“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:12-15 (NASB)
Will Reynolds sent me this passage yesterday morning after I had posted. “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.”
(1 Kings 8:37-40 NASB)
The church office will be open today from 8:00AM straight through until 3:00PM. Once again, I am reminding folks of the “stay at home” order given by our governor. If you have to be out for essential purposes and want to bring your offering by the office then that is fine. Please do not get out just to bring your offering!
As has been the case for the past several weeks, you can mail your offering to Friendship Baptist Church P.O. Box 756 Grand Bay, Alabama 36541. Or, if you are out for an essential purpose, you can drop your church made payable to Friendship Baptist in the payment slot in Lisa’s office. Obviously, the easiest way is to simply give online by going to friendshipfamily.net and clicking on the giving tab in the upper right hand side.
We will have the auditorium open this morning from 10:00AM until 11:00AM and then again from 6:30PM until 7:30PM in order for folks to come and pray. You can bring your offering during one of these times too. Wait, is this essential? Personally, I think so! Please enter the West side door and exit the front door so as to maintain social distancing in case someone else is coming or going simultaneously.
I will also be teaching our Wednesday night Bible study tonight from 6:30PM until around 7:15PM. It would work best if you would send me your prayer requests via e-mail no later than 5:30PM today. Daphne will host the meeting via Zoom and she will have to allow you entrance. Therefore, we need you to sign up with your name and not just as “iPhone”, “iPad”, et cetera. Each participant will have their audio and video disabled by the host during the actual teaching portion tonight.
The expectation is that we will receive the necessary equipment today in order to do some different things for Easter Sunday. If so, I will begin to give instructions via this blog tomorrow. I can tell you that we will have three times of musical worship and preaching – 6:00AM, 8:00AM & 9:15AM. It appears that this Sunday is going to be a rainy day. I am planning accordingly. Stay tuned!
Mary Jackson has been diagnosed with pneumonia. Pray for her.
Terrell Brooks has a really good friend who is in the hospital battling COVID-19. He is on a ventilator. He was in Terrell’s wedding and Terrell was in his wedding. Their friendship goes back many years. Pray for Terrell’s friend.
My dad is having some tough days. Prayers appreciated.
Spoke to Sammy yesterday and he said that Myrtle had a bit of tough day on Monday but yesterday was better. Keep praying for Myrtle.
Keep praying for Andy Hamil.
Keep praying for Tim Knighten.
Soy, Deidra and the staff of Colegio JET have scurried the past two days to purchase food for the families of the Colegio JET students. It has become increasingly difficult to purchase in bulk but they were able to secure enough food for this week and next week too. Basically everything in Guatemala shuts down today through Sunday for Easter week so they had to get everything purchased Monday and Tuesday. Great job by those folks! Yes, you can still give to the “lunch bags” by going to shininglightabroad.com. (I have had folks asking me this question)
Speaking of Colegio JET, if you sponsor a student would you be so kind as to make sure your sponsorship is up to date? It is very important that our sponsors give on time as this is a major lifeline in keeping the school up and running. You should have given at least one hundred and twenty dollars this calendar year through March 31. Just a very friendly reminder. Thank you for supporting our students!
I sure do miss gathering with the Friendship family in person. Pastor Jim Cymbala says he pastors the best people which means that he has obviously never met the Friendship family. Pastor Cymbala is biased and so am I!
For the older folks like me – do you remember watching as Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record on this date in 1974? I do very vividly.
I pray that you will have a great Wednesday with Jesus.