The Alpha-Omega Factor

November tends to kick off the holiday season… a fun and festive time of the year with Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s all approaching consecutively. It’s also a great time of the year to fully connect with opportunities for worship and ministry.

This Sunday we begin a new sermon series built around The Alpha-Omega Factor. Revelation 21:6 conveys God’s ultimate declaration: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life (NIV). This series invites us to follow God’s ultimate plan and to plan for our ultimate destination.

Ross Lankford will begin our series this Sunday with a sermon from Revelation 5, Worthy Is the Lamb, which highlights the work of Christ in providing for our salvation.

On November 1-4, I will be leading in revival services at First Baptist Church of Aliceville, Alabama. The pastor at FBC Aliceville is our very own Charlie Wilson, son of Dr. Bob and Charlie Faye Wilson. Charlie’s wife, Jill, is also from FBCP and is the daughter of John and Jenelle Kizziah. I consider it an honor and privilege to be invited to share in this week with Charlie and Jill and their congregation. Please join me in praying that this will be a week of spiritual renewal and refreshing for the folks in Aliceville.

Our quarterly Congregational Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday November 4. Music will be provided by our Children’s Choirs and our Chapel Choir. We will hear one recommendation from our Missions Committee regarding financial support in 2009-2010 for Answering the Call Ministries, one of our long time mission partners. Then we will honor our friend, Jimmy Williams, with a reception upon his retirement as Director of Samaritan Hands. The music will be great. The business will be brief. The reception will be fun. And the fellowship well worth your time.

I hope you will make it a priority for you and your family to be faithful participants in worship and Bible study every Sunday in November.

From A to Z, God Rocks!

The month of November tends to kick off the holiday season… a fun and festive time of the year with Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s all approaching consecutively. It’s also a great time of the year to fully invest yourself in opportunities for worship and ministry.

Worship and Bible study on Sunday are our primary opportunities for equipping and encouragement for Christian living. Sunday evening discipleship options, weekday Bible studies, a variety of small groups also provide additional opportunities for spiritual formation.

Wednesday night is probably my favorite time of the week. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is casual, the folks are welcoming, the music is outstanding, and the topics are either fun, challenging, or relevant…and sometimes all three. J Children’s choirs, AWANA, Flood, Overflow, Boy Scouts, Orchestra rehearsal, and Sanctuary Choir rehearsal also occur on Wednesday evenings.

November 4 is our quarterly Congregational Meeting. November 18 is the Blessing of the Shoeboxes. And November 24 is our Wednesday on Tuesday gathering. Our Community Thanksgiving Service this year is planned for November 25 at seven o’clock and will be hosted by First United Methodist Church.

Our sermon series in November is built around The Alpha-Omega Factor. Revelation 21:6 conveys God’s ultimate declaration: I'm A to Z. I'm the Beginning, I'm the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty (MSG). This series will focus our attention on God’s ultimate plan and our ultimate destination.

I hope you will make it a priority for you and your family to be faithful participants in worship, Bible study, and ministry action during November.

The Alpha-Omega Factor

Nov 1 Worthy Is the Lamb Revelation 5 (Dr. Ross Lankford, preaching)

Nov 8 Imagining Heaven Revelation 21:1-6

Nov 15 Guarding Your Habits Hebrews 10:19-25

Nov 22 An Almighty Who’s Who Revelation 1:4-8

Living the DREAM

In describing the “latter times,” the Old Testament prophet envisioned a faith community that is motivated by God-inspired dreams and visions of multiple generations:

²⁸ "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions. Joel 2:28 NIV

Are you living out God’s dream and vision for your life? Are you assisting our church family in living out God’s dream and vision for our congregation?

The word “dream” has frequently been used as an acronym. For example, to promote learning, DREAM means “Discover the Reality of Education for All Minds.” In communication, DREAM means “Dynamically Reconfigurable Energy Aware Media.” In engineering, DREAM can represent “Distributed Routing Effect Algorithm for Mobility.” In local government, DREAM can refer to “Downtown Restoration, Enhancement and Management.” In Orlando, DREAM stands for “Disney Resort Experiences are Magic.”

What does DREAM mean for our church? As we rise to new levels of commitment to confront the opportunities and challenges of our day, I suggest that DREAM means “Doing Risky, Encouraging, and Authentic Ministry.”

