Good Soldiers

One of our men leaves this coming week to serve our country in the middle east. He is a good man and he loves the Lord, he loves his family, and he loves his country. He will be missed around here by many (including me and my family), but I rejoice in his willingness to serve our nation and I will pray for his safety as he is away, as well as for his influence for Christ amongst his fellow-soldiers and for his family that is left behind.

The Bible often uses the picture of soldiers and physical warfare to remind believers of the very real, but invisible, spiritual warfare of which we are all involved. As I thought of my friend in preparation for leaving this week, I was drawn to Paul's words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3-4

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Paul uses a number of illustrations in this passage regarding the nature of Christian service and Christian living. Among these illustrations are comparisons to racing or competition ("strive for masteries"), to farming ("the husbandman that laboureth"), and this passage here on being a good soldier.

When Paul speaks of this soldier, I find it challenging to consider the traits that he lists, for these traits ought to be evident not only in the lives of good soldiers who are fighting the physical battles, but of all of us who desire to fight successfully in the spiritual warfare.

A Good Soldier Endures Hardness

One of the realities of being a soldier is that there is often times great hardship in being a soldier. There is the hardship of the conditions in the field. There is the hardship of the lost opportunities of things that could be done were the soldier at home instead of far away. Perhaps the greatest hardship, however, is the hardship of separation from loved ones.

In the spiritual realm, there are times when there may be physical hardships in the spiritual battles - and Paul certainly knew something of those hardships (see 2 Corinthians 10, for instance), the reality for most believers in America is that any "hardness" we may have to endure for Christ is not likely to be that of the physical nature. The reality is that the hardness that you and I are most likely to be called to endure involves relationships - relationships that are strained as we seek to do those things that are pleasing to Christ rather than following through with the world's way of doing things. Of course, as believers, we can take heart in the Lord's promise that this is to be expected (John 15:18).

A Good Soldier Ends Entanglements

Another reality of being a good soldier is that the soldier who is on the battlefield has to recognize that the entanglements of this world need to be avoided if he is going to fight successfully. Focusing on the things of his world back home instead of focusing on the task at hand can be very dangerous on the battlefield. Even good things must be left behind for the sake of successful soldiering.

In the spiritual realm, the picture is again obvious. Believers need to be careful to end entanglements with the things of this world if we are going to successfully serve as soldiers for Christ. It should be obvious that the sinful things of this world ought to be avoided - after all, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) However, successful soldiering does not just involve ending the entanglements with sinful things. Successful soldiering also often requires that we get rid of the silly things and even the "not bad, but unnecessary" things.

A Good Soldier Pleases His Commander

Another reality of the characteristics of a good soldier is that the good soldier is careful to do those things that please his commander. He does not follow his own agenda in the battle, but he instead follows the orders and instructions given unto him by his commander. A soldier that "goes rogue" is a danger to himself and those around him.

In the spiritual realm, believers need to be focused on pleasing Christ. While we recognize that we can do in our own strength apart from Christ (John 15:5), He has nevertheless given us instructions and commands and as good soldiers it should be our hearts desire and our life's practice to please Him. Too many times it is easy for believers to pursue our own agenda rather than Christ's agenda. Our flesh wants us to please it, instead of pleasing Christ. The world around us clamors for us to please the world instead of pleasing Christ. A good soldier focuses instead on pleasing Christ.


What about your life? Are you a good soldier of Jesus Christ?

Have you shown yourself to be a person who is willing to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ? Are you willing to take the ridicule of "friends" and even family for standing up for Christ and the truth? Enduring hardness requires dedication to the cause and discipline to carry through.

What is your relationship to the entanglements of this world? Are you eliminating all sinful, silly, and useless entanglements or are you caught in a web of wrong actions, wrong affections and wasted time?

When we think of our daily walk, whose agenda are we pursuing? Who are we seeking to please? Are we seeking to please our Master and Commander or are we seeking to please ourselves?

May each of us strive to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.


Just my thoughts,

Frank

* The preceding is (to some degree) a summarized reflection on the message I preached this morning at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury.

2008 Church Christmas Letter 2

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Matthew 2:10

Dear Church Family,

When the wise men saw the star, they rejoiced. Christmas is a time of great rejoicing. It is a time when we rejoice in time spent with family and friends. It is a time when we rejoice with the songs of the season and the things that remind us of yesteryear. Most importantly, Christmas should be a time when we rejoice in the birth of the Savior.

