N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9

A p u b l i c a t i o n o f B y r o m v i l l e B a p t i s t C h u r c h

InsideTruly thankful. . . . . . . . . . p. 2Time change.. . . . . . . . . . p. 2Community service. . . . . . p. 3Youth rally.. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 3Poinsettia tree.. . . . . . . . . p. 4Movieguide. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 4Sermon series in Nov. . p. 4Pastor’s book pics. . . . . . p. 4Who’s missing?. . . . . . . . p. 5Monthly info. . . . . . . . . . . p. 6Fall festival pics. . . . . . . . p. 7OCC shoe boxes. . . . . . . p. 8

Andy Blankenship

Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, Nov. 1 soremember to set your clocks back one hourbefore you go to bed Saturday night.

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Pastor’s column

Truly thankful

After searching the internet forthe better part of my morning fora quote to spark an article for thismonth’s Blessings, I finallyfound one. It comes from thebrilliant mind of JonathanEdwards. On the subject of beingthankful in a way that mosthonors God Edward’s said, “Truegratitude or thankfulness to Godfor his kindness to us, arises from

a foundation laid before, of love to God for what he isin himself; whereas a natural gratitude has no suchantecedent foundation. The gracious stirrings ofgrateful affection to God, for kindness received,always are from a stock of love already in the heart,established in the first place on other grounds, viz.God's own Excellency.”

What I believe Edwards meant by this was, gratitudethat is pleasing to God is not first a delight in thebenefits God gives (though that is part of it). Truegratitude must be rooted in something else that comesfirst. Namely, a delight in the beauty and excellenceof God's character. Any other form of thankfulness isnot God-honoring at all. To illustrate, I would inviteeach of you to put yourself in the position of gift-giver to me. You would not be honored if I thankedyou often for your gifts to me but had no deep andnatural regard for you as a person. You would feelinsulted, no matter how much I thanked you for yourgifts. If your character and personality did not giveme joy in being around you, then you would just feelused, like a tool or a machine to produce the things Ireally love. The same is certainly true of God! If weare not captivated and/or held captive by Hisgoodness, holiness and sovereignty then all ourgratitude and thanksgivings are empty and vain.

Therefore, since Thanksgiving is almost upon us andChristmas is right around the corner, my challenge forall who read this fantastic publication (thank youBrenda) is to live a life of true thanksgiving; to besatisfied and worshipful with the character andgoodness of God as your foundation and His amazinggifts second. This is the way we can show our church

family and our community the Christ we so dearlylove and serve; A Christ that is Lord of all; a Christthat is absolutely perfect yet He died like the vilest ofcriminals. We can show them a Savior whoseexistence is enough as opposed to some sort of“Celestial Santa Claus” that has come to just give uswhatever our heart desires. The world has enoughteaching like that!!

I look forward to putting this little mini-sermon topractice on November 22 in Groves Park as we haveour first Community Thanksgiving Service. I prayGod would be magnified and exalted in our little townfor His glory and His glory alone! I will see you there.

Because He LivesAndy

Pastor to preach revivalat Dooling Church

Our pastor Andy Blankenship will be preaching arevival at Dooling Baptist Church November 9-11. Services begin each night at 7:00 p.m.

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Community Thanksgiving Service to be held Nov. 22 in Groves Park

Our traditional “Joint Thanksgiving Service” hasexpanded this year to a “Community ThanksgivingService” which will be held in Groves Park. Therewill be special music, and the speaker will be MaryAnn Braswell, pastor of the Byromville UnitedMethodist Church.

To shield us from inclement weather, we will have ahuge tent, which will sit over a hundred people. Timefor this special service is to be announced.

Everyone in the community is invited.

Youth Rally November 7 at 7:00 PM

Sharon Baptist Church 100 Sharon Church Road

Cordele

Message by Matt Stephens

Bring Music by Your Forever Changed Friends!

Pizza Supper At 6:30 PM

Sponsored by Houston Baptist Association

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Order yourpoinsettias forDecember’spoinsettia tree

The flower and decorating committee is placing a“poinsettia tree” in the sanctuary during December. (This is a structure with poinsettias arranged on it ina tree or triangle shape.) The poinsettias will bewhite wrapped in purple foil.

The committee is asking people to purchase thepoinsettias. You may purchase them in honor ormemory of someone. Simply complete the formswhich will be available at the church house the firstSunday in November, attach your money and place inthe offering plate. The price of the poinsettias wasunavailable at press time, however, it will beannounced on November 1 and will be posted on thewebsite.

Need helpin choosing

the goodand rejecting

the bad?

Could you use some help in selecting entertainmentfor yourself and your family? Check out Ted Baehr’s MOVIEGUIDE at movieguide.org. (There’s also alink to the site on our church’s website.)

