This week God called home, arguably the most influential evangelical evangelist of our day. Billy Graham was called by God to give his life to preaching the gospel and he did that in such a simple way that it inspired millions to become followers of Jesus.
On my shelf are several books by Billy Graham and my favorite is a daily devotional titled, "Unto the Hills". As I picked it up and read the devotional excerpt for today, I thought to myself, "How appropriate for what we are currently experiencing in our nation." Below are Billy Graham's thoughts for February 23rd. "Have you ever seen someone unconscious? Such a person will usually have vital signs but is not aware of anything that is occurring. There is a lack of any perception of reality. There is a difference between revival and resuscitation. Resuscitation is used on a person who is dead and whom the doctors are trying to bring back to life. Revival is for a person who is alive but unconscious. Spiritually, we can be unconscious and completely out of touch with the Spirit of God. We may be unaware of the God who made us and what He wants to do in and through us. When one comes to Christ in faith and is born again, he or she is brought back from the dead into life. But when revival occurs, a person who is already a Christian is brought back from the brink of apathy, of taking God for granted, of ignoring God and trying to live under one's own power and strength. This can be deadly for others, because the Christian in need of revival is not producing any fruit for God. "I've got mine and that's all that matters" is not an attitude that is pleasing to God. We have not seen a revival in America since shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. But, as the hymn says, "Lord, send a revival and let it begin with me." If we are to see a revival in our nation, it must begin in the hearts of individual believers. What are you doing in your daily walk with God that will bring revival to your life? Our Father and our God, I pray for Your forgiveness and mercy. I know that I need to be revived from apathy in certain areas of my spiritual life. Please renew my spirit, Lord. Build a fire within me again that will warm the hearts of others around me. I pray this through Jesus, my constant Companion. Amen (Excerpt from Unto the Hills by Billy Graham) Just a reminder that tomorrow at 3:00pm, we will gather together for our annual worship and celebration meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to elect new members to church council, personnel committee and legal committee and to approve our church budget for 2018. You will also hear from some of our leadership, as they share where God has taken us this past year and where we believe He wants to take us this next year. We want to spend time thanking God for the blessings of the past and praying about the open doors he will place in front of us in the future. We will meet at 3:00pm in the Fireside Room. Finally, join us Sunday as we conclude our series in the Beatitudes. Hope to see you then. Pastor Doug
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This next week will be a busy one at FBC and I want to make sure you don't miss out on any of the following opportunities to connect with others from our church family and learn how we can better love our community.
Thursday, February 22 Adults on Mission--learn how FBC is helping to expand God's kingdom, both in our neighborhood and around the world. This group meets at 10:30am in the Fireside Room. Young @ Heart--Stick around after our Adults on Mission meeting and enjoy lunch. This month's menu will feature Fried Chicken. Pastor Doug will also spend a few minutes updating you on how he sees God moving in our church. Lunch is served at Noon in the Fireside Room. Room 4 Hope--I was excited to have several of you join us this past Monday for some volunteer training by the Executive Director of Family Promise Beaverton. I want to extend an invitation to the rest of you to consider being a part of this great opportunity to serve families in our community who are struggling to find some hope in the midst of what seems like a hopeless situation. Come hear how you can play an active role in providing a safe place to call home.....if only for a short time. We will meet at 7:00pm in the Fireside Room. Saturday, February 24 FBC Annual Meeting and Celebration-- The purpose of this meeting is to elect new members to church council, personnel committee and legal committee and to approve our church budget for 2018. You will also hear from some of our leadership, as they share where God has taken us this past year and where we believe He wants to take us this next year. We want to spend time thanking God for the blessings of the past and praying about the open doors he will place in front of us in the future. We will meet at 3:00pm in the Fireside Room. Finally, don't forget to join us this Sunday as we look to wrap-up our study of the Beatitudes. This Sunday, we will focus on being peacemakers. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers in a world that is currently experiencing unprecedented division and is anything but peaceful. Peacemakers are people who breathe grace. To breathe grace means to continually draw on the power of Jesus in order to bring God's love, mercy, forgiveness, strength and wisdom to the conflicts of daily life. God loves to breathe His grace through peacemakers and to use us to dissipate anger, improve understanding, promote justice and encourage repentance. Are you a peacemaker? Join us Sunday at 9:00am and learn how you can become one. See you Sunday. Pastor Doug Our church By-Laws state that “A meeting of the members shall be held annually at such a time determined by the Church Council.” The date for this year’s meeting will be Saturday, February 24th at 3:00pm and will take place in the Fireside Room. The purpose of this meeting is to elect new members to church council, personnel committee and legal committee (see the nominees below); as well as to approve our church budget for 2018 (see attached).
