Summerville Baptist Church

Proverbs 18:17-21

17 - He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.
18 - The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty.
19 - A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
20 - A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

There are several things that every one of us as humans must be careful of in life or it will cause us great grief. We need to be careful of our health, because we cannot neglect or abuse our bodies long and expect them to function properly. We cannot spend more than we make very long before we suffer the reality of oppressive debt. Nor can we let our ego and mouth go unchecked without causing great destruction in our wake. Every one of us has problems with our ego and our tongue, the issue is whether we are working on it or not. God’s Word addresses both of these issues from cover to cover. Either we are working on our pride or it is working on us. Either we are controlling our words or they are causing hurts to others and to our own selves. These matters are universal among humans throughout time. We all have an ego and if we are not careful it can get offended or puffed up causing us trouble. All of us find ourselves saying things that we know should not have been allowed out of our thoughts. God says that these matters are the same for us all. Every one of us has the power of life and encouragement in our words or the power of death and destruction. The only question is, which way will we choose to go with our words. We can be pleased and satisfied with the effect of our words or we can experience something far differently. Even if we work at using our words correctly and keep our ego in check, I have found that they can still cause us trouble. It is not too hard for any of us to see these flaws in others. The real problem is getting God’s help to see it in us. And that is where it really matters, because that is what we will give an account for unto the Lord. We each will answer to the Lord for our own pride and our own words, not for those of others.

I Peter 5:6-10

I don’t know about you, but I Peter 5:7 contains some of the most precious words of Scripture for me. It says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Wow! What a statement of promise, hope, peace, and power! Whatever my care I can bring it to the Lord and find hope, help, and healing. It tells me to cast it upon Him, which means I must let it go and release it to His sovereign work in my life. It tells me to do this with all my cares or causes of stress. I can cast every one of my stresses to the all powerful, all knowing, all perfect Creator of the universe. The reason I am told to do this is not only because He alone has the solution, but also I am told that He cares about my cares. I am impressed with the vital nature of this truth in the next statement regarding my enemy and adversary, who seeks my destruction evidently even through those cares. Verse 8 says this, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” My greatest challenge and hindrance in the struggles of life is not my spouse, another family member, co-worker, or even some other hurt or issue plaguing me. My adversary and enemy is Satan himself. His goal is to use the cares of this world and my life to devour me. I am told in verse 9 to resist his attack on me through faith in the Lord not my own strength or wisdom. I am also told in this verse that his attacks are not unique to me and my life or even my family, but rather are common to believers around the world. But I cannot miss the key to the right experience in each of these statements that is found in verse 6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” If I fail on this truth I will miss out on the help of His care. It does not mean He doesn’t care; it means I miss His help in my cares. If I do not humble myself to God and His will then I will miss out on His resources to help me. Pride in my life hinders God’s work in my life. I believe it is pride that is a greatest defeat in the battles of our lives. In all our sufferings, whatever their root cause, it is clear that our best response is to turn to God. In doing this, we can experience His grace which is sufficient for our every need. That is stated by God’s Word in verse 10, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” Don’t let Satan succeed in making you think God doesn’t care.

We live in a beautiful part of God’s wonderful creation. Everyday you can step outside and look at a panoramic view of the splendor of God’s creative handiwork. The view only gets better if you travel into the outlying areas in any direction. God’s power and glory is displayed for us in vivid color and unique variety all around us. From the animal kingdom to the world of plant life, we can see the wonder of the Creator demonstrated every day. The wonderful truths about the creation we see points us to an awareness of the wonderful Creator that has made it all. Just as wonderful as His creation is the wonderful nature of His Salvation. We have a wonderful Savior who has paid in full for us to experience and enjoy eternal Salvation. It is possible because of His amazing grace that we could never earn, merit, or deserve. The greatness of His power and glory is seen in creation, but personally experienced in an individual life through the gift of Salvation.
Friend, don’t miss out on all of this in your life. If you have never personally received the gift of Salvation, God has brought you here today to face that eternal truth. If you know the great Creator as your personal Savior, then the Lord wanted you here today to be reminded of how blessed you are to be His child. Let this reminder also exhort you to live this week to His glory and honor because He deserves no less from His children.

