FBC San Antonio Worship - September 26, 2021

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] um [Music] down [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh we have gathered this morning to proclaim the name of the lord thank you for joining your heart your mind and your voice to that celebration as we begin hear from the psalms psalm 57 7-11 as our scriptural call to worship it reads like this my heart is steadfast oh god my heart is steadfast i will sing yes i will sing praises awake my glory awake harp and liar i will awaken the dawn i will give thanks to you o lord among the peoples i will sing praises to you among the nations for your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and your truth to the clouds be exalted above the heavens oh god let your glory be above all the earth let's join our voices this morning to god be the glory you'll find it in your hymnals or in your worship bulletin let's stand together as we sing [Music] now [Music] so [Music] three [Music] [Applause] something we can truly say god is great he has done great things and he's done that in this community in this fellowship let's welcome those around us to fellowship this morning if you're joining us by way of television or live stream god bless you we are so grateful to have you as a part of our worshiping community which once you know we have prayed for you and what's happening here is happening at your home welcome to worship [Music] amen and welcome welcome to the first baptist church of san antonio we're grateful that you are worshiping with us today whether you are in the room or on television this morning it is good for us to worship together uh let me begin by saying um if you're new to us or if you're a guest we would love to get to know you and the way we do that is in the room these connect cards should be in the pew back in front of you if you put your uh name and information on there we would love to get to know you that way if you're watching on television this morning and you would like to get in touch with us there's a similar kind of card online fbcsa.org connect and we would love to get to know you that way now let me say this morning in response to our reverse text that we have been reading all week long in james chapter 2 that it is no accident that you are in this place this morning it is no accident that you are worshiping with with us on television this morning but that god has ordained that we would be together god ordained who would walk through these doors god ordained who would turn their television on to case at 12 this morning and god saw it so that we corporately would be worshiping together this morning and in that in god's hand moving in that way and moving in that direction let us expect something holy something joyful because god brought us together to worship for good and to glorify his holy name and so in that we know god's going to work and move in his spirit and do a mighty work in this place today and as our worship is broadcast all over the region so we thank the lord for that opportunity and we're not going to take this lightly we're not going to take this for granted but this is a moment that we have been given by the lord and we are going to rejoice together so let us do that and let me continue our worship and rejoicing in prayer so let's pray together father we recognize that this moment was from you lord you knew every person that would be a part of this worship today and so lord we we thank you for this opportunity and we pray lord that your spirit would move in each one of our hearts lord would you break into these hardened hearts and and open them so that they might be filled with your spirit and that we might be made into the men and women that you've called us to be and lord in this hour as we come to proclaim your name and sing praises for your glory lord we pray that you'd be blessed by it lord that our spirits would be lifted up by your spirit and lord that we'd be able to sing from the bottom of ourselves from our from our deep within our heart and sing joyfully and give joyfully and listen joyfully and expect joy knowing that you are a god who brings rejoicing that you bring truth and hope and grace and life wherever you go and we're going to rejoice in it and celebrate who you are and glorify your holy name and it's in the name that's above every name the name of the christ jesus our lord that we pray amen it is our prayer at first baptist church that you are a people of the word that you are in the word every day just asking the lord to reveal himself through through his powerful scripture um so as you've been reading james the this brother of jesus he just speaks so clearly um and i and i love that that pastor chris has chosen this passage from luke to be a part of the worship service today because you can hear some of the words that james echoes in here in the in the voice of jesus so you follow along as i read this very familiar story and prepare yourselves even now for what the lord will do through the time of sermon and a lawyer stood up and put him to the test saying teacher what shall i do to inherit eternal life and he said to him what is written in the law how how does it read to you and he answered you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself and he said to him you have answered correctly do this and you will live but wishing to justify himself he said to jesus and who is my neighbor jesus replied and said a man was going down from jerusalem to jericho and fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him half dead and by chance a priest was going down on that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side likewise a levite also when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side but a samaritan who was on a journey came upon him and when he saw him he felt compassion and came to him and bandaged up his wounds pouring oil and wine on them and he put him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him on the next day he took out to dinari and gave them to the innkeeper and said take care of him and whatever more you spend when i return i will repay you which of these three do you think proved to be the neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers hands and he said the one who showed mercy toward him then jesus said to him go and do the same what a privilege to read the word of god let's sing there's a wideness in god's mercy it's hymn number 25 let's sing of god's great love towards his his children standing together as we sing don't [Music] all right children if y'all would come on down i got a few things in this box here this morning to show you just come come on down and meet me right here [Music] all right i got a few things to show y'all and i want when i show you this i want you to tell me what you think that person would be doing so let's say if somebody walks into our church wearing this so let's say somebody came in wearing this what do you think they would be doing where do you think we would point them do you think playing sports maybe maybe they came back from playing basketball maybe they were playing sports anything else does anybody think it would be manu ginobili no i don't i don't know i think you're right i think if somebody came in wearing a basketball jersey we'd probably tell them well you need to go to the gym so would you do any of you all know where the gym is where is the gym yeah so it's over that way right like on the third floor we tell them to go that way that's right what if somebody came in and they were wearing this what do you think they would be doing do you have any matt what yeah building something doing construction what else yeah it is a helmet right so they're doing something where their head might get hit so if somebody came in wearing this we'd probably say well you probably need to go up there and fix whatever's broken in that building or upstairs or somewhere else right we'd expect them to be working all right what about this one's kind of harder to see does anybody know what this is what if somebody came in wearing this i can't even find the front of it where does it go you might know oh this way what do you think that's a cape what if somebody came in wearing a cape what do you think they'd be doing what do you think they're trying to be a superhero that's right where do you think we would send them if they were trying to be a superhero we tell them to go outside i would say yeah you go you go be a superhero outside somewhere yeah that that's a good thought now this is this is what our scripture is teaching us today when look at when somebody comes in and somebody comes to the church or somebody comes near us we shouldn't just look at what they're wearing and think we know where they're going right we shouldn't just think well the superhero needs to go outside and save the day on the playground or the construction worker just needs to go to construction site the basketball player just needs to go to the gym because really in reality we don't know what all they're doing and this is the most important part if they're walking in here or they're walking in near we hope that they're coming in to meet jesus and so wouldn't it be wonderful if the people we met or the people that walked in this building we were expecting and thinking they were coming to meet jesus so that'd be a wonderful thing that we could help point them and say let me help you know how to meet jesus whether you're a construction worker a basketball player or a superhero we can tell them all about who jesus is right all right let's pray together and we'll go lord we thank you for this time and we thank you for what you're doing and lord we pray that you would help us to see people as you see them and recognize lord that that jesus is important to every single one of us it's in the name of jesus christ we pray amen thank you i'm grateful that we find jesus here in this place so that everybody can find jesus here so let's stand stand and sing of his great mercy and grace towards us as we sing amazing grace how sweet the sound you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] so hi [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is so if you would turn with me to the reverse text for this week james chapter 2 verses 1-13 and joyfully we get to read the entire thing together and so it's one of the things we love about reverse when we can read the entire text for the week and so if you would stand with me and we're going to read this aloud together this then is the text for today my brethren do not hold your faith in our glorious lord jesus christ with an attitude of personal favoritism for if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing fine clothes and say you sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down by my footstool have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives listen my beloved brethren did not god choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him but you have dishonored the poor man is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called if however you are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself you're doing well but if you show partiality you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all for he who said do not commit adultery also said do not commit murder now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder you have become a transgressor of the law so speak and so act as those who are judged by the law of liberty for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy mercy triumphs over judgment may god bless the reading of his word i heard something that i didn't expect to hear this week when i'm driving typically i will either listen to audio books in the car or various podcasts so there's a few sports cup podcasts that are sprinkled in throughout and one of those sports podcasts that i'll listen to is by bill simmons this week bill simmons began one of his podcasts remembering his friend norm mcdonald norm was a canadian comedian who died from cancer last week and apparently he had battled cancer for six years and told no one he didn't tell his friends he didn't tell those that were closest to him he wanted to do that without them knowing and so his death came as a shock to his friends like bill simmons and as a part of this podcast that i was listening to uh simmons had a longtime friend and