Holy Week Note

March 27, 2018 Rick Zimmerman ,

Dear Central Members & Friends

I hope that you are engaged like millions of our brothers and sisters around the world in various celebrations for Holy Week!! This is the greatest and most important weeklong celebration in the life of devoted Christians!! We Honor and celebrate our Lord this week for His sacrificial love toward us on Calvary!!

If we are not careful, this week can become like other weeks where we are engaged in a flurry of activities without real reflection and examination of how blessed we truly are because of the unconditional sacrificial love of Jesus Christ toward us!!  When I stop and reflect on this alone, just how much my Lord loved me that he died for me despite my sins, failures and shortcomings, I feel bad for complaining. If you have experienced His sacrificial love, then you understand exactly what I am talking about.

During my low points and believe it or not I have them just like you do, I take a moment to reflect on His grace, mercy and sacrificial love toward me!! During these reflective moments, I repent and apologize to God for my behavior and realize that no matter what I am going through it is small in comparison to what He did for us on Calvary!!

This week I am going to challenge and encourage you to do three things: 

1) Take several reflective moments throughout each day this week to thank Him for His grace, mercy and unconditional love toward you!! 

2) Secondly, be intentional about attending the appropriate Holy Week Celebrations that will be transformational for you and enhance your spiritual walk!!

3) Thirdly, do something nice for someone this week that is not in a position to do anything for you.

I believe if you do the three things above this week, you will feel better about yourself and in some small way make a difference in the life of someone.

Visit the sermon page and you will find my slide deck from the Sunday morning lesson “Preparing for the Difficult Seasons of Life.”

I am excited about meeting you in bible study on tomorrow night and request that you bring a friend with you. I have a special surprise for you that I didn’t mention in this note.

We also look forward to you joining us at Central at the end of the week where we will have a marvelous Resurrection Sunday experience on April 1st.

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

 

Rick ZimmermanHoly Week Note
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Transparency As A Christian

March 23, 2018 Rick Zimmerman , ,

Dear Central Members & Friends

As we focus on our bible study series regarding “Transparency as a Christian”, Proverbs 28:13 clearly indicates “He who cover his sins will not prosper”, we have to be very intentional about behaving differently than the world. In our society we are taught to hide our shortcomings and failures; however, God tells us to share and confess our sins. I have been engaged in ministry for over 30 years and  have discovered that one of the most difficult things for Christians to do is admit their shortcomings and failures!! Paul clearly tells us in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This verse should help us see that we are all flawed individuals regardless how good we might think we are!! Because of Adam’s sin we are all born into this world as unrighteous, sinful human beings and we are all prone to cover up and create deception about our sins.

The key to becoming more transparent as a Christian is to admit we are flawed and to stop acting self-righteous!! We cannot “Model Grace” to others until we realize that we are as flawed as the individuals whom we encounter on a daily basis. In this series on transparency, we must allow the Holy Spirit to place us under the microscope and show our individual flaws instead of our focus on someone else’s flaws. We must practice transparency in order to improve, model grace and enhance our walk with Jesus and others.

On last night during our bible study, I shared the attached handout from the internet. I added seven questions on the last page that each of us should consider during our private devotion time, taking inventory of our own conduct, praying seriously, and asking God to give us the Grace to walk in the footsteps He has ordered for us. Additionally, I created the power point slide so that each of us can consider the walls we have created to cover our flaws and the masks we wear unintentionally.

The way to remove the unintentional masks we wear is found on the last page of the slide deck. We must seriously engage in the three (3) R’s and they are: Recognize, Repent and Return.

I hope this summary of our bible study from last night is beneficial to our in state and out of state friends on our mailing list and the members who were not able to attend our study on last night

May we each walk in the footsteps God has ordered for us!!

Your Brother In Christ,

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Senior Pastor, Central Baptist Church

Transparency as a Christian Slides

Transparency As A Christian – Lesson 2

Rick ZimmermanTransparency As A Christian
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The Battle For Our Mind

March 8, 2018 Rick Zimmerman , , ,

Dear Central Members & Friends,

As I type this letter to you, I am out of town on a business trip. God has been dealing with me about a number of topics lately and I am so grateful that I am better able to discern at this stage of my life, His invisible hand at work on so many fronts in our lives, community and even in our nation, despite the weekly chaos we are constantly seeing on television!!!

We are constantly engaged in a battle, which at times these battles are both visible and invisible. Satan is a very skilled solider and knows how to launch his attack against our nation and community, while also engaging personal attacks against us individually and collectively.

One of the things we need to understand is that typically his battles start with our minds. Satan is clearly aware that if he can control our mind, he can determine our actions. Our actions are directly related to what we believe in our minds!!

God has impressed within my Sprit to start a new sermon series titled “THE BATTLE FOR OUR MIND” on Sunday. I will start the introduction to this sermon series and please know we will be camped out as a church for a while on this series. I am confident that if you engage spiritually and put into practice the sermon material from this series,  that it will result in a transformational impact on your life and also in your relationship with people.

We must remember that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood but our war is against Satan. When people behave badly, they are just being used by Satan at that moment to work his darkness. He is the prince of darkness. Therefore, we must turn our focus from people to the real source of the problem!!! This doesn’t mean that you don’t address people when they are wrong. What it does mean is you don’t write them off because God’s grace is sufficient for us as well as for them!!

I informed the Bible Study students who were in attendance on Wednesday night that we will also be engaged in a new bible study series on Wednesday night. It will be required attendance for all leaders. I will share more about our plans for Wednesday night on Sunday morning.

Remember to go to bed a little early and your clocks will spring forward one hour at 2:00 AM so you don’t want to be late arriving for our Sunday service. I would encourage our out of state guest on our mailing list to acquire a copy of each message from this sermon series. All of our local members should be in attendance and bring a guest. You don’t want me to win the most invited guest award for the month of March!!

As I close please pray for our brothers and sisters who have been hampered by the major storm surges in the Northeast and my safe return home on Saturday evening!!

Grace & Shalom!!!!

Pastor Perry

Rick ZimmermanThe Battle For Our Mind
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Understanding the Invisible Hand of God

March 8, 2018 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members & Friends,

I have not written to you in a while due to Eastman Board meetings, church related guest speakers and other work related activities.  We have now pivoted away for a short timeframe from our sermon series on “Relationships Matter.” However, I hope you have made significant progress on enhancing relationships since we started this series in January. 

At this stage, if you have been diligently engaged in applying and Living the Word of God, you should be seeing the fruits of your labor in enhancing your relationship with family members, church members and individuals in your surrounding community.

I hope you were blessed by our Sunday message on “Understanding the Invisible Hand of God.” The PowerPoint slides and video link I utilized to kick-off this series are included in the below attachments. I am not sure at this point if this will be a two part or three part series. I am waiting on confirmation from God on this. What I can tell you is that my primary focus will be on listening to God as He is already prompting me about preparing a series about the Significance of His Resurrection. I would like to engage you in making some type of sacrifice that will strengthen your relationship with God and help improve your discipline as a Christian. This can be something small but it should be something meaningful that will have a lasting impact. Let me share with you what I am doing in this area.

I have decided that  I will not eat any deserts, consume drinks that contain sugar or what we call junk food for the next 45 days. This is a small sacrifice compared to the price Jesus paid for our salvation by giving His life for our Redemption!! However, going without deserts and sticking with a diet of fruits, vegetables and healthy eating will help improve my energy level and will have long term health benefits. I am hoping to drop a few pounds, but mostly I want to discipline myself to be in a better position to allow God to speak to my heart. Please hold me accountable and help me get through the next 45 days. Simple things like this help to give us more structure and discipline in our lives and ensures we become stronger men and women and more productive in every aspect of our life!!

Please take some time this week during your devotional quiet time and ask God what you should give up and what you need to do in order to draw closer to him. Listen to Him and obey Him!! Your journey will not be like my journey, but we are all on a unique journey to be better servants for His glory!!!

Enjoy the attached material on “ The Invisible Hand of God”!!!!!

Grace & Shalom!!!!

