November 01, 2007

Taking the Plunge

We have just scheduled our next baptism service for Sunday, December 2nd at the First Baptist Church.  If you are a believer and have never taken the plunge, read Proclaiming God’s Purposes in Baptism and then call the church office to get on the list.

October 31, 2007

Reformation Day

You may be interested in reading the opening monologue I preached one year ago in honor of Reformation Sunday. 

Click here to read “The Greatness of God’s Grace.”

October 30, 2007

The Pack is Back

I hope Bears fans stayed up to watch the ending of last night’s game.

October 29, 2007

Lateral Moves

Check out this amazing last play in a football game. 

Both the NBC Nightly News and ABC’s World News Tonight ended their broadcasts with this clip. 

See if you can count the 15 different laterals. 

Here’s the point—don’t ever quit.

October 29, 2007

Retreat Report

Check out Pastor Jeff’s retreat report and then pray for these students as they head back to their routines this week.

October 28, 2007

Sunday Hymn

Check out Grace Greater Than Our Sin.

October 27, 2007

Word from the Wongs

I sent an email recently to David and Stella Wong, former PBC members who now live north of San Diego.  I wanted to know how the fires had affected them.  Here’s David’s response (I have his permission to post this):

Hello Pastor Brian,

We thank you and others who have been praying for us and the Chinese Bible Church family here. Our family and those in Murrieta (Temecula Valley church campus) were spared of any fires in our town and we did not have to evacuate. We thank God for His mercy and protection.
For our main church campus in San Diego, where most of the fires hit the hardest, it was a very challenging time.  Most of the pastors and about more than half of the congregation had to evacuate their homes.  One sister did lose her house, one pastor had fire that burned his front and back yard but spared the house! Thankfully, not one single person was hurt.  Pastor Lam (senior pastor) wrote a letter to all the congregation during these few days on how he was impressed by the caring and love that had been shown by many in the church family and in the community of San Diego. 
Because of the fires, one of the pastor from San Diego that was scheduled to come to our campus to speak will remain in his local congregation to minister and shepherd there. So, I will be sharing a message this Sunday and we will have a congregational prayer time together. The thoughts that God has placed in my heart to share are:
1.  We are ultimately not at the mercy of “Mother Nature” but under the Merciful Father God.
2.  Earthly treasures can vanish quickly, but spiritual treasures cannot be destroyed by fire.
3.  Love that’s stronger than consuming Fire- love of God, love demonstrated to others during these challenging times triump over tragedies.
Please pray for me that the message will be an encouragement to our local congregation and uplift their hearts to our merciful Father during this time.

Stella and kids are well.  Give our regards to your family and PBC church family.

Preach on, Pastor Wong!

October 27, 2007

PBC Website Featured in Daily Leader

The Pontiac Daily Leader ran a feature story about our new website design in today’s paper. The article is very well done.

October 27, 2007

Discover God

It’s time to Discover God.

October 27, 2007

My Inner Preacher

HT: Paul Eckhart

October 26, 2007

Preaching Promo

I’m not quite finished with Sunday’s sermon yet but thought I’d pass along a paragraph that will hopefully whet your appetite…

We need the complete picture of Christ, not just the caricatures that we like.  He was the perfect embodiment of grace and truth, of mercy and holiness, of love and zeal.  And in our penchant for promoting only the characteristics of Christ that we like by emphasizing the utilitarian aspects of what works for us, we have marginalized His majesty.  We would rather avoid those passages where He seems untamable and unpredictable, especially when His words make us wince and His actions make us uncomfortable.

If you live in Livingston County I hope to see you on Sunday morning at either 9:00 or 10:45.  If you live elsewhere, please join us online.  Wherever you live, may I encourage you to read Mark 11:15-19 in preparation for the message?

October 26, 2007

Advancing Through Retreating

Please pray for the 37 high school and junior high students who are leaving for a weekend retreat this afternoon.  Here are some requests that come to mind:

1.  Pray for Pastor Jeff as he teaches them about Jesus.  I’ve read his handouts—the material is deep, interesting and very applicable. 
2.  Pray for all the leaders as they will need stamina and wisdom (and coffee or Mountain Dew).
3.  Pray for the students to go “deep and wide” as a result of this retreat.  Pray that they will have fun but pray especially for spiritual decisions to be made.  Pray for conversions.  Pray for commitments.  Pray for revival.
4.  Pray for safety in travel and at the retreat.
5.  Pray for relational harmony.
6.  Pray for their spiritual protection against the evil one (see Ephesians 6).
7.  Pray that they would not just learn more about Jesus but that they will know Him better, love Him more fully, and be motivated to share Him with others.

