setting up man-made/extra-biblical laws and by imposing them on the consciences of other Christians.  This strips believers of the opportunity to form biblically shaped consciences because it forces the opinions of other men upon them.  Such legalists sometimes look down on and feel superior to everyone who holds a different conviction than they do, rather than recognizing that the issue at stake is a matter of conscience, since there is no biblically revealed law.  God warns us against adding to His law, “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it” (Deut 12:32).  He also declares that “Where there is no law, there is no transgression” (Rom 4:15).

Attempts to “Fence” the Law

This second form of legalism often builds an extra-biblical legal “fence” around the actual moral law, just to make sure people never even get close to breaking it.  In order to protect the command “You shall not take My Name in vain,” the Jewish leaders forbade everyone from speaking God’s name at all, just to make sure no one even got close to breaking it.  Their reasoning was thus: “If people speak God’s name at all, even appropriately, the temptation to abuse God’s name may increase; therefore, we will forbid them from speaking God’s name at all.”  In that way, the Pharisees robbed God’s people of the joyful and worshipful liberty of speaking God’s name.

Examples of this form of legalism abound.  Some Christians make laws against going to the beach, mixed swimming, watching TV, going to the movies (even PG movies), playing video games, surfing the internet, wearing pants (usually only if you’re a girl), wearing nice clothes, buying nice things, going to a lunch buffet, celebrating Christmas (or playing Santa Claus), reading “secular” novels, or listening to “secular” music because those things might tempt someone to idolatry, lust, gluttony, violence, deception, covetousness, etc.  Other more controversial questions of liberty include drinking and smoking.

Don’t misunderstand!  Some people may need to abstain from any or all of the above activities, or from particular forms of them, because those activities tempt them to sin or because they tempt others to sin.  But, the Bible forbids none of those things.  If done in moderation (i.e., without idolatry) and in obedience to the moral law of God, all of the above activities can be done to the glory of God.  Legalism emerges when one person concludes that since he cannot engage in an activity without sinning, no one can possibly engage in that same lawful activity without sinning or without being tempted to sin; therefore, the activity itself is a sin.  That is unbiblical reasoning.

Historic Orthodox Theology Always Affirmed Christian Liberty

The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1677/1689) says, “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his word, or not contained in it.  So that to believe such doctrines, or obey such commands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring of an implicit faith, an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also” (21.2).  Richard Sibbes wrote, “Now where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty, that is, a freedom not to enslave our judgments, much less conscience, to any man” (Sibbes, Glorious Freedom, 61).  Samuel Bolton wrote, “Let us never surrender our judgments or our consciences to be at the disposal and opinions of others, and to be subjected to the sentences and determinations of men” (Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, 220-221).

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Acts 17:16-20

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: The Most Terrifying Teaching of Christ

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Deacon Candidate Greeting Time

Come meet and speak with the deacon candidates this Sunday, December 6, from 5:00 pm until 6:00 pm.  We will meet in the Youth Big Room on the third floor.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

David, a faithful Old Testament follower of Christ, wrote, “Oh how I love Your law” (Ps 119:97).  Paul, a faithful New Testament follower of Christ, declared, “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Rom 7:12).  Scripture teaches that God gave us His law as a “rule of life” in order to show us how to express our love for the Savior (Deut 5:10; Jn 14:5).  God’s Word teaches us to obey the law out of gratitude for what Christ has done (1 Jn 4:17-21), for our own good (Deut 10:12-13), and for God’s glory.  Far from being a burden to the believer (1 Jn 5:3), God’s law is a gracious gift, which should be cherished, esteemed, enjoyed, reverenced, studied, and diligently and meticulously obeyed (Rom 7:12; Ezra 7:6, 10).

The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1677/1689) rightly says, “The moral law forever binds all, [including] justified persons as well as others, to the obedience thereof . . . neither does Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation” (Rom 13:8-10; Jas 2:8, 10-12; Matt 5:17-19; Rom 3:31).  So, if “legalism” is not synonymous with faithful law keeping, then what is “legalism?”

