McConnell Road Baptist Church
Sunday at 11:00 AM & 6:00 PM
Pastor Wayne Wright
Mayfield Baptist Church
Pastor: Johnny Dyer
8936 NC Highway 700
Ruffin, NC 27326
Sunday 11:00 AM & 6:00 PM
Monday – Wednesday: 7:00 PM Nightly
Wicker Street Baptist Church
Pastor: Ricky Lewis
512 Wicker St.
Burlington, NC 27217
Sunday 11:00 AM & 6:00 PM
Monday – Friday: 7:00 PM Nightly
Bible Baptist Church
Pastor Josh Mickle
11:00 AM & 6:00 PM
Dreaming in the Dark
Genesis 37:5 – “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.”
Chapter 37 introduces us to a young 17-year-old boy who lives a common life working for his father by tending to his sheep. Every night was basically the same as they herded the sheep and slept out under the beautiful starlit sky. Yet, on one very specific night while the boy slept, God gave him a dream that one day, upon it’s completion, he would save an entire race and radically change history. You would think such a dream would bring joy and excitement. Sure, every man wouldn’t believe him or care, but surely his family would. Unfortunately, Joseph quickly realized the more he shared the more their hatred for him was kindled. Many of us have experienced the same feelings and even been hurt by the ones we deeply love. What causes family and close friends to respond with such evil? Simply put: jealousy and envy. Their feelings do not dictate whether our dreams will still come to pass, only our response and attitude will. You may say, “But what if they lie or even physically afflict me? Surely my dreams are gone then.” Joseph’s brothers mocked him, threw him in a dark pit, and even sold him into slavery. But with a Sovereign God on your side, even the worst of circumstances will only elevate you and place you closer to your destiny. No matter how dark and dim it gets, allow me to encourage you today to keep dreaming, keep serving, and keep loving even those who have wronged you because after all, they are not worth losing your dream over.
Knowing You Are In God’s Will
I John 5: 14-15
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
Allow me to take just a few moments and share with you some wisdom I received from a dear man of God of over 60 years. I called him asking for some wisdom about life decisions. He was quiet for several minutes after I had shared my heart with him before really speaking. Then he quoted these two verses to me and said “Heath we know it is always the will of God to have peace as long as we are in His will.” I responded, “yes sir, I agree.” He then said, “in every area of my life since I was your age, I have never made a move until I felt peace in my soul. I have heard stories of stars moving or miraculous miracles that gave folks answers, but for me, it was always a great peace in my soul that over-shadowed fear and the unknown which are always present. My wife and I didn’t marry until we both had total peace, we never took a church until that peace was present, and truthfully never made any other significant move until we felt such peace, as well. I will be praying for you, buddy and just remember, God will give it to you if it is His will because He bound himself to that promise in these verses. Just trust it by faith and leave all the choices to God and in the end your life will please Him.” For the last couple of days my heart has rehearsed that conversation and I have gained much help from it. I am so grateful for those seasoned men of God who have so much wisdom to offer young men such as myself. Today, I just felt like maybe, someone else needed to hear this great wisdom.
Learning to Slow Down
Proverbs 14:29- “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.”
We live in a busy, high paced society that creates a demand for everything to be done fast and hurriedly. We drive fast, eat fast, and even communicate fast, hoping that we can squeeze it all in each day. We are busier than we have ever been, yet I am afraid that while we may get more quantity done in a day’s time, we certainly produce the least amount of quality of any generation. While we may be able to make this philosophy work within the realm of modern society, it has never worked in the realm of serving God. The heavenly purposes of God are never rushed nor will He teach us what we must learn at the pace at which we live. Rather, God operates at the pace that is most effective in our lives because He is much more interested in our journey rather than our destination (ex. the life of Joseph).
In this verse, we also find a truth within the scope of how a godly christian should respond. While high speed society teaches us to let it out quickly, tell people off, and say whatever, whenever we want, God strongly disagrees. He expects control, consideration, and compassion when we deal with others. Many times we speak before we measure our words and then wish we could take them back. Unfortunately, words are permanent as well as the feelings we inflict when responding to people out of anger and frustration. May we let this truth from the wisdom of Solomon settle deep in our hearts today and ask the Lord to help us be a christian under control and full of understanding. Others need our Christ- like compassion and God desires and expects it.
A Hour of Darkness
Just this past week we have watched the East Coast experience weather like never before. The week was started off with a 5.7 earthquake and ended the same week with a category 3 hurricane. This hurricane by the latest estimates has killed at least 21, left over 6.5 million without power, shutdown New York, and done at 6 billion dollars worth of damage. While our hearts go out to every person who has been affected there is a sobering truth crying out from these disasters. For too long America has been telling God we do not need you and we will do it the way we want to. Now in middle of our rebellion we find ourselves under the judging hand of a Holy God. What can I do in the middle of all this? What is America’s only Hope? Tune in this Sunday on “The Cause” for part 1 of the series Revival: America’s Only Hope.
Learning to Respond Correctly
I Samuel 18:14- “And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.” KJV
How should we respond to acts of hatred toward us? What if someone absolutely hates us? What if a leader in your life is doing you wrong? Society tells us we should respond with aggression so that we keep our reputation and do not seem weak. What does God say about it? Allow me to take a moment and look with you into the life of David a man after God’s own heart. Here in chapter 18 David has been anointed to be the next King and is experiencing great success in battle. Yet his mentor King Saul because of envy begins a journey to kill David. As this chapter goes on we see that David had opportunities to kill Saul yet did not because he was God’s anointed man. Why not? Surely God had given the opportunity to David to slay Saul who was trying to kill David (God’s next King?) David knew God said not to touch His anointed and David did good in return to Saul’s evil. Was this wise to be so gentle with Saul? The Bible here in I Samuel 18 references David’s behavior as wise 4 times. From these wise choices David finds himself protected and continually blessed of God. God makes it clear here through David that no matter the issue or evil being done to us we are too behave wisely and leave the discipline to God. Today may we allow our hearts to be challenged to behave wisely in the face of adversity that men might know the God we serve.