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Recently Written

• Godcast #225 - Divorce and Remarriage: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #224 - Do Not Covet: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #223 - Who Is A Murderer?: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #222 - Christ and The Law: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #221 - When God Abandons A Nation: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Cedar Glade Children’s Camp 2010
• Godcast #220 - 2010 Southern Baptist Convention Report: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #219 - Changing The World: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #218 - Do Not Lie: Bro. Anthony Langley
• Godcast #217 - Fathers Who Lead: Bro. Anthony Langley

Starting on April 11 I will be preaching two new sermon series. On Sunday Morning we will be looking verse by verse through Jesus’ most famous teaching, The Sermon on the Mount. We will begin this series with a close look at the Beatitudes. Jesus is giving us a portrait of what the Christian life be all about. He moves from the general character traits of a believer in the Beatitudes to the practical results of a life lived in accordance with these traits in the rest of the sermon. This will be an exciting time of reflecting upon the teachings of Christ as to how we should live our lives.

On Sunday evenings, I will begin a 10 Sermon series on each of the Ten Commandments. In light of the fact that we are to be New Testament Christian living under grace and not the law, how does the Christian respond to the Ten Commandments. These have become the standard for which we base our moral and even judicial law in this country. Come this Sunday and learn what they mean and how we are to view them and obey them.

During our Sunday evening worship services in the month of January, we will be exploring the message of the prophet Haggai. He prophesied in a time when the people of Israel had returned from exile to reestablish themselves as a nation under God. They had been allowed to return to their homeland to rebuild their city, but they also had been sent back by God to reestablish their identity as God’s holy people. The problem is that they became distracted by minding their own business when they should have been minding God’s. They were focused on all the wrong things while God’s Temple was laying in ruins. We do the same thing in our lives today. We ignore God’s will for our lives and mind our own business. In the book, Haggai stirs the people to action and duty through harsh yet encouraging words. This message is just as important for us today as it was for the people of Israel. We will explore the book of Haggai in four sermons. Don’t miss it!

Bro. Anthony

As the New Year begins, it is always a great time to take a close look at our spiritual lives as we seek to go deeper in our walk with the Lord in the next year. 2010 can be the best year of your spiritual walk if you will only decided right now to deal with the weak areas of your growth. This Sunday morning and evening, I will be bringing messages that deal with the issue of self examination. We need to look at every area of our lives, but we must look at several key areas if we really want to make progress. Join us this Sunday as we examine five key areas of our lives and begin with a clean slate of growth together in 2010. See you Sunday!

Bro. Anthony

What a wonderful time of year. Christmas is the time for giving, the time for eating, and the time for visiting with family and friends. Perhaps, if you are like me, you don’t have many opportunities to spend with your family because you live far away. This also provides an even greater challenge to seeing extended family. I am visiting my family on the coast and will have the opportunity to spend New Year’s with family in east Tennessee. Cherish every moment you have with your families over the Christmas season. Spend time with them. Give of yourselves to them. Enjoy their company and their cooking, but most of all, remind them why we celebrate. If your family members already know Jesus and have received the ultimate gift of salvation, rejoice together at the Savior’s birth. If your family members do not know Christ, tell them about the greatest story ever told. Tell them the good news of salvation. If you live near your family remember not to take your family for granted. You may have them all the time, but your family was given to you by God!

 Say a special prayer this Christmas for all your friends and family that are lost. Especially remember those who have lost close loved ones. This time of year can be difficult. Do everything you can to make this Christmas special for those you come in contact with. Thanks again to my church family for all you have done o make our first Christmas with you special. We hope that we can return the love in action, service and giving of ourselves. Merry Christmas!

Bro. Anthony  

This story was published in the December 10, 2009 edition of the Baptist Record, a news publication of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board. I wanted to share it with all of you. Bro. Anthony

STILL WAITING — Kevin and Jodi Nichols of Wheeler had planned to be in Russia next year sharing the Gospel as International Mission Board missionaries, but reduced missions giving has their plans on hold indefinitely. They and their four children moved into a mobile home to ride out the transition. (BP photo)

RICHMOND, Va. (BP and local reports) — Jodi Nichols cries when she talks about it. Her husband Kevin says he would rather be hit with a baseball bat.