one of north's producers daniel kelson on daniel knew norm as well as anyone did and even he didn't know that norman had cancer and very early in their conversation i had to stop it in fact i turned it off and i said i've got to think about this because very early in their conversation daniel his norm's friend as they're talking about this and talking about his death daniel says that norm mcdonald was a devout christian and so i paused it and i thought what does that mean or what does daniel think that means because everything i have ever heard of or from norm mcdonald was crude and inappropriate now there are some funny moments on saturday live or tonight's show but i never once thought upon hearing norm mcdonald that he must be a devout christian but that's what his closest friends are saying and supposedly when he wasn't on stage doing his act he was beside behind the scenes of hollywood preaching the gospel and ready to defend scripture with any a-lister that would debate him and remarkably they all still loved him david letterman others said he was their favorite comedian now with these kinds of things you have to be careful because people often wax poetic about someone at their death and there are times when we hear of people upon their death and these stories are so exaggerated the person is unrecognizable but i started digging in a little this week because i stopped at the podcast and said what's going on here what do they mean when they say he was a devout christian and so i started digging and if you look behind the curtain there is some evidence that norm mcdonald very well may have been a devout christian but ultimately that's between him and god that maybe maybe i misjudged him maybe i misjudged him by only seeing his stage personality maybe i miss the real norm i hope so for his eternal sake i hope so see james here in james chapter 2 gives us a warning it gives us warning about how we judge people and what we think about people when we see them in fact when we get into this reverse text judges chapter two one through three we we see this scenario that james is setting up for us as two people step into an assembly and he says as they do in in it's it's as we picture the gathering of believers wherever they they find themselves in this this particular phrase at the end of verse one chapter two verse one don't hold this with an attitude of personal favoritism now the literal translation of that phrase an attitude of personal favoritism is something like don't lift the face or don't receive the face and and what this what this means and what this is getting at is typically we make snap judgments about people based on eternal factors like uh what they possess what what they're wearing we think we think differently about people who wear something we like we think differently about people who drive something we like we think differently about people who behave like we do and so um james gives us this kind of vague scenario he says that here in the text that you know something some comes into a meeting and so if you see this in chapter two for if a man comes into your assembly that's that's a it's a word that scholars struggle with it it's just most generally the synagogue it says is they they come into the synagogue meaning like a generic meeting or a business meeting or maybe the legal matters in the church and he's saying when when you gather and and i think he's he's i think he's trying to throw this as wide as possible he's not not just in worship but any time you gather anytime a body of believers have gathered whether it's in your homes for area fellowships or whether it's in in sunday school or whether you're just out at a at a church party or something or a church picnic wherever you have gathered in any time you have gathered our tendency is still even in the church to judge people based on what they're wearing whether they're wearing a basketball jersey a hard hat or a cape we're going to make distinctions about who they are and what we think about them and as it goes he says often even in the church what you see if somebody comes in looking like they have money they will be treated well if somebody looks comes in and they are shabby they generally won't be treated well because in the back of our minds we think if somebody's wealthy are they at least dressed that way we think they might be able to help us and if they come in in filthy clothes we give them the worst seat because we think they're going to drain us scripture tells us that this kind of attitude is both lazy and evil in the gospel in the power of the holy spirit we receive everyone with the joy and hopefulness that we would give the most distinguished guests so whoever we would treat with with high regard when people walk into the body or come into the fellowship we we receive them with joy and hopefulness because we have joy and hopefulness in the lord that that whatever they're walking into the assembly with and however they come into the assembly there is hope for them and there's joy on the horizon because they're walking into a body of believers of people who know jesus christ and if you walk into a body of believers if you walk into a room with people who know jesus christ there is joy and hopefulness abounding there there is joy that is flowing out of the room and into the streets and he's saying when you come in near to that you receive everybody into that joy and that hopefulness you see this is how we receive everyone because in the reality there's nothing wrong with receiving the well-dressed person with joy surely you will as long as you're recognizing they hold great potential in the kingdom of god you see we have to change our perspective this is where james is taking us today you have to change what you see and how we're looking because god is going to bring all kinds of people in and out of your life it's going to be a regular occurrence it's going to happen this week god is going to bring new people into your life and god is going to bring old people out of your life there's likely going to be some new person this week that you have never met that's going to be set in your life and in our flesh as humans we're going to make all