We had a great Sunday last week at Heartsong Church, 5660 N Academy (Doyle Combs, worship leader). Most of our church was there so we were well represented. Heartsong really appreciated our music, especially our pianist par excellence Lisa. Lisa played for the entire worship service and I sang 3 songs, “You Raise Me Up,” ”God Bless the USA,” and “Ready to Fly.” Lisa played with the small orchestra for the service so this was a new experience for her and she did an excellent job.

We are grateful for this church’s kind response to us and hopefully we can reciprocate their congeniality (got a new thesaurus) in some way in the future. The people were wonderful and we hope it was a great experience for our folks. It is important that we get to know other Christians and fellowship with them; remember Freedom folks, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

When we started as a church back in 1988 the encouragement of another church would have been so helpful, and this was our chance to encourage this young church in their endeavor to continue their ministry. Nancy and I greatly enjoyed Doyle’s music ministry and we have had a strong connection with Doyle and Rhonda for their vision of gospel music as a strong basis for the ministry of a church. We’re not Methodists-we’re Baptists and proud of it, but our differences were not so great that we could not enjoy this unprecedented opportunity to gather together to celebrate worship with this new church.

This Sunday is during Labor Day Weekend so we know we’ll have some folks out of town, but we’ll be back to our regular services and will worship with all that are here, same Bap time, same Bap channel!

Greg and Nancy started Songspinners practice for the coming Christmas season.

Don't Forget Go To Heartsong this Sunday

Most of you know Nancy Jenkins and I (the pester) have enjoyed singing with the Sunrise UMC choir at Christmas and other presentations over the years. Doyle Combs, the music director, was gracious enough to have us sing.
In addition, Doyle’s wife Rhonda coordinates the Songspinners group which Nancy and I enjoy.
Doyle was dismissed as the music director at Sunrise last December; many people have left Sunrise. They started a new work called Heartsong Church at 5660 N Academy, next to the Silver Pond Chinese Restaurant.
I have received an invitation from Heartsong Church to preach and sing for them this Sunday August 26th. The Freedom Baptist Church worship service will be at Heartsong for this Sunday only; all are invited to come out and join in a combined worship service at 10am.
Heartsong’s worship and format is very similar to ours. We will sing hymns and choruses; I will sing 3 songs and preach. Lisa will play for the entire service.
For that Sunday, Freedom will not have Sunday School but Ron Campeau will go to the church and open the doors for the 10am service, thinking it best that we not have a Sunday with the doors closed. Ron will meet anyone that attends and handle the worship by CD.
For Freedom’s offering that Sunday, place your offering in an envelope marked “Freedom” or “FBC” and place in the offering at Heartsong. The offering will be at the end of the service (a little different than how we do it)
When we started as a church back in 1988 the encouragement of another church would have been so helpful, and this is our chance to encourage this young church in their endeavor to continue their ministry. Nancy and I greatly enjoyed Doyle’s music ministry and we have a strong connection with Doyle and Rhonda for their vision of gospel music as a strong basis for the ministry of a church. We’re Baptists and proud of it, but any differences between us are not so great that we cannot enjoy this unprecedented opportunity to gather together to celebrate worship with this new church. It's not like we do this every Sunday (in fact we've never done anything like this before) so why not branch out and meet some folks that are doing something very similar to what we did back in '88?

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens

Tomorrow's worship and study
Sunday School: continuing our study on "Dueling Denominations" - the Baptists, other Baptist groups to include independents and the various "initial" Baptists: ABA, BBF, WBF, GARB, CBA and NABA (the CIA and NBA?)
.
Sermon: the Book of Ruth
The book is set in the days when the judges governed; probably during the time of Gideon (3 generations prior to David in 1010BC per the 4th chapter would be appx Gideon’s time)
The cycle of spiritual futility: sin, punishment, crying to God, repentance, deliverance, and return to sin dominated 350 years of Israel’s history. So much of their history was spent returning to a place before God they had already been before, admirably returning to the Lord but not making any progress in their spiritual lives as a nation; in fact, regressing a greater distance than they ever returned
.
The main characters are Naomi, her daughters in law Orpah and Ruth, Naomi’s sons Mahon and Chilion, and a distant relative to Naomi named Boaz
The story contains tragedy, pain and ultimate good fortune; the providence of God shows in every detail
Providence – Latin “providentia,” “to see ahead of time” - the book of Ruth shows that Almighty God, in His providentia, is arranging the timing of Naomi and Ruth’s circumstances
Life hurts – it can crumble down around us in what seems to be an unstoppable spiral. It’s how you choose to react to the hurt that determines your happiness
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And don't forget next Sunday at Heartsong Church,  5660 N Academy
.

Combined Worship at Heartsong August 26

Most of you know Nancy Jenkins and I (the pester) have enjoyed singing with the Sunrise UMC choir at Christmas and other presentations over the years. Doyle Combs, the music director, was gracious enough to have us sing.
In addition, Doyle’s wife Rhonda coordinates the Songspinners group which Nancy and I enjoy.
Doyle was dismissed as the music director at Sunrise last December; many people have left Sunrise. They started a new work called Heartsong Church at 5660 N Academy, next to the Silver Pond Chinese Restaurant.
I have received an invitation from Heartsong Church to preach and sing for them Sunday August 26th. They have invited the entire church to come up and have a combined service at 10am.
Heartsong’s worship and format is very similar to ours. We will sing worship choruses; I will sing 3 songs and preach. Lisa will play for the entire service.
For that Sunday, Freedom will not have Sunday School but Ron Campeau will go to the church and open the doors for the 10am service, thinking it best that we not have a Sunday with the doors closed. Ron will meet anyone that attends and handle the worship by CD.
For Freedom’s offering that Sunday, place your offering in an envelope marked “Freedom” or “FBC” and place in the offering at Heartsong. The offering will be at the end of the service (a little different than how we do it)
When we started as a church back in 1988 the encouragement of another church would have been so helpful, and this is our chance to encourage this young church in their endeavor to continue their ministry. Nancy and I greatly enjoyed Doyle’s music ministry and we have a strong connection with Doyle and Rhonda for their vision of gospel music as a strong basis for the ministry of a church. We’re Baptists and proud of it, but any differences between us are not so great that we cannot enjoy this unprecedented opportunity to gather together to celebrate worship with this new church. It's not like we do this every Sunday (in fact we've never done anything like this before) so why not branch out and meet some folks that are doing something very similar to what we did back in '88?

