Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

We will be focusing on James 2:1-13 this weekend which deals with showing favoritism and how it relates to our relationship with Christ. Honoring God involves putting Him first in everything and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. When we don't do that we hurt ourselves and our relationship with God.

This is going to be an exciting weekend for our church. With the beginning of our 24 days to revival, my prayer is that we will allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts through conviction which leads to repentance which leads to revival. I hope to see you all Friday night for the special service to kick things off. Come with an expectant heart asking God to reveal Himself to us and that we will respond to His leading.

Also, continue reading and meditating on the passage as you prepare your hearts for worship this weekend, and consider this quote from Matthew Henry: "The deformity of sin is never truly and fully discerned till the evil of our thoughts be disclosed." May we each follow God as He leads us and rejoice in His mercy to us.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike Kuckel

Chris and Susan Neal

Chris and Susan met in the singles Bible fellowship at First Baptist North Spartanburg in Feb. of 1995. They were engaged on Thanksgiving of that year and got married at First North in May of 1996. Three years later the Lord blessed them with their daughter, Olivia, who is now 10. Olivia prayed to ask Jesus into her heart while attending SCA (the church school). She was baptized at First North and is growing in the knowledge of Jesus there. They feel right at home at our church (the church they like to call the church for everyone). If you are willing to serve, First North will find a spot for you to fill. Chris is currently our bible fellowship class administrator and Susan serves as class secretary/treasurer. They have a personal family blog called: www.theneal-family.blogspot.com where Susan writes about daily/ weekly events and shares from her heart.

Class Bulletin Board

Thanks to Edmonde, Enith, Tina, Olivia and Susan for putting up our class bulletin board. It is a work in progress and information will be added as it becomes available. Also a big thank you goes out to Kim Poore for coming up with the idea of hanging our name badges on a net. As you enter class this Sunday you'll notice them hanging on the door in alphabetical order. If you'll grab your name tag on the way in and then re-hang it on the net on the way out that would be great!! Thanks ladies for your hard work.

See you Sunday.

MJ's Real Cause of Death

ABF LESSON - 7/19/09 (Trials and Temptations)

This Sunday we will be starting a new study in the book of James that will take us through the next seven weeks. The book of James is only five short chapters but it has so much practical life-changing truth in it. The lesson for Sunday will deal with Trials and Temptations which is something that every one of us have to deal with. I will give you four great points that show how we as believers can be victorious while going through difficult trials. We will also be taking a look at the question "Who is responsible for our temptation?". The focal passage for the lesson is James 1:1-18. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

God Bless,
Mike Stiles

The Real Work of Life

I hope you all are having a wonderful week and walking with the Lord daily in your Bible and in prayer. I found quite an interesting article this week in World magazine that I hope encourages you as you do the "work of life." Andree Seu comments in her editorial "No glib utterances" from the July 18, 2009 issue of World:

"God's commands turn out to be doorways to intimacy with Him. And the best kept secret about obedience in the face of a hard temptation is that there is a blessing waiting on the other side. Satan doesn't want us to know that. He would prefer the usual succumb-and-repent routine. The real work of life happens at the cellular level of one-moment-at-a-time believing God's promises, praying like breathing, and obeying His Spirit immediately. There are no larger battles. There is no more profound analysis of the decline of the church."

If you are like me, you will have to read this several times to let it sink in, but it is worth it! As we are walking out our faith daily let's hold each other up in prayer and spur each other on in obedience to Christ.

All for Christ,
Mike Kuckel

Members

Brian and Tina Bentley
Chris and Susan Neal

Brian and Tina Bentley

Brian, Tina and Zachary Bentley

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Brian and Tina met in Monroe, GA in 1998 at the Monroe Skydiving Club. They were married in 2000, moved to the Spartanburg area in 2004, and had their first child (Zachary) in 2007. They have been calling First Baptist North Spartanburg home since 2006.

