From the Pastor’s Pen... The Glory of God and the

Peoples of the Earth:

A Christian View on Race And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:22-27)

Introduction:

Regardless of your political view, it is obvious our na-tion is erupting at the seams over the issue of race. It is under this heralding battle cry that the armies of man have risen and gathered together to protest what is now being called systemic racism, as seemingly offen-

sive monuments are being toppled, buildings burned to the ground, people in-jured and sometimes mur-dered as anger becomes the primary emotion. My goal is to not give my po-litical spin on Black Lives Matter, the removal of the

The Good News August 2020

Fishersville Baptist Church 1518 Jefferson Hwy

PO Box 82 Fishersville, VA 22939

Church Office: Telephone: (540) 942-1058 (Please leave a voicemail) fvillebaptist@gmail.com

www.fvillebc.org

For assistance, please contact the

Church Office or your deacon:

Pr Steven Lookabaugh 540-490-2137

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

From the Pastor’s Pen 1-5

Th(i)nkful: The Art of

Thankfulness 5-8

Equipping the Saints 8

Message in song 9-10

Disaster Relief 10

52 Sundays 11-12

Join us every Sunday morning for our Worship Service

at 10:00am

As per the Governor’s mandate, please man-date social distancing inside and outside the church building and

wear face masks.

Confederate flag, or what I think about sports leagues such the NBA, NFL, or MLB as they have each made controversial decisions. Rather, this article is a call to think and live as Bible-believing Christians. In times like this, we need to think clearly not as citizens of this world, but as citizens of the kingdom of God. In other words, the Bible is our guide for such things, and what does the Bible say about race?

The Purpose of Race

There exists great diversity and unity among humanity within ethnic groups. Each ethnic group shares in much unity as they often have common character-istics but many within each group also diverge from these similarities while still being part of the greater group. These similarities may be based on physi-cal shared traits but also could be a collective history, language and perhaps a special way of communicating ideas, and physical location. There are so many people groups and languages in this world that even the most skilled polyglot would be unable to speak to all of them with intelligibility. Revelation 7:9 says this about the great number of people groups in this world, “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.” Notice the Bible does not de-fine them by race, but rather they are equals as they are defined as “a great multitude” who are worshiping the Lord. This multitude’s ethnicity is de-scribed as originating from every nation and all peoples. This should encour-age us because there will be some people saved from every people group in the world. There will not even be one left out. It is not a promise for every per-son but every people group.

What is the purpose of race? God could have made everyone look the same, but we should remember racism does not have its origin with God, but sinful humanity. The purpose of race is for the glory of God and we should glorify God by our own race and the ethnicity of others. This purpose is made abun-dantly clear in Revelation 21:22-27 as only two main ideas are proposed. The first is the extreme value of the glory of God as he is physically the light of the nations, and the second is that the nations will be present in the kingdom of God in the conclusion of Revelation. These two are significant as it fulfils God’s intention for the nations. God never intended to save just the Jewish people, but they were made to be a kingdom of priests for the world, and they were the people God chose to bring the Messiah into the world. This is not to dimin-ish the importance and value of the Jewish people, as they were beautifully used by God throughout their great history.

Genesis and Race

Love The book of Genesis is instructive concerning race, and there are a few important passages I would like to discuss. First, obviously is the creation pas-sage in Genesis 1-2, as God creates humanity. We should notice that God does

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not create all the races in Genesis, but he creates the potentiality of all races within the one man and woman he makes. The beginning place for any discus-sion concerning humanity and the multiplicity of races is they are all created in the image of God. To be human is to be created in the image of God which ele-vates all of us in worth above all creation. Genesis 1:26 records God’s words at creation when he says, “Let us make man in our image according to our like-ness; and let them rule. . .” I believe all racism begins when we do not remem-ber this fact about all people. Every one of them is created in the image of God and racism often views one race as more important than another.

During the flood, one family of the earth is saved, and it is important to focus on that particular family, because it is from them the peoples of the earth de-rive. Noah’s three sons board the Ark and preserve those who will dwell on the earth. Shem and his wife would become what would later be those who make up the people of the Ancient Near East, or the Semitic peoples. Ham became the father of the people from Africa and Japheth of the European peoples. It is interesting and tragic to see how some would permit racism from a biblical ar-gument. At one point in Christianity, some thought Ham’s sin against his fa-ther was God’s eternal punishment for all future generations so they believed it was biblical to enslave his descendants.

