I can’t wait to unpack it with you on Sunday! 

These are busy days in the Body of Christ.  Our students have been at camp this week – pray for fruit that abides.  This Wednesday (July 15^th) at 6pm, we’ll have our Quarterly Business Meeting, where we’ll vote on our budget, deacons, and ministry teams for the coming church year.  Be sure to be in attendance. 

God is mightily at work in our Body at FBC.  Many of you will be traveling as these summer weeks go by, but always remember to lift up your FBC family and its leadership to the Lord in prayer, wherever you are. 

Also lift up those around us who need to know our Savior.  This Sunday we’ll be having “Discovering FBC” for prospective members, and it looks like we’ll have a big group.  Be praying for that and praying for people in your life who need Jesus and a church family.  Invite one of them to join you this Sunday as we gather.

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

As 2 Cor 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!  Old things have passed away…behold, all things have become new.” 

Living a life that is consistent with the new creations we are means that we must put to death our old sinful ways and habits.  It means we must take off the old wardrobe of sin and put on the new wardrobe that matches the new creations we are.  We’ll talk about all this on Sunday.  Hope to see you there.  Invite a friend to join you.

By the time you receive this, it will be just before or after the 4^th of July.  This is an extra special 4^th for us as Americans, as we celebrate 250 years as a nation.  But as Christians, we are doing more than that – we are thanking God for 250 years of His grace and faithfulness to us.  He has sustained us through wars, depressions, divisions, and tragedies.  Despite our problems, we are blessed to live in a country that is the envy of the world.  Just listen to what World Cup visitors from around the globe are saying about America!  Their minds are blown by our standard of living and our people. 

So let us thank the Lord for our country and pray for it.  Pray for spiritual renewal above all.  And that begins with each one of us. 

I’ll see you on Sunday, with a Bible in my hand.

In this passage, Paul addresses the false teaching that is threatening the church at Colossae, and points to the sufficiency of Christ.  He is all we need.

There are absolute treasures in this text.  The Colossian believers had come out of a background of fear, in which they felt the need to engage in all kinds of legalistic practices in order to placate spirits and angels, gods and goddesses.  They have found freedom in Christ, but now a false teacher is telling them to go back to their old ways and beliefs.  Paul is saying, “Remember who Jesus is, and remember who you are in Him!” 

This is a message we need to hear every day.  I can’t wait to share it with you on Sunday!  Invite a friend to meet you at FBC. 

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

There was a great sense of unity.  Two godly men were running for President, but it was not acrimonious.  Willy Rice of Florida was elected.  The biggest item of business this year was “The Truth And Unity Amendment” to our SBC constitution, submitted by Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological  Seminary.  The amendment merely says the same thing that the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 already says:  The office of pastor in our churches is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.  To the media, the amendment is a big deal, but it simply reiterates what our Confession of Faith already says, and what the overwhelming number of Southern Baptists have always believed.  Most importantly, it is what the Bible teaches.

Scripture is clear:  Men and women are created in the image of God, and completely equal in value and personhood before Him.  But God made us wonderfully different, to complement one another.  And He’s given us different roles to play in the family and the family of God.  That’s a good thing, a beautiful thing.   

It may sound counter-cultural in a lost culture that wants to obliterate all differences between men and women, and even redefine gender itself, but we must stay true to God’s Word.  His ways enable us to flourish.         

As always, the highlight of our meeting was the Sending  Celebration for our missionaries.  This year, sixty-three missionaries stood before us and bore testimony to us about God’s call on their lives.  Some of them could not be seen for  security reasons, but we heard their voice.  More importantly, the Lord sees them.  And in His name, we send them.

What a joy to be a part of a denominational family that stands on God’s Word and sends forth the Good News of Jesus to the nations! 

Speaking of which, I am so thankful for Dr. Jeff Ginn for bringing an incredible message this past Sunday on “The Great Commission.”  Let us joyfully carry out the marching orders of our Lord, to make disciples of all nations.  How wonderful to be a part of a church family that is touching the world with the gospel!