The other purpose for this meeting is to allow our leadership to share where God has taken us this past year and where we believe He wants to take us this next year. We want to spend time thanking God for the blessings of the past and praying about the open doors he will place in front of us in the future. Please join us on Saturday, February 24th for a time of testimonies, music, prayer and celebration as we continue on our journey to Think, Act and Be Like Jesus! Church Council Nominees: Mary Stevens, Sidney Moore and Nina Hoopes Legal Committee: David Douglas Personnel Committee: Nancy Hester, Larry Bell, Bitsy Law Don't forget to join us tomorrow, at 9:00am, as we learn that in order to see God at work in our lives, we must commit ourselves to maintaining a pure heart. We will also be celebrating with two members of our church family who will be taking the next step in their spiritual journey and will be baptized! Don't miss out on this opportunity to show your love and support. See you Sunday. Pastor Doug With the new year now one month old, our church calendar is really beginning to fill-up. As we continue to juggle more and more activities and responsibilities, I want to let you know about a couple of important dates that I would encourage you to consider putting on your personal calendar.
On Monday, February 12th at 7:00pm, Family Promise will be on our campus to provide us with some valuable volunteer training, as we look forward to hosting families who are struggling with being homeless. In case you missed our service on Sunday, let me share with you briefly who Family Promise is. Family Promise is a faith-based organization whose mission is to help stabilize and transform children and their families who are experiencing homelessness here in Beaverton. Their main focus is to help families get back into permanent, sustainable housing and employment as quickly as possible. Through host churches like FBC, families will receive food, shelter, and most importantly, love and compassion. In addition to food and shelter, families will also have the opportunity to develop life skills through individualized case management by Family Promise staff and mentoring volunteers. A few of you have already expressed interest in being a volunteer during our host week and I want to encourage all of us to consider this opportunity to be Jesus to those who lack hope. Consider joining us on Monday, February 12th at 7:00pm and learn more about how we can serve families in our community who are struggling with homelessness. Also, our annual church meeting will take place on Saturday, February 24th at 3:00pm in the Fireside room. This will be a time for us to gather together as a church family and thank God for how he has blessed us during this past year. You will also hear how God is leading us to "walk across the street" and begin to transform our neighborhood with the gospel. We will also be voting on our 2018 budget and the nominees for church council, as well as, our personnel and legal committees. This Sunday we will continue our series in the Beatitudes. The focus this week will be on Matthew 5:7, where Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy". Mercy is compassion for people in need. Jesus does not specify the categories of people we are to show mercy too. He gives no indication whether he is thinking primarily of those who have been hurt or have suffered loss, like the traveler from Jerusalem to Jericho whom robbers assaulted and to whom the good Samaritan "had mercy", or could he be referring to the sick and outcast on whom he himself regularly took pity, or for those who have wronged us so that justice cries out for punishment but mercy screams for forgiveness. God's mercy extends to all those people and so must our mercy. See you Sunday. Pastor Doug In Luke 13:24 Jesus says, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." With this statement, Jesus is begging us to put all of our effort into following him, obeying him, seeking him, or as he said in the fourth beatitude......to hunger and thirst for him. This Sunday, we will continue our series in the beatitudes as we ask the question, "In our pursuit of God, what does it mean to hunger and thirst?"
