Fellowship General Baptist Church

So many have reported near death experiences and described going and then coming back.  One of the most common images reported is the experience of LIGHT.  We read in the Word that when we come into the presence of God, we will encounter a great time of knowing.  Our lives will be brought to bare - a truth telling experience.  This is the light that uncovers all things.  Knowing this will happen, we are encouraged to seize our opportunity in this life to do what God commands of us.  This message is the first of the series Heaven's Images - stay tuned for more!

It's one thing to know about Jesus, but an entirely different thing to have Jesus in your heart.  His spirit within you is truly needed to have the heart of Jesus.  For us to really move the world for Christ, we must have Him within us in our lives.

The greatest inspirer was Jesus.  He still holds this position today.  We can model our own lives after Him by being a person that lifts others / inspires others.  Everyone needs encouragement and inspiration in this life.

Forgiving can be hard to do.  But, forgiveness can be just as beneficial for the forgiver as the forgiven.  If we want to have the heart of Jesus, we must strive to forgive even the vilest offenders.

God loves all of us greatly.  There is no difference from person to person.  Our worth to Him is high regardless of who we are.  We must treat eachother with the same kind of overall love that is not tied to who we are or what we have done.  If we are to have the heart of Jesus, we will love unconditionally everyone around us.

When faced with hardships in life, we often wonder, why am I going through this?  What good could possibly come from this?  The scriptures tell us that God is working out a plan through us and in us.  Our response in times of hardship could save souls for the kingdom - we could make history.  We must trust in Him as we journey through it all.

In order for us to really BE like Jesus through our missional life here on earth, we must practicie humility.  It is putting self last and considering your neighbor as yourself.  A critical element to a life following after Christ's example.

We are part of God's plan.  We must realize that we shouldn't seek to live our lives the way we want without any regard for God's purpose in us.  Part of living missional is understanding that this life is not for ourselves - it is for God.

It's dangerous when we as Americans hold freedom as the ultimate value above all things.  To be free for our own gain is not good.  We are free so we must use this wonderful opportunity to serve with all that we have.  In essence, we must give up self in the midst of our freedoms to gain the most.

General Baptist Ministries National Missions Director Don Key continues our series on PRAYER looking at the One we pray to.  If we have a better understanding of the One we are conversing with, we can become better at praying and communicating with God.

There are several elements of prayer that we must consider when approaching God.  Confession, Intercession, Petition and Thanksgiving are the main ones covered in this message.  We should understand what these mean and utilize them in our conversations with God.

All of the pastors at Fellowship help us understand more fully what prayer really is.  Prayer tends to become something that is disregarded or used in the wrong way as we approach God.  What is is for you?  We need so badly to understand that God wants us to come to Him broken and honest.  He's looking for the right heart, not a bunch of information that He already knows.  This is the first installment on the subject of prayer.

We tend to follow the same process with our lives before God that the story about the Pharisee and Tax Collector shows.  We think, "at least I'm not as bad as those guys...".  If we think getting into heaven only requires us to be a little better than the other guy, we are gravely mistaken.  We MUST learn that we should be about honesty and humbleness before God.  He wants us to be broken before Him for Him to really use us for His glory.  Our goal isn't all about getting into heaven, but doing all we can to glorify God with our lives.

In the American culture, we acclimate ourselves into a mindset that getting the latest gadget or product will enhance our lives greatly.  That even these things will help us through our times of despair.  We seem to get a "high" off of buying the brand names and obtaining those things that bring us great status. In what ways do you think these desires we have impede our spiritual progress?  Listen and find out.

Jesus really broadens the definition of family.  Today, we've made our homes to be very "closed doored" instead of "open doored".  Another words, we do not allow this space to be an extension of God's love for others outside our family unit.  We can be so effective for the Kingdom if we would open our lives up more as families.

Looking at the story of followers in Moses' time, we learn much about getting consumed by idols.  God wants our full devotion and commands us to give Him highest priority.  This message is a call to "true" discipleship that can only be done by getting rid of your idols.

An Easter Sunday message. Using the parable of the sparrow and the worms, we learn how we can be lured into enslavement.  We eventually can give away ourselves to any number of idols in life.  We can focus on and devote ourselves to many other gods, yet in the process of trying to gain what satisfies us temporarily, our lives are given away to dark forces.  What things are you giving your life away to today?  There is a resurrection awaiting you today.

We can easily be caught up in the activity of Christianity by praying, reading the Word and attending our local church that these become our idols in life.  What about our focus on God?  Are we keeping His central commandments to love Him and love others?  What are our 'real' goals as followers?

This message kicks off a series on real DISCIPLESHIP.  What does it mean?  Where does it come from?  In our culture today, it is often easy to develop the wrong discipleship in the name of a real Jesus.  This message uses the story taken from the popular cartoon The Simpsons where Homer becomes a missionary in the name of Jee-bus!  An interesting look at how many are living a life of Christ with no real connection to the One who called us to be His disciples.

Sean Warren and Will Gillean share their experiences from a visit to Haiti.  The calling is vivid in this informal report about a realm that has been devastated.  What can you do to share blessings with Haiti?