Midway Baptist Church

03/31/2024

03/21/2024

“He received 39 stripes because 40 was known to kill a man. They wanted him alive. They held handfuls of his beard, and hair and pulled it out by the roots. They wanted him alive. They kicked, punched, and spit on him for hours. Until there wasn't a single spot on his body not covered in blood. They wanted him alive. They shoved a crown of thorns down on his head so harshly it stuck in his skin. They wanted him alive. After hours of being beaten, mocked, whipped, flogged, and tortured they made him walk with a cross. They made him carry it. A rough piece of wood with splinters digging into fresh wounds. They wanted him alive. They wanted him to feel every ounce of pain they could bring. He had to feel it in order to heal us. Crucifixion was historically one of the cruelest most tortured deaths a human could face. Hours upon hours of torture. Torture most of us can not mentally think of because the cruelty isn't normal. It isn't something our minds can comprehend. We celebrate Easter with pastel colors, happy children hunting eggs, and chocolate. Truth is there was absolutely nothing happy about the day Jesus died. It was cruel, bloody, and nasty.
He could have stopped all of it. He could have called every angel in heaven to demolish every person standing and shouting "Crucify Him!" He didn't. He knew in order to have a Sunday you have to have a Friday. He knew in order to have joy you have to carry your cross. He felt everything that day. He felt how your heart broke wide open when you had to watch your baby die. He felt how heavy your life was when you were staring down the barrel of a gun wondering if the man you called husband was going to shoot you. He carried the weight of the burden you have felt since your spouse died and life just doesn't seem right since. On that cross he held the ra**st and murderers, the sinner and the saint. He leveled every playing field and said ALL of you are worth it. He knew he had to carry the cross. He never promised the cross you carry in this life would not be heavy. His wasn't. His promise is that Sunday is coming.
No matter how heavy Friday is. Financially, emotionally, mentally, or physically. Friday is heavy. That cross is weighing you down and you are about to crumble under its weight. His promise was simply this. He won't make you carry it alone. What kind of king would step down from his throne for this?
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God did. For you.
He did every bit of it for you and me. Oh yes it is heavy. So heavy sometimes you do not think you can take one more step. But look up, because Sunday is coming.”

03/20/2024

A good little bit before we moved in, we saw a tiny little mouse in the attic. We never saw any signs of it anywhere else in the house. Even after we moved in, we looked for signs, but nothing.

A couple of weeks after we moved in we started smelling the weirdest, most off-putting smell and it was always near plumbing (bathroom, water heater, etc). We tried everything. Cleaned thoroughly, and flushed the lines thinking it might have been stagnant water because the water was on way before we moved in so we thought that could be it. Even thought it might be the treatment plant. To no avail.....

Yesterday morning I walked through the kitchen, right past the dishwasher barefoot. I was headed to the laundry room to start laundry and was DISTRACTED. Derek walked RIGHT BEHIND ME, following my steps. He saw faint movement and looked down. And there it was, the small rat snake. He picked it up and took it outside.

He came back in and said, "there was your smell". Rat snakes put off an awful odor as part of a defense mechanism. He had been in our house for at least 2-3 weeks. Since he's been out....no smell.

He came in looking for a mouse. That mouse was valuable to him. He wanted it and he came looking for it.

I asked Derek how he thought it got in. And his response got me thinking this morning. He said, "he could have slipped in when any of us left the door cracked just a bit". As we were moving, or kids going in and out, maybe walking out to the grill. It was small and sneaky and very well could have slipped right past us and us not even know he got in.

So this morning the Holy Spirit said to me, "do you see what can happen when you're distracted? How quickly the enemy can sneak in your door, and sliver right past you? If he thinks there is something valuable there, he is going to try to sneak in and take it".

And that's how it happens. We miss one church service that turns into 6 months, we have one drink that leads back into an old lifestyle, we send one text that leads to an affair, we tell one fib that turns into a trail of lies and deceit.

The signs were there. I smelled the smell. (anyone that knows me understands this). I knew there was an enemy in the camp. But I was too "busy" to continue to look. So I just cleaned around it to try to make it "better".

