Who Can I Reach? - Bringing Influenceable People to Christ (I Corinthians 9:19-23)

When we come to church:

 

1. Are we thinking about others or about ourselves?  v. 19

2. Are we willing to go out of our way to make others feel welcome in our church.  v. 20-21

 

3. Do we realize that the little things we do to make people feel welcome can help win some of them to Christ?  v. 22

4. Do we realize that the real reason we are here is to spread the gospel?  v. 23

Who Can I Reach? How to Bring a Hostile Man to Christ (Acts 6:8-15, 54-60; 9:1-20)

1. Saul, who later went by his Roman name Paul, got saved on the road to Damascus when God spoke to him out of a blinding light. Acts 9:1-9

2. God sent a reluctant disciple named Ananias to tell Saul what he must do. Acts 6:1-7:60

3. Some say that Stephen may have set an example that led to Saul's conversion. Acts 6:1-7:60

a. Stephen was chosen to be one of the first deacons (servants). Acts 6:1-7.
b. Stephen was a man full of faith and power. Acts 6:8
c. Stephen was a man of great ability in the Scriptures. Acts 6:9-10
d. Stephen was a man who did not back down under persecution. Acts 6:11-14
e. Stephen had a heavenly countenance about him. Acts 6:15
f. Stephen preached a great sermon that explained the fulfillment of God's plan through the Jews was in Jesus Christ. Acts 7:1-53
g. Stephen saw a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Acts 7:54-57
h We know that Saul saw these things about Stephen's life because he watched over the clothes of those who stoned Stephen to death. Acts 7:58
i. Saul saw Stephen forgiving the very ones who were putting him to death. Acts 7:59-60
- Saul saw forgiveness versus revenge, even in the face of death.

God did not give up on Saul who later preached in Asia and what is modern day Europe.  We may be saved because of the example Saul saw in Stephen.

Who Can I Reach? - Bringing People to Christ with a Home Bible Study (Acts 28:17-31)

1. Start by inviting people you know of that may have an interest in spiritual things.  v. 17a

2. Explain who you are and what you are doing.  v. 17b-20

3. Live in such a way that your life will be a good witness and people will listen to what you have to say. v. 21-22a

4. Use the opportunity to dispel misunderstandings people have about Christ and Christianity.  v. 22b-23a

5. Use the Word of God (the Bible) as your textbook.  v. 23b

6. Recognize that some may become believers and some may not.  v. 24

7. Understand that if you are not as successful with one Bible study group as you would like that maybe God has another group of people for you to reach.  v. 25-29

8. Turn what may look like a bad situation into an opportunity to teach unbelievers about Christ. v. 30-31

Who Can I Reach? - Bringing an Unexpected Seeker to Christ (Acts 10:1 - 11:18)

We must understand:

1. There are people we don’t expect that are sincerely seeking after God.   (10:1-2)

2. God has a desire to connect us with people  that are seeking Him.  (10:3-8)

3. God is working in us to prepare us spiritually to connect with people that are not like us.  (10:9-28)

4. God will provide us with unexpected opportunities to speak the gospel to those who are ready to listen.  (10:29-33)

 
5. Preaching Jesus is the most important thing we can do for those who are seeking to be saved. (10:34-43)

6. When seekers become believers we must help them follow through and be discipled. (10:44-48)

7. We must expect and deal with opposition when unexpected seekers come to Christ. (11:1-17)

8. We should celebrate when unexpected seekers are bought to Christ. (11:18)

Who Can I Reach? --- Bringing an Acquaintance to Christ (Acts 16:22-34)

