The Trumpet
The Trumpet is a monthly paper offered to the good folks of Faith Bible Baptist, Toledo Ohio, and is the work of the pastor. He assembles the articles and edits them as a ministry to his church. We offer it to those who read our Web Site but in a different format than is presented to the Church. The purpose, is simple, to generate spiritual thought, and to encourage spiritual discussion within the body. Where credit can be given, it is, but there is no claim of originality. Further, the Trumpet is an avenue of current and future events scheduled for The Faith Bible Baptist Church of Toledo.
May the Lord bless you as you read this months issue of The Trumpet.
Pastor Tim Goodman
February 2013
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Loving Enough to Give All
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“…that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16)
King Frederick William III of Prussia had every good intention when he assumed the Prussian throne in 1897. After seeing the financial debt the country was in, he promptly fired longtime advisors, slashed the country’s spending, and ordered a stay of the Prussian army. But despite his moves, Prussia seemed to fall further into debt. Through wars, uncontrolled spending, and unsuccessful financial investments, King Frederick’s country faced financial ruin. Too proud to admit bankruptcy and too fearful to seek help from neighboring countries, King Frederick thought of a way to generate revenue for Prussia.
After much thought, he devised a plan. He decided to be honest with the Prussian people, and presented the need for gold in the kingdom for financial purposes. He encouraged the women to bring their gold jewelry to the government to aide in the rebuilding of their country. Surprisingly, the women responded enthusiastically, and an overwhelming supply of gold was brought to the king. In return for their sacrifice, each woman was given a bronze or iron decoration which stated, “I gave gold for iron, 1813.” As a result of the movement, Prussian society soon felt the wearing of gold to be a display of unpatriotic feelings, and the Order of the Iron Cross was soon established.
Prussian women were more than willing to sacrifice for their king, and give of their own precious jewelry to aide in the rebuilding of their nation. They offered the best they had so that their country could be saved.
True love sacrifices the best when it counts most. Stories are told of family members offering organs to other family members in need. Reports are given of friends sacrificing life or limb to save another friend. Yet above any earthly sacrifice that can be made is the heavenly sacrifice God made many years ago.
God loved the entire world, yet rather than simply telling the world He loved them, God showed it by sacrificing the greatest thing He had-His only Son. He gave His best so that you and I could be saved from an eternity in Hell.
How great is God’s love! He loved you enough to give His Son. Had you been the only person on earth, or the only person needing salvation, God would have just as willingly sacrificed His Son for your soul. He loved you enough to allow Jesus to suffer a cruel death that He did not deserve.
God loved enough to give His all. Can that be said of you? You may not be required to sacrifice a child, but God’s love deserves a sacrifice from you. God wants you to give Him your life. A life spent following God’s Word, displaying your love for Him, choosing to live righteously, telling others of His gift, and living a life that would honor Him.
Do you love God? If so, have you sacrificed or dedicated your life to God? True love always requires a sacrifice. God desires that because He sacrificed His only Son so that you might be saved, you would give Him your life and commit to living for Him. If you’ve never taken time to commit your life to God and follow His path, take a moment to do so. Let God have every part of you and give Him full control. Daily seek to follow Him through committing your life to Him. After all, is it too much for God to ask for your dedication after Who He sacrificed for you?
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Parson to Person
January left us with a whimper but don’t be fooled. Cold weather is coming soon enough. We have been blessed with mild winter weather so far and I’m sire that is the blessings of the Lord.
February is going to be a great month. We are joining the Grace Bible Baptist Church in this year’s Valentine’s Banquet held on the 8th at the Ocean Garden Buffet. Then we have the Debt-Free Conference with Bro Thom Kimmel, February 17th-19th. I spoke of this meeting last month but I wanted to again take some time to remind you of it here. This could possibly be a life, Church, changing meeting. You need to plan now to be here every night of the meeting.
Bro Thom Kimmel said, “Our Lord has given me the honor of taking that message to churches around the country, and He has blessed GREATLY! If you would be interested in having a DEBT-FREE conference in your church, please give me a call and allow me to give you an overview of the program. By the way, this in not, I repeat, NOT a get-rich-quick plan, a bankruptcy plan, or a sales scheme. I am not a banker, and I do not work for a loan company. I am just a debtor who has found a Bible-based plan that quickly and easily eliminates debt God’s way, and I want to share it with as many people as I possibly can.”
We have some postcards that need to be handed out to friends and family inviting them to this all important meeting. Just think of it what would your life be like if you were debt-free. Plan to be here for every service. You will not regret it but if you miss you may regret that indeed.
