Messages

Pastor’s Message

Carolyn and I want to thank you as a church for the expressions of love shown to us last month.  You will never know how much we appreciated each word, card, or gift.  We consider ourselves blessed by God to be able to serve our Lord alongside you here at Lynn Garden Baptist Church.

I’m grateful for Thanksgiving Day, a day where we’re reminded to give thanks and praises to our God.  Before America existed as a nation, the men and women who persevered to found this great country made the effort to thank God Almighty for His provision and grace. Our first President, George Washington, acknowledged God as the source of our nation’s strength and very existence.  He felt so strongly about this that he made a proclamation for a National Day of Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26th, 1789.  President Abraham Lincoln made it an official national holiday on Thursday, November 26th, 1863.  He believed in the importance of setting aside a day to honor God and give thanks individually and corporately as a people.  

I have found this principle to be true:  It is not happy people who are thankful — it is thankful people who are happy.  Happiness seems to be a rare quality these days, but maybe it’s because thankfulness is rare too.

Thanksgiving Day is meant to be a time to stop, take notice of our blessings, and acknowledge God with a grateful heart. Satan tries to distract us from what we really should be focusing on – the Giver of the gifts, not the gifts themselves.  The meal, the ball games, and the shopping, are just a few of the activities that can cause us to lose focus and forget the true meaning of the holiday.  There’s nothing wrong with those things.  I will probably be one of the first one at the table to enjoy the meal; I no doubt will turn on the television and watch one of the football games; and who knows, I might even find a deal or two on Black Friday.  But may we not forget to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (Psalm 100:4).

Have a great week and let your light shine for Jesus this week!

Pastor Rick

Message From Andy (Youth Minister)

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exodus 14:21

I love listening to 106.9 – “The Light” on the way home from church on Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings.  There is always a radio sermon on by Charles Stanley, Tony Evans, Chuck Swindoll, and other Bible preaching ministers.  Admittedly I can’t remember who this sermon was by, but one struck me enough recently to hurriedly write down some notes.

When the Israelites were leaving Egypt, they came up against the Red Sea in front of them with the Egyptian army closing in from behind.  But God, through Moses, parted the Red Sea, and the Israelites crossed through on dry land. 

We each face times in our lives where we are backed up against our own Red Sea and life may seem hopeless.  But we have an AWESOME GOD who can part that sea, create a miracle to bring us through the challenge we face, and bring us through the situation safely by His Grace!  We may have someone close to us who needs their sea parted.  Whatever the need, we should seek God through prayer, bringing our needs and the needs of our family and friends to Him and asking Him to move!

As we prepare for Fall Revival at Lynn Garden Baptist, now is the time to examine ourselves for those areas in our life where we need to seek God to part the waters.  I love the verse from Hosea 10:12:

Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Do we have “fallow ground” in our lives that needs to be broken up, things that are holding us back from giving our all for God or giving our all to God?  Something that is holding us back from asking God to move in an area of life?  Now is the time to identify those areas, break up that fallow ground that hardens us and gets in the way as we get ready to seek The Lord to stir up revival in us!
 
As we begin a month focused on Thanksgiving, I am thankful to GLORIFY, GROW, GIVE, AND GO as we continue to GROW GOD’S GARDEN TOGETHER!
 
Andy

James’ Corner

Recently we were sitting in the doctor’s waiting room.  The man sitting across from me was also in a wheelchair.  I notice the shoes he was wearing looked really comfortable.  I told him I liked his shoes and how comfortable they looked.  He assured me they were very comfortable.  I went on to ask where he had bought them.  He told me his wife had ordered them from somewhere.  During our conversation he had learned my shoe size.  A few minutes passed and the man bent over to remove his shoes.  He said, “I’m giving you this pair because my wife ordered me three pairs of them and I want you to have these!”  While I was trying to persuade him “I can’t take your shoes but I so thank you” the nurse called my name ……… I will never forget that man …… willing I suppose to go barefoot the rest of the day so I could have his comfortable shoes.  Margaret was petrified on how I was going to get myself out of that one!!

I heard a friend tell about one time on a mission trip Bro. Coates gave a man his shirt off his back.  This kind of giving whether shoes or a shirt speaks loudly about the love of Jesus.

Bro. James Meade

Message From Franklin Graham

We Cannot Remain Silent!

The Equality Act is a dangerous threat to our nation.

I am writing to you about a very dangerous piece of legislation — the Equality Act. The administration is wanting to pass this act soon. I cannot say this more emphatically — for people, for businesses, and for ministries of faith, the Equality Act is a threat to life as we know it in our nation today. It’s a real game-changer.

The House has already passed this legislation one time previously, so it will likely pass in the House again before moving on to the Senate. We need you to contact your congress member and U.S. senators and ask them to vote NO. I also encourage you to let the White House know about your strong opposition to this bill. The progressive Left is zealous about this issue and will pull out all the stops to try to make it the law of the land.
    • The Equality Act designates schools, churches, and healthcare organizations as “public accommodations.” With this, schools, churches, and hospitals could be forced to accept the government’s beliefs and mandates about sexual orientation and gender identity. That would be highly intrusive and incredibly far-reaching. It will threaten everyday speech where people can be fined or lose their jobs for using the wrong name or pronouns.
    • The Equality Act will use the force of law across all 50 states to strip Christian and other religious ministries of their right to hire people of shared faith to pursue a shared mission. Can you imagine a Christian organization being forced to hire people hostile to its deeply held beliefs who have no passion for its beliefs, teachings, and mission? That doesn’t work.

These are just a few examples. Friends, this is a pivotal time for our nation. The impact of this legislation is immense. We must not remain silent and accept what we know is wrong.

People of faith need to PRAY. Churches need to recognize the significance of this and pray corporately, asking for God’s intervention and mercy to extend the religious freedoms we have been blessed with for so long.

We also must get to work now, in these fleeting days before the Equality Act comes up for a vote again. As individuals, churches, and organizations, we need to let our representatives in the U.S. House and Senate know how important this is to us, and that we are asking them to vote an emphatic NO to the Equality Act.

Link to contact our representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Sincerely,

Franklin Graham