In this letter I want to reflect on all that has happened over the past months and especially the weekend of March 16-18th and our involvement with the Red River Will Graham Celebration.  The happenings have left myself and many others in our church on a spiritual high of which I pray we never come down.  Who would have ever thought we would have been a part of such an amazing opportunity to work with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association team to draw many to Christ?  In all, I do believe there were approximately 200 publically proclaimed decisions for Christ and many more unspoken, who either for first time accepted Christ to rededicated or we given assurance of thier salvation.  That is an amazing testimony of God’s mighty hand.

Praise God for what He has done… What is so amazing is how involved our church has been in the event.  Nearly every member played an amazing part.  We had over 40 trained to be witnesses for Christ in the Christian Life and Witness Courses.  We had a 2-hour prayer vigil of which 35 prayed for revival and salvation for the masses.  We had 16 people who took advantage of being counselors and supervisors and served during the three-day event.  Over the past months we have prayed, we have trained, we have organized, we have counseled, we have baked foods, we have given financially, we have worked the mundane activities — all for the glory of God!  Every member who had even the smallest part of this has played a critical role in the eternal decisions that have been made. Praise God for all that He has done.  Our church played a critical role in the celebration and because of this God has been doing a mighty work in our hearts.  This mighty work did not go unnoticed.  In fact, many of you know our church will be highlighted in the May 2012 edition of Decision Magazine regarding how Jesus has been working through us and has turned our church around.  Many of our members were interviewed and asked their amazing insights into God’s work in Forestburg.  What an honor!

Praise God for all that He is doing…  Never before have I seen our people so excited for Jesus.  Our church is fired up for Jesus!  A renewed focus on prayer is happening, a renewed thirst for digging into God’s word is causing many to dust of the Bibles at home, an amazing unifying love is permeating the Sunday Schools and small groups, the worship atmosphere in the sanctuary is truly focused on setting our eyes upon Jesus!  Our people are thinking about those outside the walls… we are praying for the lost, we are preparing to take the Gospel to Forestburg and to the outer parts of the world in Nicaragua, we ARE usable and willing vessels for the Most High God and He is using us mightily!  Right now, whether you realize it or not, we are in a time of spiritual revival. I pray that our focus on Christ and wining the lost and praying for God’s glory never dies!  Lord, put kerosene on the fire!  Whatever it takes to keep this going is what we need to be about.  The key is to keep our eyes on Jesus and to be in daily prayer for Him to continue to shape us into His image.  Do not let anything come between you and your Lord Jesus.  The more we surrender to Jesus the more He can and will do with us. Forestburg Baptist Church is changing our world because we are surrendering all to Jesus Christ… Amen?!

Praise God for what He is going to do… We will continue to focus on two things – prayer and the Word of God.  It all starts there and it all points to Jesus and the Gospel News.  We are seeking the face of Jesus – not just His hands to do our work.  With this in mind I ask your dedication in prayer for some key events coming very soon.  First, Easter.  Easter is an important time where many darken the doors of Church for the first time in the year. Sad, but true.  Let’s keep our focus on loving everyone in the Spirit and praying for them daily and watching eagerly for what God will do. Pray God will do a might work this Easter.  Second, Good Friday (April 6th) we will run the live simulcast of SECRET CHURCH which is put on by Dr. David Platt from Birmingham.  He will get deep into the subject of “suffering.”  Why do we suffer and what does it have to do with the cross?  It starts at 6pm and goes until after midnight.  Already other churches in the area are planning on sending people to us to be a part of this amazing teaching event.  Third, we have Disciple-Now coming with our youth.  We need much prayer for this and we need workers for the harvest. This year a young up-and-coming SBC Evangelist will be the key speaker. I expect great things and many decisions if we will pray.

Oh, how I love each of you.  I pray this letter lifts your spirits and I hope you are finding joy in the Lord.  Remember, He is bigger than your problems, He has already conquered your fears, you need only put your trust in Jesus.  May the Lord bless you this day.

In Christ’s Amazing Love, Pastor Bill

What a blessing each day is in the Lord!  I sure hope your relationship with Jesus Christ is progressing in the Spirit and you are daily getting closer to the One who deeply cares for you.  Jesus is so amazing!

Welcome to 2012.  I would like again this month to welcome our newest members. This month we have six who have joined by letter.  On behalf of the church, we are greatly thankful to the Lord for Charley and Paula Simms, Vernie Wilson and her three grandchildren Michael and Brandon Wilson and Shyenne Haynie.  Pray with me that the Lord will bless their walk as the seek Christ at our wonderful church.

