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Understanding the Manifest Presence of God

Dear Central Members & Friends,

I hope your week is off to an excellent start and you are modeling grace and experiencing the presence of God in your life in unique ways!! If you have been spending quality time applying the spiritual lessons in your daily life from our study series on “Understanding the Manifest Presence of God,” I am extremely confident that God has been speaking to your heart and you are more sensitive to His presence than you have been previously!!

Growing spiritually is like working out and going to the gym, you get out of it what you put into it!! God does not force His will upon us and we don’t grow spiritually and experience the abundant blessings He has for us; we don’t make knowing God and communing with Him a priority in our life!!

On Sunday we took a look at I Kings 19:1-14 and examined the major transition and contrast in Elijah’s life from I Kings chapter 18. We discovered in chapter 18 that Elijah was on top of the world and when we drop anchor in chapter 19, we find him depressed and afraid!!

We all go through difficult transitions and trials in life where we feel isolated and alone. However, the good news is that God never leaves or forsakes us during these difficult time periods. If we stay close to him and allow Him to minister to us, He will ultimately rescue us from these difficult situations as our loving and Holy Father!!!

We discovered a rich blessing on Sunday by looking at how God graciously ministered to Elijah during his moment of depression and darkness. Depression is a serious mental condition that impacts more than 100 million people around the world. It is extremely serious and impacts people from all walks of life. We see Elijah in I Kings 19, the great prophet of God, wanting his own life to be taken. The good news is God knew what He needed and ministered to him and got him back on the right track.

Elijah experienced the “Manifest Presence of God” even while being depressed!! This is a great lesson for us all that if we can look beyond our circumstances, God is always present and willing to help us if we walk by faith and not by sight!!

I pray you put these practical truths into action in your daily life as you encounter trials now and in the future.

Grace & Shalom!!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

Rick - Admin ZimmermanUnderstanding the Manifest Presence of God
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Four Principles For City Renewal

Dear Central Members & Friends

I hope your week is off to an excellent start and you are asking God to grant you the grace to walk in the footsteps He has ordered for you this entire month!! I am going to ask you to be extremely focused spiritually this entire month as we celebrate 100 years as a church body. What an awesome wonderful blessing and demonstration of God’s grace to achieve such a significant spiritual milestone!!!

This is truly a “Journey of Faith” as noted in Hebrews 11:6 which is our anchor theme and scripture for this Centennial Celebration!! I have attached the slides from the message I delivered on yesterday during our worship service with Fort Robinson, our partnership church in the Kingsport area. The message is practical truths about our future and what each of us must do individually and collectively as leaders as we move forward as a church on “God’s Agenda” to have an even greater impact on our future and the future of our city.

I would like for you to read and study the book of Nehemiah during your personal devotional and study time this month. Nehemiah is a great example for us all, of someone who stayed steadfast as a leader on God’s agenda, persevered during times of great opposition, had a caring heart and led the people during a critical rebuilding project!!   Nehemiah was a cupbearer, not a King or Priest, but a layman who served under King Artaxerxes, who ruled Persia from 464 to 423 B.C. Nehemiah’s name means – “The Lord has comforted.”

Remember the four principles I shared on Sunday and put them into practice in your life  from Chapter 2 of Nehemiah verses 1-20:

1.      Opposition is certain from within and without

2.      Prayer is essential

3.      People must be willing to work

4.      The leaders & workers must be determined to follow God’s agenda

As we examine our bible, we see it littered with people who failed because they submitted to their own agenda instead of God’s agenda with noble intentions only to realize too late the mistake they had made. Let’s start each day off determined to stay on God’s agenda instead of our agenda!!

I hope you enjoy the slide deck from the Sermons page and find it a useful tool in your deeper study of Nehemiah this month!!

Grace & Shalom!!!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

 

Rick ZimmermanFour Principles For City Renewal
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What Really Matter Most In Our Lives?

Dear Central Members and Friends,

I am sending you this note just before 6:00 AM Tuesday morning here in Europe. I have a long work day ahead, ending with a dinner meeting with colleagues. However, I have learned to be obedient to God and wanted to drop you a quick note that hopefully will be beneficial to you.

