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BIBLE STUDY JOIN UP WITH A GROWTH GROUP THIS JANUARY AND FEBRUARY FOR BIBLE STUDY AND DISCUSSION ON WHAT CHURCH IS REALLY ALL ABOUT. AN ESSENTIAL STUDY FOR ALL OF OUR MEMBERS WITH GROUPS MEETING IN THE EVENINGS ON SUNDAYS, TUESDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS. NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN UP WITH A GROWTH GROUP FOR OUR WINTER STUDY. SEE BRAD OR KENNY FOR MORE INFO
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January / February 2019
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SEND
FEBRUARY 15-16 WAKE FOREST, NC HIGH SCHOOLERS AND COLLEGE STUDENTS REGISTER WITH PASTOR BRAD
OPBC GO FUND
Did you know that you can give to OPBC Missions ALL YEAR? Your giving to OPBC’s GO Missions Fund supports local and global ministries… like the Nursing Home Ministry, Church Planting in Sherbrooke, Canada, and reaching the unreached in Spain. Your giving to the OPBC GO Missions Fund also sends OPBC members around the globe through our church sponsored trips by making trips more affordable. Will you consider SENDING OPBC members in 2019?
ENGLEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH ROCKY MOUNT, NC
MARCH 8-9, 2019
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SEE GARY JENKINS FOR MORE INFO AND TO REGISTER– THIS EVENT SELLS OUT EVERY YEAR! MAKE SURE TO REGISTER SOON.
CONSIDER THE DIRECTION OF YOUR LIFE Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year
THE NEW CREATION IN THE NEW YEAR It’s customary as we embark on a new year to look back at the previous year. This healthy process helps us evaluate who we have been and what we want to do in light of our goals. Sometimes there are encouraging points that need to be continued, other times, unflattering reminders that our habits are not helping us hit our mark. As I look at the first of January on my calendar I am not only looking back, but also ahead. I’m thinking about my life now in view of the new heavens and the new earth. Isaiah lifts the returned exiles chins to see the horizon of a new day when he writes, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17) Looking ahead toward heaven can be a clarifying exercise. A couple personal responses come to mind. 1. Rejoice The next verse (Isaiah 65:18) commands believers to rejoice in this truth. We should (and must) be joyful and glad in the fact that God is going to make all things new. In the midst of the headlines in the news that shake us to the core, this vista bids us to rejoice. Through personal trials and difficulties, this truth fills us with joy—we are going to heaven! Five seconds into glory we will look around, and all of the chains of this fallen world will be removed! Scandal, terrorism, cancer, death, disappointment? What’s that? O dear Christian, rejoice, for you have your passport stamped with the King’s seal. You are going home.
by Erik Raymond
2. Remove Think with me why we need a new creation in the first place. Because of our sin, the commonwealth has been trashed. There is graffiti of self-righteousness on every wall in God’s creation. There are monuments to self on every corner. This world is cursed because sin and sinners inhabit it. Like a cup of water with a drop of poison in it we not only need new water but also a new cup before its suitable. God must remake what we have undone. He will make a world where righteousness dwells. So what type of person might you and I be in light of this? Peter tells us we are to live in a holy way as we wait (2 Pet. 3:11-14). This seems pretty logical. If God so consumed with hatred for sin and love for holiness that he would purge the world of sin and make a new creation, then we must likewise scour my life for sin and live in holiness. My Christian friend, as you consider your life in view of the end, how do you feel about sin? Do you hate it? Do you accommodate it? Do you practice it? Do you enjoy it? These are not marks of one who is a part of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; James 1:18) but the old (Eph. 2:13). We should be a people marked by holiness. And holiness reflects God’s hatred of sin so much that we endeavor to remove it from our lives. Our lives as Christians should be a continual scouring for and purging of sin. When we look at our life in light of the end we have to make some course adjustments—some of us more than others, but certainly all of us. As you flip the calendar to January 1, look ahead to the end and find yourself compelled to rejoice and remove. These are resolutions not only for a new year but also a new creation.
