Sunday Report
28 April, 2009 at 11:41 am (Church, Update)
What a wonderful day God gave us on Sunday for our baptism service! The congregations of Roe Valley Baptist Church and Northwest Baptist Church came together for a combined baptism service in Derry/Londonderry.
We started out the day with the morning service at 12.30pm at the Baptist church building on Fountain St. We had 57 people in total (35 from Derry and 22 from Limavady). David Laverty did a tremendous job leading the music. The message was from Acts 2:1-41 on “The Wonderful Works of God”. The wonderful works we see in that passage are the coming of the Spirit, the fulfillment of prophesies, the resurrection of Christ, and the changing of lives that is still happening today!
After the morning service, we had lunch together. The ladies did an outstanding job with the meal. There was tons of food and tea, and we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship.
Fellowship
At 3.00 PM, we all drove over to Richill Park Baptist Church at 67 Richill Park, Waterside for our baptism service. I wanted to say a special “Thank You” to Brian Gillon who prepared the baptistry for us and to the church there for their generosity in letting us use their baptistry.
Baptism Service
We had two young people follow the Lord in believer’s baptism: Andrew Owens from Limavady and Megan Laverty from Drumahoe. The water was cold, but they braved it and took this great step of obedience to the Lord!
Megan Laverty
Andrew Owens
After the baptism service, we all went back to Northwest Baptist Church in city centre for an afternoon service together. Some folks had to leave early, so we had 38 in total at that service. Once again David Laverty did a great job getting us into the spirit of the meeting with some uplifting singing. Then we had some special music followed by another message from the book of Acts 4:41-47 called “Continue Steadfastly”.
Afternoon Service
I preached about how that salvation and baptism are not the end but the beginning of a whole new way of life, and we need to continue steadfastly in nine things: the apostles doctrine (Word of God), fellowship, breaking of bread (Lord’s supper), prayers, fear, ministry, giving, rejoicing, and evangelism.
It was probably one of the most exciting days I have had in the ministry thus far, and I want to thank God for His goodness and all of the people who made Sunday possible. From the greeters, to the car park attendants, from the creche workers to the musicians, from the ladies who prepared the food to those who drove over 30 minutes one way to come to the service – thank you, thank you, thank you!
Fireproof Film Night
24 April, 2009 at 1:12 pm (Announcements)
Next Friday, 1 May, we are have a family film night at our church. We will be showing the film “Fireproof” at our church at 7.00 PM. It is an excellent film put together by the creators of “Facing the Giants”.
Everyone is welcome! Admission is FREE. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. If you have questions, contact us at 028 7122 6164.
Baptism Service
22 April, 2009 at 3:29 pm (Announcements)
This coming Sunday, 26 April is a very exciting day for us as a church family. We will be having a special baptism service. Several people who have been saved recently will be following the Lord in believer’s baptism, which is a very important step of obedience in a Christian’s life.
I hope that you will join us for this special day! The congregations of Roe Valley Baptist Church and Northwest Baptist Church will be worshipping together at the Baptist church building on Fountain St. in Derry/Londonderry for this service. The schedule for the day will be as follows:
12.30pm – Morning Worship Service (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
1.30pm – Lunch and Fellowship (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
3.00pm – Baptism Service (67 Richill Park, Waterside)
4.00pm – Tea and Fellowship (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
4.30pm – Evening Worship Service (10 Fountain St., City Centre)
We are going to have a great day in the Lord. For those who normally attend the services at Roe Valley Baptist Church, please make a note that there will be no regularly scheduled services at 10.30am and 8.00pm in Limavady. All services will be held at the times above in Derry/Londonderry.
If you have any questions or need a lift, feel free to phone us at 028 7122 6164 or 028 7744 5002. God bless you, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!
Update from Honduras
16 April, 2009 at 11:56 am (Missions)
Here is recent news from the Williams to Honduras. Please pray for them. God is doing a work there.
Greetings in the name of Christ. Once more we wanted to let our supporting church families know how things are going here in Santa Lucia.
Praise God with us that last Sunday we were blessed with a congregation of 38 people, which really encouraged our hearts. The husband of the lady who started to attend last week came, with his mother and her young adopted son, who were visiting for Easter and another of the families who come to the church brought two of their extended family along with their five children from Tegucigalpa for the resurrection service, so all in all we had a wonderful time. For all of these visitors it was the first time that they had been in an Independent Baptist church and all expressed how much they had enjoyed their time with us. Pray, that even though they may not be from this area, they might come back or seek out another Independent Baptist church near where they live.