kinds of judgment based on appearances but instead of worrying about what they have or what they don't have we need to start asking the question why did god bring this person into my life you see james is telling us here god is bringing two people into the assembly it's an assembly of believers gathered there two people come in and you need to start asking a question why did god bring these two people into this assembly why did god set them in front of me why did god set them beside me this person no matter who they are why did god bring them into this room why did god allow our cro our paths the cross because what we believe as a people of the word who serve a creator god who has ordained life as it is who set our life on its course in his power has brought this person into your life why did he do that god knew them god knew that they would come into your life this week why did god orchestrate you meeting them why did god see fit that this would happen what might god be up to because as an expectant joyful people we know god's up to something and when he brings somebody into your life whoever it is he's up to something and we're going to expect god to work miracles we're going to expect god to do holy kinds of things and so when a new person crosses our path as a believer our expectation is to look up and say god what are you doing what are you going to do with this new person that you've brought into our midst because there's something that could happen here that is holy and good we don't worry about what their watch is worth but with a holy imagination we dream what is god going to do you know the person that god brings into your life might be zacchaeus the person god brings into your life might be that ethiopian the person god brings into your life might be timothy you see these are biblical characters that we use to imagine how we might witness well these are biblical characters that we dream about how we might disciple and and when a new person comes into our lives and instead of imagining what their bank account might be because that doesn't matter we should we should imagine with the lord their potential in the kingdom of god because whoever god brings in your life this week there is grand potential for the kingdom of god there's grand potential in the church that god's going to do something mighty and holy in their life and we know even with the apostle paul when he was he was brought before the church many people looked at him with disgust and disdain even after he had been saved where the church was looking at him saying he was a persecutor of the church they looked at him with fear and they saw the hopelessness drain out of a hope drain out of their lives so that they became hopeless when they saw this man who used to persecute the church but god in his holy imagination saw something different a man who could ignite the church and be one of the greatest missionaries that we ever knew we don't know you don't know the people that god's going to bring across your path this week are holy appointments from the lord and you never know what god's going to do and we should expect holiness and big things from our lord because there is potential for them in the kingdom of god you see if you can look past their attire whether it's fine clothes or shabby clothes and recognize what the holy spirit is capable of in their lives you're both going to find great joy when you look at the people this way that the holy spirit can do incredible things through them it's going to fill you up with joy and expectation at the same time it's going to fill them up with joy and expectation now let me let me pause here for a second because there's a nagging question for the introverts in the room you see james just assumes that god is going to bring people into our lives what if we don't want god to bring people into our lives what if our our friendship totals are already at their max what if we're already at the quota of people we want to meet we don't want to meet any more people anymore see where i'm going is for some of us this is hard for some of us it's a very difficult thing but let me tell you as the gospel unfolds and as you read through the pages of scripture what we see is god interacting with humanity through relationships and so let me remind you and let me remind myself that when god is at work it is almost always in relationship with him and relationship with the people that he has brought into your life see god's going to bring new people in and out all of the time and this is something we've got to be aware of and watch for because the god who conducts the stars has orchestrated your life so that you might meet them this week whoever he brings into your life god's going to bring rich people poor people famous people insignificant people good people terrible people all into your life on a regular basis and this is a test you know as we looked at the first part of james in james chapter 1 he talks about those tests he says we're going to have moments where our faith is tested where god's growing us where where we have rough edges and and we have thoughts we shouldn't have and and god's going to work on us and one of the ways that god works on us is he brings people in her life he brought your spouse into your life to make you better he brought your family into your life to make you better he brought those that will cross your path this week so that you might grow in faith and know him more see these these situations and often people that come across our path that we don't have anything to do with god says this is going to show you my holiness this is going to show you what my mercy looks like this is going to show you what forgiveness looks like and i'm going to i'm going to reveal to you who i am in this interaction with this person that you're going to see and it's often a test to see how you're going to respond to them and how you're going to react where god's saying are you walking with me or you're not you know james supposes here in this meeting that god brings two people in in front of that that that assembly of believers and and with these two people they fail they treat one person well and they treat the other person