Discovering Christ for the very first time is the absolute greatest achievement of your life. But it is not enough to discover Him just once. Discovering Him needs to be an ongoing journey of seeking Him more, knowing Him more and becoming more and more like Him everyday. I like the word strive in referring to this pursuit of God. The Greek word for strive used in Luke 13:24, means to struggle, to fight, or as Paul said in Philippians 3, "straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." In a little over a week from now, many of us will watch, riveted, as Olympic athletes battle for the gold. They will strive for the prize that has consumed them for the last 4 years. They hunger and thirst for gold. Do we hunger for the things of Jesus with the same intensity as an Olympic athlete? Spiritual hunger is the characteristic of all those who claim to follow Jesus. Now that we have a better idea of what it truly means to "hunger and thirst", what does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Righteousness in the Bible has at least two aspects. The first aspect speaks to our salvation and the recognition that the penalty for our sins has been paid for through the blood of Jesus. The second aspect of righteousness refers to our inner righteousness of heart, mind and motive. Once the blood of Jesus has satisfied our hunger for salvation, it then shifts to sanctification and a desire to increase in holiness. This hunger and thirst for right living is a perpetual characteristic of a disciple of Jesus that will not be satisfied until we reach heaven. Revelation 7:16-17 says, "they will hunger no more, neither thirst no more....for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water." This is what Jesus meant when he said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. Satisfaction will come once we gather together around the throne of our Heavenly Father. There is perhaps no greater measuring stick of the progress in Christian living than one's spiritual appetite. It is not enough to recognize our spiritual poverty and mourn over our past sins; we must also hunger for future righteousness. Join us this Sunday as we gather around God's banquet table and don't forget to bring your appetite. See you Sunday. Pastor Doug As we continue looking at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, our focus shifts from our personal relationship with God to how this relationship manifests itself with others. Matthew 5:5 reads, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth".
Unlike the first two Beatitudes that deal with a person's recognition of their need for a Savior, this third Beatitude has to do with other people. While it is still true that being meek has a relationship to God, a person's meekness is especially toward his fellowmen. You are not simply meek within yourself; your meekness is manifest in how you deal with others. You would never speak of a hermit, who never interacted with others, as being meek; the only way in which you could prove whether he is truly meek would be to put him with those who would test his character. As we consider this hermit and how he might react to being suddenly thrust into society, what are some ways that his meek spirit might manifest itself? 1. He is humble. He does not seek out positions of leadership, nor does he see himself as superior to others. He is not easily angered or frustrated by others, as he only seeks to serve and display grace and mercy. I Timothy 1:15-16 is a great example of humility. 2. He is gentle. Notice I didn't say, "He is weak". Having a gentle spirit does not mean you are weak and have no back-bone. Being gentle in spirit means you are quick to listen and slow to speak. You are seen as a person that someone who is hurting can talk with and not feel judged or condemned. Jesus modeled this daily as he served the outcasts and sinners. 3. He is patient and forgiving of others who have wronged him. In addition to being humble and gentle, the meek are patient in dealing with others. Even though they may get angry towards someone for a moment, they quickly forgive and move on, choosing not to dwell on the sins of others. 4. He is content. He is satisfied with what God provides for him. However, he is not lazy, he is passionate about using his God-given talents to find for himself a position in which he can do more good, but he is not unrestful, anxious, or grasping. His is contented and thankful. Put these four qualities--humble, gentle, patient and forgiving, content--together with being submissive and flexible before God and you have someone who is meek. The very opposite of someone who is proud, harsh, angry and revengeful. While we are all good-tempered while we have our own way, true meekness, which is a work of grace, will stand the test of pride, greed, persecution, division, cruelty and being wronged. Think of what Christ endured on his way to the cross....a perfect portrait of meekness. See you Sunday. Pastor Doug I want to remind you that this Sunday is the last day to submit nominations for church council, personnel and legal committee. We are needing to fill 3 positions on our church council, one position on our legal committee and 2 positions on our personnel committee. Nominations can be submitted using the nomination form located at the Welcome Center or online at nominating.committee.fbc@gmail.com. Thank you for your faithfulness to the needs of our church.
This Sunday, we will continue our series in the Beatitudes. The beatitude we will be looking at this week is, "Blessed at those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." To mourn your sins is a natural outflow of being poor in spirit. This second beatitude should naturally follow the first. But that doesn't always happen. Because of all the paths to joy, this one has to be the strangest. True blessing, Jesus says, begins with deep sadness. Joy comes through mourning. Freedom through surrender and liberty through confession. Blessed are those who know they are in trouble and have enough sense to admit it. Just like with the first beatitude, until we come to realize our need for Jesus, we will never truly experience happiness and joy. As long as we treat Jesus as one of many options, he is no option. And as long as you can take him or leave him, you might as well leave him, because he won't be taken half-heartedly. But when you mourn, when you begin to show sorrow for your sins, when you admit that you have no other option but to cast all your cares on Jesus, that's when Jesus opens up his arms and says, "Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30 The Message) Join us Sunday and experience Jesus! Pastor Doug Last week, we kicked-off a new series titled, Believe.....Think, Act and Be Like Jesus. For the next few weeks, we will focus our attention on the second word of this phrase......Think. How did Jesus think? What drove his thoughts?
