Fredonia First Southern Baptist Church

TUESDAY  –  JESUS, THE SERVANT     

In John chapter 13, we find the story of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet.  What is interesting about this story is if you will notice in verse 3, “Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.”  Jesus knew who He was.  He knew He was the Son of God.  He knew He was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and yet, He was humble enough to wash the disciples’ feet.  What a lowly chore for a King, let alone the King of Kings.  Why would He do such a thing?

What is so extremely unique to Jesus and so obvious about His character is His humility.  Here we find the King of Kings, the Son of God Almighty, girded with a towel and washing the filth from the feet of common sinners.  What a picture of love!  And yet, the story doesn’t stop there.  Not only did He wash their feet, but He suffered a grueling, torturous death on a cross for these unworthy sinners! 

Jesus didn’t just clean our feet.  He cleansed our very soul, making us acceptable in the sight of a holy God.  He didn’t save us just to be His servants, but His saved us to be His friends and heirs to His heavenly throne.  What great love is that?

In Matthew 20:28, Jesus openly confesses that He did not come to be served, but to serve.  Jesus wasn’t just being a servant, but was also showing us what He expects from His followers.  In First Peter, chapter 5, verse 5, “And all of you, serve each other in humility, for ‘God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.’”  God doesn’t just expect us to be humble, He commands it.

How humble are you toward others?  Do you have a tendency to “lord” over your fellow believers in the church?  Do you consider yourself proud and above others or do you lead with humility?  Are you patient, loving and kind to those who are immature in the faith, leading them by humble example?  Or do you chastise them with unnecessary traditions and discourage them with burdens too much for them?  Likewise, do you reverence those in authority over you?  Do you submit yourself to those God has placed in authority over you?  Be careful how you treat God’s children.

In freedom, serve one another in love.” – Galatians 5:13

Bible Verses from NLT

Dear Church Family,

My beautiful wife and I just had what I consider the best weekend of our 10 year marriage.  We went to what is called the “Weekend to Remember” conference, by the wonderful Christian Ministry “Family Life”.  I just cannot contain myself for the joy that I feel is huge!  This weekend was amazing for us.  We laughed and we cried and we rediscovered our love and our passion for each other.  We learned so much about each other this weekend and we opened up to each other in ways we have never done before.  I cannot recommend this enough.  It is for ANY married couple no matter what stage of life you may be in.  Newlyweds and especially Pre-married couple should work this conference into their schedules right now. Even if you have been married for thirty, forty even fifty years, you can rediscover your spouse in special and magnificent ways.  It’s time to rediscover what God’s intention for your marriage is and if you go, not only will your relationship with your spouse be renewed, but so too will your relationship with God.  For 10 years I have missed out and have not properly honored Cassandra, my wife, because I missed out on one essential truth…  That she is God’s gift to me and I had to ACCEPT her as such, before I could truly understand her place in my life.  Once you figure that out, then you realize that you don’t abuse, mistreat or tear down God’s gift but rather honor God’s gift following his Word.  We have promised each other that will never again let LIFE get the better of us. We will continue down this road of honoring and loving one another above all else, except God himself, and will work to fulfill each other completely.  Whether it is in how we speak to each other or how we serve each other our goal is now to work toward that most important condition that God has intended for us… ONENESS

If you are interested in attending one of these conferences, I think the last one in Kansas this year is coming up in 3 weeks in KC.  Go to http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.5846045/k.F479/Attend_a_conference.htm to find out all the details.

Cassandra and I have decided to do this again next year, because we truely want to continue down this road and we want to be able to look back and see how far we have come.  I don’t recommend that any one wait if they can find the time and the money to do it now, then DO IT..  Otherwise, I will be forming a group to go next year..

Wayne Campbell

MONDAY -  JESUS, THE KING

“Hosanna!  Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!”  That was the cry of the crowds that day as they hailed Jesus as their King.  The people cut palm branches and laid them on the ground in front of Jesus.  Many removed their garments and laid them down for Him to walk over.  Even the children sang His praise as stated in Psalm 8:2, “You have taught children and nursing infants to give you praise.”  What a glorious day and celebration it was!  But, what did it all mean?  Is there something more going on here?

Let’s look back at Leviticus chapter 24, starting in verse 30.  “And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.”

We see here the waving of the palm was required during the Feast of Shelters as worship and praise to the LORD.  The crowd on the streets before Jesus was doing a kingly praise for Him that day, showing Him the same honor as they would have the LORD God of Heaven.  It is significant because of what the crowd was saying that Jesus was indeed God.  The religious leaders didn’t like this at all – not because they thought God was being blasphemed, but because they saw their special “rights” and “privileges” being removed.  They could no longer arrogantly lord over the people their “power”.  More importantly, we need to recognize that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem that day was for the fulfillment of prophecy.  Notice Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey–even on a donkey’s colt.”

