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Full worship service from 110th Anniversary Homecoming at FBC Travelers Rest on May 21, 2023.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lead not on your own understanding, but know your ways with knowledge, and ye will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3, 5 -6 We will sit at His feet, or we'll walk by His side in the way.
Every stance we will do, every step we'll take.
Fear only, trust and obey. Trust in the
Lord with all your heart, and lead not on your own understanding, but know your ways with knowledge, and lead not on your own understanding, but know your ways with knowledge, and lead not on your own understanding, but know your ways with knowledge.
God with these children. Kids, thank you so much. You heard how much they enjoyed you. Just keep going.
Great message to all of us to trust and obey. May I read some
Scripture for us this morning found in Psalms 146. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my
God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes nor in a son of man in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs. He returns to his earth. In that very day, his plans perish.
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his
God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever, who executes judgment for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord raises those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers.
He relieves the fatherless and widow. But the way of the wicked, he turns upside down.
The Lord shall reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Let us pray. Father, we thank you, Lord Jesus, again, that we can come this way today, Lord, to offer up our praises unto you,
Lord Jesus, Father. And we do that, I know, every morning, but God, that's the purpose of it. You're the center of attention here,
Lord, and it should be we lift you up. God, I pray that you would move through this congregation today. As you know,
I pray each week, Lord Jesus, may not a soul leave this congregation today without knowing Christ in the heart.
Some may be dealing with issues in their life, broken homes and families, Lord Jesus. They're downhearted.
They're carrying a heavy load, Lord Jesus. I pray that they'll surrender those burdens unto you, Lord Jesus, and then,
God, that they can receive new life, a new remission in their lives, Lord Jesus. We're happy to be here,
Lord. We're happy to be in your presence. And Lord, I know in a few moments after the service, we'll go down, we'll fellowship around the table.
Lord, I'm reminded so much, Father, of that great homecoming day. The greatest homecoming of them all is the marriage supper of the
Lamb, when we all gather round those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, Lord Jesus. And yes, what a day that will be for all of us, a glorious day.
But Father, unto then, Lord Jesus, we must carry on the great commission, Lord Jesus, to let people know that Jesus does save,
Lord Jesus. May we be a witness, if not in our speaking, Lord, in the way that we act, and God, the way we treat others with love.
Lord Jesus, we know you're here today. We know your Spirit is with us. Bless, I pray, the service. Thank you for our guests today, for them coming to be a part of this worship service,
Lord Jesus. For it's in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
Praise the Lord! When I think about heaven, I get excited, don't you?
Especially if we know where we're going. Great song choir, thank you so much. I want you to join in with us now, and we're about to sing songs on heaven right now for a minute.
So stand with me, join in. When we all get to heaven, it's 5 .14, as you see on the overhead.
And all I ask you to do is smile and sing out. That makes a choir director so happy. All right, let's do this.
♪ Sing the wondrous love of Jesus ♪ ♪ Sing his mercy and his grace ♪ ♪
In the mansions bright and blessed ♪ ♪ He'll prepare for us a place ♪ ♪
When we all get to heaven ♪ ♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ ♪
When we all see Jesus ♪ ♪ We'll sing and shout the victory ♪
Ladies, let me hear you on this verse. Ladies, sing. ♪ While we walk the real world's paths ♪ ♪
With clouds in our skies ♪ ♪
But with trembling veins our love pours ♪ ♪ Not a shadow shall pass us by ♪ ♪
Okay, okay, all the men sing. ♪ Let us then be true and faithful ♪ ♪
Trusting, serving every day ♪ ♪ Just one glance of Him in glory ♪ ♪
Will the toils of life repair ♪ Everybody. ♪ When we all get to heaven ♪ ♪
What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ ♪ When we all see
Jesus ♪ ♪ We'll sing and shout the victory we want ♪ ♪
Onward to the prize before us ♪ ♪
We believe we'll be whole ♪ ♪ Soon the burning gang will open ♪ ♪
We will tread the streets of gold ♪ ♪ When we all get to heaven ♪ ♪
Jesus ♪ ♪ We'll sing and shout the victory ♪
Thank you. You may be seated. Well, for 110 years, the gospel of Jesus Christ has been central to the life of our church.