The word “legalism” does not appear in the Bible, but the concept of legalism does appear.  “Legalism” is a word coined by theologians to label “any abuse of law.”  “Legalism,” therefore, is a term that is rightly applied to all unbiblical assertions and applications of law.  1 Timothy 1:8 says, “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.”  Scripture describes two main abuses of law, both of which are sinful and idolatrous.  The first abuse stems from misunderstanding justification.  The second abuse stems from misunderstanding the sufficiency of Scripture.

Legalism vs. Christian Freedom
The first form of legalism teaches that we have to keep the law for our justification.  But this idea is flatly unbiblical.  Galatians 2:16 says we are “not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Galatians 2:21 warns, “If justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”  Any form of teaching that says we must keep the law either to “get in” or “stay in” right standing with God is legalism.

This first form of legalism robs us of Christian freedom.  Christian freedom is the biblical teaching that we are free from the legal guilt and condemnation of the law because Christ was condemned in our place and because His righteousness is credited to us.  Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Legalism vs. Christian Liberty
The second form of legalism misunderstands the sufficiency of Scripture because it teaches that we are required to keep extra-biblical commandments.  The Galatian Judaizers, for example, went beyond Scripture in requiring the Galatians to be circumcised and to observe Jewish food laws, even though there are no such biblical requirements for new covenant Christians.  The Pharisees also went beyond the Scriptures by adding their own laws to the Bible’s law.  But, Scripture opposes all man-made additions to the law of God.  In Mark 7:7, Christ opposed those who taught “as doctrines the commandments of men.”  Deuteronomy 12:32 warns, “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.”  There God positively forbids us to add to His laws and commandments.  What God has already revealed is enough.  Legalists of this second kind “tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders” (Matt 23:4).  They abuse the law by adding their own laws to those of the Bible.

This second form of legalism robs us of Christian liberty.  Christian liberty is the biblical teaching that we are free to do whatever we please as long as our actions are obedient to and violate no law of the Bible.  Augustine said “love God and do as you please.”  To love God, we must keep His commandments (Jn 14:15).  But beneath God’s revealed commandments, there is liberty!  Scripture says, “where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom 4:15).

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Bear One Another’s Burdens

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: The Evidence of True Faith

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

As we consider what we are truly thankful for during this holiday, I hope that salvation is at the very top of our list.  Paul wrote these words to a Corinthian church that had caused him many problems.  Yet he still loved them with the love of a spiritual father, and he was still ready to be poured out on their behalf that they might know true life through the gospel.
Paul was able to so freely give himself in ministry because his hope for life was in Jesus Christ.  He could die daily to himself knowing that, regardless of the outcome, he would be raised up with Jesus Christ in God’s time.  It was this very hope that he wanted the Corinthian church to embrace.  Sin and pettiness and false teaching were constant stumbling blocks to this congregation, and their stumbling kept them from experiencing so many of God’s blessings.  Thus, Paul kept bringing them back to the person and authority of Christ and His message of God’s grace.

As we celebrate thanksgiving, I hope our hearts and minds will focus upon the grace we have experienced in Jesus Christ.  First, I hope we will cherish and rejoice in our privilege to have God as our Father and heaven as our hope.  Psalm 13:5-6 says, “But I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.  I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”  These blessings of salvation have been made ours through Christ alone, so let your thankfulness drive you to a deeper, fuller level in your worship of Him.

Second, I hope our joy and thankfulness will abound as we are in the presence of unbelievers so that they will be drawn to the hope that is made possible through Jesus Christ.  Being ultimately thankful for what we have been given in Christ reflects the priority of our faith, and it makes unbelievers consider what they are missing in their own hearts.  1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

As you are in the presence of lost family members, friends, and co-workers, pray for opportunities to verbally present the gospel.  The only failed witness is the one not given.  “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for {God’s} own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Pet 2:9)  I love you all dearly!  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Church Discipline

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real  Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: A Tale of Two Paths

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Christianity (and for that matter, Evangelicalism) in the United States has indeed become a very “Me-focused” enterprise.  People often choose their churches based upon what they and their family will “get” in the way of spiritual perks, preferences, and programs.  Many Christians seem to be drawn to the type of worship and preaching that dominantly focuses on soul therapy and self-improvement rather than truly knowing God.  In such churches, any sense of the peril of sin, personal sacrifice, and divine holiness is downplayed in the name of being “attractive” to the world in order to show them the “love” of God.

