Trees are budding.  Grass is changing back to its brilliant green color.  Flowers are popping up.  Smoke can no longer be seen pouring out of the chimneys.  Doors and windows are now being opened to let the fresh spring air come in and cleanse the putrid artificial atmosphere that has collected within our homes over this long winter.  Are you not excited?

            There is also a lot of fresh activity happening at the church!  By the time you receive this letter, First Baptist will have already ministered at the annual Farmer City’s Easter Egg festival.  We are diligently preparing for the Good Friday services.  On top of all this, we are measuring out the land that we are going to use to grow fruit and vegetables that we can give away to the needy.  Ministry in action!  Are you not excited?

            In both the change of season and the growth in ministry, we see one common denominator:  God.  It is God that makes the grass grow green, the trees come alive, and the warm spring air pump into our lands.  It is also God that makes our church grow in depth and in width.  The apostle Paul writes in regards to the Church, “God makes it grow.”  (1^st Corinthians 3: 6b)

The one true difference between the change in season and the growth of the church…is you.  See, with or without us, spring would come.  However, without our work in the church, God won’t let it grow.  Growth comes from our faith in Him!  Paul also writes in that 1^st Corinthians 3 passage: “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.  For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (6: 8—9)

Though God could choose to make the church blossom without us as he chooses to do so in nature…He doesn’t.  He chooses to involve us in His outreach to His people.  Our faithful actions contribute to His will, plan, and design.  I must ask you:  Are you not excited?

God Bless!

Pastor Mike

Easter Egg Hunt:

  First Baptist will set up a booth at this year’s Easter Egg hunt event (March 31).  We will be giving away eggs, necklaces, and a gift certificate to Toys R Us.  We will also be promoting our Good Friday Services.

Good Friday Services

  The Retrial of Jesus Christ

Join us for the Retrial of Jesus on April 6^th, 7 pm.  A dramatic presentation that guarantees to pull you in like no other….In the end, we assure you, even those that love Him will shout:     CRUCIFY HIM!!!

Missions Project:

We will be beginning one of several missions projects within the next few weeks and we need your help.  We have committed to planting a huge garden.  All produce will be donated to the local food pantry.

  Block Party

As planned, First Baptist will have a block party like no other.  First or second week of June is our tentative date.  Contact Pastor Mike to see how you can help.

Is the abundant life that Christ spoke about in John 10 really possible?  The immediate answer, knowing who Christ is, is yes!  He wouldn’t of said it if He didn’t mean it!  Fair enough.  So let me ask you, are you living your life to the fullest?  Are you claiming this promise for your life? 

Would your friends say that you are living your life to the fullest?  Would an acquaintance claim that you are “freakishly happy” regardless of life’s circumstances?  Examine all the evidence; take a good look.  After all, you don’t want to miss out on this!    

Jesus said, “I have come that they (you) may have life, and have it to the full.” 

Brothers and sisters, we are a dependant creature.  We need food, water, air, and we need each other.  But more then all of this, we need our God.  That big hole in the middle of our souls that the great philosophers speak about, that Solomon lamented about in Ecclesiastes (3:11), can be filled by our Lord Jesus Christ!

Don’t have that full life?  Go to Him!  Stay with Him!  Abide in Him! 

In Christ,

Pastor Mike

Estabrook's comments link:  http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2007/03/05/obamas_war_stance_a_cynical_pretense

As I watch our wonderful fighting men and women kill terrorist who had just attempted to shoot down another Blackhawk in Iraq and the word is coming down that a major offensive is occurring in Afghanistan, I am simultaneously reading C.G. Estabrook’s March 5^th letter to the editor attacking the character of this country for the way they have “misrepresented” the Middle East, 9/11, and the war in Iraq.  The dichotomy is shocking to say the least. 

On one hand, I am watching brave Americans risk their very lives to protect this country, watching this great country do what they have to do to protect us from further destruction on our home front; on the other, I am reading the ravings of a lunatic.    

It’s one thing to fight for a new direction, it’s quite another to accuse this country of being worse then the terrorist and equivalent with the Nazis.  Her conclusion that this country must retreat from Iraq and Afghanistan, pay reparations, and hand over our leaders to be prosecuted as war criminals was just as appalling.  I do think we should adopt these demands though.  For us to leave, the Islamic fundamentalist must retreat from the Middle East, pay reparations, and hand over their leaders. 

Estabrook, this is not Vietnam.  I don’t know if you’re reliving the glory days of the 60’s or just some crazed fanatic, but understand this:  If we don’t have victory over there; we will never know peace here. 

Jesus’ Tomb critique

I have to admit, it was a pretty good show:  One of the best examples of a slight of hand that I have seen in a long time.  Had it been a Pro-Jesus production, one “proving” the resurrection, I believe it would have been rejected on its merits…and the director would have been accused of using faulty premises to come up with their predetermined conclusion.