The topic is, what really matters most in our lives??  We unintentionally jam so much in our lives and work so hard to accomplish, by the world standards, what we think is most important!!  However, if I am completely honest with you, what most of us chase in life is really not that important.

As I typically do during my early morning devotion, listen to what God is saying, here are some things He placed on my heart as your Pastor. The greatest gift you can give me as your Pastor and your family is a lifestyle that God is pleased with!!

One of the things that is extremely important to me when I stand before God to give Him an account of my work as your Pastor, is that I have pleased Him and done what the number one requirement is for all Pastors which is equipping the saints for the work of the ministry!!  What really matters most are the sermons we live more than the sermons we preach.

All of us preach a sermon each day by the way we live!! The question is, do our sermons make a difference in the lives of people?  See, most of us believe the sermons are left to Pastors and the ministry staff at our church. I have learned over the years that the sermons that matter most to people are the ones I live instead of the ones I preach. Why don’t you take time this week to start living a beautiful sermon before your family, co-workers and other people you come into contact with. Our sermons will not always be perfect; however, they will get better each day and each week as we become more intentional about honoring God in every aspect of our life.

Attached is the document which I placed in the bulletin this past Sunday and had Stephanie read to the congregation. An individual I referenced in the document was D.L. Moody, one of the greatest preachers and evangelist in the last one hundred years. What made D.L. Moody  special was his relentless focus on pleasing God. I had the wonderful privilege of working downtown Chicago back in the early 1990’s, and during my lunch break I would often take a six-block walk to the Moody Bible College bookstore and spend quality time reading and buying study material that would help me in my ministry in those early years. 

What I have learned that matters most to God is not what we know but what we do with what we know. What we must do is obey God. In the attached letter I quote D.L. Moody and I would like you to reflect this week on that quote and ask yourself the following questions:

1. What does your character reveal about you in the dark?

2. Are you spending the vast majority of your time being critical of people while overlooking your own faults?

3. What are you going to do differently to live your sermons instead of preaching your sermons? We all preach sermons whether we recognize it or not!!

4. What do you need to repent about and ask God for guidance on to walk in the footsteps He has ordered for you?

Now as I prepare to close this note and start my day here in the Netherlands,  let me make a few comments about Europe. I have been making this trip to this region for over twenty years now and one of the things that dramatically stands out is how diverse this region has become.  Europe is a lot more diverse than America, and there are people of all colors that have made significance progress. The technology in the transit systems has always been more advanced than America and still is today.

We can learn a lot by getting outside of our comfort zones and embracing the world around us in the same manner as Jesus!!!

I pray you will not allow yourselves to be incarcerated this week by a laundry list of activities, but you will focus on what matters most to God!! It will remove a lot of stress in your life this week!! I look forward to finishing strong this week in Europe and a safe return to the US on Saturday.

May your week be filled with His Grace!! 

Pastor Perry Stuckey

(04-08-18) From the Pastor’s Desk

Rick ZimmermanWhat Really Matter Most In Our Lives?
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The Messiah Betrayed By Judas

Dear Central Members,

Attached you will find the slides I covered during bible study last Wednesday. I have also included for you a pre-read that you need to read in advance of our lesson next week (April 4). As I shared with you last Wednesday there are individual Christians and Theologians who believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and spent three entire days and nights in the grave. I have included what this group believes and the scripture they utilize to support this belief. I have also included the traditional belief that Jesus was crucified on Friday and was resurrected on Sunday. The objective is not for you to get into an argument with anyone or take a dogmatic position. The intent of this reading material is for you to understand the different positions and why people hold those positions, so you can be better informed.

As your Pastor, my objective is to ensure you have the Truth of God’s Word and that you rely on the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct you into all truth!! We will open our discussion on April 4 with any questions you might have from the reading material and quickly go into our scheduled lesson. I hope you are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, practicing Modeling Grace, Transparency and working hard to ensure that you are Enhancing Relationships with Fellow believers and non-believers as well as honoring our Lord and Savior.

Grace & Shalom!!

Pastor Perry Stuckey

The Messiah Betrayed By Judas

Passover

 

Rick ZimmermanThe Messiah Betrayed By Judas
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Transparency As A Christian

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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Understanding the Invisible Hand of God

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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Seven Critical Steps To Enhance Your Life

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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Finishing 2017 Strong

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

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

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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