What the church in America needs is biblical revival and spiritual awakening.  We need to get on our knees and get a right perspective of who we are in light of God rather than always viewing God in light of ourselves.  We do indeed need to return to a biblical understanding of the centrality and supremacy of God in all things.  But as we seek to swing the pendulum away from man-centeredness and back to God-centeredness, must we abandon every mention of “Me” as an object of God’s glorious redemption?  Is it wrong for us to sing “Jesus Loves Me?”

The answer to that question is a resounding “No!”  In our desire to restore a biblical theology of God’s glory to the church we must not throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.  We must restore the primary realities of our faith to their proper level of emphasis, but in the process we must not discard the precious truths that were once sinful preoccupations.  What we need comes down to two things:  Biblical Perspective and Biblical Balance.

In terms of biblical perspective, God’s person and His revelation of Himself in Scripture must be the standard by which all other things are prioritized and proclaimed.  God is love, and God does indeed love us, but His primary motivation in redemption is the glory of His name in our hearts and among the nations.  More specifically, God is glorified as Christ is lifted up before all men (John 17:1-3).  Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation;” “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together;” therefore, He is “to have first place in everything” (Col 1:15,17,18).

Thus, the church must recover both a theology and a methodology that exalts Christ for the glory of Almighty God.  In all that we do – our worship, preaching, teaching, serving, praying, giving, evangelism, and fellowship – Christ the Savior must be lifted up and God the Father must be seen as ultimate; we must have a biblical perspective that aligns and evaluates everything else in light of His person and purpose.

In terms of biblical balance, the exaltation of God in Christ must certainly be the primary focus and motivation of all we do, but maintaining this priority does not preclude us from celebrating and praising God for what He has done FOR US.  In 1 Timothy 1, though he used the word “me” a lot, Paul was not being “Me-centered” in recounting his salvation and calling to ministry.  In fact, his remembrance of all that Christ had done FOR HIM is what led him to a doxology of praise in verse 17:  “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”

One of the most well-known songs of praise in the Bible – Psalm 23 – recounts the personal benefits and blessings of knowing God as one’s Shepherd.  Is David being “Me-centered” when he sings this Psalm?  No!  He is rightly rejoicing in the fruits of grace wrought by God in his life.  In fact, I believe it is the blessings recounted in Psalm 23 that lead him to exalt God as the “King of Glory” in Psalm 24.

In summary, we should strive for a biblical perspective in all things – a perspective that keeps God and His glory at the center.  But this perspective does not mean we must divest ourselves of anything that speaks of the personal benefits of salvation.  Biblical balance is the need of the hour.  We must remove man from the throne and put Christ there, but it is not wrong to rejoice in the fruits of His grace.  God is glorified when we speak and preach and sing of our victory in Jesus, our freedom from the law through faith, and the amazing grace of God made available to us at Calvary.

So sing “Jesus Loves Me” with all your heart, “For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.” (2 Cor 4:15)

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

New Membership Class

Begins Sunday, December 6

If you are interested in the membership process of Morningview, plan to be part of the New Beginnings class, Sunday, December 6, 3:00 – 7:30 pm.  All six lessons will be taught during this time.  Childcare will provided if needed.

In order for us to have adequate materials available, we ask that you register for this class by calling Sarah Jones at the church office, 272-2304.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

We were reminded during our missions conference that all believers are to be involved in the Great Commission by being senders, goers, mobilizers, or welcomers.  Welcomers reach out to those that God has brought to our community from other nations around the world. You will have an opportunity to be a welcomer next month by having an international student (or two) over to your house for Christmas dinner.  This is a great opportunity for you to open up your home to internationals, share American Christmas traditions, your own family traditions, the meaning of Christmas, and the love of Christ with them.  80% of internationals who come to the United States never get invited into an American home.  Let us not miss this opportunity to be welcomers.  If you want to host an international student from AUM for Christmas dinner, please contact Judd Hough at jhough@pobox.com for details.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Grace and Glory

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: The Goodness of God Poured Forth

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Some popular items:

Boys

Remote Control Cars

CD Players

Watches

Basketballs/Footballs

Tonka Trucks

Hand Held Video Games

Girls

Bath & Lotion Gift Baskets

Jewelry Box

Watches

Earrings

Art Supplies

Parents and/or guardians living within zip codes 36107, 36109, 36110 must first come to the Ministry Center to complete our intake process. Those who qualify will be able to purchase said toys at drastically reduced rates. We will also offer stocking stuffers at a rate of $.10 each.