poorly you see frankly it doesn't matter which one you treat well or which one you treat poorly if you don't treat them as the lord has called you to both of them then you fail look down with me at verse eight so let's keep moving through this text james chapter two verse eight if however you're fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself james then takes us to this quote of jesus christ and jesus here if you think about with me jesus is quoting the old testament and jesus is speaking to a largely jewish audience and what jesus is doing here is we're moving to verse eight james is reminding us of what jesus was doing that jesus was reinterpreting this quote uh for his jewish audience that and that's why we get the story of the good samaritan so think back at the story that we read earlier in the service the story of the good samaritan it was it was common thought and common practice in the ancient jewish world to interpret that word neighbor as just a fellow jewish person now that's not what god intended but that was the common thought of the day that neighbor just meant a fellow jewish person so that if you're jewish you love jewish people and essentially the rest of the world was inconsequential but jesus says this is not the way forward this is this is not what the lord meant see jesus turned this interpretation on its head in a number of different ways and he spoke plainly to them to say that neighbor is not just people who look like you but but neighbor are the people who don't look like you who don't sound like you who don't dress like you or even foreigners and enemies this is when when you hear jesus in in matthew chapter five he takes them it says even the enemies that cross your path and the foreigners that cross your path whoever cross your vet if god brings them into your life they are your neighbor so when god brings somebody across your path you need to express this love for them that recognizes their potential value in the kingdom of god this might be a moment of witness this might be a moment of discipleship where the lord's up to something here you know i was i was really confused by that norm mcdonald story that his friends were saying he was a devout christian and so i started i started researching this week and you know with him passing away in the last week there were all kinds of anecdotes and stories online and there was one that struck me in particular and this was from a waiter and the waiter he posted this online he didn't give his name but his initials were wp and i'll give you the abridged version of this story this waiter told he said in 2017 so at this point norman already had cancer and hadn't told anybody but he was doing stand-up in irvine california and about five minutes into a set this heckler just lays into him with all kinds of hateful comments and norm mcdonald just stopped the set in front of everyone and he asked the guy he said why did you pay to be here why why are you being so hateful and and the audience and the the room was starting to buzz because everybody in the audience thought he was just that norm was about to roast the guy just to lay into him but then he just started to show genuine concern right there in front of everyone and even after the show norm grabbed this guy and went to took him to dinner and the waiter says for the next 45 minutes they ate together and and the waiter said i kept my my distance i don't know exactly what they were talking about but i can tell you at one point the man was crying and as they they got up from dinner norm gave him a hug and saw him off so let me say this i don't i don't know if norm mcdonald was a devout christian or not i can't even tell you if the story from the waiter is even true you know often what you read online is sketchy at best but but let me tell you that i do know this that is a perfectly christian response so let's assume it's all true that god brought this heckler into norm's life and instead of destroying the guy like he was capable of and like the entire room expected him to do he saw past the frigid exterior of a man and saw a heart that needed healing see this story is a perfect example of loving your neighbor as yourself when god brings someone into your life when god brings anyone into your life you you need to see them that way that this person was brought into your life by our lord god above and god knows that they're there and god sees the way we treat them and if we're going to find follow the royal law and that is jesus's way of the new testament we're going to treat them with respect and hopeful longing of the work of god in their lives because god has something great in store for the days ahead let me read you another text from from jesus this was another time in matthew chapter five in the beatitudes where jesus is talking about this same verse it's not the same good samaritan story but it's an earlier story where jesus is talking about loving your neighbor as yourself it's matthew chapter 5 verse 46. so let me read you 46-48 jesus says this if you love those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors and sinners do that if you greet only your brothers what more are you doing than other people do not even the gentiles do the same therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect and you see up above there in 43 and 44 jesus tells him to to love and pray for your enemies even that jesus's way is different you don't just love those who love you that's easy you don't just look after those who look after you that's easy you don't just just love the people who wear what you like them to wear and see this is where james leaves us this week we love the people that god brings across our path you see too often we make the justification well they're living in sin we don't have to love them that is what jesus says here we sometimes think that if they disagree with us or worse they disagree with the gospel that we don't have to love them that isn't what jesus says here in matthew chapter five jesus says whoever god brings into your life this week if he brings them across you give them the benefit of the doubt you trust that god is up to something in their life and whatever they