This year has been an exciting and difficult year here at Fellowship Baptist Church. We have had the excitement of the salvation of Lila, followed a week later by the sadness of the stroke to Nancy. We have had the excitement of being given one van only to discover we couldn't get it through Maryland's inspection. We have had the excitement of the Lord's provision of another wheelchair accessible van and the excitement of a good turn-out for our summer Vacation Bible School. We have had the difficulties of many of our church family facing times of physical, financial, and even spiritual trials.

In November, I preached a message in which I referenced a quote from Winston Churchill regarding "insurmountable opportunities." The phrase was meant to convey the idea that the task ahead was a task of difficulty, but was also a task that could reap great benefit and great fruit. As I look ahead to the coming year, I believe that we, as a church, are facing some "insurmountable opportunities" from a human perspective, but I rejoice that even as the Christmas story reminds us, "with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)

In the coming days, we, as a church, need to be more diligent than ever in our attempt to reach out for Christ and to stand for Him in the midst of a lost and dying world. May I ask you to seriously pray about your involvement here at Fellowship Baptist Church during the days ahead? I am excited about some of the things that we have planned for the days ahead, but I recognize that for many of them to have the impact that they can and should have, we, as a church family, need to show ourselves faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2 tells us that "it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." The requirement isn't exceptional abilities or great wealth - it is faithfulness. As we look forward to another year of ministry, may we be faithful in our attendance, faithful in our witnessing, faithful in our Christian walk, living for and depending on Christ in every area of our life.

May God give you a blessed Christmas season and may the New Year be a year in which we all grow closer to Christ and see Him work in us and through us in an even greater way.

In Christ,



Pastor Frank Sansone and family

2008 Church Christmas Letter 1

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Matthew 2:10

When the wise men saw the star, they rejoiced. Christmas is a time of great rejoicing. It is a time when we rejoice in time spent with family and friends. It is a time when we rejoice with the songs of the season and the things that remind us of yesteryear. Most importantly, Christmas should be a time when we rejoice in the birth of the Savior.

God is a giving God and has given unto us His Son, Jesus Christ, to born in a lowly manger, to live a sinless and spotless life, to die on the cross for our sins, and to rise again in power and glory.

As the Christmas season is upon us, may our minds not only be filled with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, but may our minds and hearts be filled with a love for the One who gave everything for us. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Bible relates to us the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ came to save us from our sin and that he lived a perfect, sinless life and died a cruel death on the cross of Calvary to be our Substitute and our Savior.

December is a special time for at Fellowship Baptist Church, and we would like to invite you to join us for our Special Christmas Sunday Service this coming Sunday, December 21. As part of our service that morning, the children will be performing a program called "There's A Song in the Air." We will also have a great time of singing, special music, a special Christmas-themed message and a Fellowship Lunch with plenty of great food and good fellowship after the service.

Whether you are a regular attender or whether you have not been out for awhile, wouldn't this Christmas Sunday be a great Sunday to come back out and join us at Fellowship Baptist Church?

May God give you a Blessed Christmas in which the Gift of Christmas remains foremost in your mind.


In Christ,



Pastor Frank Sansone

A Note About Goodsearch and Goodshop

A Note About GoodSearch and GoodShop

GoodSearch is an organization that provide an opportunity to support the churches and charities in a pain-free and cost-free method. At the end of 2007, after researching Goodsearch, I completed the steps necessary for Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury to be able to receive funds from the Goodsearch program. We recently received our check from Goodsearch for 2008 in the amount of $76.56 and I thought this would be a good opportunity to explain the program and to encourage you to use Goodsearch and Goodshop if you use the internet - or have friends and family that use the internet.

How does Goodsearch work?

Goodsearch provides a donation to the church whenever you use Goodsearch to search the internet - instead of using Google or some other search engine. The search results are powered by Yahoo!, so the search results are good results. Anyone who uses the internet already uses some method to search the internet, with Goodsearch, we are simply asking that choice of search engine to be Goodsearch and that the designated charity be Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury.

It is a blessing to be able to receive this money and for a small church like Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, even a relatively small amount of money like this can help offset the cost of Sunday School curriculum or Vacation Bible School materials or Jr. Church materials or tracts or bulletins. The more people who use Goodsearch for us, the more we are able to raise. The amount of money raised last year was from a relatively few people searching.