Psalm 28 – Dear Lord, Please Throw Down on the Wicked

"Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back on them what they deserve. Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again."
I am struck by how many Psalms ask the Lord to defeat our enemies and “repay them for their evil.” Should we ask the Lord to punish evil and reward our righteousness? There is no condemnation for the Psalmist for asking these things, so it must be OK. This is quite a contrast to those that demand that all Christians everywhere forgive any and all that perpetrate evil against them without condition. We are told to “be nice” at all times and never respond to our enemies with anything but kind words and “unconditional love.”
I read many of the responses to the Chick-Fil-A controversy by those that hate Christianity. I can say I was in no mood to “be nice.” Many vented such vitriolic hatred toward Christians as to condemn us for eating fried meat while there were starving people in the world. No one mentions that Christians have been feeding the poor and helping the downtrodden for over 2000 years; that the church has helped more lost people than any government has ever done, and that our love and assistance to others has been without condition while any help that any government gives always comes with the demand for obedience and “strings attached.” We have given enough to feed the world 10 times over, even with today’s population.
Therefore I agree with the Psalmist to “repay them for their deeds and evil work; repay them for what their hands have done (and what their mouths have spewed).” However, repay them based on Your holiness, Your righteousness, and Your grace. In other words, repay them based on the same standards with which you judge me.
There is another side to this prayer; the Psalmist also wrote “do not turn a deaf ear to me…do not drag me away with the wicked.” There is a humility to this prayer, that even though we ask the Lord to deal with our enemies and those who ridicule us we also recognize that we can be wicked ourselves and need to appeal to His mercy whenever we pray. The darkest thought of our heart is that the Lord would abandon us. I would rather feel the wrath of God than His indifference. If I need grace, then those who persecute me also need His grace. Therefore even though I pray that the Lord would protect me and even punish my enemies, I approach this prayer with deep respect for my own sin, for in punishing evil I pray that the Lord will not also punish me.
“Dear Lord, protect me, reward righteousness and punish evil, and if in punishing evil you find evil in me, forgive me and deal with me.”

Trampolining through John: The Final Jump

We have completed our study of the book of John that began October 2, 2011. We jumped around in the book rather than go chapter by chapter in order to give some variety to our study and not be so married to “series” preaching. We will begin a new 95 part series on the interpretation of visions that happen after 15 cups of Baptist coffee (tongue firmly ensconced in cheek).
First section Prologue (1:1-18): Prologue: Jesus the Eternal Word of God
2nd Section John 1:19-4:54
  1:19-28  John the Baptist’s statements to the religious leaders
  1:29-34  John the Baptist’s statements at Jesus’ Baptism
  1:35-51  Jesus calls 4 disciples of the Baptist: Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael
  2:1-12 Changing Water to Wine in Cana of Galilee
  2:13-25 First Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem
  3:1-21 Jesus and Nicodemus
  3:22-36  John the Baptist’s last statements regarding Jesus
  4:1-24 Jesus and the Samaritans (Judea to Galilee via Samaria)
  4:25-42  Faith, Truth and Miracles
  4:43-54  Healing the Nobleman’s Son (2nd sign in Galilee, 1st sign was water into wine)
3rd section chapters 5-8 (Increase of hostility from Galilee to Jerusalem at Tabernacles)
4th section 9-12 (Ministry in Judean Wilderness away from Jerusalem)
5th section 13-17 (Upper Room Discourse and High Priestly Prayer)
6th section 18-20 (Crucifixion and Resurrection)
7th section 21 (Post-Resurrection Appearance in Galilee and close of book)

The order and dates of our study in John:
John 17 – Jesus’ Prayer for Us
     Oct 2, ’11 and Oct 9, ‘11
John 8 - The Light of Freedom
     Oct 16, 23, 30th ’11 (Jesus the Light of the World)
John 5-7 – Jesus the Bread of Life
     Nov 6, 13, 27, Dec 11, 18, Jan 15, ’12 and Jan 22, ’12 (Answering Critics; Bread of Life; Opposition grows)
John 1:1-18 - The Word Was God
     Christmas Day 2011 and Jan 8, ’12 (Communication-Animation-Illumination-Incarnation)
John 1:19-4 – Meet the Author, the Baptist and the Messiah
     Jan 29, ’12, Feb 5, 12, 19, 26, Mar 4, 11 (Pay No Attention to Miracles or Money; Jesus and Nicodemus; Jesus and the Samaritans; Healing the Nobleman’s Son Long Distance)
John 18-20 – Trials, Crucifixion, Resurrection
      April 1, 8 and 15
John 9-12 – Ministry around Bethany and the Triumphal Entry, just before His Crucifixion
     April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27
John 13-16 – The Upper Room Discourse
     June 3, 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8, 15, 22
John 21 – The Restoration of Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee; Epilogue of the Gospel
     July 29, Aug 5