Genesis 10 is often called the Table of Nations as it records the families that would come after Noah and his sons. Genesis 10 is a treasure to those who are interested in genealogy and geography within biblical history as it is our histo-ry as well. Moses describes Genesis 10:32 as the summary of the entire chapter when he says, “These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.” There was nothing inherently sinful from one family to another. Genesis 10 simply informs the audience of the multiplicity of fami-lies on the earth after the flood and is preparing the reader for what will hap-pen in Genesis 12.

Genesis 11 describes the sin of disobeying God’s command to fill the earth be-cause they were concerned about being scattered over the face of the earth. The world was literally one people group with the same language and back-ground. With their great audacity they decided to make a name for themselves so they would not have to obey the Lord, so they decided to make a capital for all humans and a great tower. It was there God made the first languages of the world and they were forced to obey God and scatter. Whereas Genesis 10 lists the peoples of the earth, Genesis 12 focuses on one small family in order to save all of the peoples. After the flood, Noah built an altar to the Lord and God said in Genesis 8:21, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.” Although God saved humanity through the Ark, those who survived were still sinners, and they needed the Savior prom-ised in Genesis 3:15. This issue is at the heart of Genesis 12 as God chose Abram

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to bless the nations. Notice the language in Genesis 12:3 as God said, “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Our Lord’s intention was not to just save Abraham and his family but to save all families through that one family.

The New Testament and Race

The gospel is not about God’s plan to save the Jews alone but to save sinful hu-mans. The basis of salvation is believing in Jesus for salvation. Romans 1-3 de-scribe both Jewish and gentile rejection of the Lord. This rejection is not ab-normal but is the starting place for those outside the kingdom of God. The tragic reality is that God can be clearly seen but is still rejected because of hu-manity’s sinful desires as described in Romans 1:20-23, “For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

The gospel saves the one who believes in Jesus. The gospel has never changed nor will it ever change. We cannot change it to make it more appealing to oth-ers or it will cease being the gospel. The world rejects Jesus but the one who believes in the name of Jesus will be saved, and it has nothing to do with the color of the person’ skin or the language spoken. This is the reason why the Bi-ble is translated in so many languages. The gospel is for all the peoples of the earth. Notice the simplicity of the gospel in John 1:10-13 describing the world’s universal rejection and the effect on a person who goes against the grain and believes, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to be-come children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were not born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” The big challenge is if everyone who believes in Jesus is a child of God, then where is the possibility of racism for the Christian? Christians of all peo-ple should despise racism because how could a brother or sister in Christ be seen less than that?

Conclusion

Biblically, there are only two types of people on the world today, and which group they belong depends on their relationship with our Sovereign Lord. The Old Testament did this by declaring those who were outside of Israel as gen-tiles. It did not matter where a person was from or what God was worshiped in his land but were simply called a gentile because he was not Jewish. As we look at our world today, we see much unnecessary division and tension among

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people. Truly, the gospel should unite us and not divide us. The spirit of divi-sion today is the work of Satan in our world, and he will not win the day, be-cause the victory belongs to the Lord. We should unite with other believers and stand for the gospel and the kingdom of our Lord. We should not be fear-ful to stand for the Lord even if it is uncomfortable and we should stand firm on the truth of Scripture and not back down regardless of what comes against us. We should not quickly judge based on the color of a person’s skin because that is what those outside of Jesus do. Leave that for them. We know what unites us is the Lord and Christianity should destroy racism because it is through the gospel that people of various ethnicity become brothers and sis-ters. Could it be that all of this hate and division could be destroyed if they would put down their signs and weapons and run to the gospel of the cross?

Blessings

Pastor Steven

The Th(i)nkful Challenge

Words are Powerful

A teacher was ready to pull her hair out. The class was rowdy and definite-ly not quietly doing their work. She finally asked everyone to get out a piece of paper, to write down the name of each class member going down the left side, and then to write one nice thing about each person. Lat-er the teacher collected the papers and compiled each person’s character-istics on their own page. The next day, she handed each student his or her compilation of compliments.

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Years later, the teacher got word that one of her students had died in Vietnam and she was asked to attend his funeral. The soldier’s family showed her that piece of paper from junior-high with the other students’ kind remarks about him; he had carried it in his wallet until the day he died. Other students at the funeral slowly pulled out their pieces of paper as well and said how much it had meant to them.

This is the true touching story of a teacher at a Catholic school in Minnesota, and it shows the power of encouragement. The student who passed away in Vietnam was Mark Eklund.

Thinkful Challenge

I would like to challenge you. I want you to think of a person in your life that God has used to make you more like Himself. Perhaps God allowed the influence to be from afar. Perhaps it was a relative or a classmate. God uses so many things to shape us and purify us, but there are certain people who have made a particular impact on your life to move you toward Christ.

