What a great day we had in Easter services yesterday. We were praying for God to bless our services and He did with 84 people in attendance. That is over twice what the church was averaging back in June of last year when I arrived. The spirit was great in the church even though it was a rainy, stormy day. It began raining in Cleveland around 2am (I was told this. I wasn't up at 2. Haha) and it rained all day with only a few breaks. Even during our morning service you could hear the rolling and rumbling of the thunder, but it didn't change the spirit. You could see the excitement of those who were there. We had a wonderful time in God's House. We had our Easter egg hunt following church in the building. We had a skit during our morning service explaining the importance of knowing the truth of God's Word.
We continue to see God bless our church as we move forward. Our philosophy is not just that God can bless the church, but God will bless the church and we will see it grow and be a light for Jesus Christ in Cleveland, OK. I look forward to another great month serving as pastor of this church!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Easter!
What a great day we had in God's House yesterday. We had 52 with a young family visiting. It is always a blessing to be able to meet in the House of the Lord. I look forward to every chance we get to meet with our Lord. This coming Sunday is a day that is important to many individuals. It is the day we take to remember the Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose from the grave for the sins of mankind. We are looking forward to a wonderful day of worshipping our Lord and Saviour. We want to invite you to come if you do not have a church to attend this Sunday.
I continue to see God blessing our church in many ways. I love to come to church and see fellow Christians who desire to worship God. God's House is a wonderful place to be on Sundays.
We will continue to follow God until He returns.
Grace Baptist Church
"Where God is God, Sin is Sin, and Jesus Christ Still Saves."
I continue to see God blessing our church in many ways. I love to come to church and see fellow Christians who desire to worship God. God's House is a wonderful place to be on Sundays.
We will continue to follow God until He returns.
Grace Baptist Church
"Where God is God, Sin is Sin, and Jesus Christ Still Saves."
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Standing On God's Word
I would be lying if I said it was not a challege to build a church without compromising standards. Churches can lower their standards and begin to see numerical growth, but the problem is, that numerical growth lacks spiritual growth. That's why (even if the work is harder) we are not going to go the way of the world. It's sad to see some of the men I went to college with turning away from their standards and seeking the world's ways to bring people in.
I'm glad to say that we are a church that is not going to change our stand on the Bible, music, modesty, etc. We believe that the King James Bible is the inspired Word of God. We believe music should be God honoring and not resemble the world. We believe that when God's people come to church that they should wear modest, God honoring clothes. We are not going to be a church that teaches what I call a "Come as you are. Leave as you were" kind of philosophy. We want to see lives changed. That's why we stand by the fact that God is God, sin is sin and Jesus Christ still saves. In order to believe that, we have to preach all of God's Word. The only feel good message that is right is the one that makes God feel good.
We would like to invite you to come visit a church that believes in preaching the Word of God and not the philosophies of man. If you yearn to build a relationship with God, the creator of this world, then I want to extend an invitation to you to come and see us at one of our many services.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Pastor Richard Perkins
I'm glad to say that we are a church that is not going to change our stand on the Bible, music, modesty, etc. We believe that the King James Bible is the inspired Word of God. We believe music should be God honoring and not resemble the world. We believe that when God's people come to church that they should wear modest, God honoring clothes. We are not going to be a church that teaches what I call a "Come as you are. Leave as you were" kind of philosophy. We want to see lives changed. That's why we stand by the fact that God is God, sin is sin and Jesus Christ still saves. In order to believe that, we have to preach all of God's Word. The only feel good message that is right is the one that makes God feel good.
We would like to invite you to come visit a church that believes in preaching the Word of God and not the philosophies of man. If you yearn to build a relationship with God, the creator of this world, then I want to extend an invitation to you to come and see us at one of our many services.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Pastor Richard Perkins
Friday, March 18, 2011
Spring Is Here
It has been a beautiful start to spring here in Oklahoma. We saw temperatures jump up into the 80's yesterday but now it's looking like a high of 60 today. God is good.
Some things have occured since I last posted in February. We have purchased a new church van (new to us) that is older than the one we have but has way less miles. I'm looking forward to working on the van route to get it back up and going.
We are also bringing in a summer intern. It will be exciting to see how God will work through that. We continue to see visitors at the church and are continuing to do the Lord's work.
Another subject I want to bring up is this thought that salvation includes baptism. There are churches that teach the need for baptism in salvation. We've even seen two Church of Christ churches here in town hitting it real hard in the local paper. Its sad to see a false doctrine like that built all around one verse (Acts 2:38). But when you look at all of God's Word you can plainly see that salvation only comes by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says salvation is "Not of works" (Eph 3:9). That word "works" means a toil or action. Baptism is an action someone performs. Also Paul said Christ sent him "not to baptize but to preach the gospel." (I Cor 1:17) Now why wouldn't Christ send him to baptism if it was part of salvation. The fact that he was sent "not to baptize" shows that there is no need for baptism when it comes to salvation.
Praise God that He sent His Son to die on the cross so all that I have to do is repent of my sins and ask Him to save me! We at Grace Baptist will continue to serve Him and pray that He builds His church.
God Bless,
Pastor Richard Perkins
Some things have occured since I last posted in February. We have purchased a new church van (new to us) that is older than the one we have but has way less miles. I'm looking forward to working on the van route to get it back up and going.