As a tool to help you pray for our students in high school, there will be a “prayer tree” set up on Sunday morning with the names of students on it.  May I encourage you to take one of these bookmarks and covenant to pray for this student every day?

October 25, 2007

We Need Your Help!

In less than two weeks, PBC will have the opportunity to take part in a significant Spiritual Life Survey that will help us better understand the spiritual health of our church.  We’ve been chosen, along with 500 other churches, to take part in this survey.

Whether you’re just starting to explore the Christian faith, or you’re a long-time follower of Christ, as our mission statements says, we want to connect you to Jesus and equip you to be a growing and faithful follower.  In order to do this, we really want your candid feedback.

Here’s how it will work.  We will make a web address available for the survey and all you’ll need to do is click on the link and give your input.  It will take about 20 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous.  These findings will help us immensely.  I’m really excited about this opportunity as it will give us some great feedback as we head into our 40th Anniversary year in 2008.

You don’t need to do anything now but when you see the link, please take the time to complete the survey.  This survey is open to anyone who considers PBC to be their home, irregardless of how often you attend.  It is only available for those 18 and older.

Stay tuned.

October 24, 2007

Two Kinds of Praying

Last night I watched this funny video that shows a young girl praying for everything, including her macaroni and cheese. 

After I watched this I watched Jim Cymbala’s classic sermon called “My House Shall Be Called a House of Prayer.”  I’ve watched this several times and have always been greatly challenged.  I’m preaching on this passage Sunday so you might want to watch it in preparation for the message.  It’s about 50 minutes long, but well worth it…especially the ending where he talks about how prayer brought his prodigal daughter back: click here.

October 23, 2007

California Fires—Please Pray!

Word now is that 700 homes and businesses have been destroyed and more than half a million people have had to evacuate their homes.  This link to the LA Times gives a first-hand report.

How should we pray?  Imagine if that was your house that burned to the ground.  Think of the sense of loss you would feel.  Think of those who have built their life on possessions and pray that they would run to the Cross.  Pray for the church to reach out while some church buildings have burned to the ground.  I cheered on one pastor who was interviewed and said, “We lost our building but the church is people.  We’ll be alright.”

We’ve received prayer requests from Campus Crusade staffers who’ve lost homes and from e3 Partners as this has affected their ministry as well.

This email from an inferno is worth reading.

Pray fervently, friends. 

October 23, 2007

Church History

Why Every Christian Should be a Student of Church History.  Check out the free resources at the end.

October 23, 2007

When Grief Comes

This looks helpful.

October 22, 2007

Life is Love

Here’s some more great writing from Leigh Sullan.

October 21, 2007

Christmas Child Challenge

The response to the Christmas Child Challenge was amazing this morning!  Here are some highlights…

- All 50 pre-made boxes were taken before the second service started.
- All 150 brochures were taken (we’re ordering more).
- Someone went out and bought about 25 additional plastic boxes between services for people to use.
- One person came up to me after the services and said that he would fill one box for every 50 that we collect.  That means if we collect 300, he will bring in six additional ones.  If we collect 3,000 then he’ll bring in 60.  If we collect 30,000…now that would be a mircacle of multiplication.

We are going to need some help delivering these boxes to the distribution center when they all come in.  Contact the church office if you can help.

October 21, 2007

Love and Respect

I agree with Pastor Ray as he recommends the best book on marriage he’s ever read.

October 21, 2007

Sunday Hymn

When life around you feels like sinking sand, rejoice that you stand on the Solid Rock.

October 20, 2007

Crossmap

Crossmap has published Future-tense Worship.

October 20, 2007

Operation Christmas Child

For the past several years PBC has been involved in Operation Christmas Child.  Here’s a summary of what it is:

Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love. This program of Samaritan’s Purse provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas-Jesus Christ.

It works like this.  Simply fill up a shoebox with items that children in third-world countries need and then bring your filled box back here to church.  These boxes are then shipped to over 100 countries!  Let me quote from the recent Samaritan’s Purse newsletter: “Church partners who hand out the boxes on our behalf also reach out to the children and their families, sharing the hope of the Gospel.  By God’s grace, every year hundreds of thousands of these children receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior through our Gospel storybooks and discipleship program…One of the brigades visited a women’s prison where dozens of children live behind bars with their jailed mothers.  You can imagine how delighted they were to receive Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts.  During that visit, the Gospel was shared, and 135 women and over 50 children received God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Christ.”  (October 07 Ministry Update).