Our Toy Store is an awesome avenue God graciously provided in answer to my prayer 12 years ago, an avenue that paves the way to begin the healing process of the family unit. It helps restore the dignity and focus of the parents while aiding the children in regaining respect for them. It also teaches priorities and sacrifice. I pray you will join us in making a difference in the lives of many.

Toy delivery deadline is Thursday December 3rd. Toys may be delivered to the church or the Hands of Christ Ministry Center located at 3000 Lower Wetumpka Rd. We are open Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Should you have any questions or want to volunteer, please feel free to contact me by phone 262-6438 or by e-mail Chitownladee@hotmail.com.

I am so excited and looking forward to what God has in store for us.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue throughout the year to minister to, meet needs and exhibit God’s love to all who enter our doors.

Praising Him
Teri McDonald
Ministry Administrator

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

In answering this question, we must consider two different aspects of time and link them to the biblical perspective of God’s sovereignty.  First, in the moment or in the short-term, we must acknowledge that all men (unsaved or saved) continuously fall short of the glory of God.  We sin, and therefore we continually fail to fulfill our purpose of bringing God the glory that He deserves and requires.  When we are saved and the grace of Christ is operative within us, we recover our purpose and our ability to glorify God as His image-bearers, but on this side of heaven, we will often still fall short.

Because sin is an ever-present reality in this world, we must concede that in the short-term or in the moment, God is often not being glorified as He should be.  However, that does not mean that God’s ultimate glory is ever ultimately in question or is ever ultimately diminished.  Our God is sovereign, and therefore He continually operates in the short-term to guide the course of human history toward the accomplishment of His long-term purpose which is His greatest glory.  How does He operate?  By causing all things, whether good or bad from our human perspective, to serve His glory.

Consider the words of Isaiah 46:9-10: “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’.”  Also Lamentations 3:37-39: “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it; Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”  Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins?

What this means is that where we obediently manifest acts of righteousness for the glory of God, we should give thanks to God in Christ who is at work in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil 2:12-13)  We are responsible to labor for His glory (verse 12), and it is our delight to reap the blessings and rewards of obedience (1 Cor 3:14), but any good in us originates with Him.

In regards to sin, we are certainly responsible for our own disobedience and the consequences thereof, and we will definitely be held accountable by God for how we failed to glorify Him.  Yet God will still be glorified in how He orchestrates and redeems even our sin and its consequences to serve His sovereign purpose.  Remember, He works ALL THINGS together for good to those who love Him (Rom 8:28) because He is constantly working all things together for His own glory (Isa 48:11); His greatest glory IS our greatest good.

Even as the religious leaders were committing their most heinous sin – the crucifixion of Christ – God was accomplishing through them His most glorious victory.  In Acts 4:27-28, Peter said, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.”  As Joseph acknowledged before his brothers, what men meant for evil, God used for good. (Gen 50:20).

In theological terms, this means we live in the best-of-all-possible worlds.  At any given time, the choices of 6+ billion people and the circumstances of an infinite number of variables could result in an infinite number of different outcomes and realities.  But our God, who is the Alpha and the Omega, governs the course of history so that He will ultimately receive the greatest glory.  He constantly orchestrates the function of His creation and the free expression of men’s wills to bring about the best-of-all-possible worlds where He receives ultimate glory.

