Month of Transitions

May is the month that transitions our thinking.  We experience the blooming flowers, the extended daylight, the rising temperatures, and before you know it, everyone’s thoughts are turned to summer.  By the time we’ve celebrated mothers and started planning for Memorial Day, we’ve committed our calendar to a vast array of events, including vacations, cookouts, graduations, and weddings.

In our enjoyment of all those summer events, let’s not forget that summer is one of the best times of year for Gospel service, ministry, and spiritual growth. There are things to be involved in through church or things that can be done by individuals and families. 

·       Vacation Bible School: This is, and should be, an annual rite-of-summer that proves to always be one of the biggest community outreaches of the year.  This event happens because of a small army of committed volunteers, including children and teens.  While VBS is promoted as an educational experience, the real learning happens when individuals of all ages are engaged and invested in the work of the Gospel and serve together for the cause of Christ.   So, don’t just bring your children to VBS, ask how all of you can be involved.  This year’s VBS will be June 17-20.

·       Mission Trips: Our church will be represented in three places this summer.  We will have one church member in the Bahamas and another one in Jamaica working with existing ministries.  Additionally, the church will sponsor a group again for a week-long trip to Jamaica to support one of our missionaries.  This is a trip our church has done for most of the last 10-years.  These are opportunities that provide a hands-on international experience of working in the Gospel.  For everyone who can go, they’re invested and committed…for those who can’t go, the responsibility is to pray and support their efforts.

·       Summer Camp: Our church will, as it has for most of 30 years, take young people from the 4^th through 12^th grades to The Wilds at the end of July.  Located in the western part of our state, near Brevard, this week of camp offers all the traditional hiking, swimming, lake, and game events of most camps.  The real attraction to the Wilds is the biblical training and insight provided to those who attend.  Our group joins with more than a thousand other campers from all over the east coast for an exciting week of exciting activities and spiritual growth.  Want to know more? It may still be possible for 4^th-12^th graders to register, get an info sheet in the gym hallway for more details and visit the website: http://wilds.org

·       The Neighborhood Kids: If you have a desire to reach the children in your neighborhood, then you’ll find a partner with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF).  Among their many ministries, they are sponsors of 5-Day Clubs, which can be held at your house.  You simply open your home for 90-minutes each day during a week.  CEF will send a trained team to teach Bible lessons and lead the activities and songs.  You only have to be willing to be a host-site and help invite the neighborhood kids, ages 5-12.  Find out more at www.cefonline.com

·       Community Outreach: With the longer days and no homework, summer is also a time when the family can be involved in regular monthly outreach opportunities.  Our church regularly supplies a group that goes to serve a meal at the Pathways Homeless Shelter.  In the fall, the church will also send a group to serve with the “Church-Under-the-Bridge” ministry in Greensboro.  See Pastor Jason for details.

Acts 4:32 tells us about the heart of those early followers in Jerusalem, “…the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.”    The passage tells how they exhibited an attitude of service for each other and to their community for the cause of Christ.  May we seek to exhibit a similar attitude toward the opportunities that lie ahead.  Summer may be fun, but for a Christian family, it can also be an important time that has an eternal impact.

 - Dr. Harlie Miller, Associate Pastor

It's a Beautiful Life

I am so grateful it is spring and warmer weather is just on the horizon! Looking forward to the coming months, I am excited about what the season holds for our church and community. Just upon us is the Children’s Easter Celebration where we will host many community families and show them the love of Christ and exalt Him as our Risen savior, a God who is alive and active. Also in April, our spring blood drive will be another way we will engage our community while providing necessary resources to those in need throughout our state. In May, we have a yard/bake sale and carwash to support this year’s Jamaica mission team and we look forward to our special Memorial Day service. In June, school lets out, GAP will be in full swing for summer and VBS will enable us to serve and evangelize children within our church and in our community. With all hands on deck and in His strength, we will accomplish what the Lord has commissioned us to do. To serve alongside you all at Gospel is truly a blessing and I am grateful for the continued opportunity to do so.

With the Lord being who He is and giving all He gave and continues to give, life is absolutely beautiful! In Him do we live, move and have our being. Oswald Chambers highlights the beauty of our life lived in Christ’s so wonderfully in his devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, I would like to share it with you.

“Our Lord’s cross is the gateway into His life: His resurrection means that He has power now to convey His life to me. When I am born again from above, I receive from the risen Lord His very life.

Our Lord’s Resurrection destiny is to bring “many sons unto glory.” The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us the sons and daughters of God. We are never in the relationship to God that the Son of God is in; but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. When our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life, to a life He did not live before He was incarnate. He rose to a life that had never been before; and His resurrection means for us that we are raised to His risen life, not to our old life. One day we shall have a body like unto His glorious body, but we can know now the efficacy of His resurrection and walk in a newness of life. “I would know Him in the power of His resurrection.”


“As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast give Him.” “Holy Spirit” is the Eternal Life working in human beings here and now. The Holy Spirit is the Deity in proceeding power Who applies the Atonement to our experience. Thank God it is gloriously and majestically true that the Holy Ghost can work in us the very nature of Jesus if we will obey Him.”