And every Sunday at this part, this point in the service, we take just a few moments to focus explicitly on the gospel, to confess our sins to God together and to hear assurance from God's word of our forgiveness.
And so this is the good news that Jesus Christ washes away all of our sins by the blood of his cross and the power of his resurrection.
Let's pray together. Most merciful God, we confess this morning that we have sinned against you.
We have sinned in thought and in word and in deed, by what we have done, but what we have left undone.
We confess that we have not loved you with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
So Father, for these sins and for our sinfulness, we are truly contrite and we humbly repent.
And we turn in faith to Jesus Christ, asking you to wash away and forgive us of our sins, to have mercy on us for the sake of your son,
Jesus, and to forgive us and make us clean. And that for the sake of your son, Jesus, that you would work in our hearts and in our lives by your spirit, that we might delight in your word and in your will, and that we would walk in your ways all of our days.
To the glory of your name we pray. Amen. Now lift up your heads and hear the good news from Ephesians chapter two, verses four and five.
And God's word says, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace, you have been saved. So brothers and sisters in Christ, God has been merciful to you.
He has given you new life and you are freely and fully forgiven in Him. Rejoice in that.
Amen. Let's continue singing, if you would.
Stand and join with me on a couple of songs this morning. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. And my tribute.
♪ Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. ♪ ♪
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. ♪ ♪ O what a good taste of glory divine. ♪ ♪
Hair of salvation, purchase of God. ♪
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending, bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
This is my story, this is my song,
This is my story, this is my song, Praising my
Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above,
Here with His goodness, lost in His love.
So undeserved, yet you came To prove your love for me.
The voices of a million angels Could not express my gratitude.
All that I am and ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee.
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory For the things
He has done. With His blood
He hath saved me, With His power
He hath raised me. To God be the glory
For the things He has done.
Just let me live my life,
Let it be pleasing, Lord, to Thee.
And should I gain any praise,
Let it go to Calvary. With His blood
Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. You may be seated. Amen. Thank you, choir.
That sounded fantastic. Thank you, Pastor Gary, for leading that so well. And for those of you who have joined to sing with us this morning, just really grateful for that.
Let's go to Lord in prayer together. Our Father in Heaven, we love
You. We declare our praise to You. You are the only true and living
God. You are our Creator. You are our Father. You have demonstrated
Your love for us in so many different ways. And we come to You this morning thanking You for how You have demonstrated
Your love to us in and through this church for so many years. Lord, I thank You for those who have come before.
For those original 47 members who came together 110 years ago today.
I thank You for their vision, for their foresight, for their faithfulness, for their love for You and their love for one another.
Thank You for those who have joined in the membership over the years, many of whom have since passed on to glory, to be present with the
Lord where there is joy and pleasure forevermore.
Lord, we thank You for our fathers and mothers in the faith. Lord, I thank You for those who have come before, who have since moved on, and their members faithfully serving and worshiping in other churches, especially those ones who have come back to worship with us this morning.
Lord, I pray that You would bless them, their families. Fathers, we think of those who have come before us.
We recognize that we stand on their shoulders. And for those who have passed, we want to honor their memory.
For those still with us, we want to honor their station. But most of all, Father, this morning we want to thank
You for Your steadfast love and faithfulness. We want to thank You that You have not left us nor forsaken us, but You are
Emmanuel, God with us. And You have poured out grace upon grace to us, and so we give
You thanks. And we ask that You would give us strength for the days ahead. Lord, I pray that You would hide
Your Word in our hearts that we would not sin against You. That You would make us to prosper when we put our hands to any good work.
That You would give fruit to our labors so that we may win glory to lay down at the feet of King Jesus.
Lord, we pray for those in our church family who are going through various trials and tribulations of various kinds.
I think of those who are healing and recovering from illness or injury.
Those who are currently battling some sort of significant illness. For those who are grieving.
For other hardships our people may be facing, Lord, we ask that You would be with them.
That Your grace, we declare that it is. We believe that it is sufficient for them.
That Your power would be made perfect in their weakness. That You would give everything that they need for strength, for healing, for help, for recovery, for comfort.