We are also bringing in a summer intern. It will be exciting to see how God will work through that. We continue to see visitors at the church and are continuing to do the Lord's work.
Another subject I want to bring up is this thought that salvation includes baptism. There are churches that teach the need for baptism in salvation. We've even seen two Church of Christ churches here in town hitting it real hard in the local paper. Its sad to see a false doctrine like that built all around one verse (Acts 2:38). But when you look at all of God's Word you can plainly see that salvation only comes by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says salvation is "Not of works" (Eph 3:9). That word "works" means a toil or action. Baptism is an action someone performs. Also Paul said Christ sent him "not to baptize but to preach the gospel." (I Cor 1:17) Now why wouldn't Christ send him to baptism if it was part of salvation. The fact that he was sent "not to baptize" shows that there is no need for baptism when it comes to salvation.
Praise God that He sent His Son to die on the cross so all that I have to do is repent of my sins and ask Him to save me! We at Grace Baptist will continue to serve Him and pray that He builds His church.
God Bless,
Pastor Richard Perkins
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Church Anniversary Tomorrow
Tomorrow is our big day at Grace Baptist. We are celebrating the church's 38th anniversary tomorrow. We will have preaching by Bro. Elfrink (Pastor of Rock Solid Baptist Church in Cuba, MO) and special music by HBBC's men's quartet GloryBound. We are praying that the Lord will send visitors and that He will be glorified.
We will post pictures of the service in the coming week.
We will post pictures of the service in the coming week.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Quick Update
It's been a little while since I gave an update, but we have been able to get back up and going here in the church. We are still working with the insurance to get everything done, but all is going as planned. We are looking forward to our upcoming anniversary Sunday on Feb 27th. It will be a time of great fellowship as we hear Bro. Bob Elfrink preach to us and listen to special music by GloryBound.
Also, we had a young man get baptized last Sunday after services. Praise the Lord!
Also, we had a young man get baptized last Sunday after services. Praise the Lord!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
An Interesting Week
This week was far from normal for us at Grace Baptist Church. We had a foot of snow fall back on Tuesday and was unable to get things cleaned out by Wednesday. So because of the snow and wind chil values near twenty below, we called off church that evening. Now for those who live in the Minnesota, Wisconsin part of the United States would say, "Man that's nothing compared to what we get!" I would agree with that thought but that much snow and that cold of temperatures is not normal for us.
But things really got interesting Saturday. That morning following the men's breakfast at a local restaurant, I was headed into the auditorium to turn on heat to get things warmed up so I could clean. Right before I walked into the auditorium, I realized I smelled chlorine. Upon further investigation I found a water pipe had broke down in what I call our dungeon. It is were our furnances are. To make a long story short, there was nearly five feet of water in the "dungeon" and nearly a foot of water in our basement/fellowship hall. We had the electric turned off to the building because the breakers to those units were under water. We were able to pump all the water out of the church (Took about 6 hours worth of work total.)
I was so thankful though that we were able to get a hold of the city and got access to the community center and we were still able to meet and have our 11 o'clock service there. We are waiting to see what the insurance company tells us we need to do. We will not be able to get back into the building until the furnaces get looked at. All in all though, God is in control. We still had 41 show up at the community center for church. We were missing 15 to 20 people so it was still a good attendance.
As I told the church, God is in control. He knows why this has occurred and there is no need to worry about anything. It's always an encouragment to those who know Christ as Saviour to remember that no matter what we have going on in our lives, God is still God and we still have Christ as our Saviour.
On another note, I found it sad that out of the 12 to 14 churches in town that only 1 was holding an actual service tonight. I didn't feel right sitting home, but I couldn't find a church to attend tonight b/c of the Super Bowl. It's sad how many Christians today find sports more important than God. Oh well, we will just keep serving God and looking for His return.
In His Service,
Pastor Richard Perkins
But things really got interesting Saturday. That morning following the men's breakfast at a local restaurant, I was headed into the auditorium to turn on heat to get things warmed up so I could clean. Right before I walked into the auditorium, I realized I smelled chlorine. Upon further investigation I found a water pipe had broke down in what I call our dungeon. It is were our furnances are. To make a long story short, there was nearly five feet of water in the "dungeon" and nearly a foot of water in our basement/fellowship hall. We had the electric turned off to the building because the breakers to those units were under water. We were able to pump all the water out of the church (Took about 6 hours worth of work total.)
I was so thankful though that we were able to get a hold of the city and got access to the community center and we were still able to meet and have our 11 o'clock service there. We are waiting to see what the insurance company tells us we need to do. We will not be able to get back into the building until the furnaces get looked at. All in all though, God is in control. We still had 41 show up at the community center for church. We were missing 15 to 20 people so it was still a good attendance.
As I told the church, God is in control. He knows why this has occurred and there is no need to worry about anything. It's always an encouragment to those who know Christ as Saviour to remember that no matter what we have going on in our lives, God is still God and we still have Christ as our Saviour.
On another note, I found it sad that out of the 12 to 14 churches in town that only 1 was holding an actual service tonight. I didn't feel right sitting home, but I couldn't find a church to attend tonight b/c of the Super Bowl. It's sad how many Christians today find sports more important than God. Oh well, we will just keep serving God and looking for His return.
In His Service,
Pastor Richard Perkins
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