Praise the Lord, He is the Resurrected King of Glory, I am His and He is mine! His life is living in us and producing the nature of Christ as we reverence Him in all things.

- Jason Wilson, Youth & Worship Pastor

Happy New Year, again

Happy New Year! It's that time of year again when you think about the future and what you want to accomplish this year. You know, it seems like we just did this a couple of months ago. Wait...I think we did just do this a couple of months ago!

    Throughout most of history, many cultures celebrated the new year in the month of March. The British Empire still celebrated March 25 as the beginning of the calendar year in 1752 when the switch was finally made to the Gregorian calendar. They swapped calendars and thought it would be a really cool idea to swap new year's days, too. It may seem strange to us today, but apparently everyone thought the new year should begin with the hope that comes with Spring instead of the death associated with winter. As Christianity spread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, this allowed people to begin the new year focusing on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as Spring brought life and hope for the coming year, the focus on the Resurrection served as a reminder of the new life and hope that is possible through the person and finished work of the Son of God.

     So, while we no longer celebrate the new year in March (unfortunately), we can still celebrate that fresh, new hope every day. As believers, we should also be celebrating the Resurrection every Sunday, not just at Eastertime. 

Lamentations chapter 3 is a very dark passage of Scripture, yet in the middle of it is this bright gleam of light bursting from the shadowy mists of Jeremiah's depression and anxiety. His winter has been long and cold. He desperately needed the hop of spring, the promise of the Resurrection.

He has made me chew on gravel.

     He has rolled me in the dust.

Peace has been stripped away,

      and I have forgotten what prosperity is.

I cry out, “My splendor is gone!

      Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!

The thought of my suffering and homelessness

      is bitter beyond words.

I will never forget this awful time,

      as I grieve over my loss.

Yet I still dare too hope

      when I remember this:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!

      His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness;

      his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;

      therefore, I will hope in him!”

Lamentations 3:16-24 NLT

You may be in a dark and cold winter of life, but the True New Year has arrived. Your circumstances may not change. The pain will probably still be there regardless of the calendar date, but one thing is certain: God's steadfast love is faithful and never ending; His mercies never fail; and each morning they pour out on His children fresh and new because while you and I frequently fail, He is always faithful! If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then the Lord is your portion and inheritance. So don't give up, hope in the Lord.

 -Ray Perdue, Men’s Ministry Director

Suffering

Brandon Delk grew up at Gospel Baptist Church. God called him to preach, he graduated from Liberty University and has been serving in local churches in the Greensboro area ever since.
In 2018 Brandon preached one night of our Bible conference. He spoke on the subject of suffering and it was obvious he knew the subject from personal experience. 
As many of you know Brandon has been back in the hospital at UNC for two weeks now. Brandon‘s wife, Bethany wrote something really beautiful on her blog on day seven of this particular hospital stay. It was such a blessing to me that I wanted to share it with you. Bethany wrote: “A week ago we had just gotten home from church, enjoyed lunch together, and spent the afternoon resting and doing some decluttering. If you had asked us then what we thought the week ahead would look like, we surely wouldn’t have said we’d be spending the week at the hospital! Monday – ER visit to local hospital in the wee hours of the morning, CT scan shows intestinal blockage, transferred to UNC Hospitals Monday afternoon. Today is the 7th day Brandon has been at UNC Hospitals.

For those of you fairly new to our story, Brandon was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease 5 years ago. Those first 3 years were fraught with hospital stays, 4 surgeries, lots of scans, and trial and error with his medications. Since his diagnosis we’ve had 2 babies, both of us have changed jobs, and we’ve moved and had a multitude of other changes. To say the years have been busy would be an understatement. Last year was relatively a good year for Brandon’s health. We settled into a nice rhythm with his infusions, and only had a handful of hospital stays. We were getting the hang of this parenting 3 kids deal – not that we’re any good at it, or that we don’t lose our minds most days – and were enjoying a bit of a calmer year.

But see, what most of you don’t know is that even when we don’t have lots of hospital stays, Brandon still battles Crohn’s Disease every single day. The way I put it to a doctor earlier this week is that you and I, see, we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and don’t think a second thought about it. Well, maybe we do, if we ate that greasy pizza too late, or regretted those spicy tacos, but for the most part we eat, and then we go on about our day, day in and day out. Brandon, however, has a very different relationship with food. Every decision he ever makes before eating is a calculated decision, taking into account what the food is, how much of it he can eat, where he is when he eats and where he’ll be afterward, and the timing of it all… are we going to be going out of town? Will he be in the car for a long period of time? Will there be places to stop along the way? Will he be sitting in a crowd of people? Can he find an end seat near the back? Do his kids have any special events coming up that he doesn’t want to miss, such as a soccer or basketball game? Have we arranged a babysitter for the elusive date night?

