Author: Adam Page

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Good Friday Services on 4/2/21 @ 5pm & 7pm

Friends, you are invited to Amelia on Good Friday, April 2nd, at 5pm or 7pm for a special service. These events have become an annual Holy Week tradition and have been well attended since their inception in 2005.

We have selected inspiring music for quartets, duets, soloists, and small chorale. We are looking forward to sharing these classical anthems, spirituals, traditional hymns, and contemporary hymns with our community this year. These songs clearly convey God’s love revealed on the Cross, and the musical settings speak to the heart.

This special Good Friday service will feature scripture narrations from the Gospels that portray the hours prior to the crucifixion of Christ. The talented, professional instrumentalists are Gail McCamy (piano) and Carol Whitman (violin). This special Tenebrae service is a gift to our community. For more info, message me or call Amelia Baptist Church at 904-261-9527.

Blessings,

Pam Helton

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The Equality Act – Make Your Voice Heard!

We are encouraging our congregation to take a stand for religious freedoms.

As Andrew T. Walker, professor and historian, recently stated, “The bill represents the most invasive threat to religious liberty ever proposed in America. Given that it touches areas of education, public accommodation, employment, and federal funding, were it to pass, its sweeping effects on religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of conscience would be both historic and also chilling.” “Virtually no area of American life would emerge unscathed from the Equality Act’s reach,” Walker added. “No less significant would be the long-term effects of how the law would shape the moral imagination of future generations.”

Follow the link below to write to our Senators in opposition to the proposed “Equality Act 2021.”

Click Here!

 

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Rest > Control

In an article titled Anxious for Nothing Addressing the Worry I can’t Explain, Jared Wilson expresses several things we can do with our “anxious nothings!” Anxious nothings: those things we worry about constantly but can’t control. This category ranges from the panicked parents with multiple children who want their house looking like the front cover of Magnolia magazine at all times, (often forgetting the nature of their sticky little blessings) to others sincerely battling a constant state of anxiety twith such intensity they’ve even attempted to make peace with their lack of peace! In the article, Wilson offers some helpful solutions. 1) We can adopt healthier habits through a life of spiritual disciplines and sacrifice. 2) We can stop saying yes to everything anyone asks of us out of a fear of being unliked; connected to our self-worth no doubt. But the real kicker is at the end of his piece when he brings it all back to Jesus Christ’s main remedy for a life of anxiety and fear: the solid rock practice of casting all our burdens swiftly onto the back of the One who has asked for them AND the Only One who has the ability to carry them. 

Aren’t you glad we don’t have to understand everything about our cares before casting them? You just need to know He cares for you. He doesn’t love some idealized version of you. He really loves the broken, weird, messed-up you. So much so that while you were a sinner hating Him, He saves you in that sin. And the more we know the nature of God (Biblical Discipleship) and the more we see the nature of man (literally everywhere), the more we can remind ourselves of the One working it all towards our undeserved good and His deserved glory. In other words, He’s there for us in our time of need, absolutely, but do we recognize our need for Him is an every hour kind of need? God is not the ejector seat, He’s the heartbeat. For example, the author of Hebrews seeks to make our nature and the nature of the Lord so clear we can’t help but leave encouraged and blessed at what our Savior has done while being reminded of how important it is to actively draw near to the Lord!

Hebrews 4:14-16: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

I love what Roman Catholic reject Martin Luther says about this passage. “First, the apostle terrifies us and then he comforts us.” Like when a caring relative “googles” your symptoms and after you’re good and terrified at the list of possibilities based on “a cough” she then reminds you God is the Great Physician and prays “God we just want your will to be done” over you. Thanks Auntie!

The unknown author of 14-16 is addressing the warning in Hebrews 4:1-13 reminding them how terrifying it is to think that we could honestly fail to believe and fail to enter into the rest that the Lord has so graciously provided YET live our entire lives thinking we know the Lord intimately and genuinely trust Him. But after he warns us, after he terrifies us, he COMFORTS us. And boy does he comfort us in these verses! The summation and something we all need to hear RIGHT NOW??

