Mt Carmel Baptist Church - Hump Day Word of the Week

February 19, 2025

Word of the Week: Trials

Life’s trials and struggles are something we all deal with, no matter if we’re Christian or non Christian, unfortunately we will deal with many of life’s trials as we age. I would be willing to bet that most of us are dealing with one currently, no matter if it’s financial, sickness or disease, or loss of a loved one. We will all struggle with one or all of these during our life’s journey. That being said the only way I know to combat trials of life is, prepare for them, be ready, and the only way I know to prepare for life’s most tragic events is by having a strong relationship with the Lord. Let’s talk about strengthening our relationship with the lord and ways we can prepare for heartache and tragedy.

First it starts with faith in Christ, we have to know that whatever we are faced with that Christ has the strength and power to pull us through. Friends as Christian’s that seems so simple and basic, but that’s harder than you think when faced with the loss of a spouse or sudden loss of a child. I know for myself when suicide took my wife on 2/22/17 it shook me and my family to the core, in three days will mark the eight year anniversary of her being with Jesus, and that gives me peace. I thought at that time I had a unbreakable bond and relationship with the Lord, I guess looking back now I did, but at that very moment of loss, heartache, sadness, and sorrow I questioned everything about my relationship with the lord and his love for me. I was five hours from home when I found out about her death. I was devastated and broken. I remember during that drive having a decision to make, I had two choices, go at the rest of my life alone without God or somehow trust that the guy that had the power to stop it, but didn’t, could somehow see me and my family through this heartbreak. Thankfully I chose God!

How do we prepare? Know God is good all the time, and know there’s no greater love for us than sending your son to die on a cross for your sins. Then when you find that kind of friend, and you have the faith to know he is that friend, you start a daily or hourly relationship with him. It’s like any other relationship you might have, other than I’m willing to bet most of us have very few friends, if any, that would be willing to die for us. With our everyday earthly friends we begin our relationships by doing a few things. We first learn about one another, we talk, we think about them, we help them, we love them, we try to meet their needs, we sometimes even correct them. Bottom line we try to build bonds that we hope will become unbreakable.

The same characteristics hold true with our relationship with our Heavenly Father. God has given us all the tools we need to have that unbreakable relationship, he’s given us a direct line of communication with him through prayer, the Bible with his scripture and his word, he then sent his son to earth for us to have an example to live by, and after his resurrection and return to the father he left us the Holy Spirit. That’s a piece of him that lives inside every Christian! If you are a Christian you have God living in you, and that’s incredible friends! That’s what gets you through life’s struggles and tragedies! I’m not saying you can’t make it through hard times without God but you will not have the peace and comfort that only comes from a relationship with your Heavenly Father. It’s a gift we can all have, it’s free and simple, and all it takes is faith and little time!

I’m going to say now that I’m eight years removed from the most tragic day of my families life, and I see how God was there from the very first moment that I found out the news of her death. I’ve also seen how God used this tragedy to build my faith and trust in him. In life we learn most of our tough lessons through mistakes and in our Christian walk our faith grows more abundantly through our trials and tribulations than when things are going smoothly. Trials are coming, it’s part of this earthly life, and we know that. So my prayer is when trials and tragedies hit you and your family, the bond and relationship between you and the Lord are so strong that you don’t have the same debate I did of choosing God or going at life alone separated from him.

Out of all the things I’ve tried to teach and instill into my boys, is purposely building their relationship with the Lord so strong that when life cuts them down at knees God will be there to pick them up and move them forward. It’s not if you’ll need God to see you through hard times it’s when will you need God to see you through those times. The question you must ask yourself, is your relationship with God strong enough to see you through those tragic times? No matter your answer relationships can always be strengthened and improved upon, and the good news is God is waiting.

I look back at my life and I’m encouraged about how God cares for me and loves me. I can count hundreds of times he directly had his hand upon me, how he guided and directed me, how he showed up through other people time and time again. Bottom line is I’ve seen God show up for me and I know he’ll do the same for you.

I’ve made a list in my notes on my phone of the days and times that I know I’ve seen God, it’s titled, I’ve seen Jesus. It amazes me how long my list is. That list also serves as a reminder of the hundreds or maybe thousands of times I’ve missed seeing God work in my life. I know this because the majority of the times I’ve seen him, that I have listed, I nearly missed him. That being said we need a laser focus on our relationship with the Lord because without laser focus you’ll miss the opportunity of seeing God, and sadly you’ll miss seeing how much he loves and cares for you. I pray today that you get laser focused on building that bond with the Lord and that no circumstance can destroy it. When hard times come I hope that bond just becomes an unbreakable chain of strength and blessing for you. There’s no greater joy than knowing you’ve seen God, and witnessing him working in your life. Nothing compares to that! Don’t blink, stay focused and you’ll see God! The Bible says about our relationship with the Lord in Isaiah 40:30-31 “youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, 31: but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint. That is pretty awesome stuff! Something we should all want!