The couple from Wheeler, located between Baldwyn and Booneville in northeast Mississippi, committed their lives to missions nearly two years ago. They planned to move to Russia with their four children in January, but in the midst of a rocky economy and shortfalls in missions giving, they won’t be going anytime soon.

“It hurt,” says Kevin of the day he, his wife, and about 200 others also called to missions learned that Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board (IMB) did not have the funds to send them.

“Today it still doesn’t feel real… I know what God has called us to… [but] it takes money,” he says.

For now, the Nicholses are uncertain when — or if — they will be able to go to the mission field. By the time the economy rebounds, their oldest child may be 15 or 16, and IMB discourages the appointment of families with children that old.

The Nichols family’s situation is a snapshot of how a struggling economy impacts lives — both here and around the globe. Because the Nicholses can’t go, someone in Russia may not hear the Gospel.

Global problem

In Asian countries such as South Korea, a sluggish U.S. economy means fewer sales and less money for local goods. It also means that in one of the largest missionary-sending countries in the world, fewer South Korean missionaries will have enough funds.

“The South Korean market kind of mirrors the U.S. market, but double the effects,” says John (name changed for security reasons), a missionary who handled finances in South Korea for four years before recently moving with his family to Thailand.

“As the U.S. market kind of tanked, [South Korea] lost about half of [its] buying power,” he adds. “They are extremely dependent upon the U.S. imports of their Asian goods.”

South Koreans also are heavily involved in missions, with more than 17,000 Korean Protestant missionaries currently serving worldwide.

“They’re probably our biggest [missions] ally worldwide,” John notes. “The weakening of the Korean won [currency] has impacted their ability to function outside Korea. As a missionary-sending country, they are really feeling it.”

Other countries around the globe are “feeling it” as well. The U.S. unemployment rate stands at more than 10% and is continuing to climb. As staggering as that seems, unemployment in Zimbabwe hovers around 90%. Statistics from the International Labor Organization show the number of unemployed could jump to 239 million internationally by the end of 2009.

There also is the issue of the dollar. Last year, it took $1.62 to equal one euro. This month, the value is around $1.49 after improving briefly to $1.25 earlier this year.

“The dollar has gained some strength,” IMB treasurer David Steverson says, “but while we are better off than we were a year ago, we are not nearly as good as we were [as recently as several months ago].”

‘Difficult to live’

Mike and Jan Bennett have worked in Venezuela for more than 10 years. Even doing simple things, they say, can be a major expense. When inflation rose to 26%, two combo meals at McDonald’s cost $35.

“The economic crisis is affecting every country in the world,” Bennett says. “It makes it very difficult to live on the field when the prices continue to go up.”

In past years, Bennett says, missionaries have been unhappy about the lack of funds to buy Bibles or other ministry materials, “but the truth of the matter is that this is a far more serious problem. The critical need is just having [missionaries] here to do the work.”

The lack of workers also is jeopardizing the future of a significant ministry in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims who live and work in Europe board ferries every summer to return home to North Africa to visit family. However, an effort that puts Bibles and ministry materials into the immigrants’ hands as their cars pass through a European city’s port gates may fall by the wayside.

Approximately 200 Southern Baptists help with the ministry each summer. Because of last year’s shortfall in Southern Baptists’ Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, many short-term missionaries who coordinate the efforts will not be able to extend their terms.

One missionary says the program won’t be able to continue without them — or replacements. “The project is in danger if we are not able to replace personnel,” says Dave Webber (name changed for security purposes), who leads the effort in the European country, where there are believed to be more than five million Muslims.

Last year, teams distributed 26,000 Gospel packets at the port gates. “That means 26,000 families received the Gospel,” he says. “What if we’re not there at the gates? You can’t print this stuff in many parts in Algeria” where distributing Bibles is illegal.

“I think about this [economic] slowdown and the tough things that are going on around the world financially and in the United States… but what if we’re not there at the opportunities the Lord has given us?”