Satan is never far from the door though, trying to discourage. His tools for getting at us seem to be two things. First we have been buried under the paper work and trips to the insurance company, who seem only too willing to let things lie. On Sunday night someone stole the insignia off the back of the car while we were visiting with a family that have been coming to the church meetings, scraping the paint work in the process. Then too on Monday night, while taking 10 people to our Bible study one of my front break pads disintegrated on our way up the mountain side. I had to drive on, coming back down after the meeting using the emergency break as much as possible but even so by the time I got back to the house and was able to look at it the next morning the damage had been done. Even though I was able to swap out the old pads with ones I had brought down from the USA in our container, in order to get myself back on the road, I am going to have to get a new front disk also.
The second thing he has been using is our Marriage Certificate of all things. For the five months now that we are in the country we have been trying to get the new computer formatted certificate that we need to start my residency papers. While we have the original, 25 years old now, written with a type writer, the new computer formatted one always comes out with something wrong in it and despite the many visits and interviews with the Lawyers of the Registrar we as yet cannot get them to get things right. Please pray with us that God will move in these situations and resolve these issues. It is funny how small things like these can start to get under your skin. Please pray for us that God would keep our eyes on him.
We have been looking for another meeting place for our church services, we thought we had found one but by the time we made contact the lady had already promised it to someone else. I have another contact that I am going to see later this week, pray that something might come from that. Continue to pray for us that God will give us a larger meeting house where we will have more freedom to develop the work here.
May God continue to bless you and thank you once more for all your support and prayers.
–
Yours in Him.Evan and Carmen Williams
BIMI Missionaries to Honduras
Sunday Report
13 April, 2009 at 2:06 pm (Update)
It was such a blessing to meet yesterday with God’s people. In the morning service, we had 26 people in Derry and 17 in Limavady and the message was called “Ye Shall Receive Power” from Acts 1:1-8. The main thought of the message was that often in our Christian life, we lack the strength, power, and courage that we need to witness, withstand temptation, and to take a stand for God because we are not filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to yield to the Spirit and let Him empower us to do the work. After the message, we had an egg hunt for the children. I think the adults enjoyed it as much if not more than the kids did!
In the evening service, we had 22 in Londonderry and 37 in Limavady. We dedicated Jordan Evans to the Lord last night and several of his relatives were there to watch the dedication. I preached in the evening services on “Alive After His Passion” about the passion of Christ, the proof of his resurrection, and the importance of the resurrection in our lives to give us a promising future.
It was great to see Fiona take a stand for the Lord last night and let everyone know that she asked the Lord to save her on Friday. Please be praying for her and her family. I know that God is going to do great things through them.
My heart was so full as I went to bed last night. I can’t imagine anything more enjoyeable, exciting, and rewarding than doing what I do! I love our people, I love the ministry, and I love serving God. I hope you do as well. God bless.
Easter Services
11 April, 2009 at 3:29 pm (Announcements)
Tomorrow is probably my favourite Sunday of the year – a day that we specifically celebrate the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. I hope that you will make plans to join us at church as we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Because He lives, we will live, if we trust in Him.
We start a brand new series from the Bible out of the book of ACTS tomorrow. The book of Acts is the amazing historical account of the early church. I am so fascinated by the boldness, unity and power of the early church. I know that this series is going to be a huge help to us as a church.
Also, after the morning service, we will have a cup of tea and an egg hunt for the children. Please make sure to come and bring a friend!
Faith Promise Mission Giving
8 April, 2009 at 9:08 am (Missions)
Northwest Baptist Church has a vision to be a missionary training and sending church. We have a missions programme, where people can give above their regular offerings for the church a special offering we call Faith Promise. That is our mission’s offering. Every penny of that money goes to help get the gospel around the world.
We are currently supporting one missionary, the Williams family to Honduras, but there are many others that could definitely use our support.
Here is how you can participate. If you will get one of the giving envelopes from the church information table, then you can give your regular offering that goes to support the local ministry of our church and designate something extra for the cause of World Evangelism.
Missionaries will travel from church to church presenting their ministry and raising funds to get to the field. Other churches like our church give them money on a monthly basis.
As you give above your regular tithes and offerings to faith promise you enable us as a church to give more and more.
The following comes from Austin Gardner and shows the proper attitude toward mission giving.
If you have any questions about how to give, please talk to me.
How much shall I give?
1. If I refuse to give anything to missions this year, I practically cast a ballot
in favor of the recall of every missionary.2. If I give less than heretofore I favor reduction of the missionary
forces proportionate to my reduced contribution.3. If I give the same as formerly, I favor holding the ground already won;
but I oppose any forward movement. My song is “Hold the Fort,” forgetting
that the Lord never intended His army to take refuge in a fort. All his soldiers
are commanded to “Go!”4. If I increase my offering beyond former years, then I favor an advance
movement in the conquest of new territory for Christ.
