MISSIONARY IN NEED OF PRAYER

We at Perry Baptist do our best to screen our missionaries, but sometimes we end up with some pretty wild ones.

Jack Hager has been on his summer camp circuit and has become a victim of the ferocious water balloon. I know, I've never known the water balloon to be ferocious either, but just one look at Jack's face is proof.


I know you're wondering how this could happen. Jack's first report explains how and then his follow up report gives the extent of his injuries.

Be praying for Jack but especially Jane as she attempts to keep Jack down, that's not an easy task!!

THE LOTTERY AND THE CHRISTIAN

After seeing the headline of a Buffalo man winning the lottery it got me thinking; Why would a Christian play the lottery? Money and all it affords of course would be the right answer and the same reason that all people play the lottery. But what kind of desire for money would justify playing the lottery in the believers mind and heart.

I've heard some say they'd give money to the church if they won, could this be the justification for playing? Maybe some are justified by the feeling that God would be pleased if they could get out of debt with their earnings. I have struggled to find a God honoring reason why his children would play the lottery and I can't think of one. How about you?

I had more questions than answers and so I thought I'd share these questions:

~ Can a believer play the lottery and not be a lover of money?
~ Can a believer play the lottery and say they trust God for their needs?
~ Can a believer play the lottery and say they love God?
~ Can a believer play the lottery and love his neighbor?

So these are the main questions that I struggle with and from the truth of God's word my answer could not be yes to any question. It's interesting how the first and greatest commandment and the second seemed to be the main argument against the lottery. Trusting in money rather than God is certainly violating the command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And what about the second commandment? Are we loving our neighbor when we take money from them they don't have because they're hoping in something to deliver them from something far worse than poverty or debt. If we turn to the lottery, are we not hoping in the same thing?

Could it not be said of the "christian" who plays the lottery; they do not know the Savior, because if they knew him, they would laugh at the lottery for it's worth does not compare to knowing Christ!

"but test everything, hold fast to what is good" I Thessalonians 5:21

For your joy

INTERESTING TIMES

We live in interesting times don't you think? There is one word that comes to mind when I consider how I feel most of the time and that's helpless. In the news you'll find rumors of war, economic chaos, death, but most of all the slow and certain change in our country that one day we will no longer recognize.

Trust is lost in a sea of lies and deceit that is cleverly cloaked in a facade of democracy. Justice? The small time criminals are finding themselves behind bars while the same crimes perpetrated on U.S. citizens by it's own Government receives the reward of stealing more money from U.S. citizens. Is it any wonder why Jesus said, "lay up your treasures in heaven, where thieves cannot steal?"

When one's eyes are opened to the corruption around us and we look desperately for hope, where does one turn? Some have taken it upon themselves to fight back by protesting, appealing to their representatives to stand against the evil schemes of this world, believing there might remain some moral conscience in Washington. Others are still embroiled in the republican/democrat fight that is only a straw man to busy us while the real battle is being won with little resistance.

But where does the believer's hope come from? Is it found in God? We will find out in due season. I often question my own heart as to where I have placed my hope. I confess it is too easy to correctly answer, "it is in God" when I am surrounded by earthly comforts. But will I, with the hymn writer be able to say, "when all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay"?

My greatest longing as a Pastor's wife is that the body of Christ is equipped with truth that will sustain them through difficult times. A faith that is solid, that cannot be shaken. If in the church we are tossed to and fro by matters of little importance, how much more so will we be shaken by greater matter. I want the church to live well, believe well and die well. I pray for God to give all my brothers and sisters a firm foundation on which to stand.

Is there anything in life, in light of eternity, that matters more?

Romans 4:20 "No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God"

For your joy

LADIES NIGHT!!!

Just a reminder that tomorrow night, June 23rd is Ladies Night Out at the Church. We will be showing the Chonda Pierce DVD, This Ain't Prettyville. We will have a time of fellowship and refreshments and will be providing secret prayer pal forms for those interested in participating in this ministry.

We would love to see you there!!

For your joy

THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM

We are distracted by many things in this life. So much so, that we are unaware of what is going on in the center of our Government. You won't hear this on Fox News, or any other news channel, but make no mistake, our country is being taken over by the enemy.