1. Be willing to set an example in an uncertain situation.  v. 22-24

2. Pray and sing to God as a witness to those around you.  v. 25

3. Set the right example no matter what happens.  v. 26-28

4. Speak calmly and reassuringly to give hope to those who are lost.  v. 28

5. Be the kind of person that a lost person will listen to about the gospel. v. 30

6. Focus on Jesus as you share the gospel with an acquaintance who shows an interest in the gospel.  v. 31

7. Show concern for the family of an acquaintance you are trying to reach for Christ.  v. 32

8. Show them how to follow through on their decision for Christ.  v. 33

9. Rejoice with those you have led to Christ about their decision. v. 34

Who Can I Reach? --- Bringing Family Members to Christ (John 1:35-42)

1. Remember that someone introduced you to Jesus. v. 35-36

2. Be a follower of Jesus yourself. v. 37

3. Go out of your way to learn all you can about Jesus. v. 38-39

4. Be concerned enough about your family members to think about bringing them to Jesus.  v. 40-41

5. Find out where your family members are …

     a. Physically  -  v. 41a

     b. Spiritually  -  v. 41b

 
6. Live the kind of life that will allow you to lead your family members to meet Jesus.  v. 42a
 
7. Pray that your family member will have his own personal encounter with Jesus.  v. 42b

The Method of the Church: Be Salt and Light - Matthew 5:13-16

1.  What does our church do that makes our community a better place?  v. 13 

- The church should make a difference in the flavor of its community.   

 

2. If our church ceased to exists would anyone in our community know we were gone?  v. 13b

- The church ought to be good for something.

3. Does our community even know that we (Union Missionary Baptist Church) are here? v. 14

- The church ought to be a light that is extending the gospel in its community and around the world.

4. Do we minister to ourselves or do we share the blessings of God with the community? v. 15

- Is it about us or them?

5. Does our church seek to bring glory to God or to ourselves by the good works that we do? v. 16

- The purpose of all that the church does is to bring glory to God in the eyes of the community that is watching. 

Help our church be salt and light to this community.  If there are ideas of how we can do this and bring glory to the Lord, please comment!  We won't know otherwise!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This is one of the most “romantic” days of the year, yet true love was not first demonstrated by roses, candies, or a lovely dinner.

True love came when the all-supreme, all-powerful God of the universe saw His creation – man – was separated from His holiness, and He chose to do something about it. 

You see, every human has done “something” wrong in his/her life.  It could be as little as a “white lie” to a parent or as “big” as murder.  Nevertheless, it is human “nature” to sin.  But the Holy God cannot be in the presence of sin.  So what to do?

God over 2,000 years ago sent His one and only Son down to earth to be born as a human and live a human’s life, but that son Jesus never sinned.  Now, I don’t fully understand it, but as a parent, I know how hard it would be to let my child leave and live with people I know are going to mess up.  Anyways, Jesus was born on this earth and lived a perfect life.  He had to obey His earthly parents, He got hungry, and He was emotionally drained at times. But He never sinned. 

 From the beginning, there has been a punishment for sin.  Ultimately, the punishment for sin has been death – an end to the sinning.  God had chosen sacrifices by His people to help pay for sins.  There were sacrifices for the best and first of the flock or harvest because those were the “prized” accomplishments of success on earth.  Those sacrifices were helpful but not fully satisfying.

 So God chose Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for the ones He loved so much – mankind. 

 Why?

 
I don’t know.  All I do know is that Jesus was killed by His heavenly Father’s own creation - man, but because He was perfect, His sacrifice was fully satisfying, He was able to defeat death itself and return back to life on earth.  Then He went back to heaven to live with God where He lives today. 

 Jesus’ sacrifice is a gift from God to all of mankind who humbly accept it. It’s that simple.

This Valentine’s Day, just think about a few things:

1.       Would you give away your child?

2.       Would you allow your child to die for someone else?

3.       Would you do ANYTHING to help your fellow man live with you in Heaven?

 That is what God did for YOU!  He loves you so much, and He wants to be your Valentine today and forevermore!

FIGHT THE DEVIL! - James 4:7

 

1.  Fight for your soul.
 - The devil tries to keep you from going to church, from reading the Word, or doing anything spiritual.
 - The devils wants to destroy your soul and drag you down to hell with him.
 - We have to fight and make sure we are saved.
 - We have to fight against being a weak, ineffective Christian.

