Fairview Baptist Church

We had a blessed and great Easter Service this morning! The Easter Egg Hunt was fun for all the kids and for rest of us it was fun to watch!!

Loving God enough to live like you love Him is a "reasonable sacrifice." Pt 5 Loving God More A Burning Bush Devotional by Ed Wrather (Classic from 2002)... You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. - Mark 12:30. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. - Romans 12:1-2. We are very familiar with the phrase change of lifestyle. More and more people are being told by their doctors that in order to have good health a change of lifestyle will be necessary. For those of us who have experienced heart disease, cancer, and other serious illnesses we have heard over and over how a good diet, exercise and reduction of stress will improve our health. But it is necessary that we develop new healthy habits participating in our new healthy lifestyle not once every few weeks but on a continuous every day basis. (Note: For those of you participating in the 2 Peter challenge, which was extended in the first Loving God More devotional, you will find a wonderful benefit of immersion into God’s Word. The benefit is the fruit of the Spirit including temperance or self-control becoming more evident in your life and resulting in your actually being able to have a healthy lifestyle.) Because our modern society downplays the importance of faithfulness and continual love for our spouses, we see this carried over into our view of the spiritual. We are conditioned to believe by the world that we can fall out of love over a period of time and that this is to be expected. However, it is just as much a falsehood in the world as it is in the spiritual. Love should not be thought of as an emotion that eventually will die down and grow cold. In order to truly love our wife or our husband requires a continual effort, a continual focus that is a lifestyle of commitment. Loving God is also a lifestyle. It involves everyday putting God first and foremost in our lives just as Jesus says in Matthew 6:33. It is a continual process of giving God the very first part, the very best part of our lives. This process as with marriage is never finished; it must be a lifestyle, which requires all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This lifestyle of loving God is as the apostle Paul puts it a living sacrifice and it is our reasonable service to God. Let us not be conformed to the lifestyle of the world. Instead let us be conformed and transformed to the lifestyle of loving God. Then, we will see everything in our lives begin to fall into their proper places and we will see clearly God’s will for us. Don’t just talk about loving God - live it!! (Pt 5 Loving God More 11.08.02)

When we encounter difficulties in life and choose to continue on we will find our character has grown and we will be stronger people because of it. Pt 4 Loving God More A Burning Bush Devotional by Ed Wrather. Classic from 2002...Continue reading

Our study in the Book of Revelation continues tonight in chapter 11. Service tonight begins at 6pm.

If we are to love God more we must control what enters into our lives. Pt 3 Loving God More A Burning Bush Devotional by Ed Wrather. (Classic from 2002)... You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. - Matthew 22:37-38. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. - Luke 6:45. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things. - Philippians 4:8. Richard, serving a 12-year prison sentence writes, My downward spiral that has led me to where I am today began at the age of 14 when I used to read my father’s Playboy, Penthouse and other adult magazines. It progressed on to a sexual addiction that involved many one-night stands, prostitutes and affairs while married. My addiction advanced until I committed sexual abuse against a childIf anyone reading feels they are hurting no one by viewing a ‘little pornography,’ I challenge them to take a hard look at everything they are doing in their lives. Just like with alcohol, not everyone that views pornography will necessarily become addicted to it. But just like alcohol, for those that do, it can become a destructive, controlling force in their lives. (From letter written to Rick Shatz, President and CEO of Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families National Coalition dot org) GIGO - the computer fact of garbage in garbage out is a fact in our human lives as well. When we put garbage into our lives, we are going to see garbage come out. Richard in his letter above describes how his life was trashed as a result. If we put the garbage of pornography or of drugs and alcohol into our lives, we will see a downward spiral into the nightmare of addiction resulting in our lives being trashed. If we are to love God more, we must control what enters into our lives. If the Lord is on the throne in your heart, then allow Him to filter and control what comes into your mind and life. If you love God with all of your mind you will be careful to think about those things commended to us in Philippians 4:8. Take captive those thoughts and things that are in opposition to God in the Name of Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). To love God more we must fill our minds and lives with the good and then good will flow out of us to the world around us. Instead of spiraling down let us spiral up - closer and closer to our Lord (James 4:7-8). (Pt 3 Loving God More 11.06.02)