Brian and Tina are both thrill seekers who love to experience God’s wonderful creation with hobbies like: Skydiving, Rock Climbing, Snow Skiing, Camping, Hiking, Boating, Fitness, Golf, Etc…Since the new addition to the Bentley family (Zachary) things have slowed down some, but they are finding the new addition to be an exciting new extreme sport. No hobby can compare to a 2.5 year old!

Brian and Tina both grew up in Christian homes but were both false converts. Both of their lives could be described as the believers we see Matthew chapter 7 before their conversions into the faith by being born again from the Spirit in 2007. Since their conversions they have been very much involved in the life of First North. They recently returned from a small 4 person mission trip to Southern India where they were seeking God’s will in a possible longer term mission journey.

Although the Lord seems to have shut the door right now on overseas missions they are intently listening and seeking God’s will in everything they do. They serve as the Living Proof Outreach Coordinators and are activity involved in Evangelism. To learn more about the Bentley’s please visit their websites at –

http://www.bbentleyventures.com/
http://baasheepbaa.blogspot.com/
http://www.ifishministry.com/

Jesus Loves You

I was approached this morning after the lesson by a dear friend and brother in Christ who pointed out something I said that needs better clarification. I am so grateful the Lord has placed men around me who can hold me accountable and help me grow.

At the end of my lesson I said there was something that bothered me that people did witnessing. The thing that really bothers me is people who run around telling people “Jesus Loves You” and that’s all they say. Let me try and open this thought up a little so there is no confusion about what I mean here.

As I said the Bible teaches the preaching (witnessing) of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1Cor.1:18). The sinner does not fear God nor love God (Romans 1:18-25). The Bible tells us people are dead, slaves, foolish and disobedient in their sins (Eph. 2:1-3 - Titus 3:3).

Therefore, if all a person does is use the “Jesus Loves You” quote, it is not effective. Again sinners could careless if Jesus loves them. They do not understand Christ, His death, why He had to die, the glory of the cross, what Christ gave up, etc…

Now I do not mean we should never tell people Jesus loves them. But when we start speaking of Christ’ love it must be in direct contrast to the cross and what happened on the cross. If a person does not understand the cross, the love of Christ is going to be foolishness to them. Let’s quickly look at what the Bible says about God’s love towards sinners. I’ve bolded some keys words that really cannot be left out when speaking of God’s love.

(Romans 5:6-11)
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

On the CD I passed out Ray Comfort uses this anagoly. If you want to wake someone from a deep, deep sleep - you are not going to shine a FLASHLIGHT in their face. That would offend them and cause the person to be mad, grumpy and unwilling to here what you have to say. No, to wake someone from a deep, deep sleep you would be better served to slowly start turning the light on - like a light dimmer.

First use the law (10 commandments) to bring the knowledge of sin (in a loving way), and then turn on the Light of the gospel.

Jesus does love sinners (Romans 5:8), but if the sinner does not understand his sin, they will not understand His love.

May God bless your week and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again shortly - Lord willing.

Until the nets are full,

Brian

Called to be a Witness

What’s the first thing we do when we see, hear or experience something awesome or awful? Normally we tell someone. Really think about. The last time you had a great meal at a great restaurant what did you do? Or how about the last time you saw a terrible movie? Or what about this one, your child went 4 for 4 at the last baseball game? If you are anything like me you are looking for the first person you can find to tell about what you experienced.

Normally when a person experiences something overwhelming in their life they give witness of what happened. One definition of a witness is someone who “can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced.” When we witness something either great or something awful the first thing we usually do is bare witness to it.

That’s going to be our topic this coming Sunday for Bible Fellowship. We are called to be a witness for God in everything we do. We will be looking at three main points which are the following:

Why Are We Here?
Why Do People Not Witness?
How To Witness?

We will be looking at a lot of Scripture on Sunday, but one you may want to meditate on is this:

Proverbs 11:30

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

See you Sunday morning!

Brian B.

No Bible fellowship this Sunday July 5th, but ...

join us for ONE church-wide service at 10:30 a.m. No worker's meeting or evening worship, just this ONE service. Hope to see you in the sanctuary as we celebrate our Lord. Join us for Bible fellowship next week as we return to our regular schedule.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July !!!