Take some time to think. I am sure that there are many, but at least pick out one. After set-tling on that one, I encourage you to write a few ways that person has been used by God to help you grow spiritually. It may have been just by example; it may have been key comments at critical moments in the formative years of your life; it may have been through an extended dis-cipleship relationship.

When you’ve completed your list, then thank them. Thank God first of all, and then thank the person. The best way is in person, but if you are far away or lack the courage, perhaps a hand-written letter (like, with stamps), or even an email would be acceptable. Yeah, probably not a text.

My Person

My response to the Thinkful Challenge brings me to Joan. We met up over 26 years ago when our family joined the mission with which we currently serve. She (being a fellow MK and someone who lived in Africa) and I had no trouble quickly connecting.

God used Joan in my life to make me think. Over the years she has influenced me with her life and with her words.

She challenged me in crafting a LPS (Life Purpose Statement). She encouraged me when I was discouraged. Over and over, she and her husband Paul poured courage into David and me.

I remember one time when we were speaking together at a ladies seminar on the Big Five. We used the theme of the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt as a platform to talk about the most important things to have in your life.

Elephant – Life Purpose Cape Buffalo – Building Redemptive Relationships Lion- Spending time with King Jesus Rhino – Accountability Partner Leopard – Spotting Discipleship Relationships

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Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

Joan’s favorite animal is the African Leopard.

I felt so nervous to speak to all these women, but Joan would encourage me to just represent Christ. “Jesus does all the work,” she would say, “you are just a tool.”

Once, when she visited us in Africa, she went with me to a fabric store and helped me think of ways to decorate our home. She made things happen. She powered through ob-stacles.

A huge blessing from Joan is her love for our MK children. She has a special place in her heart for MK’s. No doubt about it. The cool thing is that they love her back. She has earned their

love.

One of my favorite memories of Joan is traveling to Israel together. It was the best trip of my life. I loved seeing all these places from the Bible come alive. What a gift to experience that adven-ture.

When visiting Abraham’s tomb, Joan, Avril and I had to wear big robes for covering. We felt odd-ly like nuns in this mosque.

We drank water from the well where Jesus had met with the Samaritan woman (John 4). We walked around the Garden of Gethsemane where our Savior wrestled through those difficult mo-

ments before dying for our sins on the cross.

There are so many things I could mention, but in the end, I thank God for how Joan pointed me to Christ. The Lord used her in conforming me to His Son.

Thinkful for Joan:

She gave words of affirmation when I felt so weak and incapable She represented how a godly woman should invest her life, in discipleship and mentoring She has cared for her mom during difficult years She loves on missionary kids and makes them feel important She is so funny and has a god-

ly irreverence for religious tra-ditions

She does cool, innovative and impulsive stuff

She has decorated her home in African style, celebrating her memories living there

She is a reader She has taught us as mission-

ary ladies about balance in our lives

She is not afraid of rebellious

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kids and loves sinners, like Jesus Thanks, God, for the influence of righteousness that Joan has had in my life.

I am th(i)nkful.

Written by Karin Brown

For the past 25 years, Karin and her husband David have been involved in church planting projects with Biblical Ministries Worldwide, primarily in Johannesburg, South Africa. They have served BMW’s

missionary teams on the European and African continents as Karin has walked alongside pastor’s wives, missionary wives, and young women. They currently serve in southern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, focusing on the Zulu people.

Karin grew up in Norway before marrying her best friend, David. She has an under-grad degree in Secondary Education, a Master of Arts in Counseling and is an ACBC certified biblical counselor. David and Karin have 4 amazing children and 10 incredible grandchildren.

Th(i)nkful (adj) describing people who choose to download grace/strength from the Lord to think thanks about every circumstance in their life and to express that thanks orally or in written form.

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Dear Friends,

July! The month when we celebrated the freedom we enjoy in this country. Free-dom bought with a price, but so often taken for granted as our right. We need the 4th of July to remind us of the great privilege we have of being a part of this great land.

We not only have freedoms in our personal lives, but the freedom to know and serve our God. At ETS we pray that this will continue, not only for our good but for the good of all the ministries we serve.

Like everyone else and every other ministry, ETS has been jolted by the changes required during the past five months. Our purpose “to equip the saints” has not changed, but the way we do it has. We are regularly asked, “Are you open?” Yes! We have been six days a week throughout this time. While relatively few people come by the office, the work has not stopped. More and more of our serving others involves providing information and net-working on behalf of other ministries.

