Good morning. We are praying for all of you and hoping you are all safe and well. We miss seeing you and are looking forward to May 17th when some of you will be joining us for morning worship at 10:30 am. We understand if you are not willing to try getting in a crowd right now. We will miss you and look forward to when you feel comfortable getting in a crowd. We will still be streaming live on Facebook live and you can join us for worship. Remember if you have not sent in your postcard please do so today so that we can make sure we have enough room for everyone to spread out in the sanctuary. Also, if you are planning on coming, please be advised that we will have no handshaking, no fist bumping, no elbow touching, and no hugging. Every family will be asked to sit in the sanctuary at least six feet away from another family. We are being allow to meet, but we are also being asked to adhere to social distancing requirements. Thank you for your cooperation.
So it is no secret to most all of you that I feed myself through a tube. This August will be seven years since I have had to feed myself a liquid diet. I am very used to it and it causes me no undo stress. In the beginning I had a tube that was attached to my stomach. I had to tuck the tube in and make sure the clamp was shut. During the first few years I had an accident or two with the tube coming unclamped. After I realized I may be doing this for the rest of my life I asked my gastroenterologist if there was a way to get away from the hanging tube. He suggested a Mickey Button. He explained to me that there was a small plastic device that they could insert in the hole in my stomach and it had a plastic bubble that could be filled with a very small amount of water and it would stay in place. When I got ready to feed myself I simply attached a tube to the button and gravity feed my nutrition through the tube. When I finished I just unplugged the tube, wash it and set it aside until next time. So we ordered a button. It finally came in and I went to the hospital for the doctor to insert the button.
The button lasted about 8 months that first time. One morning getting out of the shower the button fell out. I quickly put it back in and we headed for the ER. We arrived and explained what happened. A gastro doctor came down and had another Mickey button and replaced the first one in a matter of minutes. Well since that time I have probably have had 10-12 new buttons. They used to last 6-9 months, but now they don’t usually last more than 4 months. We are not sure why they don’t last. What happens is that the plastic bubble inside my stomach burst and then the button becomes loose and has to be replaced.
Another problem with the button is that the longer it stays in my stomach the slower the rate of delivery of the liquid nutrition. When I put a new button in, (By the way I keep one on hand and replace it myself now.) the flow is fast and quick. It takes me a short time to deliver the nutrition sometimes as quick as 15 minutes. The longer the button stays in the stomach the slower the delivery of the nutrition. And when the button burst and I leave it in for several weeks before I change it out the delivery is slowest of all. Sometimes it takes as much as 40 minutes to deliver the nutrition.
By now you have either quit reading or you are wondering what in the world David is trying to teach us in this description of his eating habits. Well I am not trying to gross you out, but I do want you to know that experiencing and talking about all of this has got me to Just Thinking! Do you remember the freshness of experiencing God for the first time? You were finding joy and excitement in reading His word. You were taking as much time as you needed to pray and experience His presence. You were looking forward to Sunday worship and Wednesday Bible studies and prayer to see all that God had in store for you. The time just seemed to fly by and you were diving into every opportunity you could just to be closer to God.
Now after years of reading and praying and worshipping it seems like “old hat.” You endure! Your hurry through your Bible reading. You say your prayers, but don’t really pray. You come and worship, but your mind is somewhere else. Well like my button when it gets older and burst the flow is just not as good as it once was. Something has gotten in the way. You have allowed complacency to cloud your view. You have decided you’ve heard a sermon preached on that passage before. You have listened to a Sunday School lesson on that topic. You’ve been around so long it is just not exciting anymore.
Maybe it’s time for a new vision. Maybe it’s time for a new perspective. Maybe it’s time for you and I to get our focus off of self and put it on Jesus and all that He has done for us. Maybe it is the sin of just plain pride that makes us think that there is nothing new for us to learn. Well I’m for confessing that sin and looking into all that the Holy Spirit can teach me to allow the flow of God’s goodness and grace to fill me to the brim.
When Peter is talking to the people in Jerusalem during that very first sermon after Jesus’ resurrection he says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” We need a time of refreshing. We need a steady flow of God’s love and grace. We need to want more of God and seek Him with our whole heart. There would be less complaining, less disgruntledness, less dissatisfaction, fewer empty pews if we just all wanted to come to church and find more of God.
If it’s been a while since you have recommitted your life to Jesus, why not now. If it has been a while since you started reading God’s word fresh and new, why not now. If it’s been a while since you just set time to pray and listen to the Holy Spirit, why not now. If it has been a while since you came to worship with nowhere else to go, why not now. The church will come alive when the Holy Spirit is allowed to come alive in each of us. I’m all for a new Spiritual Flow in our lives.