MOVIEGUIDE was founded in 1985 by Dr. Baehr toinform and educate the public about the influence ofthe entertainment media and about how to train their families to become media wise so they can choose thegood and reject the bad.

"It's hard for people to believe we want them inheaven if we don't want them in our living room."

–Ralph Neighbor

Sermon Series

Bunch of Turkeys: Teaching on False Teachers

November 1, 8 and 15

Lamb Over Turkey: Thankful For Jesus

November 22

Recommendreading from our pastor

Spiritual Leadership: Moving People On To God’sAgenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby

Hard to Believe: The High Cost and Infinite Value ofFollowing Jesus by John MacArthur

Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to RaiseSons and Daughters Who Walk with God by VoddieBaucham, Jr.

What He Must Be...if he wants to marry my daughterby Voddie Baucham, Jr.

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

God Is The Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as theGift of Himself by John Piper

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer

The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee

These books along with many others are available forcheckout in your church media library. Please followthe checkout procedure when borrowing media andreturn it in a timely manner.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we usethem, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

–W. T. Purkiser

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Who's Missing?Even after 2,000 years of Christian influence, morethan 1.5 billion people are still missing out on theopportunity to hear the Gospel. They are hiddenbehind cultural, physical, political and languagebarriers to a Gospel witness. Many of the world'speople missing from God's family live in concentratedpockets of lostness. The pockets we are focusing onin 2009 comprise:

gAbout 40 nations and 700 languages g34 percent Muslim g32 percent Hindu g13.5 percent Animist g6 percent Buddhist g6 percent unknown religion g4 percent nonreligious/other

Although there is a small percentage of Christian, therest are a mix of ancestor worshipper, shamanist,Jewish, Taoist and Sikhist. About 80 unreachedpeople groups still have no contact with the outsideworld.

Whose Mission?The Bible says the lost are living in darkness,alienated from God and without hope in the world.But our obedience will give them hope. God callsevery church and every believer to be on mission withHim to break down the barriers. Learn the ways you can be on mission to help bring a lost people intoGod's family.

Prayer guides and offering envelopes will be availableat the church house.

Our Church Goal:$2,000

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Schedule of Volunteers for NovemberPlease remember it is up to you to arrange coverage if you are unable to serve on your scheduled day.

Date Flowers Nursery forSunday School

Nursery forMorning Worship

Deacon of theWeek

Ushers

Nov. 1 Flower

Committee

Rhonda Youngblood

Laura/Keith Lamberth Arthur Roney Mark Smith

Quint Smith

Nov. 8 Flower

Committee

Sharon Thompson Kimberly/Ryan

Godfrey

Mark Smith Monta Averill

William Preston

Nov. 15 Flower

Committee

Jill Brannen Terri Gregory

Michelle Kitchens

Frank Thompson Mark Smith

Arthur Roney

Nov. 22 Flower

Committee

Mary Kathryn

Blankenship

Robin/Mark Peavy Curtis Lamberth Bob Latimer

Kyle West

Nov. 29 Flower

Committee

Kimberly Godfrey Vicki/Steven

Lamberth

Jimmy Lockerman Clinton Brannen

Ronnie Hatcher

October Sunday School Stats

Senior Adults 11FBIC 12CIA 3VOC 9Young Adults 8Older Youth 36 , 7 & 8 Graders 2th th th

3 , 4 , & 5 Graders 6rd th th

1 & 2 Graders 7st nd

Older Preschoolers 3Younger Preschoolers 5Nursery 0General Officers 3TOTAL 72

Financial $ummary

September receiptsGeneral offerings $10,935.34Mail Box Club 90.60Memorials 1,060.00State Missions 150.00TOTAL 12,485.94

September disbursementsGeneral expenses 11,137.81Mailbox Club 100.00Church plant support 100.00Benevolence 400.00Local missions/evangelism 200.00Cooperative Pro g r a m 1,176.32Houston Baptist Association 452.43TOTAL $13,566.56

Josh Peavy graduated from the South GeorgiaTechnical College Law Enforcement Academy inAmericus last month. He is currently seekingemployment with an area law enforcement agency.

Scenes from the

Fall Festival

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More pics

on website.

Byromville Baptist Church713 Patterson Street ` POB 126Byromville, GA 31007www.byromvillebaptistchurch.com478-433-2505Pastor: Andy Blankenship

NONPROFIT

ORGANIZATION

POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT NO. 2

BYROMVILLE

Blessings is published monthly by Byromville Baptist Church. Send news items and/or comments to Editor Brenda

Lockerman at POB 217, Byromville, GA 31007, email to brendalockerman@windstream.net or call 478-433-2791.

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Deadline for your Operation Christmas Child shoe boxesis November 15. Decorated boxes and How To Pack AShoe Box brochures are available in the FBIC classroom.You can continue to decorate your own box. Please use astandard size shoe box and follow OCC’s guidelines forpacking your shoe box. For more information go towww.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ.

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED