He's Ba-ack!

It was a very special day as we gathered at FBC for many reasons.  Summer has returned after a brief break, but the temperatures are not as oppressive as they were and there is rain in the forecast, so we thanked God for that hope.  Pastor Wes is back in the pulpit and though Matt did a great job of bringing us God's Word last week, Pastor Wes brought us a picture of his newborn son which I am not putting into the collage, because I did not ask permission to do that.  Suffice it to say that he is adorable and we counted  off another blessing.  Daniel and Sandy were on vacation,  so we were blessed to have Steve S. leading our worship and praise.  We began our service with rousing versions of two well-known congregational songs under his direction before we were blessed to witness the baptism of a young boy.  After that, the choir, orchestra and all our talented accompanists presented an uplifting rendition of a new song, "Hymn Of Heaven".  The congregation joined us after that in more songs of corporate worship, just before Pastor Wes took us back into Revelation 3:7-13 where we find John's letter to the church at Philadelphia, where you were continually  reminded  of the possibility of life-changing events in the natural world.  He tells the church that though they may be small in number and feel insignificant in the everyday world, they are not insignificant to God Who sees and knows their hearts and their faithfulness and has rewarded them with an open door into His presence and His promise that He will preserve and protect those He loves through all the difficulties they may face if they just hold fast to what they know to be true.  Pastor Wes has much more to say about what it means to hold fast ad how we do it which he lays out in the Live-stream and it would be well worth your time to watch it  and be encouraged as I was.  You may be wondering about the Operation Christmas Child boxes displaying the number 801 in the collage.  That represents our goal as a church to fill 801 boxes for OCC.  You may wonder why we chose that number.  Eight hundred boxes would be a great amount of children to reach but the 1 added to the 800 reminds us that there is always just one more child we can reach with the good news of Jesus!  Oh, and there is pink in the collage to remind you to click on the link below to help fund mammograms for those who cannot afford to pay   https://thebreastcancersite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/bcs/home