need working on god's going to bring it home and whether they're rich or they're poor whether they're nice or they're mean expect the holy spirit to work because if you expect the holy spirit to work and you trust the holy spirit is going to do something in their life and if you pray for them and you care for them and say lord come and do something mighty you just might meet an angel or you just might witness a miracle you see god's up to something whether we recognize it or not let's be a kind of people who trust jesus and walk with jesus and love whoever he brings across our path and say lord come to your work come bring your salvation come bring your forgiveness be the mighty god that we have known that that graceful merciful forgiving god that even i have known lord be that unto them so that they might be saved so that they might be near to the lord we just don't know who we might meet this week but whoever it is the lord is up to something let's pray together lord we trust that you are in control that lord you set the course of time that lord you show us a way forward lord that that our families that our friends those that we meet this week but they're brought into our lives because you are a good god and you're up to something you're working on them you're working on us and lord we pray that as as a body of believers we would be faithful and obedient to listen lord that we would trust you when you're working on our hearts and lord we would trust you and know that you're working on their hearts and lord we want to see you work we want to see your mighty hand doing incredible things that only you could do because lord we are weak we we are transgressors of the law the lord in your holy spirit we have been made due we've been forgiven and set on a course that god intended and lord we pray that in that way we would remain faithful seeking after you and your ways it's in the name of our lord and risen savior jesus christ we pray amen we're gonna have a time of response now we pray that everybody in here would respond to the lord in some way there's some ways listed on the bottom of your listening sheet maybe you'd like to respond to the lord in one of those ways the altar is open come come forward and pray with us i'll be on this side pastor brian will be on this side i'm happy to receive you to pray for you to talk about accepting christ or being a part of this church we'll receive you at this time it's time to sing it's time to listen it's a time to pray it's a time to hold on to those god has brought into your life but however you feel led this morning to respond to the lord let's do so faithfully and obediently [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] ah [Music] um uh [Music] uh ah [Music] i would like us to take a moment and recognize that it is a blessing to have our choir and our orchestra can we thank the lord for them you know there was there was a time in recent days where um we were taking that for granted and then during the heights of the pandemic it was taken from us and i hope we receive them with joy every week knowing this is a blessing from the lord to hear our choir sing and to hear our orchestra play and let me use that as a segue because um dr seth nelson is uh second to none uh a remarkable organist that we love and we're grateful for his work and his ministry in that way and i want you to be aware that today at three o'clock uh dr nelson is having a recital and so we're grateful here in the sanctuary if you want to come and be a part of that recital and and hear from uh seth uh that's gonna be a good time so let me give you uh just one more uh for today so the other for today is tonight at 6 pm we will have our monthly church conference and there'll be some things that that we'll be looking at some updates that you need to hear so it'd be a good time at church conference tonight at six so we hope if you can be here that you will be here for a church conference and let me move this forward uh into the next few weeks a couple things we want to be aware of next sunday october 3rd we will have our area fellowships so many will be back there will be a few on zoom this is where we meet in homes across the city have dinner together study uh god's word together and so that will be next sunday october 3rd so you will reach out to your area fellowship or find one online on our website there fbcsa.org area fellowship so that will be coming in a week then the week following that october 10th we'll have another discover class that if you're new to first baptist and you haven't yet joined or you're thinking about it or if you have joined or recently joined it and want to learn more about who we are october 10th uh that'll start at 8 30 a.m you'll get a tour of the church you'll hear our history learn about our ministries and then you get lunch with myself and a couple of other other pastors and we'll talk about things we see for the days ahead and so that'll go from about 8 30 a.m to about 1 30 p.m that's a wonderful time together so if you're new we hope you'll sign up for that and come visit with us fbcsa.org discover and then we also have our grand church picnic coming so october 17th please put this on your calendar as we expect in our church picnic at mission county park on october 17th you do need to get a ticket of that for that so we'll know how much food to purchase so you can find the the tickets online or in unity hall there'll be a number of things happening that day we're going to be celebrating our 160th birthday and he's not in the room we do want you to be aware this is supposed to be a secret though i think he's heard a little bit of rumblings of it um that is also scott lane our executive pastor of ministry his 25th anniversary and so we're also going to be honoring scott lane that day yeah love scott as well so please know that is coming and that's going to be a good time now there is another moment another 160 moment we're going to watch a video here in just a second and aaron and i were talking in the early service 8 30 service this morning how perfect this video is for this text it was as if god saw fit that this video from tara would be uh shown today as we were here in james