Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Our Statement of Faith…

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Journal,

Seems my wake up calls are running from 3 to 4 a.m. each morning. Always spend a bit? thinking about the things of the Lord before I drift back off to sleep. It is sort of a check up on myself time where I look at the day ahead, and think about the day just past. Suppose you can say this is my, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” (Ps139:23,24 nasb)

Up at 6 a.m. CJ and I made our morning venture to pick up the paper. Saw the light was on in Nathan’s office so passed my greeting to him. Tapped on his window with my cane. He is preparing for the morning service. David said, “Early will I seek You.”

CJ and I had our paper reading, coffee, and then a settling in for our morning devotion. Course CJ simply suggles next to me on the love seat. (He? don’t much care for coffee.)

7:10 am. Had a wonderful call from my cousin Jerry Lee Fletcher. Said that I was on his mind. Jerry Lee was probably the closest of my cousins to me when we were kids. Did a lot of romping together. Got to baptize Jerry and some more of my kin at my last pastorate. Its been my experience that when you find that one ‘key’ member of a family, they become the rally point for others of the family to come to the Lord. Jerry has pretty much fit that picture. He has such a love for the Lord. It has spilled over into his family.

Talking to Jerry brought back several memories? about baptizings. My last pastorate was also the first church that I held a revival in, in 1970. (Later pastored it in ‘75 and ‘76.) That first revival was a glorious time. I? baptized all the pastor’s children a couple of weeks before the revival began. At the ending of the revival we had a sight to behold. It was late at night. The cars gathered at Community Lake near Flatwoods, and set their lights to shine on the happenings.

I took fifteen people out into the waters and did we have? us a baptism. The picture is forever etched in my mind. I was just a young buck preacher at age 30. Didn’t know a whole lot, but the Lord still honored His word. The peoples responded to the call of the gospel message of Jesus. (Seems my first and my last revivals had the greatest number of baptisms. Last revival we saw 25 baptized. My revivals were largely in country churches.)

Got to tell this one story and? Jerry and Me. It was our watermelon raiding days. We left the horse at the bottom of the hill near the creek. As we? passed watermelons over the fence at the top of the hill, the melons begin rolling. Down they went and away the horse went. We had a time catching that horse. That was just one case. Also had to flee one time when the gentleman came out with a shotgun and shot in the air. He wasn’t really trying to hurt us. Everyone knew about the watermelon raiders. We never damaged any patches.?

Ok! The big day is here. Shana and Tim arrived for our Sunday service at Christian Challenge. Shana stayed with me to watch the services via the Internet. Tim had a bit of a cold so he and Betty and the grandkids went on to church. Wow! What an awesome service. And what an awesome service it was. Betty brought the grandkids by the church camera to wave at Shana and me. Sweethearts all.

As I said earlier Nathan is doing a series in January on ‘What we believe.’ He is taking our Statement of Faith and also our Seven Tenets of Faith and will go through them during the month. It was simply amazing to see Nathan the master weaver at work. He absolutely surpasses me as a teacher of God’s word.

Anyway, here is our Statement of Faith that Nathan worked with today: (Comes right out of the Bible combined with one of the earliest creeds of the ancient church.)

“WE BELIEVE there is but one God, the Father, from who are all things, and we exist for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we exist through Him; that God created the world and all things through His own Word; that this Word is called His Son; was made flesh in the womb of the Virgin; dwelt among men preaching the kingdom of heaven; was crucified and then rose on the third day; ascended to the right hand of the Father; has sent the Power of the Holy Spirit to such as believe; will return in the glory of the Father for the saints, and condemn the wicked to eternal punishment.”

Course Christian Challenge services usually run go from 10 to 12 p.m. Guess what? I’m not supposed to be around the grandkids, but they all came to our front door and wanted to see grandpa with his ‘nearly’ bald head. What a laugh we had. You can just call me and Jared, the old and the young baldies. Jared is my eight-year old grandson that I get to baptize Wednesday night. He lit up when he saw my bald head. Betty made me turn around so all the grandkids could have a good laugh. And laugh they did.? ?

12:15 a.m. - Got a call from my mother hen, Lane Fletcher.? His mom and all his immediate family are on a vacation in Hawaii. What a treat. They’ll be back next Sunday. It is always such a joy to talk with Lane. This brother is another of those ‘key’ family members that the Lord uses to minister to the many.

Getting to goodbye time. One more thing I like to share. If you would like to cue in on a special Bible study just? click on my blog (journal) category, ‘Devotions & Studies.’ I am providing a unique study on the subject,? So What’s the Deal on First Fruits.

Many people are not aware of the awesome blessings that associate with the Bible teaching on first fruits.? Take a look at it. First Fruits is a major Biblical spiritual law to the blessings of God. And yet it is one of the most misunderstood teachings that I know.

Guess I’ll sign off for you. Have a wonderful evening.

Love all of you,

Buddy

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