Hard times at home

Parkridge Church in Coral Springs, Fl., has sent teams in the past to help with the outreach in the European country, but like many churches and ministries worldwide they also are experiencing their share of financial challenges.

“It’s a hard time,” says pastor Eddie Bevill, who started the church 17 years ago. “Our offerings haven’t grown much in the last year. We raised our mission challenge but reduced our general operating budget. No one got raises, but we didn’t have to let anybody go.”

To avoid staff layoffs, the church reduced its Cooperative Program (CP) giving to a month-by-month basis. Nearly half the funding for missions comes through CP, which supports state efforts as well as IMB and North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“If it comes we’ll give it,” Bevill says. “If it doesn’t come we can’t… and that’s a terrible way to support the Cooperative Program. Older pastors around the country would kick me, I’m sure, for doing that.”

We are continuing to look at what the Bible says as we answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” In both the Sunday Morning and Evening messages, we will examine more about Jesus’ nature and the roles he came to fulfill. On Sunday morning we will look at the nature of Jesus as we see what the Bible says about His humanity. “Jesus is man!” Why is that important?  On Sunday evening, we will look at one of the primary roles of Jesus in a sermon entitled “Christ, the High Priest.”  Join us this Sunday to find out more about the ministry of Jesus!

Pastor Anthony P. Langley

Starting this Sunday, I will be preaching a sermon series entitled, “Who is Jesus?” In our culture, the answer to this question has become more and more confusing. Many have an idea about Jesus based on their own understanding of God that they develop in their own minds. In other words, “What does it make sense for Jesus to be like to me?” Or perhaps they ask, “Who is Jesus to me?” I have a friend that often says, “It is what it is!” Well that statment applies to Jesus as well. He is who He is! He does not change from person to person. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He is the same person that He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. Do you want to know what Jesus is really like? Do you want to understand what He taught? Do you want to see His character and His ways? Do you want to understand the depths of His love? Look no further than the Bible! All that we need to know about Jesus is contained in the pages of Scripture. During each sermon in the month of December, we will look at a different aspect of Jesus’ nature and character. Come and be a part of the worship at FBC Lepanto. I would love to meet you and get to know you as we come to know Jesus more and more everyday!

Pastor Anthony P. Langley

My family and I just wanted to thank you for all you have done to make our transition to this new ministry smooth. Any time a family uproots their lives it is traumatic and stressful, but you have showered us with love and support. Thank you to those who help us to transport all of our belongings to Lepanto. Thank you for all of those who put in a great deal of time on the house to make sure it was ready for us to move in. Thank you for those who brought food to the house and even paid for some meals. If the help that you gave us is any indication of the dedication of the church, we will have no problem reaching into the community for Christ!

God has given me a passion for this church and we are really enjoying the town and getting to know the people of Lepanto. God is also giving me a vision for the future of the church. Each day he is moving me to a deeper understanding of the purpose for which he brought me to Lepanto. In the next few months we will begin to see that vision unfold, and I believe He will give you the same vision for the future so that we can work together to accomplish His will for FBC Lepanto. 

I need two things from every church member as I start my ministry here. First, let us all be committed to accomplishing the work of Christ in and through the church. We must work together to learn how to better win souls for Christ and disciple them to a place of ministry and service in  the kingdom of God. Second, I need each of you to pray like you have never prayed before. Ask God to show us how to improve our church. Ask God to show us His very heart for the will of the church. Ask God to help you to grow into your role in the church. And ask God to help you to be conformed to the image of Christ. God has promised that He hears our prayers, and He has never broken a promise. Let us join our hearts and hands through commitment and prayer!  

Pastor Anthony P. Langley

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• mericiak: What a wonderful message for everyone. I know God isn’t finished w/me yet & pray that He will show me what I need to do & that I am able to do what He expects of me. Thank you Bro. Jim for your guidance. Lepanto...
• Denise Thomas: I am the lady who contacted you awhile back regarding my mom, dad, and myself. I just learned my dad has prostate cancer. I am trusting God it will be in the first few stages. I will find out more tomorrow after...