Monday, April 19, 2021

Dear Trinity Baptist Church Family, Proverbs 19:11 “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.” This proverbs teaches that a wise person does not get angry quickly and that a person appears wise and good when they do not point out the errors of others. If you are like me, you think you are right most of the time. And I/you naturally think it is our obligation to point out the faults of others, especially if they have irritated us. This selfish and sinful spirit needs to be confronted. A mature follower of Jesus only gets angry when God’s glory is trashed. And a wonderful person is one who keeps the mistakes of others to themself. We need to learn to take pride in controlling our anger and our impulse to correct others. We ought to ask ourself, is this my business? If it is not, we need to keep quiet.

I rejoice in the great weekend of ministry here at Trinity Baptist Church. We had two excellent committee meetings – Building/Grounds and Finance. We had an awesome missionary – a pastor/church planter from Egypt. And I believe there was a good spirit and appreciative reception of God’s Word.

I believe yesterday’s offering was the largest single-Sunday offering in the history of Trinity Baptist Church. $15,560 was given to our Projector, Sound, and Lighting fund! This brings our total of funds for this project to over $25,000. And then, $970 was designated to Awana. I had mentioned at our quarterly meeting that our Awana account was going to be in the red until the pie auction because Awana has raised its prices the last two years but we have not passed on those increases to our clubbers. Well, God’s people decided this fund needed to helped with generous gifts. Praise God! Although money is never our goal, money is absolutely helpful in continuing the current ministries of Trinity Baptist Church. A big thank you to those who give and may God be glorified.

I have several health prayer requests. Kathy R tells me that they have found a liver transplant match for her great nephew, Ezekiel. Pray for his healing and wisdom for all involved as they care for this little boy. Then, we received an email today from the board of directors of the Wisconsin Family Council. Our missionary, Julaine Appling, has been these past few years fighting a rare cancer in her shoulder first with radiation and then with functional medicine. Her pain has increased recently and so she is seeking a second opinion by undergoing tests today and tomorrow at the Mayo Clinic. It was good to see Jean W yesterday. Continue to pray for her wound care and her back pain. Finally, pray for my granddaughter Henley. Over the weekend she developed tooth pain that was evidenced by a swollen jaw. They were able to get an appointment with a dentist for this afternoon. 

Pray for those who grieve. 

Tomorrow we have two Bible studies. A men’s study meets at the church at 6:00 a.m. Recently it has been Ben H, Tom G, and myself. Tomorrow we will walk through John 10. Read it ahead of time and join us at the church. We are done by 7:00 a.m. Being the 3rd Tuesday of the month, tomorrow is time for our Seniors Bible Study at Rolling Meadows. We order as individuals at noon, fellowship while we eat, and then share a Bible study. Tomorrow’s topic will be Senior Citizens and Retirement. An appropriate study!

Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. is Spring Showcase for TBS at Trinity Baptist. Our school’s elementary and high school will demonstrate music, speech, and academic items from the Wisconsin Association of Christian Schools competition. Our high school speech class will also give a short play. Come for a good evening and to show your support for our school families.

We only have 2 more section-saying Awana nights left for this year. Check your clubbers’ book and make sure they are ready to finish up! Award Night is May 5th.

Embracing Truth, Pastor