Show them mercy, we pray. Lord, I pray that You would strengthen our church for faithfulness and living in obedience to Your Word.
Lord, I pray for the community around us. So many that do not know You. Roughly 8 in 10 not meaningfully connected to Christ and His church.
So Lord, we pray that they would hear the good news because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. May they hear and believe that they're trusting
You and be saved for their good and for Your glory. Lord, now as we turn our attention to Your Word, Lord, we pray that it will bear fruit in our lives.
The fruit of faithfulness. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. If you have your Bible with you this morning, you can turn to Psalm 136.
Psalm 136 is an exaltation of the greatness of God and His works that He has done,
His great wonders. So let's read Psalm 136 together. And the
Word of the Lord says this, He says, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the
Lord of lords, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who alone does great wonders, for His steadfast love endures forever.
To Him who by understanding made the heavens, for His steadfast love endures forever.
To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who made the great lights, for His steadfast love endures forever.
The sun to rule over the day, for His steadfast love endures forever. The moon and the stars to rule over the night, for His steadfast love endures forever.
To Him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for His steadfast love endures forever.
And brought Israel out from among them, for His steadfast love endures forever. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for His steadfast love endures forever.
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, for His steadfast love endures forever. And made
Israel to pass through the midst of it, for His steadfast love endures forever. But overthrew
Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who led
His people through the wilderness, for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who struck down great kings, for His steadfast love endures forever.
And killed mighty kings, for His steadfast love endures forever. Sihon, king of the
Amorites, for His steadfast love endures forever. And Og, king of Bashan, for His steadfast love endures forever.
And gave their land as a heritage, for His steadfast love endures forever. A heritage to Israel, His servant, for His steadfast love endures forever.
It is He who remembered us in our lowest state, for His steadfast love endures forever.
And rescued us from our foes, for His steadfast love endures forever. He gives food to all flesh, for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His steadfast love endures forever.
Amen. This is the Word of the Lord to us. If you didn't pick up on it, the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.
Amen. I want us to look at the first two words of this psalm.
For the reason that we give praise to Him for His steadfast love, and the first words of instruction to us are give thanks.
The steadfast love endures forever. And what should we do? We should give thanks.
It is good, and it is right, and it is fitting that we give thanks to God. And because of this,
God has commanded us to give thanks. Right here in verse 1 and throughout the Scriptures, we see calls to gratitude.
Commands to give thanks. I think of 1 Thessalonians 5 .18. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Paul goes on to say. And gratitude is one of the fundamental duties of humanity.
You see in Romans 1, unbelievers are judged for two things. One, for not honoring God. And the second is for not giving
Him thanks. You see, gratitude is due God. He deserves it. And when we give God thanks, when we give
God gratitude, we are recognizing our dependence upon Him. We are recognizing His generosity to us.
That we are indebted to Him. That He is not obligated to give us anything, and yet,
He has nonetheless been generous to us. And so why do we give
God thanks? When we look at the second half of verse 1, we give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
Elsewhere in Psalm 119, it says that God is good and He does good. And so because of this, we give
God thanks. And then we look at the next part of that verse. It's the refrain that's repeated throughout the
Psalm. For His steadfast love endures forever. So why do we give thanks? Because God is good, and His steadfast love endures.
His steadfast, faithful love never ends. And He continually makes it known to us by His deeds, by His works in this world.
And so we come together today on this 110th anniversary of our church. We come together to give thanks to God for He is good, and He does good, and His steadfast love endures.
And He's been good to us for 110 years. And we pray for His goodness to be made known to and through us for many, many more years to come.
We have this kids' book at our house that we read to our children every now and again. It's called
Full Moon Rising. And in the story, the story about the moon, the moon is not full, but a fool.
And the reason he is foolish is because he boasts and brags about how great he is. He's bright and he lights up the night sky.
He controls the tides. People set their calendars by the moon. But then one day, the moon gets a rude awakening.
He realizes that he has no light in himself, that all his light is reflected from the sun.
And he's humbled. And in his humility, he becomes wise. And from that day forward, he makes all of his boasts about the sun.
So I want to be clear this morning that we are not here today to celebrate ourselves.
We're not here to talk about how great First Baptist Church was or is or will be.