Finally if you know someone or you are someone looking for a Bible based church with a welcoming family feel we invite you to join us on Sundays at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Tioga. I pray your trials and tribulations of life creates an unbreakable bond between you and the Lord and it leads others around you to working toward the same goal! Love y’all and God bless!

February 12, 2025

Word of the Week: Attitude

Good morning Mt Carmel Baptist it’s hump day word of the week! This is a weekly text every Wednesday morning meant to inspire, and serve as a self examination of our Christian walk while growing Gods kingdom. This week’s word I’m sure is for none of you all, I’m mainly writing this week’s word for myself and this weeks word is attitude. I’m not sure where to even start with the word attitude.

First, I think our attitude affects every aspect of our daily life and dictates our relationship with Jesus. I’ve definitely struggled of late with my attitude, and I’ve seen how it affects decisions, outcomes, and relationships with others. Most importantly as Christian’s we are called to have a Christ like attitude. Examples of a Christ like attitude are, being selfless, being humble, focusing on needs of others, being serious and caring about others, and above all responding to difficulties with the attitude of Jesus. Unfortunately I fail daily at almost every single above mentioned quality of having a Christ like attitude.

Most importantly I believe a positive and healthy attitude starts with three things: our words we speak, our actions, and our relationship with the Lord. I know for myself what I speak from my mouth normally dictates my actions. If I’m speaking words of love and affirmation my actions normally follow suit, but if I’m spewing negativity and resentment, my actions unfortunately resemble that. My nature normally lines with the negative tendencies more so than the love and positivity side of things. The best way I know to fight thoughts of negativity and fleshly sinful desires is constantly building and working on our relationship with the Lord. For me that boils down to my alone time spent talking and listening to the Holy Spirit/Jesus/God.

My days go better when I start them with an hour or more spent visiting with God. While visiting with him I also witness him raising the sun and waking all the animals and birds for their daily tasks. The biggest improvement I’ve been able to make with my time spent with Jesus is just being silent/still and listening. I hear the sounds of nature, wind, rain, birds and I see all the early morning colors, of the sunrise, grass, trees and soon to be flowers blooming. These sounds and colors only come from God! Seeing and hearing these gives me encouragement and hope and sets my attitude for the day ahead. For I know if he so carefully orchestrates nature and the changing of seasons how much more does he care for my well being? Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

My well being and positive attitude starts and ends with my time spent with the Lord, and my attitude dictates my success and happiness. This last week while having quite time with the Lord, I realized I was doing all the talking and pleading, lots of noise coming from my mouth. God could hear my pleas but I couldn’t hear his response, his answers, and that reminded me that the Lord knows what’s best for us, he already has his plans for us, and he knows my needs and desires better than I’ll ever know. So in the words of the late David Earl Gressett (Dad) “broadcast less and tune in more!” Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.” With that said I hope you can carve out some time with Jesus and have him shape and set your attitude so it affects people around you in a positive manner.
If this text has been of some encouragement to you maybe you could share with a friend or family member that could use some positivity today. And let’s pray daily that our country turns back to the Christian principles it was founded upon that makes us one of the greatest countries to ever exist!

Lastly if you know someone or you are someone looking for a Bible based church with a welcoming family feel we invite you to join us on Sundays at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Tioga. Love y’all and I pray our attitudes please God and lead others to the Lord!

February 5, 2025

Word of the Week: Forgiveness

The definition of forgiveness is the act of realeasing or dismissing something, also it’s the promise from God not to hold sins against people that has accepted him as their savior. As Christ forgave us we’re suppose to forgive as well. Colossians 3:13 “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you have a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” For me this is a hard one, I’m more in tune with the phrase and eye for an eye even though I know that’s not what God commands of me. To shed ourselves of our fleshly desires of anger and revenge can only be accomplished by Gods grace and the work of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. I think forgiving someone is possibly one of the hardest things we’re commanded to do, I personally think true forgiveness is only possible through our relationship with Christ.