Let Us Hold Fast To Our Confession OF FAITH while the majestic LORD GOD Holds Onto Us!!! 

This year it’s the RONA, this Fall it’ll be Hurricanes and with the upcoming election prepare for mass media outlets to offer you a buffet of doom and gloom. REGARDLESS, our trust is now and forever in the sovereign God. Rest. In. Him. Cast your cares to heaven where they belong and get to work on the mission. Your neighbor will not believe your Savior is sovereign if messengers of the Gospel live like He isn’t even in control of the beaches opening. God bless, Beloved. My heart longs for congregational worship very soon!

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Church Update – 4/2/20

After an encouraging meeting with the Elders of Amelia Baptist Church, we have decided to continue our online services for the next several weeks. We want to respect the recommendations of our government officials during this time of uncertainty. We’ve come up with innovative ways to minister to the body of believers, prepare discipleship, continue evangelism and comfort those we love. Our hearts ache for corporate worship with our faith family. However, we take great comfort knowing our God is sovereign and He holds the Church in His hands. We would like to ask our church for the following in the month of April:

  1. To be knee deep in the Word of God and pray continually.
  2. Utilize our online discipleship material:
    1. Pastoral blogs
    2. YouTube Channel (Wednesday Night Word & Friday Round Tables)
    3. ZOOM meetings for face to face fellowship.
    4. Join us for worship LIVE online on Amelia Baptist Church YouTube and Facebook, 10:30am Sundays.

To the glory of our gracious God,

Pastor Adam

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Don’t Waste Your Quarantine, Beloved.

I’ll cut right to the chase… I hate that we can’t meet. I know two things can be true at the same time and our current situation is a fine example. 1) God will bring us heaven. That is our future. Whatever happens from here on out, if we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord, we will be ushered into heaven by the ONE interceding for us on our behalf. Hallelujah! 2) God does some of His greatest work in the already, not yet. Some seasons can feel more like life on a fallen rock than others and folks, this is one of those seasons. Every morning I wake up and grab what has now replaced the morning paper, type in my password and scroll down a sheet of information, analysis, reports and opinions to determine no one knows when normal returns.

Personally, I have no idea HOW I am handling it even though I remain confident I know WHO is in control. I wouldn’t say I have been fearful, but definitely apprehensive and downright grieved at times. I have these moments of clarity where I want to return to the past just to punch my former self for complaining about our church schedule. What I wouldn’t give to see my baby girls run to embrace their friends on a Wednesday night or watch our Sunday school classes gather to open up the Word before worship and if we are honest, mainly indulge in some much needed chit chat among family and friends. Depending on your season, kids at home or kids grown up and moved out, this is not break or a time to get organized. For many, this may be a time of new chaos and first-time feelings.

Regardless, what questions should we be aiming inward and what staple of truth can help us navigate waves the size of those that took out Elsa’s parents?

Church, here we are. Many of you have your own problems related to the COVID-19 quarantine and although the content of your prayer requests may differ, the source of strength is what unites the body of believers now and forever. As we wait for the world to turn in the right direction, may you seek to THRIVE not just survive. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago during my sermon, do not waste your quarantine.

I am not writing this naive or unaware of the stock market, I am in no way attempting to lessen anyone’s burdens or pretend I know all the secrets to life’s major conundrums. All I have to offer is the Jesus who offered everything to me when He gave us Himself. Two questions we need to ask during this time: What does this say about our Lord? What does this say about me?

God is a redeemer. It is what He does. A friend of mine offered some wise words: we may not even be alive to witness all that our Lord will redeem through such a dark and abrupt situation as this. Trust in the Lord like never before. The culture does not dictate His faithfulness, He is steadfast and immutable in nature regardless of what is happening or not happening around us. But often times the trials shine a brighter light on His victories. They sober us up, they kill off the distractions of our block scheduling, they remind us of the frailty of life and how no one will know their last day, and by His redeeming power all eyes are once again on the only One who can truly save and sustain His people: our savior and Lord Jesus Christ. What does this say about our Lord? No preacher is preaching to an empty room because Jesus never leaves, He never stops growing the Kingdom of God. Praise God for the overwhelming power of the Holy Spirit!