Your Brother In Christ

Pastor Perry

 

God’s Creation Part 1

 https://youtu.be/AE_BX1XUSC4

 

Rick ZimmermanUnderstanding the Invisible Hand of God
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Church’s Role In Ensuring Reconciliation In Our Community

February 15, 2018 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members & Friends,

I wanted to take a moment and share with you what we have planned for Sunday and encourage you to arrive on time. Fort Robinson will be joining us along with their church membership body for our Sunday service. We will continue our celebration of Significant Contributions made to our country by African Americans. On Sunday, you will hear from an outstanding young woman, Delia Mwinyelle, who won the Area High School Oratorical contest sponsored by Eastman. Delia is very impressive and you will enjoy her presentation.

We will have a combined choir to celebrate the beauty of unity in the Body of Christ and join them for a powerful time of Praise & Worship!!

Dustin will minister to us and I have requested that he speak on the theme of  the Church’s Role in Ensuring Reconciliation in our Community. This will be a wonderful service and fellowship for not only our members but the entire community. Please invite a friend and bring a special guest with you as part of our community outreach!!

I am confident God is going to speak to our hearts collectively and individually during this powerful service!!!

Let’s keep all of our members lifted up in prayer especially those experiencing challenges on many fronts like an illness or dealing with the loss of a loved one!!

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday for this special service and you are in my prayers and thoughts!!!

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry

 

Rick ZimmermanChurch’s Role In Ensuring Reconciliation In Our Community
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Seven Critical Steps To Enhance Your Life

January 9, 2018 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members & Friends,

I pray you have been diligent during the 1st week of 2018 in your personal bible study and focused devotional time and are “Staying Fresh!!!” Staying Fresh is a phrase I am using to remind us to not allow people or Satan to steal our joy in 2018. I have attached the word document from our Bible Study on last Wednesday night. It is important that you put these Seven Principles into practice during 2018. If you do so, I promise you will grow spiritually and professionally.

We now have a number of people outside our state on the mailing list and I am grateful that you enjoy the weekly letter and inspirational material to help you in your spiritual walk.

On Wednesday night during our bible study, we will turn our attention back to our Study Series on “Relationships Matter.” I will be addressing from a biblical perspective on how to handle people who are not completely honest in their communications. Unfortunately, we live in a society where people are sometimes deceitful in their communications and approach. The bible is filled with examples of this type of deceptive behavior and the consequences this creates in our society. We will examine the deceptive communications of Jacob and his mother in the book of Genesis as they plotted together and stole Esau’s birthright.

I can’t wait to see you Wednesday night at 6:30 pm. Please bring a friend and plan on a very interactive dialogue during this bible study. For those of you outside the Tri-Cities, please enjoy the attached study material from last week!!

“Stay Fresh”

Grace & Shalom!!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Seven Critical Steps to Enhance Your Life

Rick ZimmermanSeven Critical Steps To Enhance Your Life
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“Stay Fresh” in 2018

January 2, 2018 Rick Zimmerman ,

Dear Central Members and Friends,

I pray and hope on day two of the New Year that you are still happy!!!! One of the ways to ensure success in 2018 is to spend each morning as you awake reflecting on what you are thankful for!! Our life will be filled with many challenges in 2018 like all years are. However, a great way to keep your joy is to start each day reflecting on what you are Thankful to God for!!!

We can always find something negative to complain about. Let’s do something different this week. Why don’t we all start by seeing if we can go the next seven days without complaining about something. Let’s hold each other accountable for this. The reason so much of our joy is stolen, is directly related to the environment we live in today. From television, to employees, to family members we can always find something to complain about.

On Wednesday night during our bible study, I am going to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and deviate from our current study series on “Relationships Matter” to cover “Seven Critical Steps We All Must Take to Enhance Our Spiritual Growth in 2018.”

You don’t want to miss these seven critical steps to enhance your spiritual and personal growth in 2018. Bring a friend with you and come prepared to take notes and leave our session with a nice study handout that will be instrumental in your spiritual growth during 2018.

Remember “Stay Fresh” and don’t allow complaints to rob you of your joy for the next seven days!!!!

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick Zimmerman“Stay Fresh” in 2018
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Finishing 2017 Strong

December 27, 2017 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members and Friends,

I hope you had a delightful and joyful Christmas as we celebrated the birth of our Savior!!

Remember, the most important thing in life is not how we start but how we finish!!! My prayers are that you finish strong as our objective in life should be to finish strong!! We do this by taking advantage of every opportunity we have to improve at work, at home, within our community and also in our relationship with God and one another.