To help us better understand the answer to these questions, we will be looking at the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12. The ultimate point of these verses is that these truths should result in rejoicing and an overwhelming happiness. However, as you read these verses, it seems paradoxical doesn't it? As you read these words of Jesus, they don't exactly fit with our view of happiness do they. Jesus says that happy people are poor in spirit, they mourn, they hunger and thirst and are ultimately persecuted. To this, your first response might be, "Hey, wait a minute! I'm not sure I want that kind of happiness. In fact, it sounds more like misery than joy. How does happiness come out of misery?" Join us for the next few weeks as we explore the phrase, "Happy are the......" Also, it's that time of year, where we nominate new church leaders. This year, we are needing to fill three positions on our church council, along with positions on our legal and personnel committees. Nominations can be submitted using the nomination form located at the Welcome Center or online at nominating.committee.fbc@gmail.com. Nominations will be accepted through Sunday, January 15th. Finally, since the end of October, our worship services have been led by Norm and Avery, who is the Lead Pastor for Common Ground and an accomplished worship leader. As we head into a new year, I wanted to let you know that I have asked Norm and Avery to continue to share the role of leading worship for us at least through the end of February. They have agreed to share in this role and I am excited to see where God takes us under their leadership. Please continue to pray for Avery and Norm as they will be working together to build upon and improve our current worship experience. See you Sunday. Pastor Doug WOW......I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone. It seems like just last week, many of you were helping me, as we decorated the church for our combined Christmas Eve service. Before I continue, I want to say "THANK YOU" to everyone who helped make this year's service a huge success. It was an amazing morning as six churches (Anthem, FBC, New Creation, Global Community, Common Ground and International Church of Oregon) joined together to celebrate the birth of Jesus! We had over 290 people who, along with a combined worship team, lead by Pastor Avery from Common Ground, lifted their voices (and instruments) to heaven, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Peace....." Pastor Peter from Global Community opened our service in prayer. Pastor Paul from Anthem, Pastor Tom from New Creation and I shared in the telling of the Christmas story and we closed our service with the traditional singing of Silent Night, as 290+ candles twinkled all around the sanctuary. What a special service it was. If you weren't able to attend the service or would like to share it with others, here is a link where the service can be viewed in its entirety. Simply copy and paste this link into your web browser and you will be taken directly to the video. https://youtu.be/8TP6vrY7rK8. ENJOY!
As we close the book on 2017, our focus as a church, now shifts to some business items that must be addressed so we are prepared to walk through the "Open Doors" that God will place in front of us this next year. One of those is our church budget. The Church Council and I are putting the finishing touches on next year's budget and we hope to have the 2018 proposed budget to you by mid-January. Other aspects of our church that help keep us on mission are the church council, the legal committee and the personnel committee. Each of these entities play a critical role in the life of our church and our Bylaws clearly state the process for choosing individuals to serve on these teams. Under our church’s Bylaws, our Nominating Committee will present a slate of nominees for three different entities – the Church Council, the Legal Committee, and the Personnel Committee. These nominees will be voted on by the Church at our Annual Meeting in February. Mary Douglas, Howard Martin and Jim Small along with consultation from Pat Erp from our Church Council and Pastor Doug Boyd are on this year’s Nominating Committee. Over a period of three weeks (December 31st through Sunday morning, January 15th), the committee will be glad to receive any suggestions you have for these positions. These can be submitted on the suggestion sheets which will be in the foyer, by emailing nominating.committee.fbc@gmail.com or by setting up a time to talk personally with a member of the committee. This year the committee is responsible for nominating the following: Three members for the Church Council. 