this week’s announcements...childcare (birth - pre-k) 9:15 & 10:45 am kids worship (k-5) 9:15...
TRANSCRIPT
This Week’s Announcements Sunday Live Services
The campus is open for live on-campus Sunday services and weekday Bible studies. We will continue to observe CDC recommendations for face masks and social distancing for the comfort of those around us. Please enter through the Welcome Center only. If you are not feeling well or have had a recent exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID, we ask that you stay home and continue to watch services online.
Sundays: Encounter Service 9:15 am
Celebration Services 9:15 & 10:45 am
Childcare (birth - Pre-K) 9:15 & 10:45 am Kids Worship (K-5) 9:15 & 10:45 am
Adult Sunday School 9:15 & 10:45 am High School Youth 6 pm
Wednesdays:
Choir Rehearsal 6 pm Middle School Youth 6:15 pm Orchestra Rehearsals 7 pm
Business Meeting-Sept 20
The FBC Quarterly Business Meeting is Sunday, September 20 at noon in the Worship Center. We will begin immediately following the conclusion of the 10:45 am service. Included in the agenda is the potential sale of FBC properties and purchase of another.
SERVE Saturday-Sept 26
On this SERVE Saturday we will have the opportunity to make a great impact on our community through your prayer and service. For a complete list of project opportunities click here for the SERVE Saturday page of our website. All of these projects allow for social distancing with groups gathering at the project locations, the church, or families/individuals working alone. Sign up online or stop by the Information Desk in the Welcome Center on Sundays for assistance. For more information, contact the church office (941-722-7795).
Baptism - If you feel called to take the next step in faith, you may be ready for baptism. Baptism is a public declaration that you are a new creation through your faith in Jesus Christ. For more information, call the church office (941-722-7795) and ask to speak to a pastor about your baptism.
Studies and Small Groups - REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED! Due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements, we need to know you are joining us for group studies so we can plan for appropriate room sizes. Register online or call the church office at 941-722-7795.
Mind, Body & Soul - Ladies Study Register
Mondays at 9:30 am Let's consider God's desire for our lives as we petition Him for good health, a healthy weight goal and the ability to love who we are - where we are. Are you ready? Let's get started!!
DivorceCare Register Mondays at 6:30 pm This friendly, caring group of people will walk alongside you through one of life’s most difficult experiences. Don’t go through separation or divorce alone. Learn how to heal from the deep hurt of divorce and discover hope for your future.
Take Courage –Ladies Bible Study Register Thursdays at 9:30 am beginning September 24 In this seven-session study on the Book of Haggai, learn to walk confidently in your calling, stay motivated despite opposition, and courageously invest your life in God’s purposes, trusting Him for results you may never see in this lifetime.
40 Days of Prayer –Men’s Bible Study Register Sundays at 6 pm beginning September 27 What could be different about your life if there were a handful of believers praying for you every day for six weeks straight? In 40 Days of Prayer, Pastor Scott Hagan guides you through an immersion into the Lord's Prayer.
GriefShare - Register Mondays at 6 pm beginning Sept 28 If you've lost a spouse, child, family member or friend, you've probably found there are not many people who understand the deep hurt you feel. This group is for men and women of all ages who have experienced this type of loss. Coming to GriefShare is like finding a calm port in a stormy season.
Sermon Notes – Presence
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ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN - WEEK 38
Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: Day 5: Heb 11; Ps 143
Heb 12-13; Ps 144:1–5
Eph 1:1-2:10; Ps 144:6–15
Eph 2:11-3:21; Ps 145
1 Kings 8:1-9:9; Ps 146
Discussion Questions
• What would you love to know how to do? What keeps you from being able to do it?
• Has God ever asked you to do something you felt you didn’t know how to do? What was it? Why did you feel unable to do it?
• What are your thoughts about growing closer to God by walking in His Presence? Does it help knowing He wants to be closer to you?
• What’s keeping you from walking in His Presence daily?
• What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? (Ephesians 4:30) How do we do this? How do we stop doing this?
• What is quenching the Holy Spirit? (1 Thessalonians 5:19) What causes this?
• Paul says to be “filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) If the Holy Spirit already dwells in us (Romans 8:11) then why do we need to be filled? D.L. Moody: “The fact is, we are leaky vessels, and we have to keep right under the fountain all the time to keep full of Christ, and so have fresh supply.”
• Discuss the three steps we can take to walk in the Presence of God daily.
• What is it about these steps that will be beneficial? What will be difficult?
