November 2022
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 month’s issue of The Trumpet.
Pastor Tim Goodman
November 2022
**********************
3 Expressions of a Thankful Heart
Lessons From Psalm 100
By Dr. Paul Chappell
Senior Pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church
President of West Coast Baptist College
How do you say “thank you” for God’s goodness? Really, it’s impossible to fully express our thanks. But when your heart is overflowing with gratitude, it will find an outlet.
Psalm 100 is the outpour of a heart focused on God’s abundant blessings to His people. In this Psalm of thanksgiving, verses 1–2 reveal three ways a thankful heart expresses gratitude.
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
-
A Heart of Joy
Joy is the outgrowth of a thankful heart. Even in our darkest days, we have more blessings than we can count. And if we will actually pause to count them, as the song “Count Your Blessings” says, we will be surprised “at what the Lord hath done.”
Thankful people are joyful people. Count your blessings!
-
A Life of Service
Like the Apostle Paul, it is Christ’s love for us that draws our hearts to grateful service for Him. Second Corinthians 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ constraineth us.” We don’t serve Christ out of guilt or fear, but because of our grateful love. And the opportunity to serve God only adds to our reasons to praise Him. Charles Spurgeon observed, “They are sure to praise God best who serve Him best.”
God does not intend His service to be burdensome. If you are truly worshipping with thankfulness, you will serve with gladness.
-
Words of Praise
All throughout the psalms, thanksgiving and singing are linked together. Psalm 95:2 says, “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.” The song “Come Thou Fount” reminds us, “Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.”
Gratitude tunes our hearts to sing God’s praise. Even if your voice is not quite on pitch, sing anyway! God loves to hear your songs of praise.
Are you looking for a way to express your thankfulness to God? Count your blessings, serve others, and sing to the Lord. Joy, service, and praise are the overflowing expressions of a thankful heart!
***********************
Parson to Person
The month of November brings to mind Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year. We recently had a Prophesy Conference with Dr. August Rosado followed closely by a Revival with Evangelist Steve Hart. Night after night these two great men of God brought forth the clear inspired Word of God. We were fed the rich meat of the Word of God every service. Dr. Rosado has been a faithful instructor of the prophesy but this year he was especially insightful. Bro. Hart has only one speed in his preaching, and he also faithfully preached the Word to us. Unfortunately, many of you robbed yourself of the opportunity to be challenged by the preaching of the Word of God. You did this by choosing to do something else other than attending a special meeting in your church. Something else was more important to you than hearing from God. Something else was more important to you than honoring God with your attendance, your worship, and leadership to friends and family. Something else took the preeminence in your life during those two all important, weeks. This line of thinking brings to mind a verse of Scripture, “… what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:37). What would you give to see your daughter or grand daughter saved? What would you give to see that neighbor or co-worker “birthed into the family of God.” What would you sacrifice to see your church led by the Holy Spirit into a life changing revival. Would you give a hundred dollars? A thousand dollars? Ten thousand dollars? Or would you be willing to give a couple hours in a weeknight service during a Prophesy Conference or a Revival service? What would you be willing to give? Some of you chose “something else.”
I started this article saying, “the month of November brings to mind Thanksgiving.” As I said, we have so much to be thankful for this year. Sandwiched between those two special meetings Miss Linda and I enjoyed an anniversary trip to the Grand Canyon and San Francisco. It was such a wonderful trip. The celebration of 50 years of marriage with a trip provided by our children collimated by our family and church coming together to honor us was an over-the-top blessing.
Speaking of things, we should be thankful for how about the financial ability to keep all our bills paid. Missions are being kept-up, lights are on, gas is up to date, and we just installed a new parking lot. What a blessing! We sing the old song, “Count Your Blessing,” which is usually followed by “weigh them ton by ton.” We can’t count our blessings without considering our health. On the 25th of October we had planned a workday at the church. We planned to cut down a few trees that endangered our new parking lot. By the end of the day we had cut down ten trees and cleaned up the mess. By the end of the day, I was worn out. Totally exhausted or so I thought. On the 26th we had planned to enjoy the annual bonfire, but I thought I was too worn out but I had Covid. It wasn’t that bad but it did require I quarantine for five days which prohibited me from coming to church on the 30th. I was reminded that we most usually don’t think about our health till it turns bad. Through it all God’s good far outweigh the devils bad.
Let me close by stating the obvious, God is so good. All the time! I’m thankful to the Lord bringing us to FBBC. I love and appreciate all of the good folks of FBBC. Please know that Linda and I love you all very much. We pray for you often and we praise the Lord.