1. Vacancy - Steven Osborn and his family have relocated to another congregation and he has resigned his position – filling for this vacancy through 2019 2. Vacancy - Houston Irby and his family have relocated to another congregation and he has resigned his position, prior to its completion at the end of 2017. Filling for a new 3 year rotation through 2020 3. Vacancy - Duane Fulps has completed his term and is not eligible to be nominated again until next year. (Members who rotate off of the Church Council are eligible to be nominated again after one year has passed) Continuing to serve on our Church Council are: 4. Laura Small (through 2018) 5. Pat Erp (through 2018) 6. Larry Annes (through 2019) One member for the Legal Committee: Continuing to serve on the Legal Committee: · Jamie Sims (through 2018) · Bev Lynam (through 2019) Many thanks to Laura Small for her service on this committee as she rotated off when joining Church Council! Two members for the Personnel Committee: 1. Vacancy - May Ramos has vacated her position and we will be filling for this vacancy through 2019 Continuing to serve on the Personnel Committee. · Aaron Brown (through 2018) Many thanks to Kurt Lynam for his service as he completes his term of service on this committee! Only active church members who have “demonstrated participation in ministry leadership” are eligible to serve on the Church Council, Legal Committee, or Personnel Committee. Here are descriptions from our bylaws concerning each of these entities: The primary responsibilities of the Church Council are to: 1. Keep the Church sharply focused on its Great Commission purpose (Matt. 28:18-20) 2. Oversee and ensure the Church’s spiritual health and doctrinal integrity 3. Develop and adopt policies that provide guidance and boundaries for the Church Council, Lead Pastor, Staff Members, and lay volunteers 4. Provide supervision of, accountability for, and protection to the Lead Pastor 5. Ensure that the Church operates in a legally sound and fiscally responsible manner The Legal Committee shall advise in matters related to the following: 1. Legal issues 2. Insurance on church property and personnel 3. Property and real estate transactions 4. Facility Usage contracts The Personnel Committee shall advise in matters related to the following: 1. Develop, review, and update job descriptions for staff 2. Review applications, conduct interviews, and make staffing recommendations 3. Research and make recommendations for staff compensation and benefits 4. Recommend disciplinary action for and termination of staff 5. Maintain the Personnel Handbook Please keep in mind that all nominees must be active members of the church who "have demonstrated participation in ministry leadership." Before I close this edition of Think, Act and Be Like Jesus, I want to ask you to take some time tonight or in the morning to ask yourself, "What does it mean to Think, Act and Be Like Jesus?". How did Jesus think and act? What changes do I need to make in my life so that I can be more like Jesus? See you Sunday. Pastor Doug This Sunday is week two of "Preparing the Way" for the anticipated arrival of Jesus. On this second Advent Sunday, we will be lighting a second purple candle. The second Advent candle represents love.
When I think about God's love for us, my mind is immediately drawn to Ephesians 3:17-19, where Paul writes, "Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is to great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all fullness of life and power that comes from God." (NLT) Over the next few days, I want you to consider the 4 aspects of God's love that are described in verse 17. 1. God's love is wide. This distinctly sets his love apart from our love, which tends to be narrow, as we bestow our love only to a privileged few. Think about the person you most dislike in this world. It could be a father or mother, brother or sister, a neighbor or co-worker. Now think about the fact that God is crazy in love with this person. Read II Timothy 1:9. 2. God's love is long. God's love is never-ending. There is no beginning and no ending to his love. Read Jeremiah 31:3. 3. God's love is high. A better term for this aspect of God's love might be pinnacle. His love is the ultimate, the greatest love. We live in a culture that desires the best.....the best clothes, cars, coffee, house. God's love is the best of the best. The riches, highest, purest of all loves. Read Psalm 36:5. 4. God's love is deep. God's love cuts through the dirt and rock in order to reach us at our core. God loves us in spite of the bad and ugly things that are hidden in our lives. Read Romans 8:38-39. During this season of Advent, we celebrate that moment in history when God's love became tangible, as he sent his Son, Jesus to earth to be a living example of God's crazy love for us. God's love should compel us to ask the question, "How crazy is my love for God"? Do I love God completely? Do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength AND do I love my neighbor as myself. This is how I show my love for God. I think Jesus sums up what it means to be crazy in love with God when he says in Luke 14 that we are to love God more than our own family and even our own lives. QUESTION: How will you begin to celebrate God's crazy love for you? See you Sunday. Pastor Doug |
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