This reality should by no means lead us to a fatalistic sense of irresponsibility in terms of our actions and choices.  On the contrary, it should lead us to rejoice in the glorious purpose of our Father.  We are privileged to know the blessings of His work in us and all around us.  When the harvest of righteousness bursts forth, praise Him.  When we falter and fail, run to Him for forgiveness and praise Him, for His glory is assured!  I love you all.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Rachel Leigh Wohlford
Born November 6, 2009
Weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz, 20 inches
Parents: Jason & Briana Wohlford

Caroline Isabella Hunter
Born November 10, 2009
Weighing 8 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches
Parents: Nick & Heather Hunter

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Second Annual Global Missions Conference

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Schedule:

9:15 AM – Session 1 (Adults and youth in sanctuary)
10:30 AM – Session 2
5:00 PM – Session 3 (Adults and youth in sanctuary)
6:00 PM – Session 4

Children’s activities will resume as usual

24 Hour Prayer Wall

There will be a 24 hour prayer wall for the persecuted church on the day of our missions conference.  Please sign up for an hour by contacting Judd Hough (284-5567).

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Hebrews 13:12-14 says, “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.  Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (NAS) These words of Scripture are exactly what you think they are – a call to leave the ease of our comforts, to get outside ourselves and outside the four walls of our church buildings and identify with the sufferings of Christ.  This is not our home; we are seeking the city which is to come.

As a reminder of the importance of our prayers, I want to share with you the the story of Asia Bibi, and Christian woman in Pakistan who is currently imprisoned and on trial for blasphemy against Islam.  Her story is reported by the Voice of the Martyrs:

On Oct. 14, Asia Bibi appeared in court, in Sheikhupura, Pakistan and spent some time with her family before the court appearance.

Asia’s husband, Ashiq Masih, her daughters and VOM contacts met  her for 15 minutes before the court appearance. “Asia is in strong faith. Her eyes were hopeful. Praise God,” VOM contacts said. Asia told VOM contacts she prays everyday at 3 a.m. “I thank God that the jail administration has good behavior with me,” she said. “I don’t have trouble from them, but I miss my daughters and family. Please arrange my soon release from this jail,” Asia told VOM contacts.

Asia’s daughters were visibly upset when they met her. “The little daughter was continuously asking her mother ‘Mama when are you coming back home?’” VOM contacts said. Isha, the eldest daughter, cried and hugged her mother and would not let her go.  Isha pointed to the veil on her mother’s face and said, “I want to see your face, remove this cover.” It was a sad scene.

The court rescheduled another hearing for Oct. 27. Asia was arrested by police on Friday, June 19, and charged with blasphemy. Her family is one of only three Christian families in a village of more than 1,500 families.

Many of the local women, including Asia, work on the farm of Muslim landowner Muhammad Idrees. During their work many of the Muslim women have pressured Asia to renounce Christianity and accept Islam.

On June 19, there was an intense discussion among the women about their faith. The Muslim women told Asia about Islam. Asia responded by telling the Muslim women that Christ died on the cross for our sins, according to VOM sources.  She told them Jesus is alive. “Our Christ is the true prophet of God,” she reportedly told them.

Upon hearing this response the Muslim women became angry and began to beat Asia Bibi. Then some men came and took her and locked her in a room. They announced from mosque loudspeakers that she would be punished by having her face blackened and being paraded through the village on a donkey.

Local Christians informed the police, who took Asia into custody before the Muslims could carry out their plan. She is currently being held at the police station in Nankana city. Christians there urged the police not to file blasphemy charges, but police claimed that they must go forward due to the pressure from local Muslim leaders.

Pray for strength for Asia and her family to endure the sufferings of whatever sentence is handed down.  Pray that God would be glorified and Christ lifted up through her unswerving commitment to the Savior.  Also pray for the salvation of Muslims in Pakistan.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Our students will be serving at Brantwood Chhildren’s Home on Saturday, November 14th from 2:00 – 5:00 pm.

Our afternoon will include games with the students, drama skits, music, and a meal.  We will meet at Morningview Baptist Church at 1:40 pm.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: Specks, Logs, and Clarity of Vision

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

1.  It will awaken and embolden your heart to God’s global purpose.  Evangelism and Missions are commissions given to each believer – they are not options.  We are to share God’s burden for the salvation of persons from every tribe, tongue, and people group.  Going on a short-term trip serves to widen our perspective and instill us with a passion in this regard.

2.  It will contribute significantly to your spiritual growth.  A short-term trip takes us out of our daily habits and comforts and stretches us in ways we cannot anticipate, thus deepening our dependence upon God and our experience of His grace.  No true Christian will ever go to a foreign field and remain spiritually unchanged or unchallenged.

