Restoring The Wanderers........

It was a special day at FBC today as we came to the end of our study of  the book of James and participated in a Parent-Child Dedication service at the end of our regular service.  As we began our normal Sunday worship, we raised our voices in congregational praise.  Then the choir, orchestra and all our accomplished accompanists presented a rousing and inspiring rendition of "He Never Failed Me Yet" with Julie T. rocking out on solo vocals on the verses.  By the time the song was finished, the congregation was on their feet, adding their voices to ours in the choir!  The  congregational worship and praise continued for a few more minutes, before Pastor Wes took us to the last two verses of James to tell us how to deal with wanderers from the truth even inside the church body.  When we see someone straying from the path that Jesus has clearly marked for us, we are to tell them what we see happening and try to help them turn back to the truth and be restored to fellowship with the church body and with God.  Though they never can lose their relationship to God, the sweet daily fellowship can be damaged by sin.  Their final decision on how to respond to what we tell them is up to them, but we should still offer them the options that would lead to restoration,  Pastor Wes explained it all very clearly and you can find it on the live-stream which would be time well spent.  At the end of our regular service, we had a Parent-Child Dedication service for two of our newest children in the church, in which the parents pledge to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and we, as a congregation, pledge to support them.  This pledge does not provide salvation for these children, but it is a place to begin learning what they will need to know in order to one day come and enter a personal relationship with Jesus.  As you can tell from the very candid group shot, our church members can enjoy these signs of growth in our church.........