Finally, what does this pandemic say about you? Was our grip too tight on the temporal while we profess to be a people living with eternal perspective? Remember, two things can be true at the same time: we can grieve and mourn our normal, sure. But we do not have to bow a knee to an idol. We have been given sight in salvation. Let us move forward with great expectation that we will grow more intimately in Christ Jesus like never before, that we will have some much needed time with our families, much needed trials to test our faith, much needed opportunities to place our trust in Him as well as ask for wisdom in all things, and at the end of the day know good and well all things are working together for our good but most importantly HIS GLORY. Don’t waste your quarantine. God redeems. We run the race with Word, Prayer, (wise) Fellowship and Fasting.

Hebrews 12:1b-2a: “…let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith…”

Till we meet again, beloved, what a potluck that will be,

Pastor Adam

 

 

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Church Update – 3/18/2020

Your church cares for you. We pray for you and want more of Christ for each soul in our faith family. Our aim is to serve you and yours tirelessly during this time of national crisis. In the interest of public safety, and as a display of love of neighbor, Amelia Baptist Church is making the following decisions and recommendations:

In response to our leadership meeting yesterday and in accordance to the recommendation of the CDC, and until further notice we will not be gathering together in person. We will be creative to provide worship and Bible study opportunities at regularly appointed times with live-streaming capability and other recording methods. Streaming will be available LIVE on Facebook and YouTube on the Amelia Baptist Church pages/channels at 10:30 am, Sunday mornings. The website and regular emails will keep families informed with included weblinks. If you would like to be added to our church email distribution list please email your information to office@ameliabaptist.org.

These dates, as of right now, include:
Sunday, March 22nd
Sunday, March 29th

All other ministry events are suspended through March 29th and we will reevaluate at that time as we have more information.
These ministries/events include:

Sunday School
Worship Choir
Community Choir
Allegiance Student Choir
Men’s/Ladies’ Ensembles
Counter Culture Student Ministry
Children’s Discipleship & Music Ministries (Sundays, Wednesdays)
SonBeams Monday Mornings
Play & Praise Monday Mornings
Ladies’ Bible Studies
Men’s Bible Studies
Wednesday Night Dinner
Wednesday Night Prayer Group
Amelia’s Got Talent (postponed)
CBS, Classical Conversations and any other “pick up & go ministries” on our campus.

Our Sunday School Director Bob Weaver will send an email later today to offer suggestions for our Sunday School/Small Group leaders in efforts to continue biblical discipleship and connection through other outlets during this time of quarantine.

If you are in need or unable to leave your home, we have young families wanting to aide you and your family at this time. Please let us know what we can do for you at ameliabaptist.org/contact by filling out one of our contact forms and clicking SUBMIT. We want to make sure everyone is accounted for and cared for during this time of great uncertainty. Please expect to hear from our ministers of mercy in the near future.

Giving: Please visit ameliabaptist.org/giving for tithe and offering needs if you and your family have plans to stay in your home. You do not need a PushPay app to tithe online. All giving can be done through our church website. If you would still prefer tithing by envelope, the church will continue to have scheduled office hours in groups less than 10 until further notice.

As Christians, we are a people of faith, but it is a faith that is grounded in godly wisdom, not worldly fears. As a faith family, we are being given instructions and guidelines on personal hygiene, travel, and levels of susceptibility to the Coronavirus based on age and condition. We must demonstrate faith-filled caution and wisdom as we walk through this together, anxious to be together again on the other side.

These instructions include only the ministries taking place on church grounds and under the jurisdiction of church staff. You are responsible for the level of social distancing you and your family find comfortable and necessary. Your pastors will be here for you no matter what. Please pray for us as we will continue to pray for you. God is good all the time, all the time God is good!

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Sincerely,

Pastor H. Neil Helton
Pastor Adam Page