Like the moon, we have no light in and of ourselves. We reflect the sun, the sun of righteousness, the sun of God.
And so today is a day that we give thanks to the Lord and we celebrate not ourselves, but we celebrate
God. And so we remember his great works in the world. We remember his great works that he has done here in our church.
So let us first focus upon the Lord himself. Let's look at it in verses 2 and 3.
It answers the question, who is our God? Give thanks to the God of gods, to the
Lord of lords. Our God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. God is the first and best of all beings.
He reigns supreme. He is high and lifted up. So I want you to think for just a moment, think back on any history you've read throughout maybe school or throughout your life.
I think of the great kings through world history, those who won epic wars, conquered vast lands, exercised authority over many peoples, who built empires and subjugated nations.
God is king over them. He is higher in authority and power than the greatest among earthly powers.
Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He has all authority in heaven and on earth.
That means all authority over all earthly powers and all report to Him and to Him all will give an account.
This is our God. I want you to think about the angels that are described in the Bible, great beings with four heads, that of an ox, an eagle, a lion, a man.
Think about the seraphim and the cherubim, the mighty host of God. Think about evil spiritual forces, devils and demons and Satan himself.
And God is high and lifted up above all of them. He is the God of gods.
The rebel gods, the false gods, the fake gods, the no -gods, they are not God's rivals. They are not
His equal and evil opposite. No, He is above. God stands above all for He is the
Creator God. He has all power, all wisdom, all righteousness, all knowledge.
He is the fountainhead of all goodness and mercy and grace and peace. And our God, 1 John tells us, is love.
That is the God we serve and that is the God that we give thanks to today. This is the
God that we worship, the great God of God and Lord of Lords, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And for 110 years, right here on McElhaney Road, Christians have been gathering to worship this
God, the God of the Bible. And that is a glorious, glorious thing.
And God deserves that worship. Psalm 96 tells us that He deserves the glory due
His name. Why? For He is good. And His steadfast love endures forever.
And He does great wonders. We see beginning in verse 4, we see that He alone does great wonders.
And then the rest of the psalm goes on and praises God for His steadfast love that is made known throughout
His many great works. And so in verses 5 -9, we see God's great works in creation.
He made the heavens. He spread the earth above the waters. He made the great light, sun, moon and stars to rule the day and night.
I want you to think about the glory of creation. I want you to think about the power of God to create all things.
Everything that you see, the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, the
Atlantic Ocean, trees, rocks, turtles, great white sharks, mountain lions, mosquitos, everything, great and small,
God made it all. And He made it by His Word. And He made it for His glory.
I want you to think about every person you've ever met is made in the image of God. I want you to think about all the complex systems that make up one human body.
And then I want you to think about all the complex systems that make up an ecosystem somewhere in the world.
And then consider all the people on the planet. Where they live, all the weather, and the animals, and the natural resources.
Think about how it all fits together and works. It's because God made it. And He sustains it all by the
Word of His power. God did great wonders in creation. The psalmist then goes on in verses 10 through 16 to praise
God for His great works in the Exodus. You see, God delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt.
And He brought down judgments against Pharaoh striking down the firstborn of Egypt as a culmination of the plagues.
He divided the Red Sea and made His people to walk on dry land while Pharaoh and his hosts were cast into the sea and drowned.
With a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, He led His people through the wilderness. God did great wonders in the
Exodus. And then verses 17 through 22 we see that God did great wonders in the conquest of the land.
He struck down mighty kings like Sihon of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan's land.
And He gave that land to the children of Israel as an inheritance. This was the land that was promised to Abraham.
You see, God always keeps His promises. Abraham's descendants may have spent over 400 years in slavery in Egypt.
They may have gone through slavery and judgment and battle, but God kept His word.
God always, always keeps His word. He gave them a land flowing with milk and honey.
He made them into a great nation just as He said He would. He did great wonders in the conquest.
Then the psalmist goes on to praise God and His great wonders generally. He lifted up Israel when she was of low and humble estate.
He rescued Israel from her foes. He provided food and all they needed for life.
God did great wonders for Israel. Now, of course, we read the
Psalms not as Old Testament Israelites, but as New Testament Christians.