3.  It will provide you with new venues and opportunities for obedience.  Quite often, we allow the comforts of our Christian “bubble” to insulate us from new ministry opportunities.  A short-term trip will take you out of your bubble and provide new ways for you to use your spiritual gifts to further global missions endeavors.  It is a spiritual delight to discover these outlets and to experience new ways of investing in eternal things!

4.  It will reawaken your zeal for personal evangelism.  If you can travel to another part of the world to tell people about Christ, then you can also cross the street or the aisle to tell a neighbor, co-worker, or classmate.  God has an amazing way of using short-term mission trips to lead us to repent of our apathy in this area and to renew our passion for personal evangelism.

5.  You will love interacting with vocational missionaries.  These men and women have sacrificed the relative ease of American culture and their relationships here to follow God’s calling upon their lives.  As you spend time with them on the field, their love for lost persons and their dedication to sow the gospel in their chosen people groups will touch your heart and open your eyes to aspects of God’s work that you have never before considered.

6.  You will either be called to vocation mission work or you will develop a fervor to send more missionaries.  God commonly uses short-term mission trips to call persons into full-time mission service, to confirm callings He has already put in place, or to develop in us a passion for sending more workers to the field.  I have even seen entire congregations driven to prayer and shaped into fertile seed-beds for future missionaries.  We could want nothing better for our children or our church!

7.  You will gain first-hand experience of new cultures.  We are a very “Ameri-centric” people who largely choose to remain ignorant of the beauty of other cultures.  Trust me when I say that we are missing out on so much.  When you go to interact with people in other cultures, you will experience the joy of seeing how much we have in common with them, but you will also be struck by the beauty of their unique traditions, perspectives, foods, and family dynamics.

8.  You will appreciate what God has given you here in America so much more.  Visiting other nations deepens your appreciation for the religious and political freedoms we enjoy as Americans.  Being away from home for a time will likewise make you appreciate your parents, spouse, and children even more.  It also makes you realize how wealthy we are when compared to the rest of the world.

9.  You will build deeper relationships with members of your own church family.  As fellow members in one local body, we worship and learn and serve along side of one another in many ways, but often we still lack “deep” friendships in the church.  Traveling together, rooming together, and serving together in a foreign land will build bonds of friendship that will last you the rest of your life.

10.  Your example and testimony will touch your congregation and build a passion for global outreach.  When we go, we pray that the passion of those going will be matched in the congregation by a passion for sending and supporting.  When we share testimonies upon our return, we hope to foster in our spiritual family a common joy and unity in striving for the completion of God’s global purpose.  God wants to use you as a catalyst for this kind of congregational growth.  Regardless of your age, your occupation, or the current constraints of your life, you NEED to go and experience the glorious privileges and challenges of sharing Christ among the nations.  I love you all!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Deadline Wednesday, November 18th

Start buying your items to fill up your shoe box.  Look for the brochure/label in our South and North lobbies on the first floor.
Each brochure will contain instructions about items to purchase and how to pack your box.  It also has the label indicating “boy” or “girl” with the age range.  Once you fill your box, please bring it to the South entrance for collection.  The deadline for Operation Christmas Child will be Wednesday, November 18th.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

God promised Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). From the very beginning, God’s promise to Abraham encompassed every ethnic and racial group.

Jump ahead 1,800+ years.

When Paul wrote Galatians 3:7-8, Jesus had already completed his redemptive mission by living, dying, and being raised from the dead.

The result of Jesus’ redemptive achievement is the fulfillment of God’s promise that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed: “Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:7-8).

If we’re not careful, we can step right over the significance of Paul’s words. Because of the work of Jesus to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham, a principal identifying mark of God’s family is that it is decidedly multi-ethnic — as multi-ethnic as it’s possible to be!  Because of Jesus, the church is the theater of transracial adoption. It is the place where the drama of redemption — God’s work to adopt children from every ethnicity — is played out over and over again. The church is, as Kevin Vanhoozer writes, “the theater wherein the world sees God’s love played out time and time again” (The Drama of Doctrine, 400).