If you have been with us in services you know that we have started going through the book of Nehemiah verse by verse.  This book is a tremendous blessing as it shows how Jesus expects His church to be built and how we can partner with the Spirit of God as He erects and strengthens our faiths.  This book has instruction on having vision, fighting spiritual warfare, worship, sanctification, prayer, the Word of God, etc.  I have great expectations of our gracious Lord as we seek Him through the study of this book.  I pray you will read and reread this book at home in your own personal studies and bring your copy of the Word as we study it together.  (Click here to read ESV online)

God has laid in our laps some tremendous opportunities and blessings that I want to share with each of you.  First, last year we were blessed with the largest tithes and offerings this church has ever recorded with $310,000 given to the work of the Lord.  AMAZING!  This is the most generous church of which I have ever heard.  God blesses those who give generously of their first fruits and He will bless all who truly believe in Him and follow His principles for money. Thank you for believing in our magnificent God. This blessing brings a question as to what He is preparing us to accomplish.  With great blessing comes great responsibility.  We have some big visions for the future at Forestburg Baptist Church but to truly understand the priorities we must all be in prayer asking God to reveal them. I ask each of you to pray for our church and ask God to show us what He wants us to accomplish and that His generosity and favor will last as we seek His will and step in faith to do the mission He has given us.  Praise God for His favor!

Another opportunity we have is to be a part of the Christian History for North Texas.  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will conduct a Will Graham Celebration (his grandson) in March at Gainesville.  Our church has been involved  in the planning since June 2011.  There are three things you could do to be a part of God saving many hundreds of souls who will receive Christ during the celebration.  #1.  Pray.  Pray for the celebration, for North Texas, for Forestburg but most importantly pray for five people you know who need to accept Christ into their life.  After praying ask God to orchestrate ways in which you can invite them to attend the celebration on March 16-18.  #2.  Get involved in a Christian Life and Witness course in February.  We will take vans to St. Jo from our church at 6:30 on the 9th, 16th, and 23rd of February.  These courses will teach you how to share your faith as well as strengthen your walk with Christ.  They are awesome and have been nearly perfected over their 50 year history.  Finally, give.  The BGEA is raising funds for this event. If you feel God leading you to give above your tithes you may donate through the church and write specifically what it is for and we will give it directly on your behalf.

Finally, we are having a special focus on prayer on Sunday February 26th.  Much will happen on this day.  Our focus will be on praying for those who need Christ in their lives.  That morning we will have a special breakfast at 9:15-9:45 in the Fellowship Hall.  After breakfast, I have invited Dr. Ted Elmore (Southern Baptist of Texas Prayer Coordinator) to teach on prayer.  He has his own ministry focused on prayer and has been doing this for many years for both the Southern Baptist and General Baptist conventions.  He will also lead our worship services and teach on prayer.  Finally, that evening we will regroup and pray from 6-8pm at a special prayer vigil.  The vigil will be a “come and go as you can” evening.  I do hope you will take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

There are so many things happening that I haven’t the ability to share them here.  I will leave with one final thought. God has spoken so clearly through many avenues in my life lately; what He has been saying for me personally and for each of you is that we all need to be immersed in His Word and in prayer.  The enemy is a deceiver and a thief and he wants nothing more than to deceive us and steal our joy in Christ.  Thus, I beg of each of you not to miss an opportunity to be in the Word and to pray to your Lord.  If you are capable but not regularly in church services submitted under the Word of Christ and with a group of believers you are out of God’s will for your life and I pray you will listen to His gentle nudge in this letter to come home or find another Bible believing church in which to worship and serve.  I love you, our church loves you and most importantly our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ loves you.  I’ll see you soon, Bible in hand!

In Christ’s Eternal Love,

Pastor Bill

We crept down the hall and peered into the living room. Sure enough, there was a jolly old man in a red and white suit, snowy beard streaming, stuffing trinkets into our stockings and placing gifts beneath the tree.  I don’t think I even paid any attention to what he was giving us because I was so enraptured in the fact that he was “real”.  All my doubts and fears were suddenly relieved as I experienced his presence in my home.

In retrospect, the comfort of that “truth” was fleeting.  I have come to experience another, infinitely more important Christmas Truth since then.  For many, many years I knew the story of Christmas, but the reality of Christ brought no comfort because I hadn’t experienced it myself. I hadn’t experienced Him. But as a true believer – a follower of Christ, I experience and participate in the Father’s love, the Holy Spirit’s voice, and the hope of the Son every day.

All my doubts about the legitimacy of the infamous story of a God-man descending to earth through the womb of a virgin, born in a stable, visited by angels, shepherds, and wise men have been completely demolished by experiencing His presence. He is truth and His presence in my life – though seen with my “spiritual eyes”, not my physical ones (others have been able to see Him transforming me with their physical eyes) – is an absolute reality.  What I thought I had for that moment I saw Santa was an assurance that what I believed was real (an assurance that later faded with knowledge).  I didn’t even know I needed that assurance, but oh how I craved proof of the unseen!