God’s Grace in Trials – Forgiving Spouse’s Killer
6 April, 2009 at 2:45 pm (Growth)
I just watched the follow video and could not think of a better illustration of God’s grace and strength in the trials of life.
Victory Through Trials – 1 Peter 5:5-14
6 April, 2009 at 2:37 pm (Growth)
How to Get Victory through Your Trials
1-Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. (5:5-6)
One of the biggest sins in our land is pride. Satan was very prideful (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Humility is the result of a clear vision of God. It is seeing His “mighty hand.”
- Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
- Revelation 1:10-17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead…
- Daniel 10:4-8 Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.
- This is why every knee shall bow and tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
True humility before will cause submission to other people. (5:5)
- Will submit to the elder (pastor)
- Subject one to another
- Considering the other better than yourself (Philippians 2:3)
- Prefer the other over yourself (Romans 12:10)
- Take the lower seat (Luke 14:7-11)
- Be clothed with humility.
The punishment of pride and reward of humility
- God resists the proud (v.5)
- God will not exalt the proud.
- God will give grace to the humble. (v.5)
- God will exalt the humble. (v.6)
How does humility get us through trials? Help us:
- Acknowledge the mighty hand of God at work.
- Realise He will exalt us in due time.
- Think of myself as less important and God and His plan as more important.
- Be willing to trust God to do in my life what He sees best.
- Give up control of my own life.
- Let go and allow God to do whatever He wants in my life.
2-Cast all your care upon Him. (5:7)
- Casting our cares upon God comes when we are humble.
- When I don’t cast my care on Him, it shows that I think I can handle or that I don’t think He is big enough to handle it or loving enough to care.
- Humility helps us to be victorious through trials because we depend on someone bigger and stronger than us.
- This is a promise from the Psalm 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
- Example: Hezekiah spread the enemy’s letter before the Lord II Kings 19:14
3-Resist the Devil (5:8-9)
Be sober = Be alert, watchful, awake.
- Don’t let anything dull your senses.
- Be in a right mind, right thinking, Bible thinking.
- A clear head, not clouded by lies or wrong preceptions
Be vigilant = Be aware, on your guard, cautious
Because we have an adversary
- Our adversary is the devil – a fallen angel who is not the prince and power of the air.
- He is like a roaring lion that is walking about seeking whom he may devour. (the weak ones)
- He especially loves to attack us when we are weakened by trails, wearied in well doing, or too proud to cast our cares upon God.
- We are not helpless to his attacks. We can resist him as we stand stedfast in our faith in God’s Word.
- Three times Satan attacked Jesus and three times he was defeated by “It is written” in Mt. 4.
- When we resist Satan in God’s power, he will flee from us. (Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.)
- Mt 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
- He has no stomach for a long, draw out battle, because he knows he will lose, so he withdraws to come back and fight another day when he senses we are weak.
- It isn’t our resistance it is our dependence on Him that is in us–Satan can’t deal with the Holy Spirit and His power (I John 4:4)
- Many a Christian has been defeated by the Devil (liar) when a trial comes there way.
- You are not the only one who is going through afflictions; all your brethren around the world are going through the same things.
- You can be victorious; resist Satan; don’t believe the lie.
4-Recognize God’s Purpose In All of This (5:10-11)
He is the God of all grace (goodness, kindness, favour)
- He would never do anything that was not for our ultimate good and His glory.
- He is the one who sent His Son to die for us: He loves us and we should know that by now.
- He has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.
- He has given us a home in Heaven.
- Before you complain, remember to whom it is that You are complaining.
He has allowed this suffering for a while to:
- Make you perfect (complete thoroughly, adjust). Difficulty burns out the impurities in our life.
- Establish you (set you fast, confirm you)
- Strengthen you (develop spiritual muscle). Strength comes from difficulty not ease. The less difficult you go through the weaker you are.
- Settle you (grounded, lay a basis or foundation)
- Example: Coach will run, run, work, work, practice, practice, so the weakness of his players are worked out, their abilities are established, they are strengthened, and they are reliable to win the game.
Glorify God
- It is really all about Him; not about you.
- Suffering should be welcome if that is what God chooses for us.
- If he thinks it is what we need to bring more glory to His name, then so be it.
Conclusion
- Silvanus was the penman for Paul’s words.
- He was a faithful brother – meant a lot to him coming from his pastor.
- This letter is to exhort and testify that grace not only saves, but God’s grace is able to help us stand.
- The church at Babylon says Hello and so does Mark who at one point was not allowed to go with Paul because he quit.
- Greet with kiss of charity – show love one to another.