If satan can't have you, he'll distract you. Once you are safe in the Father's arms and your name is written down, he can't have you, so he tries to distract you. He tries to interrupt your holy living, he tries to break up your family, he tries to corrupt your mind, and he tries to fill you full of bitterness and unforgiveness.

LISTEN TO ME: He tries to stop you from getting any other names in that book!!!!!!! He tries to stop you from witnessing. He tells you you can't, he ruins your witness through lies.

Don't leave the door cracked. Lock it down. Be on guard. Put that armor on first thing. Stay prayed up.

"The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10 NIV

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Ephesians 6:10-11

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:19-20 NIV

03/10/2024

Our Ladies Group made fascinators today. We had a great time, with amazing results!

03/06/2024

This is Laminin. The molecule Laminin is the protein that holds all human beings together. Did you notice its shape? It’s a cross! Isn't it amazing that God knew we would need the cross when he created us. He knew when he created us that we would sin. He knew we would need a Savior. He knew his only Son Jesus would have to die on the cross to save us, and so he made the very molecule that holds our entire bodies together in the shape of a cross.

Molecular biologists call Laminin “the glue of the body”, because without it, our bodies would fall apart. The truth is, without Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, our whole lives would fall apart. Colossians 1:17 says that Jesus “is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Jesus is the one who holds our lives together, just like Laminin holds our bodies together. Without Jesus, our lives are a mess. We are nothing without the cross of Jesus Christ!

02/14/2024

EYE OPENER

I saw him in the church building for the first time on Wednesday. He was in
his mid-70's, with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit. Many times in
the past I had invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had
talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the good news with him.

He was a well-respected, honest man with so many characteristics a Christian
should have, but he had never put on Christ, nor entered the doors of the
church.

"Have you ever been to a church service in your life?" I had asked him a
few years ago. We had just finished a pleasant day of visiting and talking.

He hesitated. Then with a bitter smile he told me of his childhood
experience some fifty years ago. He was one of many children in a large
impoverished family. His parents had struggled to provide food, with little
left for housing and clothing. When he was about ten, some neighbors
invited him to worship with them.

The Sunday School class had been very exciting! He had never heard such
songs and stories before!

He had never heard anyone read from the Bible! After class was over, the
teacher took him aside and said, "Son, please don't come again dressed as
you are now. We want to look our best when we come into God's house."

He stood in his ragged, un-patched overalls. Then looking at his dirty bare
feet, he answered softly, "No, ma'am, I won't ever."

"And I never did," he said, abruptly ending our conversation.

There must have been other factors to have hardened him so, but this
experience formed a significant part of the bitterness in his heart.

I'm sure that Sunday School teacher meant well. But did she really
understand the love of Christ? Had she studied and accepted the teachings
found in the second chapter of James?

What if she had put her arms around the dirty, ragged little boy and said,
"Son, I am so glad you are here, and I hope you will come every chance you
get to hear more about Jesus."

I reflected on the awesome responsibility a teacher or pastor or a parent
has to welcome little ones in His name. How far reaching her influence was!

I prayed that I might be ever open to the tenderness of a child's heart, and
that I might never fail to see beyond the appearance and behavior of a child
to the eternal possibilities within.

Yes, I saw him in the church house for the first time on Wednesday. As I
looked at that immaculately dressed old gentleman lying in his casket, I
thought of the little boy of long ago. I could almost hear him say, "No,
ma'am, I won't ever."

And I wept.

-- Author Unknown

02/07/2024

🩸1 Thessalonians 5:3-5

3 For when 👉they👈 shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon 👉them👈, as travail upon a woman with child; and 👉they shall not escape.👈

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

👉(Two different groups are referenced in the passage…”they shall not escape”. So, who escapes!?)

🩸1 Thessalonians 4:17:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up...
In verse 17, the phrase “Caught Up” is translated from the Greek word ‘Harpazo’ and the Latin ‘Rapturo.’ That is the word from which we get ‘Rapture.’
Upon closer inspection of ‘Harpazos”definition, we learn it literally means:
To sn**ch away
To take away
To pluck away
To claim for oneself eagerly
To seize by force