Faith Bible Blog

Information and Reflections for the FBC Family

February 12, 2018
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Posts: 3

Book Review – This Changes Everything!

This Changes Everything

Book of the Month – Feb 2018
Pick up at the Book Rack on Sunday
SOLD OUT

Parents of teenagers know this: it is difficult to get them motivated. It is difficult to motivate them to get out of bed in the morning, to do chores around the house, much less, to read their Bibles or serve in the church.

After pastoring teens for 3 years, I’ve come to find one of the greatest motivators, THEIR PEERS. When a teenager sees another teenager on fire for Jesus, it makes a great impact! They become motivated/excited to live on fire for Jesus too. It’s contagious.

This Changes Everything is a burning coal in the fire! It is authored by an 18-year-old teenager who loves Jesus and knows how to articulate it. Jaquelle Crowe writes clearly, biblically, and practically. Her goal, as she states from the very beginning, is to encourage fellow teenagers with the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel transformed her life! She writes thoroughly through every category of life and talks about how each one is changed by Christ: Church, Disciplines, Home, Time, Relationships, etc. Teenagers need to read this book and see how Jesus transforms the teen years, in every way. They need to hear, from another teen, that living for Jesus is possible. It’s not just possible, it’s an ALL LIFE SURRENDER that results in heavenly reward and blessing.

This book is helpful, not only for the teenager, but I encourage parents of teens to read too. This would be a great book to read along with your teenager. There are application questions at the end of each chapter that will provide heart to heart conversation.

Don’t miss out on this book! This is one that I will be gifting regularly in the coming years.

October 20, 2017
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Posts: 10

Timely Opportunities

What’s the one thing in this universe that, once lost, you can never have back?

  • Money? No. You can lose all your wealth but get back to work and even have more than you ever had.
  • Your health? No. You can go to a doctor and get a protocol that can restore your health.
  • Possessions? Nope. You can always accumulate more than what you’ve lost.

Time. Time, once lost, can never be recaptured. We can never regain our lost opportunity.

We only have one shot, one opportunity, to seize our life for the glory of God. Time is the most precious commodity God has given mankind. But, it is our responsibility to maximize it.  Continue Reading →

October 24, 2016
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Posts: 54

Incomparable Treasure in Clay Pots

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In today’s world the chief weapon of mass destruction (WMD) in the social realm is not nuclear, biologic or chemical in nature (although it is intended to have the same effect!). The chief weapon today is to spew forth toxic, personal character attacks of all kinds against an opponent or someone who is perceived as a threat. Whether any accusation is true or not, and clearly some are, the ultimate goal is simple: to discredit or destroy someone’s character. In this type of personal warfare, the assassination of character is intended to demonstrate the corruption of the one being attacked and the superiority of the attacker’s character, credibility or ability. This tactic is not new. It is as old as human history itself. When our first parents were confronted in the garden with the voice of the adversary, Satan, his tactics—albeit subtle and crafty—were designed to discredit God’s character and trustworthiness and to elevate his own. His sinister plot entailed portraying God as a liar and a corrupt fraud! (Gen 3:1-5)

Responding to Personal WMD’s

The apostle Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth provides powerful insights into how to deal with personal attacks we often encounter as Bible-believing Christians. Scripture shows us these attacks can come from inside and outside the church! (Matt 7:15-16; 2 Tim 3:12)

Case in point: After dealing with multiple problems plaguing the church at Corinth in his first letter—namely sexual sin, strife, disunity, pride and factionalism (sadly this sounds all too familiar nearly 2000 years later!)—in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 Paul responds to a more personal challenge: direct attacks on him and his preaching. In addition to bearing the burden of carefully and tirelessly shepherding the church at Corinth through serious moral and spiritual issues, there were a group of false teachers that had crept into the church who were mercilessly attacking Paul on every front. Their goal was clear: to discredit Paul so that they could teach their false, legalistic gospel. Paul had to go!! Their strategy was to constantly complain that the problems in the church were due to Paul’s lack of qualifications or fitness to minister as well as his flawed and deceptive message about the gospel of the grace of God found in Jesus Christ alone. Continue Reading →

April 14, 2016
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Posts: 6

Do You Prepare Spiritually for the Sunday Sermon?

In most churches, a significant proportion of the budget is assigned to ensure the preaching pastor has sufficient time and resources to prepare sermons. On average, it takes around twenty hours to prepare an expository sermon. When it is a difficult passage or topic, that time allotment increases. Now twenty hours is a big chunk of the pastor’s week, and yet we are prepared to free him up for that commitment, because we believe the sermon is one of the most important weekly activities we undertake. But is our commitment to pastoral-preparation matched by our own congregational preparation? I’m not saying that every parishioner should give twenty hours a week to prepare to listen to a sermon, but there should be some preparation in order to listen well.

What needs more preparation—the sower or the ground? Charles Spurgeon’s comments are appropriate:

We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted, but we add, men ought not to hear without preparation. Which, do you think, needs the most preparation, the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I would have the ground well-plowed and harrowed, well-turned over, and the clods broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation needed by the ground than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher.[1]

Of course, we are not downplaying the effort required from the preacher, but we listeners should consider our efforts too.

This week, I’ll present four pre-sermon spiritual preparations, and then next week, five physical preparations.[2]  Here we go with the spiritual preparations . . . Continue Reading →