So it is with our faith in Jesus Christ. The difference is that the assurance we have when we see Him, only increases with knowledge. The apostle Paul, who knew first-hand how desperately we humans need to experience something before we can fully believe it calls this a “full assurance of faith”.

In Hebrews 10, he explains how Jesus Christ, having died, paying the penalty for our sins, and being resurrected, has made it possible for us to experience God – to see Him face-to-face. We no longer have to experience a hollow hope that our faith is real. We can know for certain that He in whom we hope and believe is real because He has fulfilled every promise of God and made it possible to experience Him ourselves.  All we have to do is ask and seek, and we will find and see.

Hebrews 10:19–23

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. -

Most Gracious Heavenly Father,

What a gift you have given us – the ability to experience Your presence. What mercy you have lavished upon us – that we have been invited to see You!  Lord, I pray for those whose lives are lacking the reality of You – for those who believe without experiencing – that they would seek You with all their hearts, and that You would be found by them.  Oh that each one of us would seek You, find You, and remain in You! Open the eyes of our hearts that we may see You clearly and turn our lives upside-down as only You can. How we crave truth! How we need something real!  Father, You are truth and can give us what we need. Please make us wise enough to ask.

To Jesus Christ be the glory forever. Amen.

Written by: Kate Kimbley

When I was kid my dad worked as a materials manager for a company.  His job was to purchase all that the company needed to accomplish its mission.  Because of his position many sales men would butter him up near Thanksgiving and Christmas and give him all sorts of treats and things to eat.  He would get different smoked sausages, cheeses, steaks, crackers, popcorn, fruits and numerous bite sized morsels of “good eats.”  Our tradition was to save everything up for Christmas Eve when we would bring it all out and have a table absolutely full of different delights.  I look back at those evenings with great pleasure and Kate and I have even integrated the “snack” practice into our own Christmas Eve traditions.

As I think back on all the different snacks and the joy of those evenings it reminds me of the Great Banquet we will have with Jesus in heaven.  Revelation 19:9 states, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”  Imagine the spread Jesus will provide!  Of course, the food will not be our real interest… Jesus will be!  Imagine as well all the different people who will dine with us.  Elijah, Moses, Abraham, Paul, Matthew, Mary, Martha, John, many of our own loved ones and friends who have passed before us.

This year during your festivities I challenge everyone  at every meal to take time to remember why we really celebrate.  We feast with family and friends because Jesus came into this world as a baby on a mission to save us from our sins.  He became like us yet He is God. He never once sinned, yet took our sins and the punishment for them.  He made it possible for us to one day, through faith in Him, feast with God – face to face!  If our faith rests in Christ, we have much to celebrate this Christmas!  I pray that is a true statement for all who read this devo this day. May the Lord fill your celebrations with joy as you think of the future banquet with Christ.

Prayer:  “Lord, thank You that we can look forward to the day when all Christians will eat and be joyfully together in Your presence. Please bless our feasts and gatherings as we praise You in the honor, and name of Jesus Christ.”

Written by: Bill Kimbley

In our final names of Jesus devotional, I want to bring attention to one of the greatest names Jesus has ever been called – Savior.  Eph 5:23 says that He is the “savior of the body,” while Titus simply calls Him, “Savior, Jesus Christ.”  To say He is our Savior, is to say we needed to be saved from something.  What we needed saved from was our own sin.  Faith in Jesus Christ means that we believe He is the Son of God who died for our sins and who was resurrected from the dead so that we might have eternal life and that with all our hearts we believe this and have placed our trust in Him to save us from eternal punishment.  We do this by praying and asking His forgiveness and inviting Him into our hearts to change us into the person He created us to be – to forgive and cleanse us.  As you think about Jesus and His name, are you 100% certain that you have accepted Him as your Savior?  Has there been a time when you have invited him into your life (through prayer) and asked Him to forgive you from all your sins?  If not, I encourage you to do so today!  He is a Savior, and through faith in Him He can be your Savior.  If He is your Savior, ponder the other names of Christ in this list and praise Him for all that He is known by.  Jesus is Amazing isn’t He?

1. Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6)

2. Prophet (Acts 3:22)

3. Resurrection and Life (John 11:25)

4. Righteous Branch (Jer. 23:5)

5. Righteous One (Acts 7:52; 1 John 2:1)

6. Rock (1 Cor. 10:4)

7. Root of David (Rev. 5:5; 22:16)

8. Ruler of God’s Creation (Rev. 3:14)

9. Ruler of the Kings of the Earth (Rev. 1:5)

10. Savior (Eph. 5:23; Titus 1:4; 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:20)

11. Son of David (Lk. 18:39)

12. Son of God (John 1:49; Heb. 4:14)

13. Son of Man (Mt. 8:20)

14. Son of the Most High God (Lk. 1:32)

15. Source of Eternal Salvation for all who obey him (Heb. 5:9)

16. The One Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5)

17. The Stone the builders rejected (Acts 4:11)

18. True Bread (John 6:32)

19. True Light (John 1:9)

20. True Vine (John 15:1)

21. Truth (John 1:14; 14:6)

22. Way (John 14:6)

23. Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24)

24. Wonderful Counselor (Isa. 9:6)

25. Word (John 1:1)

26. Word of God (Rev. 19:13)

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank-you for sending your son to die on the cross for us.  Thank-you for taking away our sins.  And thank-you that we get to love you and respect you.  Amen.

Written by: Eden Kimbley

On Christmas morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, prayed, read the Bible – the New Testament when Jesus was born, the very first Christmas – then, we opened presents.  It was so important to me because some people give gifts because it reminds them about the gift that God gave us:  Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That is why we celebrate Christmas.

Christmas is called “Christ-Mas” because it is all about remembering the birth of Jesus.

Dear Lord,

Thank-you for coming to the earth and saving us from eternal death.  I appreciate that you came down and died on the cross. Amen.

Written by: William Kimbley

When I was a little girl, Christmas was just so much fun.  We had a pretty close family and everyone always met at our house on Christmas Eve for the “Unraveling” as we called it.  My parents were the only ones with little kids so that is why we usually gathered at our home.

Now we always observed the usual Christmas traditions of leaving a glass of milk and some kind of dessert for Santa.  That might be cookies, but it was normally a piece of cake or pie that we had left over from the meal.  Santa always got a great treat when he came to our house.   Mom was a fabulous cook.

This tradition was a no brainer, but being from Texas we always had other things that were also considered important.  That most definitely included the livestock.  Both my Dad and my Uncle Web raised cows and taking care of them was vital.  So on Christmas Eve my Uncle Web was always very concerned about Santa’s reindeer.  Would they be cold?  Would they have gotten any snacks along the way?  Well he was determined to make sure that they were taken care of.   He would bring about a half a bale of hay and a small bucket of horse feed to our house each Christmas Eve.  I would go out and help him scatter it out on our lawn so that all the reindeer would have a filling snack at our house.

The next morning he would come over early and we would go out to see if the food was gone.  Of course all the hay and cubes would be nowhere in sight and we would always find a few tracks, proof that Dasher and Dancer and the whole gang had eaten their fill.

In later years, when I think about this wonderful tradition, I think about a busy man who took time to haul all of that over to our house just because he loved us and wanted us to have a magical Christmas.  He showed such patience.  It made Christmas complete.

Matthew 19:14

“but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of

heaven.”

I pray that each of you this year have a wonder filled Christmas.  A Christmas of love, sharing, and celebrating not only the traditions that include Santa, but also those that include the reason for the season, our Savior Jesus Christ.  He showed great patience for the little children too. Dear Lord, please be with all the little ones this year and draw them near to you. Amen

Written by: Shelle Balthrop

Luke 2:10-11

“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Dear God,

I pray that everyone has a safe Christmas and that we all remember the greatest gift. Amen.

Written by: Levi Balthrop

One of my favorite Christmas memories comes from when I was a young child.  Each year we would all gather together with my Granny’s brother and sisters and huge production would ensue.  What was the focus of the production? Santa.  Let me paint you a picture.  All of the kids piled in Granny’s bed “asleep.”  The sounds of “reindeer” on the roof.  “Santa” coming in the front door (because Granny doesn’t have a chimney) and saying Ho-Ho-Ho.  The adults making a big ruckus of helping “Santa” get everything unpacked and set up.  All of us kids would get so excited…because Santa always brought the best gifts. Now as an adult when I think about this I can’t help but realize that our family did all of this because they loved us and wanted us to have good gifts.

I also can’t help to realize that God did the same thing for us over 2,000 years ago.  He put on a grand production.  He caused stars to appear, commanded the angels to sing in great multitudes, wise men to leave their home to travel far, and a sent His son to earth as a baby born of a virgin.  All of this so that we could have the biggest and best gift of all – salvation and a relationship with Him.  Why did He do this?  Because He loved us.  The best part of His gift is that it is eternal, unlike the toys that eventually broke or that we out grew.

So as we approach this Christmas I ask that you take a moment and pause and think have you ever accepted the greatest gift of all.  And if you have, to stop and remember what God did for you… it really was the greatest production of all.

Luke 2:1-21, Ephesians 2:8-10

Written by: Rashonda Hayes