Dear Lord, help us to take whatever is in the way and clear it out of the way so that we may have a clean path for you to speak to our lives. Help us to hear you more clearly. Help us to understand you better and be able to discern your leading in our lives. Give us the “want to” to desire more of you and not be content with what we already have. Inject in our church a presence of Your Spirit so that we cannot function without it. And Lord keep out anyone who is not willing to submit to the Spirit’s leading so as not to quench the working in our midst. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Let’s read the Bible together:
Thursday – 1 Samuel 21-22; Romans 11; Proverbs 7
Friday – 1 Samuel 23-24; Romans 12; Proverbs 8
Saturday – 1 Samuel 25-26; Romans 13; Proverbs 9
Sunday – 1 Samuel 27-28; Romans 14; Proverbs 10
Monday – 1 Samuel 29-31; Romans 15; Proverbs 11
Tuesday – 2 Samuel 1-2; Romans 16; Proverbs 12
Wednesday – 2 Samuel 3-4; 1 Corinthians 1; Proverbs 13
This week at the river:
Sunday is Mother’s Day at Reedy River Baptist Church. We will be honoring our mothers here at church as you watch on Facebook live. We have a little gift for each of you and will deliver it on the 17th or if you are not here we will get it to you some way. Please make sure you honor your moms if you can on Sunday.
Sunday’ message:
“How to Honor Your Mother!”
Ephesians 6
Josh Slatten
A reminder that every day you can go to the website, reedyriverbc.org, and read a devotion either by myself or Josh. We are taking turns every week to publish a daily devotion for you to read. They are also archived if you miss one. The website also has a new children’s story for all of you with children or grandchildren. Pull up this tab and listen as Rebecca talks to the children about different situations and relates them to our spiritual daily lives. It is a great resource. Also, you can check the website for updates when they occur. Right on the front page we will post any new news and remind you of things that we are asking you to do. Our prayer is that you will get in the habit of checking the website. There is a computer based website and you can access it on your smart phone. Let us know what you think. We are always seeking to improve the site and will be doing newer things in the future.
Again I want to thank you for your continual faithfulness to the giving at Reedy River. Your gifts of tithes and offerings have been exceptional during this pandemic. We had a great month of April and I’m praying for the same in May. For all of you who have given to the work and ministries of Reedy River a very special thank you and I know God will bless you with more than you gave.
We continue with Feed My Sheep ministry and want to tell you the ministry is still going strong. Thank you to those few who have agreed to come and make up the bag lunches every week during the pandemic. We are hoping and praying that it will not be long before all of you can return and help us make up the bags. To the faithful men who deliver the bags each and every Tuesday and Thursday a very special thank you for continuing to go out and meeting a very important need. It is always a blessing to be able to help someone with a meal.
Next week’s delivers:
Tuesday,. May 12th – Ray Micke/Bill Lovelace
Thursday, May 14th – Ray Batson/Bob Catron
If you are unable to go when it is your time please let Ray Micke or David Simmons know. Thanks again.
Birthdays for the week of May 7th – May 13th:
Jasmine Greene – Friday
Pete Wright – Saturday
Jimmy Ray – Sunday
Eleen Nolen – Wednesday
Anniversaries for the week of May 7th – May 13th:
Ricky & Cindy Gosnell – Saturday
Praise & Prayer:
We praise you God for allowing us the opportunity to worship together on May 17th. We praise you for keeping us mostly healthy during these uncertain days. We praise you for seeing progress in some who have been feeling bad. We praise you for all your good and perfect gifts.
Please pray for the following:
Chris Bass – health issues
John DiNatale – Pray for continued recovery. Doing much better.
Mae Edwards - health
Connie Joyner –home and recovering in Salisbury, NC,
Bill Keown – struggling with Sciatica in his leg, in a great deal of pain, had an MRI on Monday, at home
Mary Micke – came home this week. Still in pain as she recovers. Has good days and rough days.
Joe Patterson – finished his IV antibiotics and is now on an oral antibiotic.
Margaret Patterson – health
Candy Poindexter – now taking chemo pills, doing well so far – home
Betty Banks – health – sister-in-law of Preston and Ann Golightly
Kathy Evans – health – cousin of Preston and Ann Golightly
Roger Chandler – struggling with cancer – Tommy Chandler’s nephew
Carlie Freeman – in hospital with problems – Bruce & Jean Freeman’s granddaughter
Nora Fiske – home recovering from congestive heart failure – Elizabeth Slatten’s grandmother
Landon Hartman – 8 year old with cancer
Kenny Keown – esophageal cancer – Bill Kewon’s brother in Texas
Rose Raines – hospice called in – Larry Simmons’ sister in Morganton, NC
Judy Price – Stage 4 lung cancer – Friend of Linda Ray
Georgia Vance – hospice called in – Nena Vance’s Mom
Jerry Whaley – liver cancer – friend of Tommy Chandler
John Wooten – prostate cancer, taking radiation – Tammy Davidson’s uncle
Lilly Philips Family – sister-in-law of Birdie Harmon and Frankie Hightower
Lin & LeeAnna Bradley & boys – Lin is finished at Fort Jackson. He and the family are going to travel to Fort Bragg and then be shipped out overseas.
All Missions and Ministries
All healthcare workers, civil servants, teachers, students, and everyone dealing with this virus in a different way.
Dear Jesus, thank you for all your many blessings. Help us to be more grateful each and every day. We ask that you surround those in physical need today and give them your peace. Help them not to worry and rely on you. Be with those in pain today and relieve their pain and give them a good day. We ask that you comfort those who are stressed and may be grieving. Thank you for your continual presence in our everyday lives. May your grace and mercy be ever present every moment of our lives. In the name above every other name, the name of Jesus be praised and glorified today and forever, Amen.
Have a great weekend and I look to see you on Facebook live on Sunday morning! God Bless you all!