As Christians, we have the privilege of playing this drama on both the macro and micro levels. The macro drama, of course, is the church itself. The universal church continually displays the drama of the multi-ethnic family of God for all the world to see. There’s nothing like this particular drama to be found in all of human history.

But there is also a micro drama in which families within each local church can participate. No, God does not call every Christian family to adopt, transracially or otherwise. But the families God does call to adopt transracially have the privilege of being a micro-theater of the macro-drama of redemption for their communities to see.

The earthly practice of transracial adoption is much more than a way to build a family. It’s an opportunity to display the grand story of redemption before a watching world.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

~Ephesians 2:11-18 (ESV)

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Saturday, November 14

10:00 am – 12:00 noon

Speaker: Allison Anderson – daughter of Sarah and Bruce Jones; wife of Jody; mother of Walker, Abby, Molly, and Chloe; resident of New Albany, Mississippi
Topic: A Call to Modesty

Moms, bring your teenaged daughters to hear this timely message from a biblical perspective.  Childcare provided on an as needed basis only with reservations needed by November 6.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

New for Children’s Ministries; we are going to be taking our 4th -6th graders to Student Life Camp for Kids.   We are going to beautiful Shocco Springs, Alabama  from *June 28-July1st*.

If you would like to know more about the camp and what it offers, search Student Life for Kids on the internet. Be sure to save this date if you are interested in your child going to summer camp 2010…it will be here before you know it!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: You Must Be Born Again

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: The Call to Follow Christ

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Continue to use the prayer guide for our team.  Please also pray for the families of the team members who are still stateside.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

I thought it would be beneficial to share some of the influences on Edwards’ life that shaped Him into a man that was ‘God-enthralled’ in all that he did.  We all certainly want to be motivated by the ‘glory of God’ the way that Jonathan Edwards was.

Edwards was a remarkable thinker who was proficient in handling the Scriptures.  Both his father and his grandfather pastored for nearly sixty years each.  So Edwards grew up being trained in the scriptures, the Westminster Shorter Catechism and reformed theology.  What a joy it is for us, as parents and grandparents, to be able to train our children in similar catechisms which are foundational to understanding biblical doctrine.  Take full advantage of faithfully teaching and reviewing the catechisms with your children at home.

Edwards received the finest classical education in college and came to Christ at the age of seventeen.

While finishing his master’s degree, young Edwards pastored a small church in New York City.  It was during this formative time that God began to confirm the call for Edwards’ life.  Dr. Steve Lawson tells us, “When Edwards was eighteen years old, having been recently converted, he determined to pursue and promote the glory of God with his entire being.”  Lawson writes of Edwards life in The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards.   During the 1722-23 timeframe, Edwards began writing what is known as his ‘Resolutions.’  Now these were not the type of resolutions that we commonly make on New Years Day.  These ‘resolutions’ were more of a personal mission statement that would be the compass for his soul.  These resolutions were not merely a spiritual list of ‘do’s and don’ts.’ Rather these resolved statements, derived from the scripture and even the catechisms, would be a guide in his pursuit of godliness.

Some of the major categories of these resolutions are ‘pursuing the glory of God’, ‘forsaking sin’ and ‘living with all his being for the Lord’, among others.  Here are some pieces of Jonathan Edwards resolutions:

‘Pursuing the Glory of God’
•   to ‘do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory’ (number 1)
•   ‘never willfully to omit anything, except the omission be for the glory of God’ (number 27)

‘Forsaking Sin’
•   ‘Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.’ (number 24)
•   ‘never to give over…(in) my fight with my corruptions’  (number 56)
•   ‘to confess frankly to myself … [and] to God’ all sin within (number 68)

Living with All His Being for the Lord
•   ‘to live with all my might, while I do live’ (number 6)
•   ’study the Scriptures…steadily, constantly and frequently’ (number 28)
Edwards wrote that if there was  ‘one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian,’  he would strive ‘to be that one, who should live in my time’  (number 63)

Can you hear the ’single-mindedness’ of focus on growing in godliness that rings true from Edwards’ resolutions?  Jonathan Edwards wanted only for God to be ‘glorified’ in every facet of his being and his life.  I pray that this week as you work, study for tests, parent, eat, enjoy recreation and engage in a myriad of activities, let your single focus be to pursue the ‘glory of God’ in all things.   Paul wrote it this way, ‘For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.’
-Romans 11:36.