I want to challenge you to be as faithful as you can in the months to come. In March we are having a series of messages designed to lead us on a Journey to Calvary. We have wall posters advertising the series. Let’s get a crowd together to join us in our journey through the Bible from Abraham of the Old Testament to Jesus in the New Testament, as we follow Christ all the way to the Cross of Calvary. Perhaps this series will help us to develop faithfulmess in our church attendance and service for Him. Remember the wise steward found in Matthew 25, he wasn’t praised because he had reaped many talents, but because he was faithful. The servant who only gained one talent was praised just as much as the one who had gained 5 talents. God is showing that the outcome doesn’t matter as much as your faithfulness.
Have you been discouraged by the results of your labor for the Lord? Not every person you witness to will get saved, and not every kind deed you do will be greeted with appreciation. Rather than becoming discouraged, remain faithful to what the Lord has called you to do and He will bless your faithfulness to Him!
I know I close this article each month with a reminder of how much you mean to me as your pastor and to our church, but I do genuinely love you very much. May the Lord Bless our efforts together for Him!
Pastor Tim Goodman
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Teaching Children to Have a Daily Bible Reading Time
December 9, 2010 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service)
The following is excerpted from Keeping the Kids, which is available from Way of Life Literature:
“… from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures” (2 Timothy 3:15).
One of the most important things that parents can do for their children it to help them develop a habit of daily Bible study. Though I grew up in church, I do not remember any instruction or challenge whatsoever about this.
It is by the Word of God that the young person can cleanse his way in this wicked world (Psalm 119:9). It must get down into the heart and soul and thus permeate the individual’s life, and this will not happen unless reading, study, memorization, and meditation become a daily practice.
We know that reading the Bible alone will not produce salvation and sanctification; it must be received and obeyed. But we also know that salvation and sanctification will not happen apart from the Word of God, because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
It is never vain to put the Word of God into the child’s heart. Even though I wasn’t saved when I was young and didn’t take the Bible seriously, the teaching and preaching had a deep affect on me and after I was converted at age 23, much of it came back to me and I had a good head start in my Christian life.
Again we quote from Pastor David Sorenson,
The foundation for godly living is often missing in the lives of the children and youth of God’s people. That foundation is a daily absorption of the Word of God. A young person from a Christian home can go to a Christian school or be home-schooled with a godly curriculum, be faithful to Sunday School and church programs, go to church camp, and be carnal, rebellious, and worldly. Or more frequently, they are just lukewarm and go with the flow, but there is not true spiritual conviction in their hearts. The reason is as simple as it is singular. They are not in the Word of God on a daily basis. Following are some suggestions on how to correct this:
1. Start early. When our children were small, we had them read from the Bible as soon as they could barely read. It was short, but they started late in their kindergarten year.
2. Plan their reading. The Bible is a complex book, even for adults. When our children were small, we had them read in I John because of its simple vocabulary and syntax. At first, we had them read just a verse or two a day. As they progressed through grade school, the daily reading assignment grew to a chapter a day and by the time they were in junior high school, we had our girls reading four chapters a day. That is the basic amount to read the Bible through in a year.But the greater point is that we planned their reading for them.
3. Provide positive incentives. When our girls were small, we prepared a chart which was on the refrigerator and as they did their requisite daily Bible reading, they received a star on their chart each day. When they had faithfully filled their chart for several weeks or a month, we planned a special reward for them.
4. Enforce the policy. We made sure that our girls did their daily Bible reading as assigned. A refrain oft heard at the breakfast table was ‘Did you do your Bible reading this morning?’ Though they eventually grew out of the charts and stars on the refrigerator, we still checked up on them throughout their adolescent years.
5. Just do it because it is right. As the girls grew out the stage where they needed little incentives, we shifted to the philosophy of doing your Bible reading just because it was right. As we developed the principle of righteousness in the meantime, it was easy to mesh the practice of daily Bible reading with the principle of righteousness. Indeed it is right to be in God’s Word each day (Training Your Children to Turn out Right).
Pastor Mario Schiavone says that he and his wife started their kids out by having them spend time meditating on a Bible picture book even before they could read. They have taught their children to have their devotionals first thing after they wake up. He says, “It is quiet around the house first thing in the morning because everyone is having their devotionals.”
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Baptist We Should Know
Mary Webb
The Overcomer
By Thomas Ray
The name Mary Webb is almost unknown among Baptists. However, this tiny little woman, confined to a wheelchair, probably did more than any other woman to arouse the Baptist denomination and make them the most missionary minded group in modern history.
Mary Webb was born in 1779 in Boston, MA. When she was about five, she contracted an unknown and usually deadly disease. The doctors were certain she would not survive. Miraculously she recovered; however, her illness left her hopelessly crippled. Sadly, Mary’s father died when she was 13, leaving the family in a dire financial state. It was at this time that a neighbor, Thomas Baldwin, pastor of Second Baptist Church, took a special interest in the Webb family, especially little Mary.
As a result of Pastor Baldwin’s compassion, Mary began attending Second Baptist and after several discussions with Pastor Baldwin and a careful study of the Scriptures, Mary, at the age of 19 made a public confession of her faith and was baptized. Pastor Baldwin was an ardent supporter of home and foreign missions, and Mary caught her pastor’s vision, and after reading a missionary sermon she approached him with a plan she believed would aid the missionary cause.