In addition to being able to receive donations by simply using GoodSearch as you search the internet, over the last year or so, Goodsearch has added a program called GoodShop. GoodShop uses the same concept, except that instead of making a donation for searching, it makes a donation when you buy something online by going through GoodShop to get to the store's online presence. The stores represented by GoodShop are places many of us go shopping anyway, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Staples, Petsmart, etc. The difference is that you would be making your purchases online instead of at the store. Depending on the store, you may even be able to make your purchase online and pick it up at the store in person (or have it shipped to you - or to a loved one in another part of the country for Christmas). The amount of donation from Goodshop purchases are a percentage of the overall purchase, so that purchasing that Wii from Wal-Mart could result in a donation of $4.50 (1.5% of $300).

How do I use Goodsearch?

Goodsearch has made the process pretty easy. You can either go directly to the site (www.goodsearch.com) and enter "Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury" in the box that asks "Who do you Goodsearch for?". This should only have to be entered once. You could also just simply CLICK HERE and it will already be pre-populated with the information for Fellowship Baptist Church. In addition to this, they also have a Goodsearch toolbar that you use that adds a Goodsearch search box to your Internet browser, allowing you to search for anything you want from anywhere on the internet (using this feature, you don't have to leave the page you are looking at in order to search for something else).

You can Goodsearch at your home computer or from any other computer you use. Even if you don't use the internet very much, perhaps a friend or relative may be willing to "Goodsearch" for us (my sister and mom in Illinois use Goodsearch for our church). If you need help with setting this up, please see me.

While we are not going to raise a large amount of money through this method, it can definitely be a help. If we had just 20 people using Goodsearch an average of five times a day for searching, we would raise $365 during the course of a year.

So, thanks to Goodsearch for the recent donation and thank you to all of you who already use Goodsearch for Fellowship Baptist Church. If you don't, would you consider helping us out in this way? Click here to get started.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Fellowship Baptist Church to Celebrate 10th Anniversary this Sunday, October 12

If you live in the Salisbury, Maryland area,Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, Maryland would love to invite you to join us as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary on Sunday, October 12, 2008.

Ten years ago a small group of believers began to meet in a home and eventually formed what became Messiah Baptist Fellowship. Pastor Steve Wagner served as Pastor of this small group of believers and they were soon able to secure a meeting place next to the Red Door Sub Shop on South Salisbury Boulevard. Over the next five-plus years, this little church remained faithful to the Word of God under Pastor Wagner's leadership and was privileged to see some folks come to Christ for salvation and some other believers who were looking for a good church come and join Messiah Baptist Fellowship.

Sensing the Lord's leading into full-time Jewish missions, Pastor Wagner and his wife relocated to South Carolina where he continues to serve with Messiah Ministries. Dr. William Woodhall, who had faithfully served as Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lewes, Delaware for 33 years served as the Interim Pastor of Messiah Baptist Fellowship for most of 2004 and provided needed stability to this small flock during this time without a full-time Pastor.

In October 2004, Messiah Baptist Fellowship called Frank Sansone to serve as Pastor and Pastor Sansone and his family officially started on December 5, 2004. The last few years we have rejoiced in God's continued working in our church. Over these last few years, we have seen the Lord add to His church and we have seen growth in the people of God. In the Spring of 2006, the Lord provided us with a building at 1308 Robins Avenue and we changed our name to Fellowship Baptist Church. Since then, we have also rejoiced as this new building has allowed us to have the addition of Sunday School for all ages, some youth activities, and the excitement of Vacation Bible School in the summer. We have also rejoiced in Baptisms in the Nanticoke River and at a neighboring church, and the recent provision of a handicap-accessible van in specific answer to prayer.

For our 10th Anniversary, we invite you to join us for a very special Sunday. We would like to extend a special invitation to any of our friends who have been part of the ministry here over the years to "come home" for this Sunday. We also invite our neighbors and friends from the Salisbury area to join us for this Special Anniversary Sunday. All of the men who have served as Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church will be preaching. Dr. Woodhall will be preaching during the Sunday School hour at 10:00 a.m., Pastor Sansone will preach the morning service at 11:00 a.m. and Pastor Wagner will preach the afternoon service at 2:00 p.m. We will also be have a special lunch at the church between the morning and afternoon service, complete with good food prepared by the folks at Fellowship.

