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We look forward to our annual Fall Harvest Festival this Wednesday evening beginning at 6PM. There will be plenty of food, games, and other activities for everyone. Invite your friends and neighbors out for a great time of fellowship. Visit the church website for additional info: gracebaptisttemple.cc
See you there!
Act 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Act 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Experiencing revival in our hearts is one thing- it is another, to sustain revival in our lives. How often do we get “fired up” for God only to “fizzle” out a few weeks later? The early church experienced the enduement of God’s power and with great grace and power they continued steadfastly and brought many people to Christ. This is what we, as a church, must learn if we would do something for the glory of God.
I can tell you this: verse 42 teaches us that these disciples were faithful to assemble themselves together as a church. First and foremost, we must learn to be faithful to the house of God if we would have the fire of revival continue to burn in our hearts. Church is where we are encouraged, exhorted, and edified. Church is where we fellowship with other believers and learn more of God’s Word.
Determine to “continue steadfastly”, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Heb. 10:25 See you Sunday!
What a week of revival we had! Great attendance on most nights, great decisions for Christ, and precious souls were saved. It was a week of great victory for Grace. I want to express my thanks to Pastor Odom for his willingness to come and preach for a week meeting and for preaching the Word of God with great conviction. It was truly a blessing. Our church was so faithful to each night and I pray the Lord spoke to your heart and that you experienced genuine revival in your own life. What a great year lies ahead of us as we seek to serve the Lord unto all pleasing. I hope we will rise up with great faith this coming year and watch the Lord work through each of us as we yield to His leadership in our lives. God bless you all!
How could we not praise the Lord Jesus for all that He has done this week in our midst. Christian’s hearts have been revived, the lost have been saved, and life changing decisions have been made to the glory of God.
The best part is, we still have one more night! I am so proud of our church. You have been so faithful to attend and invite the lost. Pastor odom has blessed our hearts each night with wonderful messaged from the Word of God. Pray that tonight would be our crowning night and that more souls will be saved.
Don’t forget to continue inviting people to Open House Sunday this Sunday, Oct. 18th. Keep passing out the postcards and pray that God will make Sunday a day of sweet victory. I am so thrilled to be a part of what God is doing at Grace. I am thrilled about the year to come, to see what God is going to do through our lives as we continue to yield to His will and direction. God bless you and see you tonight!
It has been a wonderful week of revival services thus far. The altars have been filled each night as God’s people have been surrendering to the will of God for their lives. Pastor Tom Odom has preached with anointing each night and God has used him in a marvelous way. How precious it was last night for a young man to come and trust Christ as his Saviour. A young teenage lady brought the boy last night and he heard the message of the Gospel. AMEN!
I am watching as the embers of revival begin to glow in our hearts. It is a beautiful thing to behold as the Lord Jesus does what only He can do in our hearts. What begins as just a small flame can rage out of control. Oh, that we might allow God to set our hearts ablaze with a flaming zeal to serve Him.
Please continue to be faithful to each service as we move toward Open House this Sunday. Do your best to invite as many visitors as you can and let’s watch as God brings Himself glory through our labors. It will be worth it! It was worth it to that young man last night.
The preaching of God’s Word thus far has been tremendous and spot on. God has already blessed our church with life changing decisions among our people, and for that we praise His name. I am thrilled at the attitude of our church people and blessed by their sensitivity to God’s leading. I pray that God will continue to do His work in our hearts. As Pastor Odom preached tonight, let us “clean out the ditches in our heart”. I hope you will continue to be faithful to each of the services as we continue to hear from the Word of God. Let’s be sure to invite our friends and family to attend the revival and Open House this coming Sunday.
Some encouraging words from today’s devotion out of Morning and Evening, Spurgeon.
“Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.” Lam_3:41
The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them we should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very dust. Prayer is in itself, apart from the answer which it brings, a great benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains strength for the race by daily exercise, so for the great race of life we acquire energy by the hallowed labour of prayer. Prayer plumes the wings of God’s young eaglets, that they may learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer girds the loins of God’s warriors, and sends them forth to combat with their sinews braced and their muscles firm. An earnest pleader cometh out of his closet, even as the sun ariseth from the chambers of the east, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. Prayer is that uplifted hand of Moses which routs the Amalekites more than the sword of Joshua; it is the arrow shot from the chamber of the prophet foreboding defeat to the Syrians. Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God. We know not what prayer cannot do! We thank thee, great God, for the mercy-seat, a choice proof of thy marvellous lovingkindness. Help us to use it aright throughout this day!
Source Cited: Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening. Hendrickson Publishing. April 1997.
Thank you to each of you who came out and gave of your time and strength to help clean and prepare our facilities for our Revival Services. You all worked so hard and beyond the call of duty. I pray that the Lord will bless your heart down through this week in a very special way for your faithfulness.
Please pray for our revival services. Let me encourage you to pray in these ways:
Sunday is 
almost here and I am excited for our special Sunday and revival. I want to strongly encourage you to be faithful to all of the services this week beginning with Sunday School bright and early on Sunday morning at 10am.
We are privileged to have Glenn Wiggins, Associate Pastor of Seagate Baptist Church, Naples, Florida preaching all day on Sunday and then Pastor Tom Odom on Monday through Friday. Come desiring God to do a great work in our hearts and church. This can be a great week and you are the key, so let’s come with an expectancy in our hearts, praying that God will abundantly bless us this week.
Finally, I hope you are inviting many people to our Open House. I believe the Lord would be greatly pleased to see many folks saved and added to the church. Do your best! Invite friends, family members, and coworkers and then pray for God to give us a great day. Amen!
Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Temple.
www.gracebaptisttemple.cc