Have we stopped shipping things? No! Two of the “big” shipments this month were 9,350 lbs. of pastor library books for Love Packages and a 53 ft. trailer of clothing, medical supplies and more for Jezreel International. Without our Lord bringing good volunteers to help, none of this would be possible.

Have we stopped buying things? No! Many publishers and other vendors seem to be “dumping” inventory. We are buying thousands of Bibles while they are available at super low prices. These are needed now and that need will never end. We also recently pur-chased 2,472 “Go Tell the World” missionary soccer balls.

We know many of our ministry partners are facing health or financial challenges. Be as-sured we make every effort to use wisely the gifts that God has provided through His peo-ple. Thank you for being a part of this ministry with us. May God’s grace flood your life with His provision, peace and purpose. Psalm 23:5.

Love in Christ,

ETS Staff

Message in Song Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me

CityAlight is a music ministry in Castle Hill, Sydney, Australia. They focus on writ-ing songs rooted in Biblical lyrics and with simple melodies, making it easy for churches to learn and sing. The average church in Australia has 70 attendees, and most do not have large music groups or bands to deliver complex musical arrangements. They wanted their music to accessible to all churches.

“The sound of a church singing has preceded almost every great revival in church history. The church is God’s witness and representative on earth. Is there any wonder that a tremendous power comes about when the representative voice of God in the earth is singing.

We desire to get out of the way so the truth upon which all our songs are built can properly shine. We pray that the lyrics and melodies of these songs would fix eyes and hearts and minds on Jesus. We pray that our songs might join the many thousands of songs written through history to encourage the church, and when they have played their role, to make way for the next ones. And we rejoice that one day the only name left stand-ing will be the name of Jesus, as it should be.

Yours together in Jesus’ service, The CityAlight Team”

Look out for when we sing this song as a congregation in August. We will post the video for you to watch on our website and Face-book page so you can learn this easy melody and be able to sing along with us. May the words in the final verse ring ever true as we follow Jesus daily with joy and thanksgiving for all He has done

What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer There is no more for heaven now to give

He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace

To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus For my life is wholly bound to His

Oh how strange and divine, I can sing: all is mine Yet not I, but through Christ in me

The night is dark but I am not forsaken For by my side, the Saviour He will stay I labour on in weakness and rejoicing

For in my need, His power is displayed To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me

Through the deepest valley He will lead Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome

Yet not I, but through Christ in me

No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven The future sure, the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon And He was raised to overthrow the grave To this I hold, my sin has been defeated

Jesus now and ever is my plea Oh the chains are released, I can sing: I am free

Yet not I, but through Christ in me

With every breath I long to follow Jesus For He has said that He will bring me home

And day by day I know He will renew me Until I stand with joy before the throne

To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus All the glory evermore to Him

When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat Yet not I, but through Christ in me

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for us: “To this I hold, my hope is only Je-sus, all the glory evermore to Him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat: yet not I, but through Christ in me”

Lauren Carstens Music Director

Hurricane Isaias

Most of you may already be aware of this storm; right now it looks like southeast Virginia may be im-pacted by the storm late Monday through Tuesday next week. Of course, as we all know, the track could (and likely will) change several times between now and landfall. But, now is the time to make plans! You should be preparing now for the impact of this storm. Here are some tips for Ready.gov.

Know your Hurricane Risk - Hurricanes are not just a coastal problem. Find out how rain, wind, water could happen where you live so you can start preparing now.

Make an Emergency Plan - Make sure everyone in your household knows and understands your hurri-cane plan. Discuss the latest Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19) and how it may affect your hurricane planning. Don’t forget a plan for the office, kids’ daycare, and anywhere you frequent.

Gather Supplies - Have enough supplies for your household, include medication, water, food, disinfect-ant supplies, cloth face coverings, pet supplies in your go bag or car trunk.

SBCV Disaster Relief is ready to respond, but our response will be different and will rely more on the local church and day workers than in the past due to COVID-19. We will work with both local emer-gency management and churches to assist in any needed response.

We have recovery trailers available to deploy equipped with chainsaw and flood recovery tools and equipment that can be used by local church Disaster Relief teams. We will deploy recovery teams as needed within COVID-19 guidelines, generally using day work teams meaning you will not be staying overnight and meals must be brought with you. If you have damage in your area, please email disaster-relief@sbcv.org with as much information as you have and include photos if you can. We will send out an email requesting teams or individuals as needed as soon after the storm passes as we can.

if you have any questions or would like training, please feel free to email us at disasterrelief@sbcv.org.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave

himself for me. — Galatians 2:20

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Today in our prayer time we want to

think about two of our missionaries in

Africa. James and Marci Langston

serve in the nation of Zambia. The

Langstons have set up a Rural Bible

School that is sort of a weeklong semi-

nary. Over a week, they teach Zambian

believers how to share the gospel and

how to preach a simple sermon.

