This past Monday I encouraged our staff to be on guard spiritually. The Bible speaks of the devil as being a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is a thief and a liar. He practices to deceive.
That has not changed so why be on guard now?
Take a moment and reflect on what is going on at JIBC right now. First, we are planning a beach baptism and we have 15 signed up and confirmed to be baptized. No, we just added another so it is 16. No, we just added another now it is 17. Wait, 2 more were added, so now it is 19! Somebody say Amen. In addition we baptized Jaxon this past Sunday at JIBC and are planning to baptize Story in two weeks. That is a lot of baptisms, right?! RIGHT. I don’t suppose our enemy, the devil, will like that.
Second, we are gathering school supplies to help over 250 families. You have donated, at our best estimate, around $20,000.00 worth of school supplies. The first 234 who receive the back packs will also receive a $60.00 gift certificate to The Rack Room for a new pair of tennis shoes. I have a feeling we will have more than enough to fill the 250 book bags that we have. The other school supplies will absolutely be used to bless other schools. Please do us a favor. If you or someone you know needs help buying school supplies, please come by and get some. We would love for you to be the deliverer of blessings! By the way, we are partnering with our African American Sister Church, Emmanuel Baptist Church. We have not even seen the supplies they will be brining. Amen and Amen.
Third, Pastor David and his team are planning a wonderful night of worship on Wednesday, August 30th. You really want to make every effort to be present for that night. We will feature our own praise band and we have special guest coming to participate in leading in praise and adoration. The devil cannot be happy about a church family having a night dedicated to praising our Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a night!
Fourth, this Sunday we commission Mark Livengood to go to Slovakia to help start and establish Ukrainian churches. We will hear from Mark this Sunday and will commission him in Jesus’ name.
Not to mention Rhett Iler is in Vermont working with disaster relief.
So, be on guard and be aware that our enemy may be on the prowl looking to interrupt Kingdom work. Pray a little more, read the Word a little more and reach out to someone in need a little more!
I love His church called James Island Baptist Church.
Pastor Tom