I always believed forgiveness was for the person that hurt you or disappointed you, but I found that true forgiveness is more for yourself. It frees your spirit and your mind when you forgive. Forgiveness is more for you than it is your offender, it frees you in such a radical way that you’re left with no other explanation than it was Gods grace and power working through you that allowed you to forgive that person. True forgiveness sets you free and it’s so worth the reward that you feel forgiving someone. It’s also a powerful witness for your family and friends that gets to witness first hand the benefits of forgiveness, they see the chains of bondage and resentment completely disappear. That’s God! Our goal here on earth is to live a life that resembles how Jesus lived, with that said there’s no better example than to forgive others like Christ forgave us. Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.”

With that said, I believe most of us have an opportunity to forgive someone almost daily or weekly, let’s tap into Gods awesome power and free our spirit by forgiving someone this week. I hope this text has been of some encouragement to you and if so maybe you could share with a friend or family member that could use some encouragement today. And let’s pray daily that our country turns back to the Christian principles it was founded upon that makes us one of the greatest countries to ever exist! Lastly if you know someone or you are someone looking for a Bible based church with a welcoming family feel we invite you to join us on Sundays at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Tioga. Love y’all and let’s encourage and forgive someone today!

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Word of the Week: Salvation

Good morning Mt Carmel Baptist it’s hump day word of the week! This is a weekly text every Wednesday morning meant to inspire, and serve as a self examination of our Christian walk while growing Gods kingdom. This week’s word of the week is salvation. The theological definition of salvation is the deliverance from sin and consequences. As Christians when we allow Christ to come live inside our hearts, believing he died on a cross for our sins our salvation is immediately sealed. With our salvation sealed and promise of an eternity spent in Heaven, for the life of me I can’t understand why just only a little over one out two Americans have been saved.

The promise of salvation is the best deal going, and only 65% of our population identify as Christian’s down from 87% fifty years ago. As a business owner I always say that the buck stops with me, the owner, and as Christian’s the decline of saved souls should stop with us. I believe we need to evaluate ourselves to see if we’re doing everything in our power to be examples of and for Jesus. I know for myself that’s a daily struggle, I relate to Paul when he says in Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Struggles are real, but as Christian’s we have already won the battle and I believe we need to start acting like it. With Christ we have conquered death and will live for ever in heaven with Jesus! That’s salvation! Read those last two sentences again and say hallelujah! We need to reflect Jesus more so we become the light in the darkness. We should stand out by being the conquerors God created us to be, after all we conquered death by Jesus’s death and resurrection from the cross. My hope as a Christian is that we can live a life that will inspire and lead the lost to find salvation in Jesus Christ.

My favorite verse is Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels or rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”That scripture alone should let us as Christian’s be a beacon of hope for the world and for the lost. We need to stop complaining, griping, and moping around and start praising, celebrating, and loving ourselves and others like Christ loves us! Let’s continue to pray daily that our country turns back to the Christian principles it was founded upon that makes us one of the greatest countries to ever exist!

Lastly if you know someone or you are someone looking for a Bible based church with a welcoming family feel we invite you to join us on Sundays at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Tioga. Love y’all and let’s be a beacon of hope while thanking and praising God for our salvation!

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Word of the Week: Encourage or Encourager

This week’s word of the week is encourage or encourager. One good way to grow any organization, church, business, or relationship is by encouraging others. The definition of encouragement is the action of giving someone support, confidence, and hope. Our Christian faith is all about hope! As Christian’s we should all want to encourage someone on a daily basis, and how we can do that is by our words, and actions. Both words and actions should reflect and show love.

As Christian’s we are bound to a commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. I believe if we implement this one commandment our walk would be of encouragement to those that we come into contact with on a daily. What makes this difficult is this commandment is not just for the neighbors we like, but for ALL people/neighbors that we come into contact with on a daily basis. That’s a tough one for me!

My prayer for myself, friends, and our church family is that as Christian’s we can give support, confidence, and hope to all we come into contact with, including those living in our own homes. Often encouraging my kids and spouse can be the hardest of all.

As for actions are concerned Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians 13: love is kind, and it does not envy, boast, or act arrogantly; it does not seek its own interests, it’s not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs, and rejoices in truth; essentially defining love as a selfless, enduring, and positive force that prioritizes the well being of others before personal gain. If we all could strive to be as Paul describes of love, I can’t help but think we would be of great encouragement to all those we come into contact with.

I hope this text has been of some encouragement to you and if so maybe you could share with a friend or family member that could use some encouragement today. And let’s pray daily that our country turns back to the Christian principles it was founded upon that makes us one of the greatest countries to ever exist! Lastly if you know someone or you are someone looking for a Bible based church with a welcoming family feel we invite you to join us on Sundays at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Tioga. Love y’all and let’s encourage someone today!