Rumblings and Ramblings

Youth Camp was good.  Might post about it later.  Sunday night at camp after worship I went to check my
phone and had a message from Mom saying she thought she was hit by a tornado and had windows
blown out of her house.  Needless to say I left youth camp and spent all day Sunday boarding up windows
and hauling off tree limbs.  On Monday, June 16, Childress looked like a war zone.  The Friday paper said
at least 15 million dollars of damage for a town of roughly 7,000.  Over 1500 homes had damage, 6 of
them were destroyed.

FBC Childress, the church I served as youth minister, is looking at $750,000 damage from what I'm told. 
The sanctuary is totaled and they will be in the fellowship hall for months.  Calvary Baptist Church, my
home church, lost the north wall of the church and about 1/4 of the roof.  Their sanctuary was also totaled. 
If you have been there the only thing left standing of the wall behind the pulpit was the cross and the 2x4
it hung on.  From then on you see the northern sky.

Lots of work has been done in cleaning up the two churches.  Calvary had a host of men working on the
church Saturday and I believe they almost got the church back in the dry.  At least the framing for the wall
is back up and there is plywood being applied.  There new pastor will be there this Sunday.  Keep them
and First in your prayers.

They said the hail/wind lasted at least 30 minutes Sunday night.  Reports are anywhere from 6 inches to
2 feet of hail were on the ground.  You drive into Childress and looks like winter based upon the look of
the trees.  Very few green leaves.  The homcoming bonfire should be good this fall with all the tree limbs
that are being piled up in behind the football field.  The good news, only minor injuries.  It could have been
a lot worse!

Here is the picture of the storm over Childress taken about 20 miles east of town.

The Seeking Savior

John 5:1-14

Introduction

This is Jesus' 3^rd Miracle in John

It is feast time in Jerusalem which brings Jesus back

Jesus seeks out those in need instead of socializing

The Pool of Bethesda

It was a healing pool in that custom

Whenever the waters were moved the first one in would be healed.

One man had been ill for 38 years

No one helped him

No one cared for him

Even after his healing no one cared for him vss. 9-10

This man did have someone who cared …. Jesus

He benefited from a Seeking Savior

All other religions it is people seeking for God or something greater than themselves.

In Christianity it is a loving God and a loving Savior that seeks us out.

We do not find Jesus, we recognize that He is right beside us.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

not as a result of works, so that no one may boast Ephesians 2:8-9

Evidences that Jesus is the Seeking Savior

1. It was Jesus who sought out the man (vss. 5-6)

This man did not call out to Jesus.

He probably had no idea who Jesus was (vss. 12-13)

Out of everyone who was there who was sick, Jesus sought him

out.

We don't know why Jesus chose him

Just as Jesus sought out this man, he seeks after you.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was

Lost Luke 19:10

You may be seeking something greater than yourselves, but

know this before you began seeking, Jesus was seeking you.

You may not even be seeking something, but Jesus is still

seeking for you.

2. Jesus not only sought the man, but He initiated the healing

process (vs. 6)

Jesus simply asks, "Do you wish to get well"

83% of Americans believe in heaven and want to go there

43% believe you get to heaven through Jesus alone

32% believe you get there by doing good things.

Barna Oct. 21, 2003

You do nothing to get yourself salvation and a place in heaven

Remember Nicodemus in ch. 3?

A religious leader

Obeyed the law of God

Confessed when he messed up

He would be in heaven, wouldn't he?

Jesus told him that he must be born again (3:3)

John 3:16

God initiated the process He made the plan

3. It was Jesus who healed the man (vss. 8-9)

He was able to do this because He was God

Why did He do this

To reveal His power and who He was

To give hope to the hopeless

The pool was not going to heal this man

There is nothing out there that will help you other than Jesus

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under

heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

There is nothing that can heal you emotionally, physically, or spiritually other than Jesus

Your meaning in life is found in Jesus

Conclusion

Jesus is seeking you out. He is right beside you. Will you recognize him this morning?