This side of the cross and the resurrection. And so we might take the same structure of the psalm and offer up further praise to God for His great wonders.
We might praise God for new creation. You see, the God whose
Spirit hovered over the waters when the earth was formless and void and spoke all of creation into existence by the word of His power, that same
God sends His Spirit into the hearts of men when they hear the word of God. And He gives them new hearts and makes them into new creations.
That's on an individual scale. Then we think about on the cosmic scale that God will remake the earth one day.
He will reunite heaven and earth together into a place with no more pain, no more tears, and no more sin.
And instead, we will dwell in His presence where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
So we praise God for His new creation, for His steadfast love endures forever.
We also praise God for a better exodus. You see, the exodus from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh, that points to a greater deliverance that was to come.
For God has delivered us by His Son Jesus Christ. He has delivered us from slavery to Satan, sin, and death.
This is the good news of the Gospel that Jesus saves. That Jesus delivers. That He rescues.
You see, ever since Adam's sin in the garden, man has been corrupted by sin and enslaved to it.
Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death. That means we all deserve to die.
We deserve, outside of Christ, we deserve to be separated from God and from the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore that are in His presence.
Because we're guilty. But God. Ephesians 2 .4
that we read earlier. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love that He had for us,
He made us alive together in Christ. By grace, you have been saved.
You see, God brought Israel up out of Egypt. And if you are in Christ today, if you are united to Christ by faith, then
God has brought you up out of death. And He set your feet on high ground and pointed them heavenward.
His steadfast love endures forever. We also praise God for a new conquest.
Not just of one particular strip of land in the Middle East, but the whole world. You see,
Jesus is King of the whole world. And He will settle for nothing less than discipling all nations.
He will win the worship of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And the earth,
Scripture tells us, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
It means we are on a great commission to take the planet for King Jesus. From traveler's rest to the ends of the earth.
His steadfast love endures forever. And we praise God for His great wonders generally to us that we see in our lives.
He protects us and rescues us from our enemies. He provides for us our daily bread. So we praise
God for His kindness to us. And on this 110th anniversary of our church,
I'd like to offer up even further praises for God's great works in, and to, and through First Baptist Church Traveler's Rest.
And so, to God alone who does great wonders, His steadfast love endures forever.
He brought 47 Christians together by covenant on May 21, 1913 for His steadfast love endures forever.
And by August of 1913, He had provided a lot on McElhaney Road where they began building the first sanctuary for His steadfast love endures forever.
And that first service in that sanctuary was held on November 2, 1913 for His steadfast love endures forever.
And among those first families who joined the church were Bensons, and Howards, and Leagues, and Watsons, and Williams, and Edwards, and Montgomery's, and Newby's, and Riddle's, and Bridwell's, and Burns, and Batson's, and Cunningham's, Smith's, and Stroud's, Sutherland's, and Stockton's for His steadfast love endures forever.
And over the years, significant amounts of money have been given to the cause of missions starting with the $19 .92
raised by the original Sunbeams chapter in 1914.
And God has used First Baptist Church to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, sometimes directly by sending missionaries long -term or short -term, sometimes indirectly using the prayers of senior saints in our church praying for missionaries on their birthdays that are listed in that open window as devotional.
I think of my grandmother, a long -time member here, and how she did that every day. His steadfast love endures forever.
God has brought many sinners to this very altar in confession and repentance.
His steadfast love endures forever. He's brought new believers through the waters of baptism in this very baptistry.
His steadfast love endures forever. He's taught Christians young and old, rich and poor.
He's taught them the Bible and how to obey Jesus through Sunday school classes and mentoring relationships and Wednesday night programs.
His steadfast love endures forever. He's used Will Snipes to impact countless young men through his weekly
Bible studies. His steadfast love endures forever. He's raised up and sent out believers all over the world from this very spot.
His steadfast love endures forever. No, we have not been perfect.
Yes, our sins have been many, but God has remained faithful, and God has remained merciful.
His steadfast love endures forever. And when things got lean here in recent years,
God preserved a remnant of loyal members who refused to give up on First Baptist Church Traverse Rest.