When you miss a service at Summerville Baptist Church you miss out on some wonderful blessings. The Lord is doing great things in this place and I want to encourage you to not miss out on any of it. This week we have had 20 people involved in spreading the Gospel through the Fair Booth. I praise the Lord that several decision were made to trust Jesus as personal Savior. While that was going on almost 30 people were involved with picking, sorting, or selling cherries to benefit our Youth Ministry. While that was going on many in home visits were made to encourage people towards the Lord. If you missed Wednesday night you missed a great report of the second quarter of ministry here at Summerville Baptist Church. You missed hearing about record setting attendances and fantastic giving of God’s people through the help of the Lord. July was another great month in Faith Missions giving as well. You also missed hearing about three professions through our Summer of Sharpening children’s ministry and about three added into the Church family by Baptism. God is doing such wonderful things here that we have young people who faithfully attend every service because they want to be in this place. That is very exciting. God allowed our church to share the Gospel with several hundred people during the second quarter between all the various ministries and individuals seeking to witness. Even this week we have witnessed God answer some awesome prayer requests. Today we have some new people who have joined out ministry team to serve the Lord and we have several preparing for Baptism. God is truly doing great things for which we are glad, thankful, and rejoicing. Don’t miss out on any of His blessings.

There is something that is being lost a little bit at a time from generation to generation. It is an ingredient that has made our country strong and great over the past years. It is essential to our national security and productivity. It is also essential to the well-being of our families and our success in life. This essential ingredient is also an important mark of maturity. The essential that I am thinking of is self-control. Self-control is critical to our success in every venue of life. If we want our children to enjoy success in life, then we need to make sure we are helping them to learn self-control. Appeasing their every whim or making everyone and everything adjust to their ever-changing whines is not going to help them mature in self-control. It is the parent?s job to help their child with imposed controls until the child is old enough to exhibit their own controls over their passions. This is vital in the parenting role and responsibility. This control over passions needed in the growing up years for children is the same for the adult in order to live on a budget and not add to the decline of our economy. Self-control is critical to our health, our financial situation, our spiritual condition, our relationships, and our moral purity. Self-control touches every facet of life. This week in our morning worship service we will be addressing this vital matter in our sermon series entitled “God’s Recipe for Healthy Relationships.” Please join us to discover more of how relevant God’s Word is to practical life.

This is a great word. It is a great word of theological truth and of practical encouragement in the life of every believer. It is valuable for you to see yourself as redeemed through the Lord. The idea is something that benefits you personally, but has been accomplished by someone else on your behalf. This is true for the Christian in their eternal Salvation, as well in their Christian living while here in this present evil world. The Webster’s Dictionary defines this wonderful word with this entry, “REDEE’MED, pp. Ransomed; delivered from bondage, distress, penalty, liability, or from the possession of another, by paying an equivalent.” Notice that word ransomed, which is an unmistakable correlation to the saving work of Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection according to the Scriptures to pay the debt of our sin before the Holy God of the universe. But don’t miss what is stated about being delivered, because the ramification of that extends much further than just the day we trusted Christ as our personal Savior. That even applies to the bondage of the temptation that is seeking to entrap you by its clutches if you succumb to its allure to you. It also applies to the trouble that you are in or headed into that Satan wants to use to defeat you. But rather, God wants to strengthen you through it and grow you through it as He helps you and rescues you from its potential to destroy you. It also applies to the distress you are feeling from the discouragements of life that you have suffered. Satan wants you to cave in under the overwhelming sense of despair that you feel from these discouragements, but God wants you to turn to Him and experience His deliverance from your distress. Don’t miss out on either part of the personal benefit of this wonderful, biblical truth in your own life.

Lamentations 3:22-23

It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed,because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

I love new things. I like the freshness of new things. Each day is filled with new opportunities that cause us to face the day with excitement and anticipation. The New Year gives us 365 days of new opportunities; in fact this New Year gives an extra day of wonderful opportunities. Just as unique as each days opportunities present, so too is the wonderful freshness of a life in Christ offers the child of God. Every day is a new day of wonder and excitement, as we grow closer to the Lord through the truth of His eternal Bible. Newness is a wonderful thing. The old is behind you and the future before you is fresh and full of hope. That is what happens when a person trusts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and they are born again by faith in the cleansing power of His shed blood for sin. Everything is new. Life is new in Christ, eternity is new in Heaven, living is new as a child of God, and spiritually we are newly filled with life from the Spirit of God. But wait, that’s not all; not only is life as a whole new by Salvation but every day is also new for the child of God. Every day offers us new truth in God’s eternal Word, new hope of living for the Lord in more obedience then yesterday, and new ways to honor the Lord today through the experiences of yesterday. Every day can be and should be a day of hope for the child of God. His mercies are new every day, His Word has new things to learn, and His faithfulness to provide and bless His children is new every day. Friend, if you do not have this kind of relationship with the God of the Bible, please let us introduce you to biblical Salvation this week at Summerville Baptist Church.