The film-maker does start out by using the Bible as his source (I do find the scriptures reliable).  Interesting that they would even use this in the first place.  Let’s face it, if what they say was true (i.e. Jesus did not rise from the dead; he was married; had a kid, ect.), the Bible has to be based on lies and must be discounted as an unreliable source.  Using it destroys their credibility.  Let me illustrate:  if I know that my calculator is broken; but because its calculations support my a-priori conclusion and I decide to use it anyway, my argument is weakened.

The names on the ossuaries that match biblical records were Jesus, son of Joseph, Mary, and Jofa (Joseph, Jesus' brother).  We hear those names and our mouths drop…after all, we know them all to be in one family.  Keep in mind that those who first found these boxes, almost thirty years ago, didn’t set up a press conference.  The names were very common during the first century in Palestine and, though an interesting find, there was no need to stop the presses. 

But there were also other ossuaries in the tomb.  A box with Matthew on it.  This is where we begin the red herring trick and we start on a new path.  Matthew, of course, is found in the Bible; but he wasn’t a family member, he was a disciple and shouldn’t be found in a family tomb.  The film-maker shows how there were many Matthews in Mary’s line that had this (very common) name, so it fits, according to their line of argument.  I believe it raises many questions myself:  Why was some great, great, great grandfather (or some uncle) here and not her other sons?  Where is Joseph (the father)?  Where are Jesus’ sisters?  In the end, we have the first ossuary that is not directly tied to a family in which we (believe we) know all of the names.  The film-director finds a way to justify this box…but he’s fishing for evidence to support his argument now.

Then he makes his big move:  There is another box that doesn’t fit the gospel records.  This next box supposedly belongs to Mary (Magdalene).  Wait a minute…She’s in the gospels.  Yes, but not this spelling.  The name doesn’t match…period.  What does the film-maker do?  He now goes to a 4^th century document to make the connection and shows how the spelling on the ossuary matches this other document.  Talk about fishing!  The gospel of Philip is a 4^th century fairytale!  It’s a good filler to make Mr. Brown’s book “The Da Vinci Code” more shocking…but it’s a fairytale.  

Why is Mary Magdalene in the family tomb?  Well it’s Jesus’ wife.  Don’t remember reading that in the gospel.  Hold up…there is another box…a child’s ossuary.  Jesus and Mary’s son no doubt…as the film-maker asserts.  Guys, ladies, the film-maker is taking these two other ossuaries that have no known connection what-so-ever to the Jesus of the gospels and appeals to modern day folklore and uses a rejected work of fiction to support his argument…like I said, if a Christian would have done this to support the resurrection, they would have been rejected. 

Furthermore, because the DNA of the “Magdalene” ossuary doesn’t match the bones in Jesus’ ossuary…it must be his wife and the child must be Jesus’ son.  Come on.  These remains could be related, by marriage, to any of the other remains in the tomb.  But that wouldn’t match Brown’s assertion.

I will leave the connection to the James’ ossuary alone for the moment…after all, the James’ ossuary is believed to be a fraud and the connection they (film-makers) made was directly challenged afterwards. 

Please submit any comments directly to me at fbcpastor@mchsi.com   

            On an infomercial for the Discovery Channel’s upcoming documentary, “The lost Jesus tomb,” an interesting question was posed:  “Would the discovery of Jesus’ remains destroy Christianity?”  The honest answer is yes…it would.  Oh, there would be your die hard flat-earthers who deny anything remotely “scientific” that will continue on with their faith; but other then that, the true discovery of Jesus’ bones would shut the doors of millions of churches across the planet and John Lennon’s dream of “a world that would be as one” would be one step closer (Of course, a dead Jesus doesn’t destroy the Muslim faith, so some religion stays…sorry John).

            Even the Apostle Paul concedes that a Jesus that stayed dead makes the Christian faith nothing more then a meaningless philosophy and even a sad state of affairs for those who call themselves Christian.  He wrote, “…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead….if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15: 14—17)         

            That he and the other apostles would be “found to be false witnesses…” is an understatement to say the least if Jesus was dead:  He would be an out and out liar writing to a very naïve audience.  We know that Paul wrote this letter some time around 60 A.D; that is, probably less then thirty years after Christ had been crucified and raised from the dead!  Why would the early church even save this letter?  If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, but lived a regular life, taught some cool things, had some kids (according to the supposed burial find), and died…why would the early church have kept this record?  After all, they would have known. 

Paul and the other disciples would be the worst kind of liars indeed.  For all but one went to the grave, by force (Paul had his head cut off; Peter crucified upside down), claiming that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.  The believers during the reign of Nero (forty years after the cross) would have been some of the saddest people to ever live.  Believing a man that owned a family grave, buried with his kids, was a living God.  The church itself, even most die hard atheistic historians would agree, came into existence and flourished because of this belief…all during the time that many would have known it to be false…if Christ had a grave.

No sir.  Jesus’ grave doesn’t exist.  The historical evidence is already available and from 2000 years ago to today…there is no grave.  The church is your proof.  To the Christians, your relationship with Him is more then proof.  The claims of this document are not new…remember the first lie post resurrection:  Christ’s body was what?  Stolen by the disciples?  Without even seeing the document…I’m positive…my faith in Him stands on solid ground.