Fee Fee Baptist Church

Author: Derald Harris

  • Prime Time – Vol. 63, No. 2

    It’s a new year and a new beginning. I hope you have made a commitment to be “all in” serving the Lord this year.  As always, the seniors have some fun activities planned for this year, plus a service project for the quarter. January will be filled with movies!

    First, we are going to the Science Center OmniMax on Thursday, January 12 at 10:00 a.m. We will watch the movie, Born to be Wild. This is the true story of two individuals who have dedicated their lives to helping orphaned animals return to the wild. Cost for seniors is $9. We will have lunch afterwards at Zia’s on the Hill with an opportunity to visit the Missouri Bakery. Remember, the bakery only takes cash so be prepared. Don’t forget to sign up in the Connection Center.

    On Monday, January 30, we will be watching a movie in our Dining Room. Join us at 11:00 a.m. and have a lunch of sandwiches, chips and dessert for $7. If it is available, we will watch the movie I Heard the Bells. The film tells the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the tragic and inspirational events that led him to write the poem, “Christmas Bells,” which would later become the Christmas carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Sign up so that we can plan for lunch.

    I pray that your New Year is off to a great start and that this will be a year of great spiritual growth for you and your family.

     

  • A Word From Interim Pastor, Matt Easter – Vol. 63, No. 2

    I grew up in St. Louis, so baseball has been part of the rhythm of my life for as long as I can remember. (Pitchers and catchers report in a week; spring training is nearly upon us!) When I played army men as a child, the bad guys weren’t the late Cold War Russians, but the Pond Scum Mets. I know the same is true for many of you.

    I’ve tried explaining this to people outside St. Louis, but they don’t quite understand how we find a piece of our identity in every Gibson strikeout, Ozzie diving play, Brock stolen base, or Yadi put out. This is why when we St. Louisans talk baseball, we use first person plural pronouns: “we” need to win this one; I can’t believe Goldschmidt plays for “us”; Waino is pitching for “us” tonight; “we” just signed Willson Contreras. We would never say “they,” because the Cardinals aren’t “they.” I have never played for the Cardinals, but in a strange yet very real way, the Cardinals are “us.”

    Our city’s identification with the Cardinals illustrates how we are to view the body of Christ. Other Christians are not “they” and “them,” but “we” and “us.” This reaches infinitely deeper than baseball, but perhaps our baseball fandom can show us a way out of the individualism that plagues our western culture.

    The books of the New Testament were usually written to groups, not individuals. Still, many of us read the Bible individualistically. I’ll give one example.

    A Christian song proclaims, “Greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world!” While it is true the Holy Spirit is greater than any force outside of us, this song is reading
    1 John 4:4 incorrectly. First John 4:4 reads, “You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in the world.”

    The “you” here is a plural pronoun. “You” is “y’all”: “greater is the one who is in y’all.” Throughout 1 John, the author depicts his community as one within which truth is proclaimed. His community is light; darkness is outside the community.

    Carrying that idea through to 1 John 4:4, we see that the one (God) who is in the community of light (y’all) is greater than those outside who are in the darkness. We are dealing with two radically different communities, not an individual person wading through the dark world. Greater is the one who is in the community of light than the one who is in the dark world.

    “I,” “me,” and “my” are transformed by the power of the Gospel into “we,” “us,” and “ours.” In Christ, we are no longer disconnected individuals. We are a family! Other Christians are not “they.” Other Christians are “us.” If we can call the Cardinals “us,” how much more should I call my sisters and brothers in Christ “us”?! Thanks be to God for the family he’s making us into. And let’s go Cardinals.

    Matt Easter

    Interim Pastor

     

  • Family Front – Vol. 63, No. 2

    Family Nerf Games night was a blast! You will certainly want to join us next time! It’s a great event to invite unchurch family members and friends.

    Parents Night Out, Friday, Feb. 17, 5-9pm. $5 per child for the night. Pizza supper will be available. If your child cannot eat pizza, please send something else with them. After supper the K-5th graders and workers will go swimming at the Bridgeton Community Center. Be sure to send swim attire and a towel with your child. If you would like your preschooler to swim, a parent will need to attend. Deadline to sign up is Sunday, Feb. 12. Signup sheets are out. Plan a date with your sweetheart!

