Brush Creek Baptist Church • 5345 Airport Road • Bear Creek, NC 27207 • 919/742-3221Volume 43 August 2015 Number 8

The Source

Living a life of praise is not only the mostenjoyable way to live, but it’s also one of the mostpowerful ways to change your life. Praise isn’t like thecaboose that just follows what happens, but it’s more likethe engine of a train that makes things happen. Your faithisn’t complete without praise. Colossians 2:7 says that youabound in faith with thanksgiving. No thanksgiving equalsnot abounding in faith.

Nearly everyone agrees that praise is good, butvery few feel any responsibility to praise God when theydon’t feel like it. No one wakes up in the morning andplans on being depressed. Most everyone would like to behappy and praise God, but they don’t feel they have anycontrol over this. They think that praise is just a responseto what happens and that if everything goes right, they willautomatically do it. That is definitely not the case.

We live in a negative world, a fallen worldwhere it seems that the ungodly are getting more and moreprominent. So much of what we hear is just negative, andwe have to make a deliberate effort to be positive andcounter the culture we live in. Praise is a great tool to helpus achieve that.

If someone were to pass out, the first thing we’ddo is check their pulse to see if their heart is still beating.In the same sense, checking our praise lives is how wecheck our spiritual pulse. If we don’t live lives that areconstantly giving thanksgiving and praise unto God, weare not spiritually healthy. Paul said in Philippians 4:4— Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Paul didn’t just say it once; he said it twice. He didn’twant anyone thinking he had made a mistake or that therewere exceptions to what he said. We are always supposedto be rejoicing in the Lord. It’s a command, not asuggestion to do it if we feel like it.

We may not feel joyful, but Scripture tells us inGalatians 5:22 that the fruit of the Spirit is joy. If we havethe Holy Spirit, we have joy. We may not feel that joy, but

we can choose to lift our hands and speak forth praise toGod by faith. Learning to praise God even when everythingis going badly will change our hearts, make us much moreeffective, and cause our faith to abound.

We face a lot of tough circumstances in this life,and the world expects us to behave a certain way whenproblems come. Rejoicing in the Lord can destroy thedevil’s plans. He cannot stand it. God inhabits the praises ofHis people (Ps. 22:3). God is so pleased when we lookbeyond the natural and see things in the light of faith. Thatblesses God.

Praise is not the inevitable byproduct that comeswhen everything is going right in our lives; it is the drivingforce. Praise will get our focus where it needs to be—onGod. If we start praising God in the middle of our problems,our problems will shrink so much that we’ll hardlyremember to bring them to God! We’ll be so busy praisingHim and thanking Him for His blessings that our problemswill be an afterthought. Devotional excerpts were taken from Andrew WomackMinistries “The Effects of Praise” (awmi.net)

Our VBS “Journey Off The Map” was a great success! We had 88 children & youth who registered, and we hadan average of 26 workers each night. We raised $185.00for the local food pantry’s backpack food program. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us and a specialthanks to those who volunteered and worked long hoursto prepare for a wonderful week!

Thank you to all who visited the local nursing homeduring the month of July for the Sunday School hour. God blesses those who take time to be compassionate toothers.

A Spiritual Lesson

Cliff Barrows, who has worked for the BillyGraham Crusades, tells how his father, an avid Gideon,traveled to Rangoon years ago. The area was underoppression and Gideon Bibles had been removed fromhotels. While there, he met with local Gideons who weretrying to restore the Bibles. During the meeting, Barrowshad difficulty following the discussion because two menwere singing hymns just a few yards away. Finally heasked, “Why are those men singing while we’re trying tohave this meeting?” The local Gideon replied, “Becausethis room is bugged, and the singing confuses the enemywho is trying to listen to us.”

“There is a spiritual lesson in that,” says Cliff. “When we sing, it confuses the enemy and allows theLord’s work to proceed.” In 2 Chronicles 20:21Jehoshaphat “appointed singers unto the Lord, and thatshould praise the beauty of holiness, as they went outbefore the army, and to say, ‘Praise the Lord; for hismercy endureth forever.’” When we are discouraged,attacked, or faced with unanswered prayers, singing asong or triumph brings us back into focus, allowing us toexpress our thanks to God for who He is.

Taken from Then Sings My Soul: Book 3 by Robert J. Morgan

Missions News

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST! That’s right, just when we think we

might slow down for a bit, someone has to mentionChristmas and the excitement and busy times resurface;but this is an exciting time for missions. Christmas inAugust gives us the opportunity to give the real meaningof Christmas without the commercialism that surroundsour precious Savior’s birth.

We will be collecting crayons and all kinds ofschool supplies for the children with the backpackministry and the children in the Dominican Republic. The stores are beginning to stock items and some are atreally good prices. So be sure to pick up items as youshop each week. You will find a donation box in thehallway soon.