A lot of you are reading this and thinking wow, that’s sad, but honestly, that’s our normal. It’s our baseline and we’ve become accustomed to it. We’ve figured out how to make it all work, and how to wrangle this beast of a chronic illness. Our kids know the meaning of words like “semi-private room” and “CT scan” and “infusion” and that’s OK. They know to expect the unexpected, and are used to FaceTiming Daddy when he “goes to the hospital because his tummy hurts.”

You know why we’re been able to “get used” to all this? Because of Daniel 3. Do you know the story of Daniel 3? Of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Their story is one of faith. They were followers of Christ who refused to worship false gods and an idol of gold even though the King at the time demanded it. As punishment for not worshiping the gold statue of the king, they were tied up and thrown into a fiery furnace that had been heated up to 7 times hotter than usual. It was so hot that the guards used to throw them in burned up in an instant. When the King looked in the furnace, he noticed that there were 4 men walking around, unbound and not burned, and asked them to come of out the furnace. Not a hair on their heads was singed, nor did they so much as even smell like smoke. Because of their faith, and their unwillingness to serve anyone but God Himself, the King was transformed and declared worship only to the one true God.

That story has always been one of my favorites, but now verses 17-18 have special meaning to me:

¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Did you catch that? The God we serve is able to deliver us. He can do all things. He is the Ultimate Healer, The Great Physician, The Mighty Warrior, The King of Kings, The Great I Am, Abba Father, The God Who Sees, and Yahweh Yireh or the Lord Will Provide. He can do anything. Because He is ABLE. He can heal Brandon. He can take away the pain, the nausea, the discomfort, the uncertainty, the hospital stays, the tears, the anguish, the misery. But, if not… *Swallows hard* But, if not… *We can’t do this… can we?* We know You are able, God, but IF NOT, we will still serve you.

I feel that one deep in my chest. That one is a little harder to get out, to muster up. That one is difficult when the hospital days are long and the questions multiply. But, God, in His infinite wisdom, knows what we’re enduring, and cares for us so much.

But if not, God, use this week to change our lives. Use this week to tell others about You. Use this terrible disease to shine hope in the lives of the hopeless, peace in the midst of unrest, and joy in the deep dark edges of sorrows.

I know this… that God was not surprised by this week and is not overwhelmed by our circumstances. He is not shocked by test results or worried about what to do next. He has carefully ordered our steps and numbered the hairs on our heads. We are asking Him to heal Brandon… BUT IF NOT, we will still serve Him… for He is good.”

Brandon is still in the hospital, still in pain and still not knowing when this episode of suffering will calm down. Please remember Brandon, Bethany and their beautiful children in your prayers.  

- Pastor Paul  //  Senior Pastor

Why is There Something Rather than Nothing?

9:52 AM Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, January 13,
2019, Planet Earth, American Continent of the
Northern Hemisphere, the United States of America,
State of North Carolina, County of Guilford, City of
Greensboro, 5945 North Church Street, room 205. All of these are labels for a specific time and a unique place. By the way, that unique time and place is where you’ll find about twenty people involved in a Bible study group in our church building.
Why is this important? Because, in an obvious way, it reminds us that people exist in real time and that the universe contains real places. We, to use the words of Acts 17:28, “live, move, and have our being,” in this type of certainty, where time and place are the markers of our existence. Other markers, like name, age, family relationships, and community membership, further identify us in this “time-space” reality.
     Gospel Baptist Church
At some point in this time-space reality we are faced with this
question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” It is a worthy question to ponder and is indeed a question that has cast a shadow over human thinking for about as long as people have existed. Furthermore, other big questions are sure to follow, for example: Where did life originate? Why are so many things both alike and different? When did everything begin? How did various physical forces such as gravity, electromagnetism, and buoyancy originate? What caused the natural processes, such as thermodynamics, weather, and decomposition? Has the earth always been the same as it is today? And maybe most importantly, What does it mean to be human? These types of questions cannot be ignored. Indeed, the weight of the answers provide perspective to life regarding its creation, purpose, and destiny.
These types of questions have answers that can be extracted directly or indirectly from the Bible. The Bible provides sound and rational insights that do not contradict science or logic. After all, the Creator of the Universe is the Author of Scripture, so whether we examine the complexity of the DNA molecule, gaze into the starry night sky, or study the Scriptures, we see the obvious fingerprints of God.
These are issues and questions that Christians should be able to discuss and answer. That’s why beginning on January 9th the Wednesday evening services will focus on the issues related to origins in a series entitled, Something Rather than Nothing. The goal of the series is to plainly see how the Bible addresses the issue of origins and answers the big questions that are related to it. In an age where atheistic ideas such as the big bang, natural selection, and survival of the fittest dominate much of the cultural and educational conversations, it’s important that Christians understand the issues and the implications related to Origins.
This series will address origins from a variety of perspectives. The goal is to help everyone understand more of
what the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, teaches about origins and why it’s important. Additionally, resources for further study will be shared so everyone can access answers for future questions and conversations. Don’t miss this timely study that’s appropriate for all ages and backgrounds as we understand more about why there’s something rather than nothing.