I’ll see you this Sunday, as we continue walking through Colossians.  We’ll look at Colossians 2:6-15, one of my favorite gospel passages, and take the Lord’s Supper.  The message will be, “He  Erased The Debt.”   

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

We’ll look at Colossians 2:1-5 which is all about being “Joined Together In Love.”  Colossians is such a beautiful, powerful letter.  This second chapter is loaded with spiritual riches, and I can’t wait to begin unpacking it with you on Sunday.

I’m so thankful to my dear friend, Jeff Ginn, for bringing such a fantastic message on the Great Commission this past Sunday.  We need to continually go back to our Lord’s marching orders! 

I’m also so thankful to be a part of our SBC family.  Our partnership with the SBC is such an aid to helping us carry out the Great Commission.  Through our SBC involvement, we have a state missions partner in the SBCV, a national missions partner in NAMB, and an international missions partner in IMB.  Therefore, through your giving you are reaching people for Christ in Virginia, North America, and to the ends of the earth!

What a blessing to be a part of a family of churches that is standing on the Word and sharing the Word.  Let each of us do the same.  I’ll see you this Sunday, with a Bible in my hand.

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

Jeff has been a dear friend for more than two decades now.  We served together as Virginia pastors, together on the SBCV Executive Board, and together as IMB Trustees.  Later I was an IMB Trustee once again when Jeff assumed the job of leading our work in South and Central America and later became our Vice-President for Mobilization.  In his current role, Jeff is traveling and preaching all over the world as a catalyst and encourager of Great Commission work.

Appropriately, that will be his message this Sunday – “The Great Commission.”  Matthew 28:18-20 gives us our marching orders from our Lord…let us be about his business until He returns!  You’ll be wonderfully encouraged by Dr. Ginn this Sunday.  Be praying toward Sunday, and for the annual meeting of our SBC family in Orlando.

I’ll be back on the 14^th as we continue in Colossians.  My prayer for you today is this: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). 

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

This is one of those places in his letters where Paul gives us a vivid picture of what        Christ-centered ministry looks like.  What should it be like as we pour ourselves out for the sake of the gospel? 

The Apostle Paul gives us a godly pattern here.  Read over it, meditate on it, and pray in preparation for the Lord’s Day.   

What a joy this past Sunday to celebrate baptism and baby dedication!  We are blessed at FBC to see many being born and born again.  Our church pulsates with life.  All praise to the Giver of life.

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

What a contrast there is between who we were before we were in Christ to who we are now, by His grace!  Let’s talk about it on Sunday.

Who in your life needs Christ?  Walk through the concentric circles of your influence:  Your family, your friends, people you work with, people you are in relationship with through your neighborhood or your activities.  Surely some of them need Jesus and a church    family. 

Each week our service closes with the words, “YOU ARE SENT!”  Sent where?  Into the mission field.  Be faithful as His witness and ambassador in the mission field this week, and I’ll see you at our gathering on Sunday.

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

What a majestic portrait of Christ we see in this text!  We see his sovereignty and supremacy in all things, and we see his saving love for us.  We see that one day, when He returns, everything in this broken world will be put back in perfect order and harmony.  Evil and the demonic activity that lies behind it will be destroyed, and the world will be as God originally created it to be. 

But believers have already been reconciled to God.  How?  Through the blood of the Lord Jesus, shed for us on the cross.   After the message, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and remember his blood shed for us and look forward to the feast we will partake in with Him in glory. 

Be reading and praying over the text, and Lord willing I will see you on the Lord’s Day!

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.

We often hear the expression, “praying for you,” but what we really need to do more of is actually pray for people.  Just stop right where you are and pray for them!  Be bold about it.  It is one of the most loving things you can do for people, to bring them before the throne of a God who delights to hear from us and answer prayers!

Let’s talk about it this Sunday.  See you there.  Invite a friend to join you.  

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations,

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.