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Written by Daniel Sims
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Monday, 08 February 2010 18:40 |
We had a great day in the Lord's house yesterday. Instead of a regular schedule, we called off Sunday School and had a camp-meeting style service. We started the day with Bro. Jeremy Johnson preaching to our hearts about Crying Out To The Lord. Bro. Jason Water's preached next from James 3 on "The Tongue." This was a great message. My favorite quote from this sermon which was oft repeated was "Don't tell me you're spiritual if you can't bridle your tongue!" I say amen, amen, amen, and AMEN!
After a few songs, Bro. Eric Lee preached on "I Can't Believe." The sermon began with an illustration of a Mongolian woman who received her first Bible. With her hands in the air she cried, "I can't believe God loved me enough to give me a part of Him. I can't believe God loved me enough to die for me, I can't believe...." Then he told about the times when Jesus did not many wonderful works because of their unbelief. When describing how could God is, it is fine that we can't believe. Yet when it come to the work of God we must believe.
After Bro. Lee's sermon, we broke for lunch: an all you can eat Papa John's pizza buffet right in our fellowship hall! We had a great time of food and fellowship, After the meal, Bro. Christopher Rogers preached from Nehemiah on "This is a Great Work." Sometimes we feel like God doesn't even know we're here. Then we step back and look at all He has done through our small group and stand amazed at all He has done! |
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Written by Daniel Sims
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Friday, 22 January 2010 10:20 |
In my last blog post I mentioned that a family was trying to move from Illinois to our area and be a part of our church. I rejoice to say that they were able to get sell their house have already purchase another one in our area. This is such blessing to our church. We are so glad to have them.
The Lord allowed us this week to get new carpet and chairs for the sanctuary. You can see pictures in our photo gallery of the new decor. God continues to drop "handfuls of purpose" to encourage us. In these hard times, we can sure use all the encouragement we can get. I once heard a preacher say that "where God guides He provides." It is a blessing to see that no matter how hard the economy gets, God still has good credit and can still finance His work. On the cover of my book, I quoted Hutson Taylor saying "God's work, done God's way, will never lack God's provision." God can still provide a table in the wildernes. Amen! Amen! |
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Written by Daniel Sims
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Wednesday, 23 December 2009 14:43 |
Since my last blog post, things haven't exactly gone our way. In fact, for a while it has seemed that everything was going against us. In October we began to have issues with county government over building code and permits. Many of the people in our church have fought personal battles that we never thought we'd face. It has been hard to try to encourage the church when I have been discouraged myself. I kept telling the Lord that I have done all I know to do. He kept reminding me of the latter part of Ephesians 6:13, "and having done all, to stand." Sometimes it was all I could do just to keep standing.
A few times when I thought I could take no more, another messenger would come over the hill with yet more bad news. I would remind the Lord that I was at the end of my rope and could take no more. Then along would come another messenger to show that I could indeed take more. I was starting to joke with my friends that God created me just to show them how much pressure a human could endure.
I would call my family in Alabama to vent. Things were going great at their church. People have been getting saved, families have been joining, and the church is really growing both spiritually and numerically. They even had a man driving down the rode who said the Lord told him to come to their church. He came to church, got saved, and has been faithful ever since. He even brings visitors now. I rejoice in their victories, but wondered why God wasn't moving in our church like that. So I decided I would just keep standing.
It appears things have finally started going in our favor. The issues with the govenment have been favorably resolved. Another family is movng from Illinois to join our church. It appeared for a while that their house would not sell and they could not come. About the same time the other issues were resolved, they got an offer on their house. They have already found a house in this area and have made an offer. Lord willing they will be here within 3 weeks. We are very excited to have them.
I realize that the storm probably isn't over and there are more hard times ahead. I do thank the Lord for the space of grace he has given us. |
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Written by Daniel Sims
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Monday, 31 August 2009 13:32 |
We had another great week at Messiah Baptist Church. My pastor, Bro Bill South, brought several members from Grace Baptist Church in Warrenton, Georgia, to Athens to help us for a few days. We started out with a special service on Thursday night with Bro. South preaching "90 Days in the Presence of God." The Lord moved in the service and the altars filled. Many were still talking about the message a few days on Sunday.
On Friday we had a special outreach and we visited approximately 400 homes. When the rain came we all went to CiCi's Pizza for food and fellowship. Afterwards we went to the church to rest. That night we all went to Church's Chicken and then to Dairy Queen. We called it a day early so we would be refreshed and ready for a big day on Saturday. This would be themain thrust of our efforts.
On Saturday morning we loaded the church van with thousands of "Book of John" pamphlets and gospel tracts. We went to the J& J Flea Market and set up a tables to distribute Gospel literature. We gave out over 2,000 John/Romans booklets in English as well as in Spanish. We desire to help a Spanish church get started in the area soon. We feel that every church should be independent and autonomous, including Spanish churches in the U.S. We are praying about how to go about doing this in such a way that our church can best help start a doctrinally sound work. When we finished at the flea market we went back to the church to enjoy homemade tamales from a Mexican vendor outside of the Los Compadres shop. We then went back out on visitation and cover 300-400 more homes.
On Sunday, Bro. Jerry Fincannon preached a message reminding us that is is all about Jesus! The reason we sing, the reason we give, the reason we breath is to glorify Jesus! He is more that a part of our life, He is our life. After an afternoon of fellowship, Bro. Fain Jordan preached in our evening services. He taught us how to sing the Lord's song in a strange land. Mrs. Patsy sang "Send the Rain." We thank God for His presence. Please check our photo album for pictures.
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Written by Daniel Sims
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Wednesday, 15 July 2009 03:38 |
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As you may already know, summertime in Georgia is pretty hot and humid. While this year has been pretty mild, the current air conditioning unit in our church left much to be desired. It only cooled the front portion which includes a Sunday school class, foyer, and nursery. The rest of the building had practically no cooling system whatsoever.
All of our members have been real troopers and have endured without complaining. Sunday one of the members asked if it would be all right to check into getting a new central heat and air unit installed. I had a idea of the cost involved, but I did know that we couldn't afford it. Thinking that reality would set in when we started pricing the units, I told the church member to proceed with getting quotes.
On Monday morning this man called me to say that he had spoke to a friend (that wanted to remain anonymous)who may be willing to donate the cost of having a new unit installed. We got two quotes, one was $9,500 and the other was $16,000.
Soon after getting the quotes on Monday evening we travelled to Alabama. On Tuesday morning I got a call saying that the friend would cover all costs involved! Praised the Lord! Glory! Halleluiah!
Lord willing, the heating and air guys will start on Thursday installing our brand new central heat and air unit. Within a few hours we also found out that our lease on the building will be extended for an additional two years.
We thank the Lord for His provision. We would also like to thank the very generous donor. I pray the Lord will open the windows of heaven and greatly bless you. |
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