If you would like more information or have any questions, please feel free to call the church at 410-341-7100.

Just my thought of invitation,

Frank

A Great Week at The Wilds

Last week, we had the privilege of taking a group of teens and juniors down from Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury to camp at The Wilds Christian Camp in Rosman, North Carolina.

The Wilds is a great camp that focuses on doing all things excellent for Jesus Christ. The camp verse is 1 Corinthians 10:31 and is not just a verse put on a sign and forgotten about, but serves as a driving force behind all that is done at the camp - "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

The speakers for the week were Evangelist Will Galkin for the teens and Evangelist Ed Dunlop for the juniors. I was pleasantly surprised at how generally low-key the invitations were from both men.

To the parents, thank you for giving us the opportunity to take your young person to camp. Pray for and with your children. Talk to them not only about the fun adventures at camp, but also about what God taught them through His Word.

To the teens and juniors, thank you for a great week. You were a joy to take down to The Wilds. Don't allow the distractions of the world to draw your focus away from Christ and "continue thou in the things thou hast learned." (2 Timothy 3:14)

To the others in the church. Thank you for praying for the young people and praying for our safety. Thank you, as well, for giving generously to help offset some of the expenses.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Nice service with the BJU Drama Team

On Sunday night, Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury had the privilege of hosting the Bob Jones University Drama Ministry Team. (I kept referring to them as the "Truth in Action" Drama Team from BJU, but I think they have dropped that name.)

The team did a great job as they dealt with the concept of the goodness of God even in the midst of trials and difficulties.

In particular, they told the story of a truck accident of Missionaries Terry & Rachel Ritschard in Papua, New Guinea and how God worked in the details of the situation.

One of my good friends is a missionary in Papua New Guinea and it was interesting to hear some of the situations that were mentioned in the team's presentation.

Overall, it was a great emphasis on trusting God and I think that our folks were blessed by the presentation - I know we were as a family.

This particular team will be traveling in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Their itinerary can be found here. If they are in your area, stop by and see them.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

(Okay, I am adjusting the time stamp on this one to allow it to count for Monday night even though it is really early on Tuesday morning. Don't tell anyone.)

Good sermons by Evangelist Mark Kittrell

Tonight we had our second night of Special Meetings with Evangelist Mark Kittrell. Tonight, Brother Kittrell preached on 1 Corinthians 1 and dealt with the need to be a mature church in Christ.

He emphasized the fact that the calling of the church is such that it is God's church - not the church of any particular person. As such, the God who has called us and gifted us, expects us to use those gifts in the service of His Church.

He also cautioned against the contention in the church that showed up in Corinth. Whereas the Corinthian church became divided over personalities and styles, the mature church recognizes that God has gifted everyone differently and rejoices in the differing gifts rather than dividing over the various gifts.

He then focused on the aspect that the mature church has the cross of Christ as its message. While the world may place its prominence upon the wisdom of philosophy or the academics of the scribes or the rhetoric of the disputer, God has went a different direction and has chosen instead to work through and honor the foolishness of preaching. The God who has called His church has chosen to do so by calling the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised.

On Sunday, during Sunday School, Mr. Kittrell preached on the parable of the soils (my term since the emphasis is not really on the sower, but upon the soil upon which the seed falls). My son took my only pen that I had with me, so I do not have good written notes, but I believe the terminology he used for the various hearers was that the first (wayside) had no understanding, the second (stony ground) had no depth, and the third (thorny) had no commitment. I could be off on this, but I think the idea is at least close.

For Sunday afternoon, we considered Solomon's prayer for the temple dedication and how that the emphasis was on what God would do when His people fell away and sinned. Even though the temple dedication was a high spot in the spiritual history of the nation, Solomon was concerned about the times that would come when Israel would fall away and when Israel may find itself in captivity. I had never really noticed this before.

I wonder if there is a lesson for Pastors in this regarding the way in which we pray with and prepare our people. Solomon seemed to have assumed that the people would fall away and face great difficulties. Are we sometimes too optomistic when we expect to see continual growth in tose with whom we minister? Doesn't the very question even sound more negative than it should?

Just some thoughts,

Frank

Good Start of Special Meetings with Evangelist Mark Kittrell

Today, Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury began Special Meetings with Evangelist Mark Kittrell.