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Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them. Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going. Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God? What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year? What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year? In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it? What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year? What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church? For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year? What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year? What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year? What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity? In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?
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by Donald Whitney What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area? What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year? What habit would you most like to establish this year? Who is the person you most want to encourage this year? What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it? What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year? What’s one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year? What’s one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren? What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year? What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year? What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year? In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year? What’s the most important trip you want to take this year? What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year? To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year? What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year? What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it? If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it? What’s the most important new item you want to buy this year? In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?
HOW TO HONOR YOUR MAKER WITH YOUR WALLET: PART 1
PRAISE THE LORD! A NOTE FROM PASTOR BRAD
A GOSPEL COALITION INTERVIEW BY IVAN MESA WITH RON BLUE, AUTHOR AND FINANCIAL CONSULTANT You often say money is a “revealer of the heart” and “entry into the heart.” How so? I like to use the analogy of a window and a door here. When I say money is a revealer of the heart, I mean it acts as a window that we can look through to see the deepest desires of our hearts. Likewise, when I say money is an entry into the heart, I mean it acts as a door that, when opened, releases our hearts to find freedom, contentment, and joy in our finances. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). The things we spend our money on are the true desires of our hearts. By using money to look through the windows of our hearts, we can identify our true desires. Then, when we allow God’s Word to alter the priorities of our spending, we open the door to our hearts and begin treasuring things beyond our stuff. I often tell people that if you show me your checkbook, I can show you your priorities. This is the window. If we take the next step and allow God’s Word to shape our priorities and enter our hearts, we can actually move our hearts to treasure new things. Changing the flow of our money will change the attention and loves of our hearts. (This interview originally appeared at thegospelcoalition.org)
I am constantly awed by the faithfulness of God to OPBC and the faithfulness of OPBC’s people! 2018 was a banner year for giving at OPBC, with the church meeting budget by mid-November, sending missionary teams to Canada, West Virginia, and Spain, and giving generously to missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, and Vision Virginia. I look forward to seeing how God displays His faithfulness in 2019 through all of us! What will your commitment be in 2019? Here are a couple of thoughts… 1. WHAT IF… we each gave $10/$20/… more per week to the future work of OPBC? Our Vision 2:10 Fund has kicked off as our Site Planning Team starts meeting. The Lord has blessed us with new families and with tons of visitors… but not enough seats. It will take generous and sacrificial giving to push forward. Will you pray about giving even MORE in 2019 through the Vision 2:10 fund? 2. WHAT IF… we each gave so that someone else could GO? Many can’t go on a mission trip. But many who could go can’t afford to go. What if our giving in 2019 was for someone else to serve? 3. WHAT IF… we each gave so that OTHERS would KNOW that Christ is GLORIOUS! Often I find myself willing to give to things that impact me directly. But what if the GLORY OF THE GOSPEL drove my giving? This glorious Gospel we know and believe should drive me to give sacrificially so that OTHERS would know and believe. Now that’s a legacy I can live with! Let’s make 2019 a year of CELEBRATION… a year to celebrate what God has done and what He will do as His people faithfully believe in His faithfulness. Here’s to a GLORIOUS 2019!
JUNE 26-JULY 2 SHERBROOKE, CANADA EVERYONE IS WELCOME! FAMILIES WITH YOUTH AND CHILDREN ARE INVITED TO JOIN THE TEAM!
OPBC STUDENTS JUNIORS AND SENIORS SPRING BREAK TRIP MARCH 29—APRIL 6 FALL TRIP LED BY CASEY AND MEGAN CAGLE BEING PLANNED FOR OCTOBER/ NOVEMBER
JOIN US AT MISSIONS PLANNING TEAM TO FIND OUT ABOUT MORE LOCAL AND GLOBAL MISSIONS OPPORTUNITIES 4
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