-Bro. Randy

(*Resolutions taken from The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards  by: Dr. Steven J. Lawson)

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: A Prayer for the Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

“World Missions: The Purpose, the Promise, and the Price”
By John Piper October 21, 1997

The purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church. This assumes something about “disciples” and something about “nations.” These terms are used in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” My assumption about “disciples” is that they are people who have seen “the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), and who cherish “God in Christ” as the supreme value of their lives (Philippians 3:8). My assumption about “nations” is that they are not geographic, political countries but “tribes, languages, peoples and ethnic groups” (Revelation 5:9; 7:9).

Based on these two assumptions, then, the purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church.

According to one research group (Joshua Project 2000), in June of this year there were 579 peoples in the world with populations over 10,000 which did not have any church planting missionary effort in them. In July, the Global Consultation on World Evangelization (GCWE ’97) met in Pretoria, South Africa with the result that all but 172 of these peoples were targeted by mission agencies. This is a remarkable progress toward finishing the real missionary task of the church.

But the real source of hope in world missions is not the statistics of man; it’s the promise of God. Namely, Matthew 24:14—“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations.” The “shalls” of God are backed by omnipotence. This great work of spreading a passion for God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church cannot fail. This is the great hope of the missions enterprise. The word of God will not fail.

But the price will be very high. Not so high that it is not worth it. But very high. Jesus expresses it in Matthew 24:9: “You will be hated by all the nations because of my name.” The purpose and the promise will not happen without the price of opposition and suffering. In fact, the price is not just the result but the strategy of the purpose. God has a certain number of martyrs appointed (Revelation 6:11). Jesus said that when you are arrested and taken before governors, “this will be a time for you to bear testimony” (Luke 21:13). The purpose, the promise and the price are all bound together.

Did you notice the phrase, “all the nations,” in the purpose, the promise and the price?  The PURPOSE – “Make disciples of all the nations.”  The PROMISE – “This gospel . . . shall be preached. . . to all the nations.”  The PRICE – “You will be hated by all the nations.”  I call all of you with Hebrews 13:13 (again!) to “go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.” What will this mean for you? It will have to do with “all the nations.”

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Jeff and Trudy McFarland are the founders of TREC International.  Jeff grew up in Morningview Baptist Church where his father was Minister of Music. Although they have an ongoing ministry in India, they also have a ministry on Court Street.  Presently they have some needs that you may be interested in meeting.  They need snacks for children, canned soups, vegetables, boxed macaroni and cheese, and saltines, school supplies, and children’s underwear and socks. If you are interested, call Trudy at 244-4060.  Visit www.trecmud.com for more information about their ministry.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Woman to Woman

Conversation on Love and Marriage

Morningview ladies of all ages are invited to invite a friend and join us Thursday, October 22, 6:30 pm at Sarah Jones’ house for a time of food, fellowship, and talking about marriage from a biblical perspective.  Ana Thompson will be leading our discussion.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Tuesday, October 27
12:00 Noon

Speaker: Jonelle Yow, Southeast Regional Director of Alabama Eyebank “The Precious Girft of Sight”. Sign up in Sunday School or by calling the church office at 272-2304.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

MP3: Walk by the Spirit

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Series: Christ in Real Life, Real Life in Christ

MP3: Don’t Play the Judge

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

We Need Candy!

Candy collection containers are located on the first floor so you can start filling them with bags of individually wrapped candy.  We are also in need of volunteers to help man the game booths and kitchen.  Information to follow in your Sunday School class.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Awana Store
Wednesday, October 7th

Attention all Sparks and Truth in Training clubbers:  Our Awana Store will be open on October 7th for the first time this year.
Each club will have time during the evening to shop.  Earn as many shares as you can to purchase the items in our store. Remember to bring your shares as we do not have a credit or lay-away plan. Be careful with your shares, if  lost we cannot replace them.  Our next  Awana Store date is planned for December 16th.  Shop till you drop!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church