Some of you may remember that these meetings were originally scheduled for March and I blogged about them in an earlier article entitled, "Upcoming Meetings with Evangelist Mark Kittrell."

As I mentioned on another post, Mr. Kittrell's mom became very sick around the time of our meetings and we had to reschedule the meetings so that he could be with his mom before she died.

Well, this week is the rescheduling of those meetings.

I am planning on giving some notes and comments from the various messages as the week progresses, but since the post that was supposed to be for today (Sunday) ended up being for last night, I will at least make some brief comments real quickly before a more full review tomorrow. (I may re-think the every day thing to allow for no posting on Sundays :) ).

While there are blessings and struggles with every church, I appreciate the congregation of people among whom God has placed us. In a small church, it is sometimes difficult to know who will show up and what will happen when you try to schedule something special - so much so that at times you are weary of scheduling some things. (Or at least this is true of me.)

Since these meetings were rescheduled meetings, there were some folks with some scheduling conflicts. It was real disappointing that they could not be here for the start of the meetings, but I was greatly encouraged by the ones who did come. One gentlemen who usually works an evening/night swing shift even took the week off so that he could be here for the meetings every night!!

We got off to a good start as Mr. Kittrell laid some groundwork for the week and the people were encouraged, please pray for God to use these meetings and the preaching of His Word in a special way this week at Fellowship Baptist Church.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Some quick thoughts

I know it has been awhile since I have written on here. I am hoping for some upcoming articles on the National Leadership Conference and some comments on the 9 Marks E-Journal regarding "What Can We Learn from Fundamentalists?" and the surrounding discussion (if I plan this right, everything useful will have already been said and I can just link to it:) ). In the meantime, I did want to make a few quick comments.

1. As many of you are aware (especially if you read this post), this week was supposed to be a week of Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury with Evangelist Mark Kittrell. Unfortunately, Mr. Kittrell's mom has experienced some serious medical issues and the Kittrell's needed to go to Florida to see her. Please pray for her and for the family as the next couple of weeks could be a very difficult time.

2. Moments with the Book is sponsoring a "Million Tract March", with the goal of spreading One Million Gospel tracts during the month of March - especially in the week leading up to Easter/Resurrection Sunday. In order to help accommodate that goal, they are offering some free tracts to those who go to their website and sign-up for them. Check them out at the Million Tract March.

3. Take a minute to read this from Andrew Naselli - Childlike Faith About Heaven. The article discusses the reaction of the classmates of a 5-year old girl who was tragically killed.

Just some quick thoughts for now,

Frank

Goodsearch Works!

Goodsearch

An update on Goodsearch. Some of you may remember that in March I blogged about Goodsearch - an organization that donates 1 cent ($.01) to your favorite charity for every search you make on the internet using Goodsearch.

Like many of you, I tend to be a little skeptical of things like this, but I decided to try it out first and then I posted about it and encouraged some others to try it out.

I can now report that Goodsearch actually does what it says it will do!! In December, our church received a check from Goodsearch as promised! The check was in the amount of $49.71. You may think this is nothing to write home about (or blog about), but for a small church like us, this will help us to be able to purchase Sunday School materials for about one quarter - for people doing nothing different that what they already do. (If you look at the "Amount Raised" button, you will see that it says we have raised over $70. According to Goodsearch's website, checks are issued every December for the amount raised through September 30th of the year, so we already have over $20 towards next year.)

For those of you unfamiliar with Goodsearch, it is a search engine that gets paid by advertisers and passes on part of that money to charities. A charity has to register with Goodsearch before being able to received donations and must accumulate at least $20.00 in a year in order to receive donations (which are paid on a yearly basis).

The search engine is powered by Yahoo!, so it works fine as a search engine. Goodsearch also has a toolbar feature that can be downloaded (while I use Internet Explorer, the toolbar is also available in Firefox for you Firefox fans) and allows you to search from any internet page and still benefit your charity. (This is how I usually search, whereas my wife tends to search from Goodsearch's home page.)

SO, here is my comments and my plea. If you want to set it up for your church, go for it. I can vouch for it that it actually does pay as it says it will. If your church does not use Goodsearch, would you consider using Goodsearch as your search engine and designating Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury (Salisbury, MD) as your charity. (There is a pre-populated link on the right hand column of this blog to make it easy - or you can click here.)

