The Mustard Seed · The Mustard Seed Rehoboth Baptist Church Newsletter ~ March 2018 From the Desk of Pastor Steve: What is Your True Self? One of those modern proverbs floating about

The Mustard Seed Rehoboth Baptist Church Newsletter ~ March 2018

From the Desk of Pastor Steve:

What is Your True Self?

One of those modern proverbs floating aboutthese days is that we “have to be true to ourselves.”Like a proverb you might find in the scriptures, thissaying is invoked as a generally accepted truth thatought to guide our decision making. Have you stoppedto think what is meant by this common saying?

Often times it is invoked to help people overcomepeer pressure or the general people-pleasingtendencies a lot of us experience. For example, listento this excerpt from the article, Be True to Yourself!

“Many young people believe that when they dothings to please their peers, such as drinkwhen they shouldn't, or behave and party ininappropriate ways, they will be popular andliked. They go against the advice of theirparents or their own common sense only tofind themselves in trouble and notaccomplishing what they set out to do.

When you do things that are not genuine or areflection of the real you, you will not behappy with yourself and will end up confused.You'll be confused because you won't knowwhom to please, or how.” 1

While this people-pleasing desire many of usstruggle with can get us into much trouble, the secularanswer of being true to ourselves introduces as manyproblems as it solves. To think clearly about sayings ofthis sort, it is helpful to define your terms. What doyou mean by true? And, more importantly, what doyou mean by self?

The term true, is being used to describe someonewho is being genuine, not hypocritical, honest, etc. asreflected in the comment above, “you do things thatare not genuine or a reflection of the real you.” Yousee the same idea in the blog post, The Importance ofBeing True to Yourself:

“When you are being true to yourself, you arecompletely honest with what you feel, deeplyvalue, and desire. It also meanscommunicating your feelings wholeheartedlyboth with yourself and others, allowing yourtruth to flow through you and into the world.”(underline mine) 2

1 Be True to Yourself! https://www.essentiallifeskills.net/betruetoyourself.html2 The Importance of Being True to Yourself. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-3617/The-Importance-of-Being-True-to-Yourself.html

So far so good. God also condemns hypocrisy andexpects his followers to be genuine (Matthew 6:2, 5,16; 7:5). However, we find the real weakness in thissecular proverb in its understanding of self.

If you Google the phrase, you can find all sorts ofquotes with all sorts of answers to the question ofwhat it means to be true to oneself. What you do nottypically find, however, is a definition of self or, evenmore rarely, a defense of that understanding. Thetypical pattern is to assume a definition of self.

Have you thought much about your identity? Whatmakes you, you? In what sense are you like otherpeople and what makes you unique? As you wadethrough the various articles and blogs that want to“free you” to be yourself, there is one commonassumption. Only you can define yourself. Self-identityis assumed to be found in your own personal makeupboth physically and especially in your core desires. Tobe true to yourself, you have to answer questions like:What do I really want, or what do I think is right andgood? What is my value system? Values from theoutside are always suspect.

Now let’s evaluate this against the backdrop of abiblical world-view. First, positively, the true-to-yourself advocates generally are encouraging peopleto take responsibility for their own choices and not toblame others. That is a good thing. The Bible alsoteaches that we are responsible for the choices wemake.

On the negative side, the reason given for thisresponsibility is a radical assumption of self-rule. Youonly answer ultimately to yourself and even moreradically, you define yourself. This is not remotelybiblical. How is our self-identity defined in the Bible?This is where the root problem lies with this modernproverb.

The Bible defines our self-identity as body-spirit,creatures that were designed to reflect the glory ofGod (Gen. 1:27). Furthermore, in Genesis 3 we findthat our first parents led the whole human race intorebellion against this God-assigned identity. Sincethen, we have always wanted to go our own way andto chart our own course. The Bible clearly teaches thatGod, and God alone, defines who we are. We not onlyneed to be rescued from being people-pleasers but,more fundamentally, from being self-pleasers (1 Peter2:11).

