First Baptist Church, Somerville, NJ

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Created: 15 January 2019

Many of us would agree that we need friends to point out in love when we are wrong. We need friends to help us see our weaknesses. We need friends to speak with honesty and tells us the truth about ourselves even when we don’t want to hear it. If we are looking for an example of this kind of friendship, we need to look no further than Jesus himself. In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us: 

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:12-13)

Jesus demonstrated to His disciples and to us His ultimate love and sacrifice by giving his life to save ours. As we consider our friendship relationships with others in the month of February, we would do well to ask, “What kind of friend am I?” Am I a true friend like Christ who is sincerely interested in the well-being of others? There will be friends who will come and go with the passing of time. Other friends that are lifelong; others are friends only for a season Let us demonstrate our friendship to others through our love and acts of kindness in the month of February. 

A story is told of Joseph Scriven who was born in Ireland in 1819 and who faced real tragedies. His first tragedy happened as a young man who on the night before he was to be married, his fiancée drowned. Later, Scriven fell in love again and became engaged. However, tragedy struck again when his second fiancée also died before they were married. Scriven instead of harboring bitterness from his painful experiences became devoted to serving others and sharing the love of Jesus. In 1855, when he learned that his mother was ill, Scriven wrote a poem for her called, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” This later became a powerful hymn, where Scriven described what Jesus meant to him: “What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!” 

We will have opportunities to sacrifice for someone else: take a moment to listen, help someone out, and provide a word of encouragement and more. Every day, at work, church and in the community we have encounters with people who are hurting and in need of the hope we have in Christ–which means that every day, let us make a concerted effort to impact someone’s life by being a loving and caring friend.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Flemmings

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” — I can fulfill all my dreams for 2019, climb the highest mountain, run a marathon, overcome all obstacles in life. Sounds good but is this really the meaning of the iconic and one of the most quoted Bible verses. When you imagine Paul penning this letter from the confines of a first-century prison cell—we would not exactly think of fulfilled dreams, new heights and overcoming all obstacles imagined above. If we include verses eleven and twelve with thirteen, we get a clearer idea of Paul’s intent. “...I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” So, it isn’t surprising that the apostle Paul provides us with life themes of humility and self-sacrifice, and sufficiency in Christ and not in ourselves.

 A story is told of a young man who knocked one day at the door of an artist’s studio in Rome, and when it was opened, exclaimed, “Please, madam, will you give me the master’s brush?” The painter was dead, and the boy, feeling inflamed with longing to be an artist, wished for the great master’s brush, with the idea that it would inspire him with his genius. The lady placed the brush belonging to her departed husband in the hand of the boy, saying, “This is his brush; try it, my boy.” With a flush of earnestness on his face, he tried, but found he could paint no better with the master’s brush than with his own. The lady then said to him, “You cannot paint like the great master unless you have his spirit.” (W. Birch.)

The apostle Paul writes, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” Philippians 4:11 — and says it again, “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”   What is “the secret”? Philippians 4:13 calls it “Christ who strengthens me.” Or, to put it in terms of Philippians 3:8, “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” The apostle Paul tells us behind prison bars that if you have Christ, you have the strength to do all things whether you’re “brought low” or “abounding,” whether you have “plenty” or are “hungry,” whether you have “abundance” or “need.” Let us focus on being content not only with our triumphs but also in our deep devastation and great challenges of 2019.

Have A Blessed and Safe New Year!

Pastor Loreno R. Flemmings