His steadfast love endures forever. And Lord willing, on June 11th, we're going to baptize three people because God is still saving people and He is still calling people into membership of our church for His steadfast love endures forever.
And by His grace, we're going to continue to march ever forward in faith and obedience to King Jesus for decades, centuries to come, for His steadfast love endures forever.
Praise God for His steadfast love to us. When somebody repents,
Matthew chapter 3 tells us that he's to then live a life in such a way that's bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.
I think in a similar way, when we give thanks, we ought to live our lives in such a way that bears the fruit in keeping with gratitude.
And so I want to take just a moment with that in mind and speak briefly to the future ministry of our church.
How is it that we can live our lives bearing fruit in keeping with gratitude?
Building on the foundation of our fathers and mothers in the faith who have come before us, we're committed to certain things here.
We're committed to the right worship of God. You'll see it on the sign out front and various other places.
We exist to worship God and win glory for King Jesus. We are committed to right worship. God made us to worship.
It's one of our fundamental callings as people. Worship is inescapable.
You'll either worship the one true God or worship something else. But we will worship. And so worship on the
Lord's Day, it shapes us and it forms us. Everything that we do, from the call to worship, reading of the
Scriptures, to the singing of hymns, to the confession of our sins and the assurance of forgiveness, our prayers together, the preaching of the
Word, all of that together shapes us and forms us and therefore it's crucial for our discipleship being conformed into the image of Jesus.
So we're going to be committed to it. It's crucial that we worship according to God's Word, that we approach
Him on His terms and not our own. And so we believe also that the worship of God's people has effect out in the world.
That what happens in the sanctuary flows out into the world like the vision of the temple in Ezekiel.
The waters flow from the temple out into the world. What we do in here matters missionally in the world.
And so each Lord's Day as we gather to hear the Word read and preach, to pray together, to sing together, we want to give ourselves to worship that is ordered according to the
Scriptures. That is Bible saturated. We want you to hear God's Word here. That is participatory.
That we all come to worship God. That it has appropriate weight to it. We're not trivial with the things of God.
Because we're coming to appear before the Lord of armies. So we're committed to right worship.
We're also committed to winning glory for King Jesus. So toward that end, we're committed to preaching and teaching all the
Bible for all of life. And to do so understandably. And so we believe that the
Bible, all of it, is authoritative for our lives. We believe the
Bible, all of it, is sufficient for everything we face. One of the ways
I say it in counseling is that you've got problems. The Bible has answers. It's my job to help you find where those answers are.
The Bible is sufficient for us and the problems that we face. We believe the Bible is inerrant and inspired.
And therefore, we will press the Bible, the Bible's teaching, out into all the corners of life.
Think about it like you're spreading out pizza dough on a pan. You kind of got to keep pushing to get it to the corner. We're going to do that with the
Bible. Into all the corners of life. Because the Bible is not just a book for church. It's not just a book for your inward spiritual journey.
It is a book for all of life. For home, work, school, business, government, everything. The Bible speaks to it.
And so we want to teach all the Bible for all of life and we want to do it understandably. We're committed to teaching in such a way that everyone can understand.
White collar, blue collar, young, old, whether you're a TR lifer or a
California refugee, we want you to come here and hear the Scriptures preached. We're committed to joyful fellowship and Christian hospitality.
We're committed to equipping our people to be salt and light in a dark world. We're committed to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to unbelievers.
We're committed to prayer. This is the type of ministry that we're asking God to bless.
And in a world that has in many ways gone mad, we intend to be a beacon of sanity.
Of truth and goodness and glory. We will not swerve from the
Scriptures. Not to the right or to the left. We won't give an inch to the enemies of God. And so when it comes to issues of sexuality, we're going to go with what
God has said. In fact, in a members meeting earlier this month, we adopted a statement on sex, gender, and marriage into our bylaws to put in writing our belief and commitment to the goodness of God's design in male and female.
When it comes to the duties and limits of civil government, we're going to go with what God has said. He's given us a book that talks about it.
When it comes to speaking up for pre -born babies, we're going to go with what God has said and insist our governmental leaders give equal protection to the most vulnerable among us.
And when it comes to whatever the next hot -button cultural issue is, we're going to go with what God has said because God has given us a book.
