Sunday Morning 3/22/2020 Announcement

Hello Church,

We wanted to keep you informed of things going on at First Baptist. As your pastor, I am reminded that each one of you is a gift to our church. Often the Apostle Paul would say how he longed to see those people he was writing to: “I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.” 2 Timothy 1:4. I have been reminded that I am an extrovert and one of my spiritual gifts is shepherding. In light of that: I miss you, I miss seeing your face, and I am looking forward to being able to minister again face to face.

In the meantime, we have not stopped ministering. We have shifted to doing ministry in several different ways. We are calling our people, delivering food, Facebooking, and doing ministry through our website. One of our driving motivations to go online with our service last week was that we trusted God to maximize ministry by reaching more people than if we had opened our building. God answered that prayer last Sunday as we had over 250 different homes tuned into our Sunday sermon. Praise the Lord!

This Sunday we will once again be using the online format for our ministry. Several people have also asked about how to continue to support God’s work. What a blessing! This will be so important for each of us and we want to provide several ways to give both to our church and missions ministries. We have had people giving online at our website, which you can learn more about, and give to by clicking HERE. We have also had people send in their gift to 980 Haven Road, Albion MI 49224. In addition to these two ways, we will also have the office open this Sunday from 11am-12:30pm so you can drop off your tithes and offerings or you could do this during our office hours through the week.

Our ministry this week will continue to include several key ways to help you grow:

• Watch a daily Moment in the Word with Pastor Tom – you can find that on the Pastor’s Blog section – and can also click HERE.

• Micah will also release a lesson for the teens each Wednesday on the Youth section – this week’s is HERE.

• We even will have a short time of teaching for our children Sunday morning in the Kids section – HERE.

• We are wanting to hear from you and how we can pray for you – share your request HERE.

• Finally, Micah and some of the teens will be involved in a food distribution to those in need through our community. If you are above 60 and would like to receive help please let us know by emailing: OFFICE@FBCALBION.ORG

We also are using our Facebook: First Baptist Church Albion to stay connected. Please go there and share in the conversation. Be assured of this, we believe that the church is resilient, Jesus has promised it will survive. We will adapt and we will RISE UP! Be encouraged the forces against us are no match for the power of our Lord.

Stay in touch and in prayer – In Christ’s love,

Pastor Tom

Friday's Moment in the Word with Pastor Tom

It’s Friday - the week begins to come to a close - and with it a final thought before Sunday. Actually in our Reading Plan the passage we read on Friday always is the one that will be taught on Sunday.

As you read today - take special note of the QUESTIONS asked. Some were asked to Jesus and some were asked by Jesus. Some of the biggest lessons are found by realizing what Jesus was asking and what the correct answer is.

Take special note of the Good Samaritan. What are the individual actions we see him do? Who does that remind us of in today’s world? Who loves like this today? Who fulfills this in more than just the physical realm? How has Jesus met your spiritual needs in these same ways?

Kids - my challenge for you is to come up with an idea of how you could be a loving neighbor and together with your parents, follow up by reaching out with a act of kindness toward someone in your life. Enjoy and I can’t wait till Sunday - we have some special things planned online.

Thursday's Moment in the Word with Pastor Tom

What does it look like to be a disciple? What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ?

Today’s reading is from Luke 14:24-35 is one of the best passages to answer this question. Take some time to think through this passage and find the 4 key ways that Jesus describes what being a disciple looks like. Why not consider and talk through with others what those 4 illustrations picture for us.

Kids your challenge is to build a tower in the most unique and tallest way possible, then send in a picture on our church Facebook page under Thursday’s post.

Take time to consider the last few verses; what do you think it means for salt to lose its effectiveness - how does this happen in our lives?

Don’t forget - this is not just to help you, but encourage and reach other people as we proclaim the Word through crayons, posts, and comments. Check out today’s video below:

Wednesday's Moment in the Word with Pastor Tom

Today’s reading is from Luke 14:1-24. It looks like the Pharisee’s are up to something.

It also appears Jesus had been to a wedding or banquet, because he uses those to share 3 different parables to teach his disciples. My challenge to you today is to look at each of the 3 stories Jesus tells and determine what the truth is that Jesus is trying to get at. There is one for each story.

Also kids - don’t forget to take one of the stories and draw a picture of it - we will be looking for some great pictures on the church’s Facebook page. Watch what Pastor Tom has to say about the passage below:

Tuesday's Moment in the Word with Pastor Tom

Today’s reading is from Luke 13:22-35. Read the passage and notice that Jesus introduces 2 Word pictures. Adults talk through these 2 word pictures and answer the questions below. Kids - choose one of these Word pictures and draw a picture of what Jesus was talking about. I’m going to give a free drink at Biggby to the kid who comes up with the best picture and adds it to the Facebook page by 8pm Tuesday night.

Questions for today:

• The 1st in verses 22-30 is “a house with a narrow door” - what is Jesus teaching with this word picture?

• The 2nd word picture is “a hen gathering her chickens” - why would chickens not want to run to their mother for protection? What are the reasons people choose not to turn to Jesus for hope and protection?

Don’t forget - this is not just to help you, but encourage and reach other people as we proclaim the Word through crayons, posts, and comments. Check out today’s video below:

Monday's Moment in the Word with Pastor Tom

With so much happening on the news and in our world, iets take time each day to settle ourselves in God’s Word. From our oldest to our youngest person in church lets be in God’s Word. For this week we want to engage young and old with a short video clip from Pastor Tom that goes along with our current reading plan.

Pastor Tom will have a quick relevant thought from the passage along with a way for kids and adults to interact. You could then interact by posting your thoughts below in the comments or going to our Facebook page and post thoughts or pictures of the drawings from your kids.

Don’t forget - this is not just to help you, but encourage and reach other people as we proclaim the Word through crayons, posts, and comments. Check out today’s video below:

Sunday 3/15/2020 Announcement

Dear First Baptist Family,                                                                                            3/14/2020

In light of the Coronavirus pandemic that our country is currently facing, our church leadership has been meeting and praying about what the Lord would have us do for ministry this weekend. We have developed a response that has taken medical and governmental advice and sought how we could respond in a way that shows measured caution and concern.

As you know, the information this week has changed each day, so in light of a heightened awareness for this weekend we have decided to maximize the number of people we can minister to and do it the safest and most effective way we can. This means that we will not be having services tomorrow and will instead be having a time of teaching from our current “Knowing Jesus” series that will be online HERE at 10am tomorrow morning.

We see this as an opportunity for everyone: families, children, and at-risk individuals to be able to huddle around the Word and their computer, tablet, or phone and grow on Sunday morning. It is important to remember that the church is not a building and we should relish the opportunity to take God and His Word seriously, even if it is not in our normal setting. We also see this as an opportunity to grow and minister to one another in ways we may not normally be accustomed to. We are encouraging you to do this in 4 ways this week:

1. Along with watching the service – prayerfully share the following link on your social media page or in an email by copying and pasting it. There is no better way to help point people to truth in uncertain times than to share the Word.

2. Would you purposely reach out to someone else in our church, especially those who will be alone or may need assistance? We recently finished our Family Directories, take the challenge as a family to pick someone out, give, them a call, and see if they have any needs.

3. We have actually been working over the last 2 months to provide a way for our church to give online. We wanted to assure a secure platform to help provide new ways to give. We are very pleased with this new opportunity. You can click on the “Giving” header at the top of this page to go to our new First Baptist Church Giving page. From there you will not only be able to give, but also to get more information on our new Online Giving Platform, why we chose it, and it’s security features.

4. We all will have adjusted schedules this week. While we may have projects, or maybe just more free time, let’s use some of our time to get in the Word. I will be posting a daily thought on our website from our Luke readings and then sharing them on Facebook. I want to encourage you to be part of reading and commenting as you engage.

Finally, we see this as a rapidly changing situation, and assure you as we move forward we will be meeting early next week to assess how we move forward for next weekend. Let’s remember, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.” We want to move forward with love and a sound mind as we take steps that will allow us to worship the Lord and be able to see God alleviate this situation. We will be keeping you informed through our website and emails. As of now the only event on our schedule for this week is our Wednesday Noon Day Prayer at 12pm.

Thank you, church, for your understanding and let’s move forward, expecting God to use this in our lives for His purposes and our growth.

Trusting God’s Wisdom and Power,

The Leadership at First Baptist Church

Is Jesus Preeminent?

(From today’s Colossians 1 reading)

Just a few questions to align our hearts to be centered on Jesus today:

• Is Jesus Christ the center of your life? Is He present in your life? Or Is he preeminent?

• Has he delivered you from the power of darkness?

• Do you realized you were created for Him? Everything he has gifted to you is for Him?

• Have you accepted the fact that you are at your best when you are proactively and strategically living for His glory? And what did that look like this week?

• Is he before all things? Does he come before all other things in your life?

• Is he the boss in your life? Is he the King in your home? Is he the head of the church?

• Does he have preeminence in your life?

• Do you truly worship Jesus? Have you today? Did you lift your voice in song to share His greatness?

• If you stood before the throne today – would you stand faultless, holy unblameable or would you be alienated because of your evil deeds and life?

• Is Christ the center of your life?