 

2. Fight for your family.
     a. Fight for your marriage.
         - The devil will try to attack your spouse. When you get married, two become one. He think thinks he can get to you and make you weak if your spouse is weak.
         - God hates alcohol , divorce, shacking up, and same-sex "marriage."
     b. Fight for your children.
         - Are we more concerned that our children are popular, athletic, smart, etc versus are they saved?
         - Fight against drugs and alcohol (which is a drug).
     c. Fight for your grandchildren
         -  Pray for their salvation.
         - Be willing to try new things in order to see your grandkids saved - it could be even trying new music that you didn't sing in church growing up.
     d. Fight for yet to be born children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
    e. Fight for your relatives.

3. Fight for your church.
- The devil wants to destroy the establishment Jesus Himself died for - He gave a charge of the Great Commission to the church
- When we praise God, we make the devil flee!
- Pray for your preacher, church
 members, music leaders, etc

4. Fight for your community.
- We should be the salt and light for the community.
- Pray for us to make an impact in the lives of the people around us.
- If our church closed, would the co
mmunity even notice?

5. Fight for your nation.
- Pray for our leaders to be godly (and be saved) - even those with whom we don't agree
- Pray for decisions to b
e based on the Bible

6. Fight for the world.
- We can make a difference!
- Even if we cannot personally go to other parts of the world, we can give to missions such as Lottie Moon, etc.

I Know Your Works - Rev. C Ray Barnhill (1/15/2017)

1. God knows it all.  (2:1-2a)

2. God knows the good works.

     a. Ephesus - (2:2-3)
     b. Smyrna  -  (2:9)
     c. Pergamos  -  (2:13)
     d. Thyatira  -  (2:19)
     e. Sardis - (3:2 and 4)
     f. Philadelphia  -  (3:8-10)
     g. Laodecia  -  (3: 28)

3. God knows the bad works.

     a. Ephesus  - (2:4)
     b. Smyrna  -  (2:9)
     c. Pergamos  -  (2:14-15)
     d. Thyatira  -  (2:20-21)
     e. Sardis  -  (3:1)
     f. Philadelphia  -  (3:7-13) (but notice verse 8)
     g. Laodecia  -  (3:15-17)

4. God knows your motivation for your works. (2:4), (2:23)

5. God knows what you are going through and may go through.  (2:10)

6. God knows His reward for overcomers. (2:7), (2:11), (2:17), (2:26-29), (3:5-6), (3:12-13), (3:21-22)

A New Year! A New Blog! Welcome!

Union Missionary Baptist Church is a Southern Baptist Church located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  While the formal mailing address is Rocky Mount, the church that was permanently organized in 1930 is actually in an area near the Tar River Reservoir in Southern Nash county.

This area has seen a tremendous population growth over the 20 years, and it is our mission that we will be able to reach our community to tell them about the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have services on Sunday and Wednesday.

Sunday
Sunday School at 9:45 am
Morning Worship at 11 am
Evening Worship at 6 pm

Wednesday
Mid-week Prayer Meeting at 7 pm

At this time, our leadership includes our pastor - Rev. C. Ray Barnhill, Children's Director - Mrs. Vicky Stamper, and Music Director - Mrs. Sandy Moore.

Our pastor came to us in September 2013 initially as our interim pastor but shortly thereafter was named our permanent pastor.  We have been blessed by his teaching and encouragement.

Our Chidren's Director has been with us for about 8 years, and she loves the children.  She is aided by her wonderful husband Mr. Kiki Stamper.

Our Music Director has also been with us for a number of years.  She directs the choir and very carefully tries to keep our worship services flowing through songs.  Our music is a mix of traditional and contemporary songs.  We utilize technology but we also love to sing from a good old fashioned hymnal.

We do have a Facebook page so look us up - Union Missionary Baptist Church.