And we're going to stand on it like the old children's song. We're going to stand alone on the Word of God. The B -I -B -L -E.
This is the ministry that we're asking God to bless. And then lastly, by God's grace, we're going to be a church that lives holy lives.
That makes it a priority to live holy lives. Forsaking sin, confessing sin, not allowing it to slide, whether it's in ourselves or in others, repenting of sin, believing the gospel that Jesus Christ says and redeems and restores sinners.
And putting on virtue. And putting on obedience to God's command.
Walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh. This is the ministry that we're asking
God to bless. If you look at verse 26,
Psalm 136 ends this way. It says, Give thanks to the God of Heaven for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of Heaven. That's what I want us to do together. We've said that one of our goals this morning is to give thanks together for what
God has done. So we want to give thanks to the God of Heaven. If you look on the back of your bulletin, pull that out, there is a responsive corporate prayer on the back of that bulletin.
And so this is the part of the service where together we give thanks for 110 years of God's faithfulness to our church.
And we ask His blessing for future ministry. So what we'll do is, I'm going to pray the parts that are in regular font.
And then you'll see the parts that are in bolded font. And we are all together going to pray that part.
So I invite you to pray with conviction and with vigor. And give thanks to our great
God. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, Almighty God, You are great and greatly to be praised.
For 110 years of Your steadfast love and faithfulness to our church, We give thanks to You, O God.
For those who have preached and taught Your Word for generations, We give thanks to You, O God.
For the souls saved, the marriages formed, the children raised in the discipline and instruction of the
Lord, We give thanks to You, O God. For those who have served as pastor or on staff in various roles, as deacons or on various committees to ensure that the work of the church advances,
We give thanks to You, O God. For those who have taught Sunday school, have volunteered for VBS, gone on mission trips, changed diapers in the nursery, cooked meals, sang in the choir, or served in many other ways both seen and unseen,
We give thanks to You, O God. For those who have tithed and given faithfully, sacrificially and generously, who have left to us buildings and resources,
We give thanks to You, O God. For comfort in grief and affliction, healing in sickness, and Your very present help in times of trouble,
We give thanks to You, O God. For our labors ahead in preaching and teaching all the Bible for all of life, for souls to be saved, sins to be forgiven, disciples to be made,
We ask You a blessing, O God. For our worship and our fellowship, for our relationships with one another, for us to live holy lives pleasing to You, We ask
You a blessing, O God. For all our earthly endeavors and all our heavenly pursuits,
We ask You a blessing, O God. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen. Amen. Pastor Gary is going to come and lead us in another congregational song here.
If you need to respond in any way to God's word, I invite you to do that. If we've talked about membership, we've had a conversation about membership, and you are wanting to come down and join the church today in membership,
I invite you to do that during this last song as well. But let us worship the Lord together through song.
Stand with me, please, if you would, and join in singing me a still of praises to the Lord. Majesty. Majesty.
Worship His Majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.
Majesty. Kingdom of Lord and King.
Flow from His throne unto His own. His anthem raise.
So exalt, lift up on high, the name of Jesus.
Magnified, come glorified, Christ Jesus the
King. Majesty.
Worship His Majesty. Jesus who died, now glorified,
King of all kings. Jesus who died, now glorified,
King of all kings. Let us pray.
Father of all people, we are blessed. We are blessed because you came to the world with grace, full of grace and full of truth.
You have called us to be faithful in going, making disciples, and that you would be with us even to the end of the age.
For 110 years, Lord, your presence has been on the body of believers known as First Baptist Travelers Rest.
Thank you for your presence then, now, and continuing. As we gather at the table, we are thankful and continue to rely on your strength as our provider.
Bless now our fellowship around the table and may our hearts be filled with thanks and gratitude for the blessings that you bestow on us.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies are fresh and new every day.
God, for your bounty, we are thankful. Bless now the food that we're about to receive to nourish our bodies and strengthen us for that which you will call us to.
And we'll be faithful to give you all the glory and honor. In Jesus' name, amen.
Now hear the benediction from Ephesians chapter 3, verses 16 and 19. According to the riches of the
Father's glory, may you be strengthened with power through His Spirit and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God.