Tag: church

Honor the Past

Honor the Past.

This Sunday, we honored our past at Craft Baptist Church. God has blessed us with 127 years of shining His light and love in Cherokee county. The past is our story. It has brought us to this moment. The faithfulness of those who have been here before us is our legacy and challenge.

While we honor the past, we must also look to the future. As we think about the early years of the church, things were different than today. We have lights, air conditioning, etc. People are different. We are far more mobile than 127 years ago. The gospel and love shared will always be the same, but things won’t always look the same. Methods change while the message will always remain the same. Our delivery must change but doctrine never will.

I am grateful for the lessons we can learn from the past. They were perseverant in difficult days. They shared Christ’s love with families in our community. They focused on the future. In fact, many have shared how they were children here and the active ministry to children and youth discipled them to serve as they now do. Many ministers and teachers began their ministry here at Craft.

As we celebrate our history, I also look forward to writing the chapter we are currently living. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us.

The Interests of Others

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In my devotional reading this morning, I read about the 2 AM group. Here is that story,
” A friend told me about a group of people who share a strong bond of faith in Christ. One of them, a 93-year-old woman, said, ‘I feel like I can call any of you at 2 a.m., and I don’t even have to apologize if I feel the need for any type of assistance.’ Whether the need is prayer, practical help, or someone to be there during a time of need, these friends are unconditionally committed to each other.”(Our Daily Bread)

These friends are a great example of the body of Christ in action. They put into practice the instructions of Paul in Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (HCSB)

I have been blessed to a part of churches who live this way. We sing about being one in the bond of love, but we have to live that out. It blesses my soul when I visit in the hospital and hear how many from the church have already been by to check on them. When I was hospital used, I learned the value of those visits. That is just one easy we can look out for each others interests.

My prayer is that all churches will be 2 AM groups.

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