We had such a GREAT VBS! I hope you wereable to be with us during that week. It was such a goodtime of learning with the children. We were able to runthe van to pick up children that needed a ride from theLoves Creek Mobile Home community. The church wasfull of smiling faces throughout the week, and on FamilyNight the parents and grandparents were entertained with VBS songs. Vacation Bible School is such a wonderfuloutreach. I hope you will consider helping out next yearand get in on the blessing of making a difference in thelives of our youth and children.

In September, we will begin a new church year. There will be so many opportunities ahead to supportmissions throughout the coming months. Get involvedthrough giving, volunteering and praying for those whoare trying to reach others in the name of Christ.

WMU for U!Teresa Lindley, Director

Reflectionsby Frances Gilmore

How many days has this summer had with overninety degree temperatures? I think a record-breakingamount! We have experienced a lot of hot humid days to saythe least. Health professionals encourage us to drink at leastsixty-four ounces of water per day even if we do not thinkwe are thirsty. It helps cool our system, keeps us from beingdehydrated, and is beneficial to our internal organs as wellas our skin. And on a really hot day water just feels goodwhether we sip it, slurp it, ice it, or even swim in it. Itquenches the thirst of our body.

There is also a spiritual thirst. In Isaiah 55 God tellsus, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.” Heis not talking about the physical waters but of the spiritualwaters. In John 4:14, He says, “But whoever drinks thewater I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I givethem will become in them a spring of water welling up toeternal life.” Now if you truly believe the Bible is God’sWord this verse is pretty awesome. When we are spirituallydry, even if we do not know it sometimes, we have a thirstfor the living God. Only God can supply the spiritual watersto quench this thirst. And unlike the physical water we drinktoday, the spiritual water is free. We soak up His Word, dropby drop, verse by verse, lesson by lesson, sermon by sermon. We want to be close to God’s Word, we want to be close tothe living water.

So often we see the sins and sinful people around us. It seems most of the newscasts focus on the storiespertaining to sinful acts – murder, robbery, escaped convicts,drunk driving. Sin is all around us. We live in a sin-infestedworld. There is a great thirst in our nation, but it is drivenby greed, lust and pride. Christians have to be aware of thepitfalls of following the sinfulness of a nation that is seekingthe wrong avenues in which to satisfy the thirst of the soul. We have to keep ourselves ‘watered down’ by the LivingWater so our own lives are not scorched by sin. Isaiah 58:11says, “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy yourneeds in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen yourframe. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a springwhose waters never fail.”

God of the Living Waters, thank You for quenching our thirstwith Your Word. Thank You for the eternal life You promiseto all who drink Your spiritual water. _

Happy 100 Birthday th

To Clestor “Shorty” Bray!

July 15, 2015“Celebrating every day!”

Send blessings to:Clestor Bray

1824 W. Third StreetSiler City, NC 27344

(910) 742-2695

You are invited to a Bridal Shower

for Christina Justice

Sunday, August 9

2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

In the Fellowship Hall

Hosted by Friends & Family

(She is registered at Belk, Target & Walmart)

Men’s Breakfast & Fellowship

Sunday, August 16th

8:30 a.m. - Fellowship HallJoin us!

2015 - 2016 Church DeaconsMarty BrooksDon DeatonEddie Fields

Tony EstridgeRon Evans

Ronnie RichardsonNorman Suits

Please pray for our deacons as they serve our churchfamily in the year ahead.

Brush Creek Baptist Church5345 Airport Road, Bear Creek, NC 27207

919/742-3221— FAX 919/742-6558

“To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the bodyof Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faithand in the knowledge of the Son of God.”

~Ephesians 4:12, NIV

Sunday School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:00 a.m.Sunday Morning Worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 a.m.Wednesday Services.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:00 p.m.Team Kids (Sundays - Oct. - May/ see schedule).. . 5:00 p.m.

È È È È È È È ÈEmail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . brushcreek@embarqmail.comWebsite.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.brushcreekbaptistnc.org

Frances Gilmore, Newsletter Editor. . . . . . . . (919) 742-4234Teresa Phillips, Secretary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (919) 742-3221

News for the next publication must be in the church office nolater than the 3 Sunday of each month.rd

The Source is a monthly publication of Brush Creek Baptist Church

Offerings and Attendance for July 2015

Attendance Sunday Budget

Date School OfferingJuly 5 82 $2,125.50July 12 48 $1,264.00 July 19 55 $1,795.00July 26 62 $2,907.00

Proposed weekly budget needs for 2014-2015: $2,341.25

Designated Missions $ 40.00Small Change (Crisis Pregnancy Center) $ 7.94

“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart;then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in allyour work and in everything you put your hand to.”

Deuteronomy 15:10

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