This short reflection is a good example of our needas Christians to think carefully about how wecommunicate with the world around us. The problemwith this proverb is with the definition of the termself. If we miss that, it will be very hard to discuss thisidea clearly with friends and neighbors. If we defineself biblically, the proverb would be saying somethingcompletely different. It would be communicating thatwe must genuinely pursue who we were created tobe; people who reflect God’s glory. As Christians thiswould be pursuing Christ-likeness through faith in thegospel.

However, that is not what is meant by the rest ofthe culture when they counsel one another to be trueto themselves. They are meaning that only you can

Rehoboth Baptist Church ~ 132 Moulton St, Rehoboth, MA 02769 ~ 508-252-6437 ~ Page 1 of 4

The Mustard Seed Rehoboth Baptist Church Newsletter ~ March 2018

define yourself and therefore control your own life.

This would be where we should focus ourattention when the opportunities arise. For example, afriend might mention this proverb to you whilediscussing some important decision they areconsidering. We could politely ask for clarification,“what do you mean by that?” And if this seems tospark some good conversation you might even bemore pointed, “What I am really curious about is whatyou mean by self? What do you think your self-identityis?” Pursuing this line of questioning might providesome good opportunities to share the biblicalunderstanding of identity. And once you are talkingabout the Bible, it is always a short walk to the gospel.

In all these things let us search the Scriptures,think carefully, and pray earnestly that the Lord mightuse us as salt and light to this dark and dying worldwhere we live.

MISSION CONFERENCE – April 29-30

Saturday April 29th Potluck Supper with Tim andLinda Beachell of Child Evangelism Fellowship of MAto speak

Sunday Evening April 30th SKYPE with Duane, Miriamand Jeremie Mansveld, Montreal, Quebec

More details to follow.

Make plans now to attend and be blessed!

MISSION NEWS

Our missionary of the month is Sergei Lukyanov whohas preached here, and told us of his famiy; wife, Zoyaand daughter, Aleena. In Feburary, Sergei wrote to us

“We are so happy! Our daughter Aleenagot baptised yesterday! Praise the Lord -she has given her heart to God to followJesus and obey His commandments.

As she was sharing her testimony, shesaid this: I don’t know if I would everthought of following Christ if my dadwouldn’t start new church. Here, I couldknow God and His son Jesus by studyingthe Bible and building up relationshipwith God’s people.

Zoya and I are so grateful for yourprayers.”

Belarus is a country approximately the size of thestate of Kanas with a population of around 10 million.Over 2 million of those people live in the capital city ofMinsk where the Lukyanovs live. Belarus, which waspart of the former Soviet Union, became independentin 1991 and is bordered by Russia, Poland, Ukraine,Lithuania, and Latvia. There is a lot of atheism inBelarus although the official religion is RussianOrthodoxy which has significant Catholic influencefrom Poland. It is estimated that less than half of 1%

of the population are evangelical Christians. Inaddition to those difficulties, Belarus has one of thehighest rates of alcoholism in the world and has theworld’s highest per capita consumption of alcohol.The divorce rate in Belarus is second highest in theworld. These high rates of alcoholism and divorceehave produced a staggering brokenness in family life.Most of the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nucleardisaster landed in Belarus. Approximately 24% ofBelarus was affected. This poisoning of the landremains a serious health problem.

Please pray for many more successful church plants.

Pray for continued health and energy for Sergei as heseeks to carry out the Lord’s work on so many fronts.

Pray for the continuing and expanding efforts of SEEGlobal.

Please also pray for Zoya and some other women whohave started ministering to senior citizens in statehomes who have been pretty much abandoned bytheir families. Several of these seniors haveapparently trusted Jesus just before their deaths, sothese ladies have a vital ministry there!

Pray for the work in the new church plant, and thefollow up of the Christmas party.

