Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Content of our Confidence

Greetings,

It is always a pleasure of mine to communicate with you in this fashion.  The past 2 weeks have been incredible!  On last Friday, we traveled down to Bloomington, Illinois for my youngest son Deonne to compete in the AAU National Indoor Tack and Field Championships.  I am pleased to announce that Deonne finished 5th in the nation in the 400m dash and 7th in the nation in the 200m dash! I forgot to mention one important factor. He ran injured and still did very well! I am very proud of him.

The meet was not over until Sunday, so I was not able to attend any of our Sunday Morning services. I was told that they went very well.  I want to thank Rev. Terry Tate for preaching in my stead.  I was also told by some of the congregation that I was missed. That made me feel good to know that there are some people who genuinely care about you.  We rushed back to South Bend because we had a Deacon Ordination service at 4pm. It was a very close call but we  made it!  The Ordination service went very well and the candidate passed with flying colors. Congratulations Deacon Cory Brazier. He is a young man on fire for God and has a passion for the youth. I look forward to working with him in ministry. 

This past Lord's Day was a day of rejoicing! I was unable to attend Early Morning Prayer Service, but I know it went very well.  I taught the New Members Class while Sunday School was going on and it was a treat for me to teach our new members. 

Morning Worship started out with a bang! Our Deacons really ushered in the Spirit of the Lord in the Devotion Service.  The Music Ministry kept the fire going and Rev. Derick Buggs added another log in the fire during Altar Prayer.  It was getting close to preaching time and all I was thinking was, " I hope I don't mess this up." I approached the preaching moment with great anticipation.  I preached a message from 2 Corinthians 3:1-6, entitled, "The Content of our Confidence".  Here's the outline:

1.  Confidence cannot be based on Human Approval (v. 1-3)

2.  Confidence cannot be based on Heartfelt Ambition (v.4-5a)

3.  Confidence can only be based upon a Heavenly Appointment (v.5b-6)

God blessed the exposition of this passage! I feel as though preaching and teaching in the same passage on Sunday and Wednesday is helping to strengthen our congregation. 

Well, it's about time for me to go for now. I'm in preparation for our Wednesday in the Word Services.  I look forward to talking with you again real soon! God Bless and keep you is always my prayer.


2 comments:

Pastor Rev. Ray E. Owens said...

Pastor,

Very Rich, I died graveyard dead on I have a confidence based on my Heavenly appointment. HEY GLORY!!!!!!!!!

I need to see the sub points to that point because vs 5b and 6 scream out our call is what makes us competent and our competency is based on us being called to be conveyors of this new covenant.

Keep running,

Owens

Rev. Barney said...

You keep preaching like that and I will have to come home and mail my sermons to the Rock. Love you man.