chapter 2. you know one of the great things about this church is um this has been a loving and welcoming church in in all kinds of ways um and and one of those ways is from years ago that you'll hear uh from tara my name is tara koba and i came to san antonio in 2008 and i became a member of the first baptist church in november 2014. from 2008 to 2009 2010 many burmese refugees from thailand from malaysia they came to the united states and most of our friends came to san antonio i will say that you're very brave to welcome all these folks i remember the leaders the pastors and the mentors and church families that who reached out to their hands and open their arms for those refugees families that come to town the international ministry has been started by many by pastor boom and i will say that he has a a servant's heart and he he care the people very much and he knew that he has been through that the life that what the the the refugees have been through and also i remember pastor don he's a great leader and he has a servant heart as well he always shown his love to our to the people our church was the first church that uh who had their six languages in four interpreters at one time we worship at the arsoca building so it was very packed it was it was crowded and and we had a low thai posture pasta boone speaks in thai language and sometimes speaks in english and when he preached he preached in thai and english then four other burmese have to translate in their own language which is koran karani chin and burmese the first baptist church gave birth four different churches that maybe we we have never been dream that would happen but it's truly happened fbc sa athenos so much has changed but god is still good amen and to our texts from today over a decade ago god brought literally hundreds of burmese refugees to our front door as a church we didn't know what would happen we didn't know where to go but we trusted the lord was in it and as tara just mentioned we've now planted four churches out of that group and it's been a beautiful thing in the life of this church and for the sake of san antonio so thank you church for being faithful to that call and caring for the people that god has brought into your life in that way now we do want to take a moment to pray because as we have visited and we still have uh many of those burmese we have sent out to plant churches in this city uh but but some are still here some still worship with us and including terror and um and in those uh times of worship and as we gather together we have been asked to pray i hope you've seen i hope you've known that it was over a decade ago now that this group of refugees came to us seeking aid even still today there there is a new crisis that's happening in their in their native country and they're they're begging us to pray for god to intervene um they're worried they're scared they have friends and family um who are struggling and are trying to get out some are trying to make their way to the u.s others are fleeing to other countries nearby um places like thailand but they are struggling and many of those that we embraced and have embraced for the last decade or so are now worried and fearful for their friends and family who are facing that that persecution again and so we're going to take a moment now and we're going to pray for them and so let's hold them before the lord and ask for the lord's intervention so let's pray together father we can see in the eyes of our burmese brothers and sisters that they are hurting lord that they are reliving pain that they never thought they would have to relive again lord that they are they're struggling with their faith they're struggling to to communicate with their family members they're struggling with knowing what to do next and lord we just ask that you would intervene lord we know that you are a powerful and mighty god and we pray that you would step into their situation and reveal yourself as holy and just and lord we pray that you would bring them through lord we've heard stories of people crawling through the forest we've heard stories of people begging for food we've heard stories of people sneaking across borders to get away from death and lord we pray that you would reveal your light to them lord would you wrap them up in your arms and embrace them as a loving heavenly father and let them know and see that it's you at work lord we pray that that that entire nation and lord all of these burmese refugees would look up and say we love the lord the lord our god is good the lord is our deliverer lord we hear these stories of deliverance in your scripture and we pray that you would be a deliverer for them lord would you intervene and show them your goodness and lord we pray that we would hear back stories of celebration and hope lord that we'd be jumping and rejoicing because you brought your people through and lord that you took care of them as only you can in miracles and and lord showed them your presence and we pray that we would hear many stories that we'd be able to rejoice with our friends and family that that remain and so lord bring them through and show them your grace it's in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ we pray amen so church thank you thank you for being faithful and one more thing from me today's altar flowers let's not forget those are given to the glory of god and in grateful celebration the 45th wedding anniversary of mike and emma schleifer so praise the lord for them and for that and in that way know that we love our lord's work in marriage and we celebrate as those marriage strengthen and grow through the years so we praise the lord for that and how he has grown this church uh through great examples like this amen let's stand together and sing praise god from whom all blessings flow so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so [Music] you

Channel: First Baptist Church of San Antonio

Views: 54

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Keywords: FBCSA, FBC San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, Baptist Church, USA, Church, James

Id: wydm_tNy_1A

Length: 83min 28sec (5008 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021