If 10 people searched 10 times a day using Goodsearch, that would be $365 at the end of the year - not a huge amount to a lot of churches, but we could buy a lot of God's Bridge to Eternal Life tracts with that :) .

Just my thoughts,

Frank

A Great Time with Faith Baptist Church of Champaign, IL

This past few days we have had the privilege at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury of hosting a mission team from Faith Baptist Church in Champaign, Illinois.

The team came with Youth Pastor John Cashner, Jim and Dawn King and family, and eight teenagers. It was great to have the team here at the church and we rejoice in the great time that was had. It was great to have this group of young people with us for the week and we are encouraged by God's working throughout the week.

On Saturday, we visited a number of homes and gave out church brochures and invitation to the Cola Clash and Vacation Bible School. In the evening, we held a Cola Clash Youth Rally. We had over 20 young people in attendance and the activities went well and the spirit of the meeting was great. We had a number of visitors for the night and the Gospel was proclaimed. We are praying that some who came without Christ will come to know Christ through the message that was preached and through the tracts and other information that was given out to those who came.

On Sunday we had a Fellowship Sunday and Pastor Cashner preached the afternoon service.

Monday through Wednesday nights we had Vacation Bible School, with the group from Illinois running everything. The team also completed some needed tasks around the church and were a real blessing. I know that our people also enjoyed the times of fellowship with the group throughout the week.

Thanks for coming, Faith Baptist Church. May God continue to bless you as you serve Him.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Goodsearch and Blog comments

As some of you may have noticed, I have updated a few things on my blog over the last week or so.

One of the updates that I made was adjusting the categories so that clicking on the categories no longer takes you to the "fake" blog that I created as a work-around for the fact that blogger did not have that feature previously.

I have went through a number of the older posts and added labels, but I have not made it through all of the old posts to add new labels to them yet. I also decided that while I may have a bunch of labels that I actually use on posts, I don't think I will include all of them as side categories. Of course, you can always click a label at the end of a post to see what else has the same label.

I have also added a link to Goodsearch. Goodsearch is a search engine that is powered by Yahoo! and gives money to the charity of your choice each time you use them to search - supposedly about 1 cent a search. Obviously it will not add up to much unless a whole bunch of people use it, but it could perhaps bring in a little extra cash (for instance 10 people performing 5 searches a day would add up to $182.50). Some of the bigger organizations like Cystic Fibrosis Foundation have earned $3,120 according to the Goodsearch web-site, but we are a small church. Goodsearch also offers a Goodsearch toolbar that can be downloaded and used to search with Goodsearch from whatever web-site you are browsing. You need to indicate which charity you would like to get credit for your searching. If your church is not signed up, our church (Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury) is on the list of approved charities for which you can search. (This Goodsearch link and the one on the side of the blog take you to the Goodsearch sight with Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury prepopulated in the "Who do you Goodsearch for?" section. ) If you use the Goodsearch toolbar, make sure you choose your charity manually (where the toolbar says "My Charity"). I started using this a few weeks ago before putting up the link to make sure that it worked without causing any problems. I use the toolbar primarily. The toolbar also has a popup blocker, which is a nice feature and works pretty well.

Anyway, I am not sure how much blogging I will do in the next week or so. I have done some orientation on Thursday and Friday and I start my first of three night shifts in a row on Tuesday night.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

A Person Who Deserts Deity - Sermon Notes from Revelation 2:1-7

On Sunday night, we continued our week of Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church with Evangelist Ron DeGarde.

For Sunday night’s message, Brother Ron preached a good message on Revelation 2:1-7 on "A Person who Deserts Deity."

In his introduction, Brother DeGarde dealt with some of the details of the 1995 case of Aldridge Ames’ Treason against the United States and the selling of information about a number of
U.S. agents to the U.S.S.R.

He then dealt with three truths about deserters.

I. The Deserter’s Description

A. His Camouflage shows one thing

1. Serving

2. Steadfast

3. Separating

4. Searching

B. His Character shows another thing - Idolatry

1. Robs God of time

2. Robs God of tithe

3. Robs God of talents

4. Robs God of temple

II. The Deserter’s Danger

The deserter’s danger is that God will remove His power.

God has not lost His power, but we have.

