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The Royal Family News 2019 Issue
7402 Albert Pike Rd., Royal, AR 71968 Phone: (501) 767-5462
Web Site: fbcroyal.com
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
A Communication Resource of First Baptist Church of Royal
Recently I was reading a report from the Pew Research Center on America’s beliefs about the nature of God. In this report
it claims 56% of the population believes in a God as described in the Bible. Honestly, I would have expected a lower
percentage of people would believe in a God as described in the Bible. I am convinced the Bible is indispensable for the
one who wants to know what God is like. I would encourage anyone to explore the question “What is God like?” If you
want to be accurate, you should rely heavily upon the Bible. Since God seeks a relationship with us that is real and personal,
God will personally reveal some things to us.
One statement made in the report is this, “But it is clear from questions elsewhere in the survey that Americans who say
they believe in God “as described in the Bible” generally envision an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving deity who determines
most or all of what happens in their lives.” My attention was caught by the last part of this statement, the belief that God
determines most or all of what happens in our lives. I do not believe this is an accurate understanding of God’s work in our
lives. Certainly an all-knowing, all-powerful God can do what He wants with us, however He gives us a lot of freedom.
Even the freedom to reject the reality of His presence. (A person would have to be extremely disingenuous to take an
honest look around at God’s creation and come up with the conclusion all of creation was the result of some freak
accident.) God, at this time, does not utilize His authority over us as He could. God allows us to have a say in our lives, in
fact He gives us the majority of the say over our lives for now.
It is you and me which determines the extent to which God works in our lives, at least for now. We do not have to even
acknowledge His reality if we do not want to at least for now. We can say anything we want about God, even mock Him at
least for now. We can treat God anyway we want to at least for now. But one day God will make His presence and
authority known once again to the world. Then true reality will be undeniable to all. I am reminded of a story in Daniel
concerning Belshazzar King of Babylon. He was partying with a 1000 or so close friends and decides to have the gold and
silver vessels from the temple brought to them and drink from them. While doing so the Bible reports they worshiped
god’s of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Bad idea. The hand of God appeared and left a message for the King on
the wall. This so disturbed the King that he literally shook his joints out of socket. That is true fear. If you want to know
the rest of the story, you can read the story in Daniel Chapter 5. While God may be silent while many ignore Him, one day
that will change. But we do not have to ignore God.
If we will respond to God in faith, He will reveal Himself to us. He will show us His purposes for us. We decide, not God
on these matters at least for now. Our choices determines the extent to which God reveals Himself to us and many of the
experiences we have in life now and the life to come.
Coming up soon is our revival meetings scheduled for August 11-14. That is a Sunday through a Wednesday. Our leaders
will once again be Bro. Sam Moore and Grayson Inman. I believe God used them to speak to many of us last September
and there is no reason we should not expect the same this year. I ask that you begin to pray now for these meetings and for
our revival leaders. Let’s also be praying for our church and community. I know there are many things happening in our
lives this summer, but when are we not busy? We can focus on these meetings and our attendance, choosing to give God
the chance to once again do something awesome in our lives! God Bless!
Teaching your children to love God can be an easy process. The
bookmark below will give you 25 ways to teach your child to love God.
We welcomed six new families on pantry
These will give you an opportunity to learn about God’s love together. distribution day in June, for a total of 39 families:
Have a great summer. 74 adults + 16 children, making a total of 90
people. Sixteen volunteers showed up to serve
their neighbors in a generous way! Even though
everything went well, there were many regular
volunteers that were missed. We would like to
thank everyone for their generous donations each
month! The next pantry distribution day is
Saturday, July 20th, 2019 from 10:00am to
1:00pm. If anyone would like to come help, we ask
that, if you can, to please show up about 9:30am
to help us get ready. Hope to see you there!
In a church we attended some years ago we would have a
“children’s lesson” before the “Big Church” sermon. It was
my turn and I had found one entitled “An Act of Faith”.
The object was to use water absorbing polymer crystals and
water and the crystals turned the water into a solid. In theory,
I would pour the water over the crystals, then turn the cup
upside down over the child’s head and the child would not
get wet. The child was to have faith in me that I would not
get them wet. So, I found my willing victim…excuse me…
my volunteer to perform the activity. It started out by asking
if anyone could tell me what faith is. Faith is trusting and
believing something is true even though we cannot see,
touch, hear or smell it. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and
Okay, ladies, please come be part of this month’s women’s ministry. We certain of what we do not see.” Who has seen God? No
will have a potluck meal at 6:30 p.m. and fellowship with each other and
one that I know of since Jesus ascended from this earth, but
then listen as we have a very informative devotion on “Addiction.” This
is something we all need to be informed about whether we deal with it in Jesus tells us in John 20:29 “… blessed are those who
our families or with some of our friends. There are all forms of addiction have not seen and yet have believed.” We so need to
so we look forward to seeing you there on Thursday, July 11th. remember to trust and have faith in our Lord God that He is
who He says He is…Mighty, Faithful, Eternal, Sovereign,
Holy, Just, Wise, Merciful and the list goes on!!! Oh! and my
volunteer??? I ended up pouring the stuff all over him.
Come be part of a great Saturday morning on July 20th. These guys know
how to cook so your breakfast will be great to start your morning off well plus
Actually, turned out to be a better object lesson than I
great fellowship and then a devotion shared by Danny Chase. Bring a friend thought! Have faith in God, He’s on His throne, Have faith in
and come check it out! God, He watches over His own.