    Note: Here is my sermon notes from last Sunday. Feel free to read and critique as you wish. Celebrated my first anniversary in the pulpit last week.

Where is Your Focus?

John 4: 31-38

Introduction

Read the passage

Definition of Focus: a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity.

Jesus had just visited with the Samaritan woman at the well (vss. 7-26)

The disciples were in town getting food (vs. 8)

Why was Jesus and the disciples in Sychar of Samaria?

No Jew went through Samaria, they went around.

They were there because a spiritual need needed to be met.

It was unusual that they were there.

Disciples had probably never been there

They went after food.

Jesus stayed at the well and waited.

How many of you want God to do something awesome through you for His glory?

How many of you want God to do something awesome through Key Heights Baptist Church?

We pray the prayer, God puts us in circumstances to answer that prayer, but we are too busy focusing on the wrong things to be used by God.

The disciples go after food while Jesus sits and waits for his

opportunity to transform someone's life.

The disciples missed it and so do we because we are not focused

on the right things.

In this context Jesus teaches His disciples how to be focused on the right things.

There are 4 things that Jesus taught His disciples

1. The #1 priority of any believer is to accomplish God's will for

their life.

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to

accomplish His work (v. 34)

Our focus is to be on the Kingdom and its expansion

Matthew 6:25-34

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right

now…… Matthew 6:34 (The Message)

When is the last time you have gone to work thinking how you

could expand God's kingdom that day?

So what is that we are suppose to be doing?

2. God's will for every believer is to be involved in the harvest.

This is what Jesus is trying to teach His disciples.

God may have a different will for each of us, but there are some

things that are the same for all of us.

His will is for us to worship Him.

His will is for us to grow in our relationship with Him.

His will is for us to minister to those around us.

His will is for us to have fellowship with each other.

His will is for us to be involved in the harvest.

The Great Commission commands us all to make disciples as

we go through our life.

Being involved in the Harvest involves several steps and we are

to be involved in each step.

Sometimes we are the ones who plant the seeds in someone's

life.

Sometimes we are the ones who care for the seeds.

Sometimes we are the ones who actually get to harvest the

seeds that have been planted and cared for.

We are to be involved in each area, not just one.

3. Every season is harvest season (vss. 35-36)

Jesus tells his disciples that the harvest is ready to take hold.

He is saying the same thing to us…. The harvest is ready get a

pickin.

We are unable to get the harvest done because we are not

looking, or we simply don't care.

4. There is reward for being the harvest (vs. 36).

Going out into the harvest has rich wages… It is a spiritual

wage.

Everyone involved in that soul rejoices when he/she comes into

salvation.

Conclusion

As Jesus taught his disciples about the harvest, they then got to experience the harvest. (vss. 39-42)

One was saved and she brought others to salvation because of the change in her life.

Jesus has saved us, he has changed us, and it is up to us, to go out and share what Jesus has done for us.

Are you ready to be focused on the real priorities of a believers life? Start today.

Our last business meeting we decided to opt out of the 1% club (chuches who gave only 1% to the BGCT throught the Cooperative Program).  The other 99% of the BGCT money we would have given went into a money market account.  We voted to do this in September 2007, so for 8 months, we only gave 1% of our normal money to the BGCT.  We did this because we were upset that the money we gave in good faith was used in an improper manner, especially with the Church Starting Scandal. 

Last week we wrote out a check for all the monies going toward the BGCT and I sent a letter explaining what we had done and what we were now doing.  We are putting our faith back into the BGCT with the new administration.  However, I also warned that if we heard of any other misappropriation of funds, we would resort to withholding our funds again.

I recieved a call from the BGCT yesterday, acknowledging the letter and what we had said.  Their was appreication for the funds and also an apology for past actions.  Their was a request for prayer as the BGCT moved forward.

The words from the BGCT were appreciated by me and they will be appreciated by the KHBC congregation.  We will trust that our messaged not only has been received but has been heard as well.