Posts from 2018 (Page 10)
Fear
We all deal with fear from time to time. Faith is said to be the opposite of fear. Isaiah 12:2 says “God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.” Letting faith replace our fear is easier said than done. But that is exactly what God wants us to do when we face fear. Faith allows us to see beyond our fear. In the 1980 Olympics, the hockey finals match was between a small, young, amateur U.S. team…
Lets Mess with Texas
This summer our youth ministry will be headed over the boarder to share the love of Christ. We finalized this week that we will be traveling to Arlington, TX at the end of July just days after our students return from Falls Creek to work alongside Mission Arlington. Mission Arlington is a ministry that serves needy within the Arlington Metroplex. Our Students will be leaving on Saturday, July 28th, working with local house churches on that Sunday, facilitating backyard bible…
Notes From Mark
It is good to be at Emmanuel! Once again we are seeing the first signs of spring. There is change in the air. It is a time of renewal both in the earth and in our hearts. Easter is April 1st. I hope you are making plans to worship with us on that day. This year we will strip the altar and platform bare and fill it with symbols that remind us of the gifts God has given us. Starting…
Commitment to Pray
This coming Sunday, during the morning worship, you will have the opportunity to pray for our upcoming search for our next pastor. We will commit to pray for our church, our search committee election, our search for God’s man, our calling of God’s man, and our next pastor. When Emmanuel began the process to search for and eventually call me as pastor, you made a commitment to pray. Prayer makes all the difference. Please sign your iCommit card and place…
Want to invite our Emmanuel Family to join our EBC Youth Ministry on March 11th after evening worship as we participate. The moms of our students and the boys will team up to play basketball verses the dads of our students and the girls. It is a fun time and we will have popcorn provided for the fans. We hope to see everyone come out and watch as well as Mom’s and Dad’s to come play.
Notes From Mark
Church family thank you so much for the many prayers, cards and kind words you have expressed to Beth and I these past few weeks. We are so grateful to each one. It is so good to see the church being the church of love and support and sharing the love and grace of Christ. Thank you. In sharing about my dad I remember that at one point in our journey he and I had the same favorite scripture passage.…
Retirement
This last Sunday, I announced my intentions of retiring from the pastorate at Emmanuel. August 5, 2018 will be my last Sunday in the pulpit at EBC. I harbor no ill will towards anyone, nor have I received any pressure to leave. I have prayed about it and found complete peace with my decision. I plan to return to teaching at SWOSU and to continue being part of the Emmanuel Baptist Church family. I am not leaving the church, nor…
Back in November when we were in Latvia we saw this sticker around the church and in people’s cars and homes. We got curious and asked about it. We were told that while the church was teaching through leadership roles through scripture it was stated that simple to sum them up was “Don’t be a jerk” this led to one of the church members making stickers for everyone to remind them to Not be a jerk. Many of the people…
Notes From Mark
Who do you compare yourself to? Have you thought something like this “If I am as good as my neighbor then that’s pretty good!? Or maybe I just need to try harder to see God and His benefits. Or maybe even “My actions aren’t really all that bad.” So often we compare ourselves to one another because it makes us feel better. The Bible tells us that only the holy will see God. In order to be holy we must…
Temptation
An overweight man decided to go on a diet. One of his New Year’s resolutions was to take a different route to work so he wouldn’t pass his favorite bakery. He told all of his coworkers about his resolution. He felt the accountability would help. So, all his coworkers were surprised when he shuffled in one morning, carrying a huge coffee cake just oozing with frosting. “This is different,” He explained. “You see, I accidentally drove by the bakery, and…