Jesus is not only the King of the Jews, but He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords as inscribed to Him in the book of Revelation.  It was God who bestowed that title on Him, because He was obedient to the Father.  The question then comes to mind, “Am I treating Jesus like the King or am I treating Him like a slave?”  How often do I reverence the LORD and how often do I think He owes me something?

Bible Verses from NLT

(1) Love is greater than faith and hope because love is eternal, while faith and hope are temporal (see 1 Corinthians 13:8-13). Because that which God has promised cannot presently be seen, faith and hope are necessary in this life. But when the perfect comes, when our Lord returns and we are living eternally in His presence, we will no longer need faith, for we shall see Him and experience all that He has promised. Our hope will be fulfilled. Our love for Him, however, will last for all eternity, inspiring our worship and service in His presence.

(2) Love is the appropriate response to God’s love and grace, in Christ (see Luke 7:42,47).

(3) Love is the great commandment and one of the distinguishing marks of a true disciple of our Lord (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:33; Luke 6:27-36; John 13:35; 15:12-13).

(4) Love facilitates and contributes to Christian unity (John 17:20-26; Colossians 2:2; Colossians 3:14).

(5) Love is the lubricant which greatly reduces the friction which can build up between us and others (Ephesians 4:2; 1Peter 4:8).

(6) Love is a key motive for our obedience to our Lord’s commands (John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23-24; John 15:10; John 21:15-17; 1John 5:2; 2John 1:16).

(7) Love is a stabilizing factor in our lives (Ephesians 3:17).

(8) Love is the goal of Paul’s teaching as it should be the goal of all Christian teaching (1Timothy 1:5).

(9) Love is the one command which encompasses all aspects of our Christian life (Romans 13:8-10; 1Corinthians 16:14).

(10) Love makes our service more profitable to others and to us (1Corinthians 8:1; 1Corinthians 13:1-13).

(11) Love is a key element in our defenses against Satan’s attacks and devices (1Thessalonians 5:8).

(12) Our love can and should be constantly growing (Philippians 1:9; 1Thessalonians 3:12; 2Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 10:24; 2Peter 1:7).

(13) Our love can grow cold, especially in difficult times (Matthew 24:12; Revelation 2:4). 

Excerpt by Bob Deffinbaugh

Hello all,

If you have not already found it, there is a page in the menu above called “BRP”, which stand for Bible Reading Plan.

It is a simple page that will guide you through the entire bible in 1 year.  If you can read or listen everyday for a year then you can have the blessing of having read the entire bible. 

And if you don’t want to follow the plan, that’s fine too.  But check the page out anyway, because you can click on book chapters and display those on your screen.  OR..  How about listening to the word while you surf around our site?  Just Click on the audio link and a separate page will open and you can listen to the bible instead. 

Cool Huh?

Well, it’s the 6th of January, 2010. How are we all holding up? I know that for me, my optimism for the new year is being sapped by this incredible cold snap and the general after Christmas blues. But I had a reminder today of just how good I have it. It the kind of reminder that reminded me of the glory of God and how he uses people. I received the link to this video in my e-mail this morning and it has brightened my day and had encouraged me. I hope it encourages you as well.

From the Campbell Family, John,  Jeanne,  Wayne, Cassandra, Hailey and Christopher.

Hello all and welcome to the First Southern Baptist Church of Fredonia Kansas website.  To facilitate easier posting of information, we have decided to use Blogging Software for our web site.  This will allow us to post news and information much easier then if we were using a traditional web site.  Some interesting features of this site will be our Image Gallery and our Calendar.  Each page of our site will display upcoming church events as well as random images from our image gallery. 

As the site evolves, please note the creation of categories based on the content of the blog posts.  The use of categories will allow us organize the information that gets posted and will make it easier to find at a later date. 

Besides all of the neat gadgets and features of this site I have a vision for this site that goes beyond it’s information sharing capabilities.  It is my sincerest hope that this web site is used in ways that glorify God and provides a outreach to our community and especially the youth in our community.

Some of the ideas that I have regarding this site are below.  Please feel free to share with my any ideas that you may have.

• Posting of Prayer Requests
• Pastor Q  & A
• Bible Q & A
• Bible Study Submissions
• Devotionals created and posted by church members
• many other possibilities!!!!

One last note..  If you use facebook, myspace or other sites where other people from Fredonia and the surrounding area hang out online, please be sure to post this web site address where they can see it! 

Thanks and enjoy the new site.