FBC Lake Charles

Isn’t it amazing what God can do? I was just thinking about some of the things God has done in our church over the past several months …

• Aaron was called to be our new Minister of Music with a unanimous vote. His ministry is already making a difference in the life of our church.

• A team of men traveled to New Orleans to help the Canal Boulevard Baptist Deaf Mission finish work on their fellowship hall so that they could worship in their building on Easter…I just got word that they had a wonderful service!

• Another team of FBCers traveled to Fort Worth to serve at Beautiful Feet Ministries sharing the love of Christ with the homeless in Fort Worth.

• Our budget receipts are running $28,000 ahead of this time last year and our mission offerings are up across the board.

• Both Sunday School and Sunday morning worship attendance is growing.

• Over 150 people are participating in our Wednesday and Sunday evening discipleship groups.

• Since GROW Outreach was started the first of March we have had over 100 people participate in outreach, making 75 visits, writing 104 notes and prayergrams, and making 80 phones calls to both visitors and members.

• The Youth Mission Trip to the Ukraine has been fully funded.

• At the Upward Basketball Awards night five people indicated that they made decisions for Christ.

• Our Family Ministry Center is being used more than ever by church and community groups. Each month an average of 40 people attend PowerLunch. Each week a group of downtown business men use the gym for pickup basketball games. We have also opened the FMC for use by the US Coast Guard, Friendships, EDS, ICCS and Hamilton Christian School.

This is all in addition to all the things our people do week-in and week-out to spread the Gospel and serve others. It is exciting to see the vision begin to become reality…a vision of a church that exists to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel and help them to become passionate and productive disciples…the vision is being fulfilled through the lives of selfless servants who are willing to do whatever it takes…who are willing to put their love into action…who are willing to step up…who are committed to seeing the vision become reality…who just keep on keeping on no matter what. That’s the kind of people that God has blessed us with…and those are the kind of people that God is going to bless in incredible ways in the days ahead.

As I was reviewing these wonderful blessings, I was also thinking about how easy it is to lose focus on what God is doing and start focusing on other things. A sure sign of loss of focus is stress and worry. We start fretting about things and getting frustrated because things are not working out like we think they should. So how do you keep your focus on Jesus and off yourself and other things? You do these three things:

Read God’s Word. God’s Word is a great stress reliever. Go through your Bible and underline verses that mean a lot to you. I have a study Bible that I use during my quiet times and sermon preparations, but I also have a stress & worry Bible as well. In this Bible I’ve underlined verses that remind me about God’s power and promises. Now when I get stressed or start worrying, I open up that Bible and read through the verses I have underlined.

Remember God’s goodness. Usually when we’re stressed, we’re focused on what’s wrong. And not only do we focus on the bad things in our life, but we exaggerate them. That’s exactly when we need to focus on the goodness of God. God is good. You need to remember that when you’re stressed out.

Oh brothers and sisters, remember we are in God’s hands. We can rely on Him.