Monday –Being Led by the Spirit of God By Paul E. Collier
“…strengthened with power through his Spirit...” Ephesians 3:16
In an earlier devotional, I told the story of my early days in the Lord while in
college. I was influenced by a very experiential group. We were always seeking
the latest miracle or speaker. One struggle that I had was my pursuit of the Holy
Spirit. Specific signs would accompany my being baptized in the Spirit. I wasn’t a
happy camper. It was more work than a blessing.
God gloriously rescued me from that movement. I learned quickly that the Holy
Spirit dwelled in me the moment I trusted Christ. The problem wasn’t having more
of the Spirit. It was rather the problem of the Spirit getting more of me!
Being filled with the Spirit had nothing to do with content or quantity. In the Bible,
filled means “controlled by.” If you are filled with wrath, what controls you? Wrath!
If you are filled with wine, you are controlled by wine. If you are filled with the Holy
Spirit, you are controlled by Him. Plain and simple.
When you choose to follow Christ and surrender your life to Him, at that moment
God’s Spirit comes to live in you forever. From then on, you have to make a
conscious choice to be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit. He won’t share
His seat on the throne of your heart. The only way to be fulfilled as a Christian is
to be filled by the Holy Spirit, moment-by-moment and day-by-day.
Ephesians 3:16 goes one step further. Not only are we controlled by the Holy
Spirit, but He also strengthens us with POWER! We need Holy Spirit-led power
for these tumultuous days we live in. I needed power every day in my missionary
career to learn a language (or several), adapt to a new culture and be able to
effectively communicate the Gospel in those fields we worked in.
Today is no different. We are fighting a spiritual battle every day against evil.
The world is changing, and we must ask God for power every day to be used by
the Holy Spirit to reach our world for Christ. Let’s unite in our holy endeavor to be
the Lord’s ambassadors in the spiritual desert we live in.
SERVE Saturday is one of those opportunities to be Jesus to our community.
Sign up at the Information Desk on Sunday or at any time through our website.
Tuesday By Kenny Tibbetts
Scripture “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’” Acts 7:44-50
Pause 1. What questions does God ask in this passage? What point do you think He
is making?
2. Is God’s presence limited by physical location, emotional feelings, or a particular style of worship music?
Pursue Take a few moments to read Acts 7. Pay close attention to what Stephen says about God’s presence.
Pray Pray for God’s presence in your life today. Pray that you would yield the lordship of your life to the Holy Spirit today.
Wednesday – Christ in You By George Volpe
“Jesus answered…, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
John 14:23
There are people walking around today who will not wake up here tomorrow. This is their final day on Earth. Did they reach their goals in life? Did they have any goals? Did they know the presence of God daily? Or were they living day to day, same routine, same habits, just making sure their world was safe and comfortable?
Every now and then I need a reminder, and I have to ask myself, “What motivates me? What permeates me? What dominates me?”
Is it all about my desire to please myself, nourish myself, stroke my pride? What fills my mind and heart all day long, encouraging me to think and act the way I do? Am I guided by the news, or the opinions of men who do not regard Christ? Or am I listening to God? Am I obeying Him? If I review my life, do I see a pattern that demonstrates what is controlling my thoughts and actions?
Living in a world that is bent on rebellion against Christ, it is easy to be influenced by the constant drumbeat of the multitude of voices interrupting our focus on the importance of the presence of God. Our heart and soul are not nourished by anything the world offers. We are made to live and thrive in the presence of God. Not just Sunday morning. Not just when you open your Bible or spend time in prayer. Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…” (John 15:10) God wants our obedience. Not for a sliver of the day, but for the entire day.
Every person who receives Christ is baptized into the Spirit. God does that. But being filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit is both our privilege and responsibility as God’s children. If you put enough alcohol into your body, it will control you. If you are prepared to allow God’s Spirit to dwell in you, He will fellowship with you, minister to you, permeate you, motivate you, dominate you, and use you to glorify Him as you minister to others.
And how do we do that? We welcome the presence of the Spirit of God when we agree with God about sin; we repent, and we yield ourselves in obedience. Then He will permeate us, motivate us, dominate us. And when we are filled with His Spirit, we will accomplish the purpose He intends for us, and we will bear fruit for Jesus.
Read Colossians 1.
Thursday – Tracing the Development of Sin
Ligonier.org
“You will be like God.” Genesis 3:5
“You will be like God” was the original temptation, the archetypal seduction aimed at our first parents by the Serpent. Created as vice-regents with dominion over the earth, Adam and Eve wanted more. They reached for autonomy, stretching greedy arms toward the throne of God, only to fall headlong into the abyss of evil.
Expulsion from Eden was their fate. They could not go back. Paradise was lost. An angel with a flaming sword stood guard at the gateway to the garden. This is the first reference in Scripture to a weapon of any sort. Before God gave the “power of the sword” to men, He gave it to the angel to patrol and guard the border west of Nod.
With the fall came a rapid expansion of sin. One son of Adam and Eve murdered his brother, introducing fratricide to human history. Then came Lamech, who celebrated warfare in his famous “sword song” (Genesis 4:23-24). Man used his nascent technology to turn the tools of farming into implements of war. The plowshare became a sword, and the call to subdue the earth was distorted into a conspiracy to conquer one’s brother. The means of production became the means of destruction, and human technology and scientific discovery were used not to honor God but to assault Him, by attacking His creation and His image-bearers.
Then God said no to the expansion of corruption and brought the flood, a storm of judgment upon the earth, a deluge to clean the planet.
1. How is the first temptation, “You will be like God,” evident in temptations you have faced or are facing?
2. What should be your response?
Read Genesis 3:4–5 and Genesis 3:22–24.
Friday – Desire-Discipline-Fulfillment By Brooke Corbett
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 46:10
For many of us believers the issue is not whether we DESIRE to be in God’s presence, but rather do we DISCIPLINE ourselves to set aside time to BE STILL and acknowledge our Lord and Savior.
Intimacy and trust in a relationship is directly correlated and built by making intentional effort to have quality time with the one we desire intimacy and trust with. If we are never in the physical presence of the individual, we will never really grow in true relationship with them. The same is true in our desire to be in God’s presence!
For me, choosing to truly be still is a challenge. I am busy, like many of you, I am easily distracted, and am often tired before and after work. However, if I want to feel healthy and fit, I must discipline myself to go to the gym. I will not magically become healthy and fit; I must discipline myself to make it happen.
In my spiritual journey to be in God’s presence, experiencing intimacy is not going to happen on its own. I must discipline myself to Be Still and acknowledge God. I cannot count on anyone else to do that for me. No one else is going to get me in shape, that is something I must do on my own. Therefore, I cannot count on my church attendance, pastor, Bible study group, or service opportunities to impact my intimacy with God.
My intimacy in His presence comes from intentionally disciplining myself to take a moment to sit and know that He is God. As I set aside QUALITY time with Him, He will show up!! In those still moments I must choose to first acknowledge who God is and put Him on the throne in my life. I must rid myself of all distractions and praise Him. As I do these things, He will fill me up with His presence.
I once heard someone say, “Wear out a path to meet with God every day.” I recommend finding a designated spot and time of day when you begin to discipline yourself to make a path to God’s intimacy every day!! The path must be made, and the time must be spent, but God’s presence in your intentional and quality time with Him will bring you fulfillment!!!
Desire is not the only step! Start with a desire for intimacy. Discipline yourselves to create a path to meet with God and then you will experience His intimacy. BE STILL! And Praise Him!
Weekend – Who You Will Be By Phillip Hamm
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”
Luke 1:13
We seem to know we were made for more, but more of what? We trudge through life not content with where we are, what we do, or who what we have. We can’t seem to find exactly what it is we’re supposed to be doing or, even worse, who we’re supposed to be.
God seems to have a pattern in the Bible of telling people who they are going to be long before they become it. In fact, He tells them these things that are so far in the future it’s hard to see how they will ever become these things. Bit, by bit, God gradually moves and works to eventually make them exactly what He wants them to be. He does the same for us. God sees us for who we will become, not just for who we are.
In preparation for worship Sunday read Luke 1:1-24. Stay Connected:
Remember your neighbors, continue to share Jesus, and help them wherever possible. If their needs exceed your ability to assist, give the church office a call and we will do our best to help you help them.
• Invite your friends and neighbors to watch live services on Sunday at 9:15 or 10:45 am. We recommend staying consistent with our state officials’ guidelines of limiting the number who gather at one time.
• Have Bible studies in your home utilizing resources from RightNowMedia. We can arrange for you to have a complimentary subscription: Text RightNow FBCPalmetto to 41411. (Note: there’s a space between Now and FBC)
• Reach out by phone to another church member or visitor to ask how they are doing.
Please continue to financially support your church and local charities as they
experience an increase in requests for assistance from members and the local community.
You can give by using online giving, through the FBCP App, or mailing a check to: First Baptist Church 1020 4th St. W. Palmetto, FL 34221
You can communicate with us at 941-722-7795 or send an email to
