Notes from the Last Sunday in 2008

The Lord richly blessed our final worship services of 2008 at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville.

This last Sunday in December marked the completion of three months since I began in full my work at SMBC. The Lord has blessed these opening months of my new work in a great way. I could not ask for me and definitely do not deserve any better. I pray that 2009 will be a fruitful year of ministry and that God will be pleased to use Shiloh as a place where many lives are changed to his glory!

I preached today from Proverbs 30:7-9 - the only prayer recorded in the book of Proverbs. I called the message, "The Wise Prayer of a Weak Man." It was a somewhat hard word. But the congregation endured. I pray that the message was helpful and that God would cause his word to bear fruit in our lives.

 Microphones and monitors. Argh!!!

I taught our Bible Study Fellowship hour again today for our adults. I have been talking about prayer all month. I finished the series "A Call to Prayer" with a lesson, "Pray for your Church." Basically, I listed seven requests to pray for the spiritual life of SMBC. This list is made up of some of the things that I pray concerning the spiritual health, growth, and fruitfulness of Shiloh. Here they are:

    1. Pray that God would be glorified in everything we do.

    2. Pray that the word of God would be our final authority.

    3. Pray that SMBC would be a disciple-making church.

    4. Pray that God would use us to reach lost people.

    5. Pray for the spiritual health of SMBC.

    6. Pray for the spiritual leaders of our congregation.

    7. Pray that SMBC would be filled with participating members.

I really enjoyed teaching the Bible Study Fellowship hour this month. However, having thirty minutes each session, I had to rush through my work each weak. I kind of feel like the members were cheated by how quickly I rushed through each lesson. But I trust the Lord's overruling providence and pray that the members found something helpful in the lessons.

We announced to the congregation this morning that we will begin a new local radio broadcast beginning January 11, 2009. It will broadcast on Sunday afternoons at 4:15-45 on 1360 AM. Please remember this new outreach in your prayers.

Praise God for all souls that were saved and the believers who were added to the church today!

After our second meeting, I met a lady who traveled all the way from Miami to attend our worship service this morning. As she shared how she was thankful for our congregation and praying God's blessings for us in 2009, I was greatly encouraged.

My beloved Dallas Cowboys were taken to the woodshed today and were whipped by the Philadelphia Eagles 6-44. All we had to do was win and we were in the post-season. And we did not show up at all. It was pitiful. We do not deserve to go to the playoffs. Dare I say, next year!

As expected, my new hometown team - the Jacksonville Jaguars - lost again today to go 5-11 for the season. This has been a very underwhelming season for a pretty talented team. I have poked fun at the Jags this month. But I really do hope they are better next year. Please!!!

The Detroit Lions made history today - 0-16. Congratulations! George, can anything good come from Detroit?