Sunday Morning Worship Sunday Evening Schedule Wednesday Evening Schedule
8:30 & 11:00 a.m. Adult Bible Study 5:00-7:00 p.m. Student Activities 6:00 p.m.
Sunday School Kidz Time 5:00-7:00 p.m. Student Worship 7:00 p.m.
9:45 a.m. Youth Discipleship 5:00-7:00 p.m. Team Kid Meal 6:30 p.m.
Children’s Worship Team Kid 7:00 p.m.
11:00 a.m. Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
This past month I was blessed with an opportunity to serve in Thailand on a short-term ministry assignment. For security reasons, I can’t share in this news article a lot of the details about the trip. If you would like to know more about the trip, I would love to share with you in person. One thing I can share is a conversation that I was involved in with one of my team members on the bus ride from Little Rock to Dallas, the first leg of our journey to Thailand. On the bus ride to Dallas I became involved in a conversation about how we tend to take the credit away from God when we become saved. The gentleman leading the conversation became very passionate about sharing his view and was not very interested in hearing others views on the subject. He was very passionate about his position. He stated that he felt believers take the credit for coming to salvation and that God should get all the credit and that we really don’t have a lot to do with it. It is all a work of God. He went on to say he didn’t agree with invitation time or the saying , “ Will you choose to let Jesus into your heart.” At first I tried to stay out of the conversation. But as time went by I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to share what I thought about it. I stated that I did agree that God is at the beginning of all things, including salvation and drawing people to repentance and being saved. I shared that what God’s word has taught me is that we must make a choice. Because of sin we choose to reject God. In order to be saved, to receive the gift of salvation, we must choose to receive it. The conversation continued with a lot of resistance from the gentleman. I finally gave up on the conversation and left it to the three others that were involved. Many times, I find myself in these conversations. I find that I am trying to convince people to think a different way. Sometimes I need a reminder that my task as a believer is to share the truth and let the Holy Spirit do the convincing. I think that is why I find myself studying in Romans. God has led me here to remind me of His sovereignty and His grace and mercy. My position on choosing God over a sinful life is reinforced in chapter 1 and 2 of Romans. Verse 23 of chapter 1 Paul states that people that knew God intentionally exchanged Him and His truth for selfish pleasures. Verses 25 states , they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the creator, who is forever praised . Amen. We must choose to follow Jesus. God will not force us to choose Him. His Holy Spirit will convict our hearts but we must choose to allow Him to make our heart brand new. Salvation is a free gift and it can only be received. Salvation is for all. God desires for us to choose Him and not death. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God is at the beginning of salvation. It is His work. But we must choose to believe in it. Only when we choose to believe in salvation and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior can we be set free from the bondage of sin and the slavery satan wishes to keep us in. John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." God desires to set us free from the slavery of sin. He has forgiven our sins thru Jesus Christ. He stands ready and willing to set us free. But because of sin we choose to stay a slave to sin. My prayer today is that people all over Thailand and all over the world would turn to God and away from false god’s so that they would be set free and not spend eternity in hell forever separated from God. Your Brother in Christ, Thomas Little
Our Mission Pastoral and
To reach out to all Support Staff
02—Logan Keener 12—Brian Keener 21—Mark Yates people with the love Pastor
02—Adison Cullen 12—Austin Kilby 21—Meredith Yates of Jesus Christ. To
George Lynch
03—Shelby Williams 13—Sandy Reynolds 22—Clint Lingelback teach the Bible,
05—Uriah Miller 14—James Deweber 22—Jan Shoemaker without compromise, Youth Pastor
05—Arley Wheetley, Jr. 14—Julie Wheetley 22—Emma Halupka
to every person in Thomas Little
06—Ruth Carson order to win the
15—Cody Loper 23—Tom Vogel Women’s Ministry
06—Katie Teague
unsaved and to
15—Melissa Horton 25—Jordan Harper
encourage believers Sue Watkins
06—Kenzi Smith 15—Abby Fowler 26—Crystal Kilby
to become fully Nursery
06—Katie Howell 15—Jessie Flint 26—Helen Bradshaw committed disciples
07—Wyatt Caldwell 15—Vicky Sanders 26—Jocelyn Williams Linda Joiner
of Jesus Christ. To
08—Jennifer Jordan 16—Angie Covey 27—Tasha Goss pray for one another Music Ministry
08—Joseph Iberra 16—Gary Fuller 28—Melissa Meredith and encourage one John Gilmore
09—Owen Calvi 17—Stacey Strickland 28—Gaige Ehrenworth another to do good
Pianist
09—Stephen Murphy 18—Lexi Graves 28—Jayden Stiles works in the name of
09—Christopher Watts the Lord. Cheryl Tieaskie
19—Tammy Linder 29—Tammy Abernathy
10—Josh Gilmore 19—Amanda Clark 29—Hannah Fuller Church Secretary
10—Lilianne Fuller 20—Meghan Cullen 29—Sarah Collins Retha Gilmore
10—Linda Joiner 20—Wanda Berry 30—Michael Doyle
11—Virginia Robbins 20—Kycie Godwin 31—Courtney Smallwood
12—Jared Hutter 21—Patience Shoemaker Happy Birthday
12—Lynn Bradley 21—Deborah Vaughn
Everyone!!!
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