III. The Deserter’s Deliverance

A. Remember - deal specifically with your sin

B. Repent - have a change of mind

C. Repeat - do the first works

For a closing illustration, he used the account of the patriot Nathan Hale who faced death and said, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Rather than be a deserter, his stood firm and his life counted.

It was a very well done message and I appreciate the ministry that God has provided through Ron's ministry this week, despite Ron's difficulties with his foot.

Just his (and my) thoughts,

Frank

Sin's Power - Sermon Notes from Hebrews 3:13

On Sunday morning, Evangelist Ron DeGarde took time to remind the folks how we could have a successful series of meetings:

1. We need to be INTERCEDING - praying that God would do a work this
week.
2. We need to be INVOLVED - being faithful to all of the services.
3. We need to be INVITING - encouraging others to come out to the
meetings.
4. We need to be INVESTIGATING - examining our lives in light of
God’s Word.

For the Sunday Morning Message, Brother DeGarde focused on The Power of Sin from Hebrews 3:13.

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any
of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

It was interesting how closely a lot of what he said meshed with what I preached on last week when I dealt with the need of God’s people to turn from their wicked ways.

I. The Subtlety of Sin’s Power

A. Sin has the power to Deceive

Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it slew me.

Isaiah 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

1. It will deceive you about its pleasure

Hebrews 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

2. It will deceive about its penalty

B. Sin has the Power to Destroy

1. Sin puts men in misery

2. Sin puts men in Hell

II. The Shattering of Sin’s Power

Christ became our Propitiation - Our Substitute that Satisfies

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Just his thoughts,

Frank

The Incredible Wealth of God's Word

I mentioned in an earlier post that I wanted give some reports on the Special Meetings with Ron DeGarde that we are having this week at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury.

For Sunday School, Evangelist Ron DeGarde started off our week by dealing with a familiar passage - 2 Timothy 3:15-17.

This is one of my favorite passages of all of Scripture. In fact, when I taught Bible at Gloucester County Christian School in Pitman, New Jersey for four years and when I taught at Heritage Christian Academy in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey for the four years before that, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 were usually the theme verses for the class.

Brother Ron DeGarde gave us three reasons why there is Incredible Wealth in God’s Word.

I. The Word of God has incredible wealth because it has Incredible Power

The Holy Scripture is able to make you wise unto salvation.

Able is the Greek work "dunamai" - from which we get our word
dynomite.

God Word is powerful in that it is able to save - even in the context of
the last days.

Brother DeGarde connected the "that" in v. 15 with the "this know also" in
v. 1, so that the idea is:

This know also

That - in the last days perilous times will come (v.1)
That - the Holy
Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation (v. 15)
I have never
seen that connection before and hope to look more into it when I get a good
chance.

None of my quickly available commentaries (read: those in E-Sword and
PowerBible) mention anything about the "that", so further study is needed when
time permits.

Making that connection, Ron points out that even in the midst of the
wickedness that Paul describes as he explains the last days, God’s Word is still
able to make you wise unto salvation.

He then used an illustration about George Mensak (sp.?) who was a member of
Al Capone’s gang who got saved at Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Chicago,
Illinois.

II. The Word of God has incredible wealth because it has an Incredible Profit

The Bible is not a menu from which to make a selection, but a mandate tow
which we must submit.

A. It is profitable for doctrine

B. It is profitable for reproof

C. It is profitable for correction

D. It is profitable for instruction in righteousness

III. The Word of God has incredible wealth because it has a Wonderful Purpose

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished - completely
outfitted

Evangelist DeGarde did a good job of setting the table for the week in Sunday School.

Over the last four weeks, I have spoken regarding 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 - the first week with an overview of what God wants from his people and the nature of revival. While I explained that we were not Israel and this was not a pattern that we could use to manipulate God, the passage does show some traits that God wants to be evident in His people - a humbling of ourselves, praying and seeking God’s face, and a turning from our wicked ways - and that God has expressed blessing to His people in response to this.

Anyway, I think that things have gotten off to a good start.

Just my thoughts - okay, they are mostly Ron’s thoughts :)

Frank.

Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church - Overall Post

As I mentioned in a previous post, the church where I serve as Pastor - Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury - is hosting Evangelist Ron DeGarde and his family this week for a week of special meetings.

I try to be careful in using my terminology, so I do not call these meetings "Revival Meetings" as revival is a moving of God that cannot be scheduled and does not come just because you bring in an evangelist with his truck and trailer.