    For your calendar: VBS and Sports camp is July 17-21, 2023. STELLAR VBS is 9am-12noon; Basketball Camp is 1-4pm. Put it on your calendar and look for registration forms online at a later date. I’m looking for VBS leadership for opening and closing sessions, station leaders, crew leaders. There will be a few volunteers needed for sports camp as well. If you want to serve, see me. There is something for everyone to do!

    Would you be willing to care for our sweet preschoolers during early service? We need you! Please see me if you could care for these sweet little ones just one Sunday morning a month. Thank you!

  • Music Musings – Vol. 63, No. 2

    Hymn of the Month – For the Beauty of the Earth – This hymn was written by hymn-writer, poet and teacher Folliet Sandford Pierpont when he was 29 years old. He was inspired to write this well-known hymn while looking out on the beautiful countryside that surrounded his home.

    The hymn was published in a book of hymns to be used for observing Communion. That is why the chorus repeats the lyric “sacrifice of praise” as it is a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross.

    May we continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise by openly profession His name. This is a sacrifice of praise to Christ who sacrificed Himself for us all.

    This hymn looks at God’s creation along with all the joys He has given us. It thanks God for the gift of Himself sending Jesus from Heaven to earth

    Psalms

    We are reminded through our daily readings that many wonderful musical arrangements have been taken from the Psalms.

    In our reading plan we recently read Psalm 51. In this Psalm, beginning with verse 10 and continuing through verse 13, many settings of these verses have been written and sung.

    Here is a special arrangement by Priscilla Findley. Enjoy and be inspired. Donnie McClurkin: Create in Me a Clean Heart (Cover by Priscilla Findlay) –
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qwDd-VtlY8

     

  • Bible Study Corner – Vol. 63, No. 2

    We have classes for everyone on Sunday mornings at 9:45 and on Wednesday nights at 6. Hope you will get plugged in.

    Bible study fulfills a part of our mission statement that says we will build our lives on Jesus. It also needs to fulfill the second part that says we will pursue the good of our community. Every Bible study group should be on mission too. Hopefully your group finds a service they can do for the community but if you don’t, each class will be given the opportunity to serve a meal at Loaves and Fishes starting in April.

     

  • Chi Alpha News – Vol. 63, No. 2

    D-NOW IS HERE!!!

    Sign ups for D-NOW 2023 have officially begun! We are so excited to announce that our annual D-NOW weekend is coming back the weekend of March 10-12. This year, our theme is “Community”, and our students will be encourages to move through life together as believers, all while enjoying amazing worship, a guest speaker, playing fun games, and forming friendships that last a lifetime.

    The total cost for this weekend is $40. To sign up, you need to fill out you registration form and turn in a $10 deposit. Forms can be found in the Rafters, the Connection Center or online at dnow.feefeebc.org. The best part about this weekend is that guests are completely FREE! So invite your friends to this weekend, and lets see how God moves in the lives of our students!

     

  • Heart of Worship – Vol. 63, No. 2

    Today I would like to talk about having a heart of worship towards God by doing what He asks us to do. It’s the concept of being a “doer” of the Bible and not just a “hearer”.

    1 Peter 1:22-25 says, “Be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forges what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works – this person will be blessed in what he does.”

    It’s important that we do what God asks us to do. I know that sounds basic, but it truly is a heart issue and can be a difficult choice sometimes. Are we surrendering ourselves to His plan or wanting to do things our own way? Ultimately, we can show by our actions that we either believe God knows better – or we do.

    In Luke 6, Jesus is talking and He says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and don’t do the things I say?”. He continues to explain what that is like – Jesus was always great at telling parables! He said it’s like a man who built his house without a foundation. When the river crashed against it, it collapsed. “And the destruction of that house was great.”

    Why is it so important that we do what the Word says? Because God knows if we build our lives on Him – when hard times come, our faith in Him will bring us through! We can remember His words and appropriate them to our situations. If we build our lives on the foundation of Christ – the world around us might shake, but we will not be shaken because our hope is in Him.

    I want to encourage us to read the Word and make it a practice of doing what it says. Let’s not pick and choose the things we want to believe and do, but take God – the Faithful One – at His Word. Our God never disappoints! Allow your heart of worship to serve Him through your actions today!