In the 18th and early 19th century, it was almost unheard of for women to take an active part in church affairs. Thankfully, Pastor Baldwin was a man of vision, and he not only listened to Mary’s plan, he encouraged her to proceed with her dream. Mary Webb may have been crippled, but she possessed a brilliant mind and the determination to implement her dream. She convinced 13 women to join her, and in 1800 they organized the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society.
Initially, the society’s goal was to contribute funds for the distribution of Bibles and gospel literature. However, Mary Webb and her ladies, seeing the enormous need of Boston’s neglected poor and discarded women and children, were determined to minister to their needs. Acting upon their faith, they employed a missionary to visit and to minister to Boston’s poor. Mary Webb and her ladies assisted in establishing in 1803 the Female Cent Society and the Children’s Cent Society in 1811. The objective of these societies was for each member to contribute one cent a week to missions.
In 1811 Mary Webb assisted in founding the Corban Society that raised money to help educate worthy but poor young ministers. In 1812 they established the Fragment Society that collected clothing and bedding for needy children. The society also provided a day care for the children of working mothers. In 1818 Mary Webb led in the founding of a female refuge to help rescue women who were enslaved by alcohol and immorality. In 1825 she established a free school for girls whose parents were too poor to pay for their education.
Perhaps you are thinking with all these extra activities Mary Webb would have little or no time for her local church, but the opposite is true. Only sickness could prevent her from occupying her place on Sunday. In 1816 Second Baptist established a Sunday school, and Mary Webb was chosen and served for many years as a superintendent. Almost everyone living in Boston was familiar with Mary Webb. She and her wheelchair were a familiar sight on the streets of Boston as she visited the sick, the dying, and the poor bringing food, clothing, compassion, and hope. But perhaps her greatest contribution was the impact she and her ladies had upon Baptist women. Through Mary Webb’s influence, hundreds of female societies sprung up all over America. These ladies looked to Mary Webb for advice and counsel in duplicating her work in Boston. Mary could not travel, but she wrote thousands of letters of encouragement and counsel. Mary Webb faithfully served her master for over 50 years and in 1861, at the age of 82, she escaped her frail and broken body.
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Proven for Greater Use
“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:5–7)
A faith that is not worth testing is not worth trusting.
Why was Joshua able to enter the Promised Land when so many of his generation died in the wilderness? Why did God choose Joshua to be the next leader of Israel? We know that God is sovereign in His selections as Psalm 75:6 says, “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.” Why did God choose him, and how did Joshua help the people enter the Promised Land?
In order to understand why God chose Joshua, notice Joshua’s past experiences. Joshua was a proven man. First Timothy 5:22 says, “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.” God has taught in His Word that there should be a proving time before times of greater usefulness. Joshua had been through his times of proving.
Joshua was born in Egypt and suffered as a slave there under the oppression the Israelites faced. He had journeyed with Moses and had followed Moses into the wilderness. He had also seen many miracles of God, and had fought many battles for God, as is seen in Exodus 17:8–10, 13, “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek…And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”
Joshua was a proven soldier. He had been in the battle and had seen both victories and defeats while fighting with the children of Israel. Yet through it all, He had remained faithful.
It has been said that a faith that is not worth testing is not worth trusting. Many times Joshua’s faith had been tested in Egypt, on the battlefield, and while wandering in the wilderness. Although he witnessed other Israelites falling away from God and turning to their own methods, Joshua remained faithful and trusted the Lord.
Are you in a time of battle in your life today? Maybe not with a sword as Joshua, but a difficult time nonetheless. Realize that these difficult times are simply God’s proving grounds in your life. He is proving you for greater usefulness in the days ahead. Spend time with God now, and commit to remaining faithful to Him no matter what difficulties may lie ahead. After all, once you go through this time of proving, you will be better fit for God to use you in a mighty way!
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How to Become a
Member of
Faith Bible Baptist Church
By Profession of Faith and Baptism
If you will receive Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and follow Him in baptism by immersion, we welcome you into our fellowship.
By Letter
As a Baptist whose church membership is elsewhere, if God directs you here we will be pleased to welcome you into our church family. We will happily take care of appropriate details for transferring your membership.
By Baptism
If you know in your heart that you have been saved and want to become a member of Faith Bible Baptist Church, we invite you to join us by baptism. This gives testimony of your salvation and your obedience to His direction.
By Statement of Faith
In the event church membership records are not available for a transfer of membership, or if you were once a Baptist church member, we will accept you upon your statement of faith.
You may express your desire to fulfill any of the above by presenting yourself during the invitation at the close of each worship service. Of course, any decision assumes your commitment to being faithful in prayer, church attendance, tithing and participation in our Lord’s work at Faith Bible Baptist Church.
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