This enemy has been at work in this country for many years feeding our sinful appetites and greed with money, material pleasures, an endless assortment of sexual fantasies, and insatiable power. The lust for more never ceases, and we have unwittingly been caught like the spider's victim in it's web of deceit.

We turn on our TV and trust that those who deliver the news to us each day, especially on Fox, are "good" people. They write "good" books, some have been delivered from awful sins (Glenn Beck's alcoholism) and they speak out against evil and even say they're christians on TV, but wait. . .something doesn't smell right. We live in a democracy where, we the people, elect our government officials and they do what they promise us they'll do, but wait. . .something doesn't smell right.

Satan is the great deceiver and the father of lies. We need to recognize his work so that we know best how to pray. God is all powerful and we have access to his throne through Jesus Christ. Let us not waste the power at our disposal by allowing Satan to distract us with lesser things. The Christian life is war and I'm afraid the Church is asleep. We need to heed the words of Cicero, Satan's schemes are no different now than they were then. We need to claim the promises of God and call upon him to revive his Church and to thwart the plans of the evil one. I pray he breathes life into us, enabling us to get back on course to fight the good fight of faith.

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not traitor, he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared." - Cicero, 42 B.C.

GOODBYE HOEDOWN FOR THE DEVINNEYS

WHEN: Sunday, June 14th
WHERE: Perry Baptist Church
TIME: 5:30pm

All are welcome and we hope you'll come. If you didn't sign up on Sunday, call the office and let Cynthia know you'll be comin and she'll let you know what you can bring.

We look forward to a wonderful time of fellowship.

Ya'll come!!!

CALVIN ON THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

"We are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal (Rom. 14:8; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19). O, how much has that man profited who, having been taught that he is not his own, has taken away dominion and rule from his own reason that he may yield it to God!" (Institutes, 3.7.1)

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Wes and Betsy Snell on the birth of their baby boy on Saturday, June 6th. Wesley Snell Jr. weighs 8lbs 11oz.

For your Joy!!

IMITATING CHRIST AND REJECTING ALL THE FOLLY AND UNREALITY OF THIS WORLD

My favorite book next to the bible is, The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a' Kempis. As we approach another day of worship I'd like to give you the very first devotional in his book. I warn you, he does not hold back. He lays out a way of life for the believer that is far more radical than we live today. I pray his words admonish you the way they have me and that you will see that being a Christian is to not only live in the light but to love the giver of it!

For your Joy


He who follows me can never walk in darkness, says the Lord.

By these words, Christ urges us to mould our lives and characters in the image of his, if we wish to be truly enlightened and freed from all blindness of heart. Let us therefore see that we endeavour beyond all else to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ.

Christ's teaching is better than all the teaching of the saints, and any man who has the Spirit will find the hidden manna there. It so happens that many people hear the Gospel frequently and yet feel little desire, and this is because they do not have the Spirit of Christ. Anyone who wishes to understand and to savour the words of Christ to the full must try to make his whole life conform to the pattern of Christ's life.

What good can it do you to discuss the mystery of God the Trinity in learned terms if you lack humility and so displease that God? Learned arguments do not make a man holy and righteous, whereas a good life makes him dear to God. I would rather feel compunction in my heart than be able to define it. If you knew the whole Bible off by heart and all the expositions of scholars, what good would it do you without the love and grace of God?

A shadow's shadow-a world of shadows. There is no reality in anything except loving God and serving him alone. Our highest wisdom is to seek the kingdom of heaven, rejecting the things of this world. You are only pursuing an empty phantom if you strive for riches that cannot last, and pin your hopes on them; if you canvass for honors and acquire distinction; if you obey your natural appetites and desire things which must bring you punishment later; if you hope for a long life and care little for a good life; if you think only of this present life, and never give a thought to what comes after it; if you set your heart on things which pass away so quickly, and do not press on towards that place where lasting joy remains.

Call often to mind that old saying-eye looks on unsatisfied, ear listens ill content. Make it your aim to detach your heart from the love of things which can be seen, and to transfer all your affections to that which cannot be seen; for those who follow the impulses of their senses stain their conscience and lose the grace of God.

by Thomas a' Kempis