Anyway, we started off our meetings on Sunday with a Community Awareness Day. This day was originally planned as a test for a modified version of the "Phones For You" program, but due to some miscommunication the majority of the planned phone calling did not occur. I am still hoping to use the "Phones For You" concept, but there are some things I need to work out before we will be ready to try it again.

We did have a good turn-out, as almost all of our regular attenders were there and a few guests came as well. As was my practice when this blog was still in its infancy and we hosted Evangelist Mark Kittrell for Special Meetings back in October of 2005, the blogging for me this week on A Thinking Man’s Thoughts will consist of reports of the meetings and messages from this week of Special Meetings. Feel free to comment and ask questions on the reports and messages as well as on any other previous post, but be aware that other than the quick March Madness scoring update, the rest of the posts for this week will likely be concerning the Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church.

Evangelist DeGarde hurt his ankle pretty badly last week playing basketball in North Carolina. He is supposed to be having an MRI on his ankle on Wednesday. Due to the injury, he is needing to be seated while preaching. I can imagine that if Ron is like me - or like most evangelists I know - this must be pretty difficult. He is doing a good job in a tough situation, though. I wonder if this is what it was like in Pastor Jesse Boyd’s latter days at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

Rather than start off with a report of a message this far into the post, I will use this post to link to all the posts in one spot and update this post as I update the reports.

Sunday School Message - The Incredible Wealth of God’s Word - 2 Timothy 3:15-17

Sunday Morning Message - The Power of Sin - Hebrews 3:13

Sunday Evening Message - A Person Who Deserts Deity - Revelation 2:1-7

Fellowship Baptist Church hosting Special Meetings with Ron DeGarde on March 18-22

In one week, Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, Maryland will be hosting a Community Awareness Day as an outreach to our community.

This day will feature special music, good fellowship, refreshments, and good preaching from Evangelist Ron DeGarde. Community Awareness Day will also serve as the "kick off" for our Spring Special Meetings with Evangelist Ron DeGarde and his family.

If you are in the area, we would love for your to visit us for any of the services.

Sunday School - 10:00 a.m.
Morning Worship - 11:00 a.m.
Evening Service - 6:00 p.m.
Monday - Thursday Evenings - 7:00 p.m. each night

If you do not live in the area, pray that God would use these meetings for His glory.

For more information, see this page: Ron DeGarde Meetings

In Christ,

Frank

What was preached on Sunday?

Over at My Two Cents, Chris Anderson used to ask folks about what they preached or heard preached on Sundays. Since he seems to have discontinued that practice, I guess I will start it up over here.

SOOOO, What did your Pastor preach about on Sunday? Post a topic, comment, or even outline below (for those who listen well to a Pastor who outlines well). If you are a Pastor or Preacher, what did you preach this past weekend?

Frank

Good service with the Bob Jones University Sacred Sounds Musical Ministry Team

Last night, Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury, Maryland, the church where I serve as Pastor, hosted the Bob Jones University Musical Ministry Team.

While we were down a little in attendance, the service went very nice as the team sang, played their instruments, and gave testimonies regarding God's working in their lives. Mr. Jon Reddick also delivered a short sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 and the value of love.

I appreciate the fact that the various Fundamental colleges and universities are willing to send their teams to small churches like ours. Since I have been down here in Salisbury, we have had the privilege of hosting teams from Bob Jones University, Maranatha Baptist Bible College, and Northland Baptist Bible College. Each time they have come it has been a blessing to our church and they have all represented their schools well.

While some might say that because we do not have a lot of teenagers, yet, in our church that these teams are wasting their times (after all, surely the justification for teams like this comes in part from the fact that they help to recruit teens to their respective schools). However, I appreciate the fact that the teams have not given that impression, but have instead taken an interest and talked with our folks and took the opportunity to minister to those who were there.

While we do have a few teens (and I praying that God would lead them towards a good solid Fundamental college), the reality is that by coming to a church like ours with very few teens, these teams are also helping to form a positive view of their schools in the lives of the parents and younger children - something that may indeed help in their enrollment down the road.

Anyway, I just wanted to take the time to encourage Pastors out there to host these teams when they are in your area and I wanted to say "thank you for coming" to Jon, Deb, Katie, Kimmy, James and Joey. Have a safe tour.

Just my thoughts,

Frank