Students also learn basic Christian be-

liefs. Most Zambians believe spirits

who want to hurt them are every-

where. Christ removes those fears —

new believers know true freedom for

the first time. In one class a man

named Mr. Shadreck came from a distant village. He had recently become a follower of Christ and

wanted to learn more about his new faith. During a session on baptism, Mr. Shadreck realized he

needed to be baptized. He was baptized in a river that day.

So many people need to hear the gospel in Zambia that there is no time for a few pastors to study

for years.The Langstons want to turn new believers into witnessing believers right now. Let’s pray

now for James and Marci and their teaching ministry.

Today for our prayer time, let’s think

about what it means to be a missionary.

A missionary shares the gospel with lost

people, right? So he must talk to lost

people. In the United States, it’s usually

easy to talk to people in a grocery store

or the post office. That’s not true for our

missionaries we want to pray for today.

Michael and JuliAn Domke serve in

Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe.

They say the culture here is “cold.” They

don’t mean the weather. They mean

people in Ukraine are not friendly to

people they don’t know. So, how do you

get to know people in Ukraine?

Michael and JuliAn host an English club in their home. They call it English4Life. They talk about many

topics, then tell what the Bible teaches. This lets them share their faith in Christ. It works! They have

had up to 50 people in their home at once. Most have never heard about a personal faith in Christ.

Our church supports Michael and JuliAn way over in Ukraine through our Cooperative Program giv-

ing. Let’s pray for them now — that they will reach many for Christ!

Today in our prayer time we will pray for Daniel and Kayla Atondo who have started a church in

San José, California. You may not have heard of San José, but you’ve probably heard of Netflix and

eBay and many other of the tech companies that are based in the area. This is in Silicon Valley,

south of San Francisco.

Daniel and Kayla have planted Eden Church there because they want the name of Jesus to be as fa-

mous as some of those tech firms are. The church meets Sundays in a school. To introduce Eden

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Church to the city, they began by minis-

tering to the school’s needs, such as clean-

up projects or helping needy students.

They emphasize teaching the Bible and ad-

vertise their classes in many ways.

One woman heard about their Alpha

course that presents the Bible’s teaching

on the Christian faith. The woman took

the course, became a follower of Jesus

and was later baptized. Let’s pray now for

Daniel and Kayla and ask the Lord to show

them how to share Jesus with many peo-

ple in this tech-focused city.

God speaks to us in many ways. And He calls

people to be missionaries in many ways. Today

we want to pray for Steven Kunkel. God called

him to serve in Japan when he was 15 years old.

Later Steven lived in Japan four years and he

saw the spiritual needs. Of the 127 million peo-

ple there, only about 1 percent is Christian.

That became part of his missionary calling. Ste-

ven prepared for service at Boyce College, part

of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in

Louisville, Kentucky. Japan is one of the world’s

most difficult mission fields. It’s hard for Ameri-

cans to fit into Japanese culture. The Japanese

language is extremely difficult for outsiders to learn. For example, the Japanese don’t use letters to

write; they use symbols. And you have to learn about 1,200 different symbols just to read a simple

newspaper. Steven has autism, which means he must focus on one or two things at a time. But he

says that helped him concentrate completely on learning Japanese. Today let’s ask God to bless and

guide Steven as he serves in Japan.

Today for our prayer time we are going to

pray for Jeremy and Crystal Nelson, who

serve in Madrid, the capital of Spain. Spain

is a huge mission field: About 46 million

people live in Spain and fewer than 1 per-

cent of them are saved. But Jeremy and

Crystal have an interesting approach to

evangelism.

Thousands of people from South America

have settled in Spain in recent years and

many of them are Christians. So Jeremy

and Crystal reach out to these immigrants.

They teach these immigrants the Bible and

how to share their faith with Spaniards

who do not know Christ as Savior. Jeremy grew up as a missionary kid in Venezuela. Also, he and

Crystal served as missionaries in South America for several years before moving to Spain. This is

how they are planting new churches in parts of Madrid that have no evangelical witness. Let’s pray

now for Jeremy and Crystal and their multi-national approach to missions. Let’s ask God to show

our missionaries how to how to lead thousands of Spaniards to faith in Christ.

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