I understand that we provided 150 shoeboxes last year.  That’s good but we can do better.  I think we can double that this year!  I want to encourage every individual at PBC to fill one box.  Not one per family but one per person.  You can learn more by visiting Samaritan’s Purse online: Operation Christmas Child.  Pre-made boxes and brochures will be available in the lobby (or you can use another box). 

October 19, 2007

Becoming a Man of the Word

Pastor Dick will be leading a discussion tomorrow at the men’s breakfast called, “Becoming a Man of the Word.”  I’ll be there for the beginning but then need to leave early because Lydia will be running in Cross Country regionals in Peoria.

If you’re a man, I urge you to come at 7:30.  If you’re a woman, I urge you to urge the men you know to be there.

October 19, 2007

Birth Control for 11-year-olds?

This is not right. 

October 18, 2007

Free Piper Books

I posted about this some time ago but thought I should do so again.  Many of John Piper’s books are available as free downloads.

October 17, 2007

Questions to Ponder Before Sunday

Mark Dever wonders what would change about our Sundays if we realized that:

1. God cares about how he is worshipped?
2. Worship is fundamentally about God?
3. Worship involves our whole lives?
4. Worship is fundamentally hearing and responding to God’s Word?
5. Worship involves our wills and emotions?
6. Public worship should be distinguished from private worship?
7. Public worship is the business of the church assembled?
8. Public worship should edify the congregation?
9. Public worship is not based on a certain musical style?
10. Passivity is always inappropriate in worship?
11. Corporate worship is worth preparing for?
12. True Christian worship services will attract non-believers.
13. If you are a true Christian, corporate worship is your future?

HT: Peter Bogert

October 17, 2007

Precepts

If you’re looking for a site that will help you study the Bible, check out Precepts.

If you scroll down on this page, you’ll see the PBC Romans Series.  Our series on Philippians is also available.

October 17, 2007

Sermons in Spanish

For the past year or so, PBC attendee Sarah Schwerin has been translating our sermons into Spanish each week.  Sarah is a senior at Pontiac Township High School.  When I received the latest update from Beth Hanna about her work with the website in Mexico, I asked her if she would like to have these sermons in Spanish for the Obrero Fiel site.

Here’s her response: Wow! Yes, I would be interested! Some of the content and jokes don’t quite translate real well, but if you have someone translating them, maybe they do a better job than I would, and I’d be GLAD to upload them!! Thanks so much!

I guess I should tell Beth that some of the content and jokes don’t translate real well here either…

Thanks to Sarah for her diligent work each week!  It’s an honor to be able to support the work that our missionaries are doing (Beth Hanna and now Paul and Grace Becker).

October 16, 2007

Obrero Fiel

As many of you know, my Spanish is not very good but I think Obrero Fiel means “faithful worker.”  Our PBC missionaries, Beth Hanna and Paul and Grace Becker, are involved with this ministry.  If you know of someone who speaks Spanish please pass along this site: Obrero Fiel.

Here’s an excerpt from Beth Hanna’s recent prayer letter:

The ministry of Obrero Fiel continues to grow and exciting new opportunities are on the horizon. ObreroFiel was launched by CAM in 2003. Today we receive 30,000 visits from over 50 countries each month. Someone wrote: Thank you for the lesson you sent me. God used it in my life through His Holy Spirit to help me develop a plan to evangelize others.

In four years we’ve connected with thousands of Spanish-speakers around the world who serve the Lord in various types of ministries. Many of these servants regularly depend on ObreroFiel for help and information they cannot find anywhere else. Maribel Morillo wrote: Thank you for responding so quickly. The information I asked for is to send to a Christian family that has a little girl with difficulties. You and your web page have been such a blessing in my own spiritual life and a powerful tool for the ministry I am working in.

October 15, 2007

Romans in New Hampshire

We received a call at the office today from a pastor in New Hampshire who was looking for a message from Romans that was not posted on our site.  Brian Sullan was able to locate the sermon and posted it right away.  I called this pastor and told him how to find it: Romans Series.

Thanks again to Brian Sullan for his vision for how the web can send the Word out to the world!

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