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I pray that everyone had a Merry Christmas and had an opportunity to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the fellowship of family and friends. It is exciting to think about a New Year! We feel a sense of fulfillment knowing that we have a fresh start to focus our lives more clearly on our goals for 2009. I hope that one of your goals is to experience God on a deeper level this year. I have a confession to make. As a proud Baptist, I have a tendency to focus all my spiritual growth efforts on the Scripture. This is not a bad thing, but sometimes I tend to make spiritual growth all about academics. In other words, I make it about what I know, but spiritual growth is more than just knowledge about God. It is about an experience with God.
You may ask, why am I sharing this with you? Because I feel that we have a tendency to focus so much on the knowledge of God that we forget why God wants us to learn about Him. We learn who He is so that we can know Him. We serve a God who is real, and He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us so that we could enter into a relationship with Him. Knowledge is important. In fact, without the Scripture, we could not know God. Doctrine is important. What we believe is important in knowing the TRUE God. We don’t want to worship a God that we have fashioned in our minds. We want to serve the God of the Bible.
The point is that we need to encounter God. How do we do that? The answer to this question will be the focus of much of the preaching in 2009. We must move from religious activity to an encounter with God. As you listen to the sermons this year, you and I will work together to learn how to experience God in a real relationship. We will not be learning simply for the sake of knowledge. We will be leaning to put our knowledge to use in a relationship with a God who has loved us enough to reveal Himself to us.
Come to worship this year with an open-mind that is ready to do more than just learn about God! Let us “Encounter God Day by Day.”
Bro. Anthony
Events
January 11th — The Long Range Planning Committee will meet at 4 PM.
January 17th—Starting at 8 AM will be the Men’s Breakfast and Workday.
January 18th—Church Council meeting will be held at 4 PM.
January 25th is Baptist Men’s Day. After the morning service their will be a youth spaghetti lunch fundraiser in the fellowship hall.
Bible Drill classes for children, youth and adults will begin on Sunday, January 4th and will be held at 5 PM each Sunday.
February 7th—The Easter Choir practice season begins with a Potluck Dinner at 6 PM.
February 13th & 14th—Student Life Conference at Bellevue Baptist Church.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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