Trust Your Perfect Guide

The story is told of a man on an African safari deep inthe jungle. The guide had a machete and waswhacking away the tall weeds and thick underbrush.

The traveler, wearied and hot, asked in frustration,“Where are we? Do you know where you’re takingme? Where is the path?”

The seasoned guide stopped and looked back at theman and replied, “I am the path.”

We ask the same questions, don’t we? We ask God,“Where are you taking me? Where’s the path? Oh, Hemay give us a hint or two, but that’s all. If he did giveus more, would we understand?

No, like the traveler, we are unacquainted with thisjungle. So rather than give us an answer, He gives us afar greater gift...Jesus gives us Himself.

He says in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always tothe very end of the age.” We need that reminder!

Mustard Seed ~ March 2018

From the Desk of Pastor Steve:.....................................1What is Your True Self?................................................1MISSION CONFERENCE – April 29-30.....................2MISSION NEWS...........................................................2Trust Your Perfect Guide...............................................2March 2018 Calendar.....................................................3April 2018 Calendar.......................................................4

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Rehoboth Baptist Church ~ 132 Moulton St, Rehoboth, MA 02769 ~ 508-252-6437 ~ Page 2 of 4

http://www.RehobothBaptistChurch.org/

March 2018

Rehoboth Baptist Church Mustard Seed

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

4:30 PM GoodNews Club

2 3

4

9:00 AM SundaySchool

10:30 AMWorship

6:00 PMEvening Service

Rebekah Kitchen

5 6

7:00 PMDeaconess

7:00 PMMissions

7

7:00 PM PrayerMeeting

8:00 PM Choir

8


John B Gendron

9 10

10:00 AMNeighborhood

Visitation

Mercy Reid

119:00 AM Sunday

School

10:30 AM Worship

6:00 PM EveningService

DaylightSavings TimeBegins

Jocelyn Brochu

12 13

7:00 PM Elders& Deacons

Matthew Guest

14


8:00 PM Choir

15


16 17

St. Patrick's Day

189:00 AM Sunday

School

10:30 AM Worship

6:00 PM EveningService

Bob & Debbie Walls

Bruce & Renee Swallow

40th Anniversary

(Ruby)

19

Dan Guest

Gloria Grace

20

7:00 PMElders/Deacons

Pray & Visit

21


8:00 PM Choir

22


23 24

6:00 PMConversational

Dinner

25


10:30 AMWorship


Palm Sunday

26 27

Priscilla Horton

28


8:00 PM Choir

29


Bob Price

30

7:00 PM GoodFriday Service

Good Friday

Vivian Brochu

31

Feb 2018

S M T W T F S

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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Apr 2018

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15 16 17 18 19 20 21

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April 2018

Rehoboth Baptist Church Mustard Seed

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

7:30 AM SunriseService


10:30 AMWorship

April Fool's Day

Easter

2 3

7:00 PMDeaconess

7:00 PMMissions

4


8:00 PM Choir

5


6 7

8


10:30 AMWorship


Val Stout

9

Mike Poole

10

7:00 PM Elders& Deacons

11


8:00 PM Choir

12


13 14

10:00 AMNeighborhood

Visitation

John & Rebekah

Gendron 27th

Anniversary

15


10:30 AMWorship


16 17

7:00 PMElders/Deacons

Pray & Visit

18


8:00 PM Choir

19


Jeanie Juckett

20 21

22


10:30 AMWorship


23

Jenn Brochu

24

Dawn Phelps

25


8:00 PM Choir

26


27 28

5:30 PMMissions

Conference &Potluck Supper

Linda Rose

29


10:30 AMWorship

6:00 PMMissions

Conference

30Mar 2018

S M T W T F S

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

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May 2018

S M T W T F S

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Documents

The Mustard Seed · The Mustard Seed Rehoboth Baptist Church Newsletter ~ March 2018 From the Desk of Pastor Steve: What is Your True Self? One of those modern proverbs floating about