There will be no evening services on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day
(Sunday, December 25 & Sunday, January 1)
Starting January 8, 2012
Sunday Evening Services will be held from 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Welcome to the newly re-designed LaGrange Baptist Church website!! Much planning and even more work has gone into the new design created by Hybrid Creative. There is still a lot of work to do to complete the migration, so you will see links back to the old site throughout the duration of the migration process; however, the new design was just too good to wait any longer to unveil.
The new site provides support for Member access with room for things like classifieds, member business advertisements, directory information, etc. It will take time to implement these things, but we are moving in the right direction.
We still have some kinks to work through, so we appreciate your patience. In the meantime, please look around, listen to a sermon or radio broadcast, and enjoy our new site.
Thanks!!
Some people are asking me questions about being an Advocate. Without these answers some are reluctant to sign up to help, so let me put the questions and their answers out here for all to see.
We need your help, so don’t let an unanswered question keep you from volunteering. Contact me with your question, and I’ll get you an answer.
Currently we have 56 advocates signed up. LaGrange Baptist has 22 advocates signed up to serve. I am very proud of the strong turn out for our church, but I pray to see many more, so please don’t hesitate to ask a question if you want to sign up but aren’t sure.
Blessing, Mark
As you prepare to serve or consider serving on August 28th at Oldham/Touched Twice Clinic, I ask that you spend some of that time in prayer. Clint Elliot, the event prayer coordinator, sent the following note to direct and encourage our prayers. If you are interested in participating in the prayer walk this Saturday, let me know, and I’ll get you in touch with Clint, or just be at DeHaven at 1:00 pm this Saturday.
Blessings, Mark
— From Clint —
“Ever hear yourself say: I just wish I knew God’s will for me?
Well, in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 God reveals it rather plainly.
In that Scripture passage God instructs us *"first of all"*(i.e.,
priority!) to pray all kinds of prayers for all kinds of people
BECAUSE *"this is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."*
I think this passage has great significance for our continued preparation
for August 28 and beyond because I believe that as we *pray* for others God
enlarges the capacity of our heart to compassionately *care *for others,
which should lead to an increased awareness to recognize kingdom
opportunities to *share *with others the good news of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
A very simple strategy with eternal consequences: prayer – care – share
So this week, as we prepare for our first prayer walking event, let’s
pray for those throughout the community who have not yet come to a knowledge of the truth, that God would open their hearts to receive the message.
And remember, our prayer walking event will start with a prayer service
together at 1pm at DeHaven on Saturday, July 24, before we head out into the
community in teams.
Hope to see you there.”
As a body we are talking a lot about having a shared sense of mission, unity and action. This means that we want to be focused on the same goals as a unified body and working together to achieve those goals. The main goal that we all should have in mind is glorifying God and making disciples for his Kingdom.
This past Saturday many of us gathered at Oldham county day to share our love and the gospel with the people of Oldham county.
With the Touched Twice ministry coming on August 28th we have an even greater opportunity for more of us to engage in serving the needs of our neighbors and thereby advancing the Kingdom of God.
I want to encourage you to pray for the Touched Twice ministry and volunteer to serve as an advocate. It is a simple but crucial role of this ministry. I am encouraged by how many from LBC have already volunteered and hopeful that many more will join us. Signing up is easy. Just go to www.oldhamclinic.com click the “Volunteer Me” button and fill out the short form. Registration forms are also available at the welcome center and in your Life Class.
If you have any questions just contact me at mark.peterson@takingheavenbystorm.com.
Calling the LBC family to active ministry
The Staff, Elders and Deacons of Lagrange Baptist Church want to encourage you to be a part of this community ministry. We are looking for 250 to 300 volunteers to serve as guest advocates on the day of the Clinic.
The sole responsibility of a Volunteer/Advocate is walking with their guest for the day. The advocate helps the guest with paper work, assists in navigating the building and most importantly, serves in Christ by building a relationship.
The time requirement is about 4 hours on the day of the clinic plus a short training session one to two weeks prior to the clinic.
Please click the graphic to volunteer to be an advocate and let me know that you have done so by sending me an email at mjpterson37@gmail.com
I look forward to serving in this ministry with many of you.
Deacons, last time I gave you the first key to defining genuine conversion, namely that we understand that in our unconverted state we are helpless to help ourselves, and we are killing ourselves with our sin. A person will not seek help unless they know that they need, and they won’t seek the right help unless they have a proper diagnosis of their ailment. A person will not seek to be raised from the dead if they do not understand that they are dead in their sins.
The second key to understanding the nature of genuine conversion, is tied directly to the first. If a person is to be genuinely converted something radical must occur in their life. Anaybwile states, “Conversion is the radical turn from an enslaved life of pursuing sin to a free life of pursuing and worshiping God.” We must be turned around. Our affections for sin must be killed and replaced with life changing affections for God. Without this life changing, radical turn, one cannot be genuinely converted.
What we must understand is that we do not turn on our own. We do not change our affections. We are turned, our affections are set right, when God takes up residence in our soul. Romans 8:9-11 tells us that genuine conversion involves the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts as a sign of our righteousness in Christ. In other words, genuine conversion involves our be changed from unrighteous objects of wrath to righteous objects of peace. And, as a result of this change the Holy Spirit takes over where the flesh once ruled and gives us life in place of death.