Let’s break down the DREAM:

• Doing- Be doers of the word and not hearers only. James 1:22 KJV
• Risky- So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 15:25-26 NIV
• Encouraging-Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. I Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
• Authentic-Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Philippians 4:8a MSG
• Ministry- But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. II Timothy 4: 5 NIV

This Sunday we will examine Mark 10:35-45 and think about “God’s Seating Arrangements.” As we embrace God’s dream for us, we will celebrate Communion in each of our worship services. To better enable us to serve The Lord’s Supper, it will be helpful and appropriate to sit close together, symbolizing our unity as a spiritual family. In the mid-morning service, we request that everyone help us fill a front section of the main floor for this important experience of worship.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we gather around the Lord’s table.

Don’t Miss Out on the DREAM!

“Without vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18 KJV

This year we are celebrating the 450^th birthday of our city. Since 1846 First Baptist Church has played a significant role in growth and development of Pensacola.

Throughout September, October, and November, we are joining with our community and with our neighboring downtown churches in focusing on Pensacola’s significant religious history. This Sunday the history of First Baptist Church will be highlighted in each of our services. Our History Committee invites you to visit the upper atrium to view various historical archives and memorabilia. Hosts will be available to provide tours of our campus for guests or members.

Also, at approximately 9:10, immediately following the Early Worship Service, there will be a brief unveiling of the new plaque in the Atrium dedicating the Clyde Bizzell Library.

Our spiritual ancestors had a dream to establish a Baptist church that would bear witness to the light and love of Christ in downtown Pensacola. Across the generations our forefathers and foremothers have empowered that dream with faithful participation in worship, hands-on involvement in Christian service, global support for missions, and a consistent legacy of Christian stewardship.

As we look to the challenges and opportunities of the future, it is imperative that we keep the vision alive by dreaming new dreams together.

This Sunday we are Dreaming the Possible Dream as we look at Joel 2:28-32 and Mark 10:27. Don’t miss out on the DREAM!

From the bay to the hill and beyond, let us renew our vow to share the light and love of Christ with compassion and consistency.

Getting the Body in Shape

Some folks go to the gym or the track every morning to get their body in shape. Taking good care of your health is important.

Just as physical fitness is important to the human body, spiritual fitness is crucial to the body of Christ.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. I Corinthians 12: 27 NIV

The goal of our spiritual growth is for us to become a stronger, more effective body of servants.

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. I Corinthians 12:24b-26 NIV

When we neglect exercise, become inactive, eat the wrong foods, or fail to get adequate rest, our bodies get out of shape. Likewise, when we neglect exercising our spiritual gifts, when we become inactive in our church, when we consume the wrong things, and when we fail to get sabbath rest, we cause our local body of Christ to get out of shape.

You are an important member of this local body. Our challenges and opportunities have eternal consequences. We need every member to be growing toward good spiritual health for our church family to be in good shape.

What are the kinds of things we can do to ensure that our church family is strong and vibrant and healthy?

ü Be committed to your daily devotional and prayer time.

ü Cultivate a healthy home life that is built on a solid spiritual foundation.

ü Prioritize your participation in worship and Bible study.

ü Be a good and faithful steward of all of your resources.

ü Welcome guests with helpfulness and hospitality.

ü Find one or two places to serve and serve passionately.

ü Live authentically and consistently, becoming good at being you.

This Sunday we celebrate baptism at the beginning of the midmorning service. I look forward to seeing you as we gather for worship and Bible study.

Exploring the Applications of Grace

When the grace of God is applied to a human life, great things can happen. However, to talk about grace, sing about grace, and even preach about grace, but not apply grace to daily living….that is a travesty.

In I Corinthians 15:10 the Apostle Paul affirms the dynamic power of grace in his own life by confessing that “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect…” (MSG).

This Sunday we begin our October series from the gospel of Mark as we investigate a variety of life situations Where Grace Applies. Each of our messages on Sunday and Wednesday will explore the diverse ways in which we experience, extend, and apply grace.

As our First Baptist Family continues to grow in faith and friendship, we are blessed to have many new residents and guests joining us for worship. The way we welcome new friends and the way we invite and assimilate them into our Bible study classes and small groups speaks volumes about our theology of grace.

This Sunday October 4 we begin the deacon nomination process. You are invited to prayerfully submit the names of persons you believe should serve as deacons beginning in 2010. Also coming up this month, we will celebrate baptism at 10:30 on October 11. On October 18, as a part of History Sunday we will have a brief ceremony at 9:15 in the Atrium to dedicate the Clyde Bizzell Library. Our worship services will highlight monumental moments in our spiritual heritage and at 11:30 we offer tours that accent our campus and historical archives. To complete the month we will share in Communion in each of our services on October 25.

Celebrate God’s grace all this month as we worship faithfully, live authentically, and serve passionately.