On last week during our bible study, we examined Numbers, chapter 12  and discussed how to maintain a healthy relationship with difficult people by looking at the humility of Moses as he dealt with his family, who resented his position with God and was discriminatory toward his wife because she was Ethiopian.

God said Moses was the most humble and meekness man on the face of the earth. Think of how amazing Moses’ character was given that there were millions of people on the earth at this time period. The critical question for us today is how would God describe our character??? Moses wasn’t a super human or super natural person. He was just a man. However, he was a man of humility, dedicated and determined to honor and fulfill the mission God desired of Him!! What about us, can God trust you to obey him and fulfill the purpose He desires of you??

You should plan to join us for bible study as we look at Jesus Christ’s relationship with us related to forgiveness!!!

Let’s plan on finishing 2017 strong by being present at bible study on Wednesday at 6:30 pm.

Remember, relationships matter!!!  As the entire bible is about our relationship with our Heavenly Father and how He looked beyond our faults to provide for our needs. Come and learn how to enhance your relationship with God and people as you enter 2018 refreshed, relaxed, and re-focused on what our Lord and Savior has in store for you personally and us collectively as a Church in the upcoming New Year!!!

Grace & Shalom!!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick ZimmermanFinishing 2017 Strong
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Relationships Matter

December 13, 2017 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members and Friends!!

I pray this post finds you well and you are not overly stressed during this holiday season. One of the things I try hard to do at this time of the year, since my schedule like yours is extremely demanding, is to keep a focus on my top spiritual priorities. 

In order to do this, I try and get up a little earlier or stay up just long enough to deepen my understanding about the special relationship God desires of us. He allowed His only Son, Jesus, to become a ransom for us in order for our redemption. Just this statement along speaks volumes about God’s love for us through His son Jesus Christ!!!!

There are a limited number of people on the planet, if any who would have sacrificed their only son for people who rejected their son. God is unlike us, His love is completely agape!! Therefore, we must be intentional about enhancing our understanding of how important “Relationships are to our Heavenly Father”!!!

Our series on “Relationships Matter’ will dramatically enhance your spiritual insight and wisdom and improve your relationship with people if you put in the personal study time and be intentional about becoming a better person!!

On Sunday, we cracked open the door about addressing toxic relationships in our life. We discovered from our Study on Sunday that a toxic relationship can extend beyond people. We can have a toxic relationship with food, our job, money etc.. A toxic item is anything that will cause us harm and hinder an appropriate relationship with God and our family.

We will continue this study during  our bible study and examine in more detail the toxic relationship that Samson found himself in with Delilah. In order to better prepare for our discussion, please take a moment to read Judges, chapters 13 through 16 as we will examine Samson’s failures and look at the opportunities he had to reverse the course of his destructive behavior. 

More importantly, we will have a candid dialogue about our own behavior and what modifications and adjustments we need to make to improve our relationship with God and others while avoiding the mistakes that Samson made!!

 I look forward to seeing you on tomorrow night and please enjoy the attached side deck from Sunday!!

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry

 

Rick ZimmermanRelationships Matter
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Veterans Appreciation

November 9, 2017 Rick Zimmerman

Dear Central Members & Friends:

As we approach a very busy season that always occurs in November and December, please take a moment this weekend, especially on Saturday to thank God for the brave men and women who have devoted their time and talent to serve this country in the military. They are the unselfish hero’s who walk quietly before us each day without seeking any recognition.

Many of them have paid a deep price for the freedom we get to enjoy each day!! My request is that you pause on Saturday especially, and thank God for them, along with praying for the men and women around the world who are still serving the great nation we are proud to call AMERICA!!

Like so many of my brothers and sisters, we are grateful that God allowed us to serve you in the military and we have a simple request: please don’t forget about us and pray for us along with our brothers and sisters who are confined to the VA hospitals because of the injuries that they have sustained!!!

My prayers are with each of you and please pray for my fellow servants who have spent time in the military like me, and the millions of soldiers who are deployed around the world today!!!

May God keep you in His Grace!!

Grace & Peace!!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick ZimmermanVeterans Appreciation
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From the Pastor's Desk