Matthew 1:21
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Christmas is all about Christ! If you don’t want to see it that way then fine, but don’t try to change how others see it. I am not going to get upset if an Orthodox Jew tells me Happy Hanukah. It won’t offend me if a Muslim wants to fast during Ramadan. So what is the big deal if I want to say “Merry Christmas”? I do not see the issue that a small group of people with the power of the ACLU behind them, are trying to make over this beloved holiday, which to some is more of a Holy day than to others. Perhaps the cause for so much alarm is the very reason why Jesus came to earth from heaven in the first place. It is because we humans are sinners in need of a Savior. A person may try to ignore God, legislate Him out of society, or even regulate how others acknowledge Him in public, but there will come a day when each one will have to answer to Him. Even if you do not submit to Him while on earth and receive Him as your Savior, you will still have to reckon with Him in eternity. He came to save you from your sins just as He did to save me from my sins, but you do not have to respond and receive His gift. You can reject it if you wish or ignore it if you choose. The unfortunate thing is that when the time comes that you realize that you have made an enormous mistake it will be too late, because your choice has eternal consequences. So Very Merry Christmas wishes from Summerville Baptist Church because we still Christ as the Reason for this Season. Come join us for our Christmas Program Sunday, Dec. 16 at 6:00 PM and for our Christmas Day Worship service at 10:00 AM. All are welcome to come enjoy our Worship services.

This statement found in Matthew 1:23 about Jesus is at the heart of all the Christian focus of Christmas. Unfortunately, much of this focus has been lost, largely due to the secular thrust of our society and the confusing false teaching of many cults in our world. The issue is that there are three distinct characters involved in this whole matter: the Godhead, mankind, and angels. The Godhead (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is holy, eternal, and the only deity ever. Isaiah 45:6 & 21 says that there never has been and never will be any other god that even comes close to the one true God of the Bible. Then you have the created beings of God, which include mankind, angels, and all else in the universe. All of these have a point of origin when they were created by God. None of these entities ever crossover to become the other. Someone is crying out, “What about Jesus?” Jesus did become man; however, He was also God while He was in human form. This is why only He can be our Savior. He became man to be a sacrifice for our sins, yet He was God so He could be sinless and forgive us of our sins. The issue is “God with us”. God was not a man like us before He became a god, angles do not become humans or a god, and humans were not at one time angels nor do they become gods as they do good. You cannot find any of these man made theories in the Bible. That is what is so significant about the statement of the Nativity, “God with us.” If God had not come in human form, then no man ever could be able to become a child of God and live with Him for eternity. That is the theological heart of the whole Christmas Story. Come celebrate it with us at Summerville Baptist Church.

Revelation 1:1-3

1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servant things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

There is probably no other book of the Bible that has created more controversy and confused teaching over the years than the last of biblical record. However, this book has many unique characteristics that make it very special and a book well worth reading and understanding.
It is the only book of the Holy Scripture, to my knowledge, containing its own outline that is defined and inspired by God. It is also the only book in the Bible, to my knowledge, that has a clearly stated blessing for reading it, hearing it read, and keeping its truths.

In many verses of the Bible there are blessings stated for these activities in general, but this book states a blessing about it specifically. There is way too much confusion about the book of the Revelation, and I want you to know that we are studying it each Sunday night in our evening worship service at 6PM. I do not claim to be an expert on end time prophecy, nor on this book of the Bible, but I am preaching a series of messages from it in our services.

I believe that part of the confusion is from different doctrinal positions on other issues that have implications on the exposition of this book. I also think that some of the confusion comes from those who seek to sensationalize the statements in the book. Another part of the confusion comes from ignoring basic grammar in verse structure. I believe that if you follow the grammar, take literal what is stated literally and figurative what is stated figuratively, and pay attention to the development of the information being revealed, that much of the mystery is removed and very practical, helpful conclusions can be drawn. Just look at these first few verses. The information being revealed has one main subject, which is Jesus Christ. Who, I might add, is the central focus of the rest of the Bible as well. Then we see the Revelation is given from God the Father unto the Apostle John for him to record. This shows that it is divinely inspired like the rest of Holy Scripture, which is defined only as the 66 books of the Holy Bible. In fact, it is called the Word of God, which also speaks to the words being God’s Himself.

We also see that God uses His ministering spirit, an angel, to help in the communication of the vision. In many events of the book, an angel is doing what is being revealed or an angel is escorting John through the vision as it is revealed. In the verses above, we also are told that the events recorded are to happen next, as stated by “must shortly come to pass.” And then verse three gives us the blessing that is unique to this book of the Bible.

Now, there is nothing mystical, scary, or troubling in these three verses at all. It is my position that most of the rest of the book is very similar. In what we have seen thus far, there is great doctrine about the inspiration of Scripture, practically beneficial information about the personal reading of God’s Word, as well as some real truth about angels to help offset all the wrong teaching and false information from television shows permeating our society.

The Revelation is a great book of the Bible.