Pastor Tim Goodman
***********************
How Is a Biblical Christian to Respond in This Election
By Dr. Paul Chappell
Senior Pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church
President of West Coast Baptist College
This has been an incredibly difficult election season. In fact, recent polls indicate that 82 percent of Americans are disgusted with it.
Sometimes as Christians, we wonder how we can make a difference in a time like this. How do we respond to the vitriol and rhetoric with clear thinking and Christ-like decisions?
-
Remember Your Dual Citizenship
Our first loyalty is not to America but to our King. Patriotic as we may be, we have an eternal homeland:
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: {21} Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” — Philippians 3:20-21
This is good news for the Christian because it gives us a clear perspective to see the issues through a biblical framework and eternal vantage point.
As a pastor, I’m always aware that there are people in every church in different phases of their spiritual journey. Some are skilled Bible teachers while others are just beginning to learn where the books of the Bible are. Younger Christians have often not yet learned to apply biblical principles to matters of everyday (or every four years) life. Thinking through issues that have been labeled as “political” with scriptural truth in mind can be new to them. Christians shouldn’t be contentious with one another over these issues. We should stand and declare biblical truth but allow for growth in grace.
-
Support Biblical Preaching and Soulwinning
I like the quote by John Adams, second President of the United States: “It is the duty of the clergy to accommodate their discourses to the times, to preach against such sins as are most prevalent, and recommend such virtues as are most wanted.”
The Bible tells us that “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
Our nation needs preachers who will boldly preach Bible truths that are under attack, even as it is becoming less popular to do so.
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” —2 Timothy 4:2
The hope for our communities, indeed for our nation as a whole, lies in the power of the gospel. This is why it is vital that Christians continue to share the gospel with boldness and compassion.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…” —Romans 1:16
-
Serve and Stand in Your Community
You have an opportunity one day every two or four years to make a difference through your vote. But you have an opportunity every single day of every year to serve those around you.
Is your testimony to your family, neighbors, and coworkers one that shows both truth and grace? Would they find it hard to believe that you have a dual citizenship? Or do you love and serve them even as you witness and stand for truth?
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; {12} Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” —1 Peter 2:11-12
-
Vote
As Americans, we have a privilege not enjoyed by first-century Christians or, for that matter, Christians in many other parts of the world—the opportunity to vote.
In many ways we’ve struggled with this election as there are not necessarily candidates on every slot of the ballot we are eager to support. Sometimes we need to look past the individual candidates and look to their party platform to see what direction they would lead us.
I believe that religious liberty is one of the most vital issues in this election, simply because our nation has come to a crossroads in it. In recent years, there have been many cases of excessive fines and government-sponsored oppression toward those who believe the Bible and desire to practice their faith in all areas of life. Ultimately, we say with Peter, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), but ideally, we’d like to see men elected who will uphold our right to obey God.
We should at least elect someone who will not be against us—a leader who, in the words of 2 Timothy 2:2, would allow us to lead a “quiet and peaceable life in all godliness.”
And because much of the recent threats to Christian liberty have been in the hands of the Supreme Court, we are wise to take into consideration that whoever we elect as president will be appointing Supreme Court justices who will serve far longer than this election and will shape the future of Christian liberty as we know it today.
For all of my ministry, I’ve encouraged our church family to vote through a grid of three biblical issues—life, the family, and support of Israel:
Life — “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
Biblical Family — “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 1:27, 2:24, see also Ephesians 5:22–25).
Israel — “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). I appreciate those candidates who are willing to stand with Israel, including establishing the capital in the city of Jerusalem.
We think primarily of the presidential election, but there are other matters on the ballot as well. For instance, Californians will be voting on legalizing marijuana and shorter jail terms. These are issues where we must learn to think biblically—as American citizens with dual citizenship.
Take marijuana, for instance. Revelation 9:21 speaks of people involved in “sorceries,” and the Greek word used there is pharmakeia, which is where we get the English word pharmacy, “the use or administering of drugs.” Obviously, in this case, it’s not referring to a medical drug, but the opening of the mind to witchcraft through a drug substance. The use of drugs is essentially the opening of the mind to demonic influence. Recent studies have revealed that households in America who make less than $20,000 per year account for 29 percent of all marijuana use.
When it comes to shorter jail terms, we have to remember that God has given the government the responsibility to deter evil by punishing it. Romans 13:4 says, “…he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The government must not abandon this role for sake of budget cuts.
I can’t help but think of the funeral I recently conducted for LASD Sergeant Steve Owen who was shot by a man let out of jail multiple times and considered an “intermediate risk.” Unbelievably, our governor and state leaders are still pushing through an agenda to legalize marijuana and reduce jail sentences. Thus, Christians must remain involved in voting to make our voice against drugs and for justice heard.
-
Pray