Why is this important? Why make this distinction? Because each of us must gradually come to a fuller understanding the rich mercy of God and its involvement in making us like Christ so that we do not ever exchange the gospel of Jesus Christ for the gospel of works and law.
Next time I will give some tips for us to follow in our efforts to discern the genuineness of our conversion.
Blessings, Mark
The basis for these writings on being a Healthy Church member are from Anyabwile, Thabiti M.What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.
Deacons, this past Sunday we discussed the fourth mark of a healthy church member from Thabiti Anyabwile’s book “What is a Healthy Church Member” I made the comment that a person cannot be a church member unless that person is a genuinely converted person.
Now, that statement is true and not true at the same time. It is not true in the sense that a person can be on the rolls of a church as a member and not be converted. However, this is a falsity. This un-converted member is not a member of the body of Christ and therefore, is no true member of the Church. As a result of his or her nominal affiliation with the church, this person is living with an assurance of salvation and life when in reality he is dead and completely unaware of it. This is a very unhealthy state for any person, worse perhaps than that of the un-churched person who holds no such false confidence.
For this reason it is vitally important that we understand what true conversion is and how to examine ourselves with the help of other believers to make certain that we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Anyabwile defines conversion as “the radical turn from an enslaved life of pursuing sin to a free life of pursuing and worshiping God” (pg 49). In that definition he uncovers the truth of Ephesians 2:1-3, namely that in our unconverted state we are dead in our trespasses and sins and therefore, objects of God’s condemnation. Romans 8 describes us of having set our minds on the flesh, which is death.
The first key to defining genuine conversion is that we understand that in our unconverted state we are helpless to help ourselves (we are dead, after all) and that through our current affections and way of life we are killing ourselves. No true conversion is occasioned in us outside of an understanding on at least a basic level of this fact. To be converted I must understand that I am hopelessly lost and helpless to recover from that state.
Next time I will write about what must then happen in order for us to be genuinely converted. In the mean time finish reading Ephesians 2 and Romans 8 to begin to see the complete picture of genuine conversion and spend some time in personal reflection on the book of 1 John.
Blessings, Mark
The basis for these writings on being a Healthy Church member are from Anyabwile, Thabiti M.What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.
Deacons, I am returning to the idea of being gospel saturated after a few weeks off. We know that it is important to be gospel saturated men, for being so is transformational for ourselves and the Church. We know that there are specific disciplines of the Christian life that promote gospel saturated lives. I now want to challenge you with three more goals for your life, which you can achieve as a gospel saturated person.
First, take it to its natural conclusion in your life. Anyabwile borrowed this thought from John Piper. We need to work in our Christian life to see that the gospel moves us to embrace God fully, behold God in all His glory, delight in God above all other things, and display God’s supreme beauty and worth. As we become gospel saturated people these things will be the natural result. Finding ourselves loving and serving God with our whole being is what we ought to desire, and the natural conclusion of being gospel saturated people is just that.
Second, let it animate every area of your life. Let it change the way you talk about others. Let it propel you to be an encouraging and correcting influence in the lives of others. Let it direct your career and relationship decisions. Let it govern how you invest your time, money, energy and emotions.
Third, share it with others. I’m sorry to say that it really isn’t enough to live a good clean life in front of others. It isn’t enough to have a smile on your face, joy in your heart and a good work ethic when you are concerned about obeying the command of Christ to make disciples. We must share the gospel and as we become increasingly saturated by it, we will be compelled to do so.
In all of these things you will be promoting a healthy, obedient and spiritually minded Church, where the work of the gospel is a natural thing not something forced by programs or personalities.
May God strengthen us to a consistent and active pursuit of a gospel saturated life.
The basis for these writings on being a Healthy Church member are from Anyabwile, Thabiti M.What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.
Deacons, as you know, this past Sunday we discussed the Third Mark of a Healthy Church Member from Thabiti M. Anyabwile’s book, “What is a Healthy Church Member?”. Anyabwile argues that “The gospel is absolutely vital to a vibrant, joyous, persevering, hopeful and healthy Christian and Christian church.”
I believe that statement is true. For that reason I commend to you the task of becoming saturated with the gospel. When something becomes saturated by something else, it takes on a different quality or nature. The nature change of a Christian, who is gospel saturated, is magnificent. One goes from negative and despondent to joyous, from consistent struggles with sin to persevering in righteousness, from always seeing doom around every corner to hopeful for a future glory promised and certain. In short, one who is gospel saturated moves from a state of sickliness to a state of vibrant health. So again, I commend to you the task of being gospel saturated men. The church needs its leaders to be among the healthiest of everyone in the church.
The question is, how do we become gospel saturated people? According to Anyabwile, first we must know what the gospel is. We must know that it is the good news of God’s saving grace and redemption brought to a lost and justly condemned people through the obedience and sacrifice of God’s Son so that any who would believe in Him, confess Him as Lord and repent of their sins are guaranteed forgiveness and life ever more.
We will talk about further means of becoming gospel saturated over the next few weeks. For now, I encourage you to seek out, in God’s Word, pictures of the gospel, things that help you better understand the gospel in its entirety and commit those things to your heart.
Blessings, Mark
The basis for these writings on being a Healthy Church member are from Anyabwile, Thabiti M.What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.