May 12, 2020

First Connect

www.fbcokc.org 405- 232-4255

FBCOKC – A family of faith, growing in God’s love, striving to be faithful.

Church Family, I continue to be inspired by the way you love one another. You are some of the most thoughtful and creative people! On Sunday we talked about the story in Mark 10 where the disciples were fighting over power and glory and Jesus stopped them in their tracks. Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes? How would you have been able to keep your cool if you were walking to the most humiliating and painful and shameful death and your best friends were bickering over power

and glory for themselves?

Jesus said that even he, the Son of God, did not come to ask the world to serve him but to spend his life serving others. He humbled himself and gave his life away so that we might have ours. Oh I want us to live that way! I want us to reflect his attitude in how we relate to God and to others. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:5-11:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped;

rather, he emptied himself taking the very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming

obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the

earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus Christ came to show us the way we are called to live in the Kingdom of God. Not people grabbing power or lording authority over others, but serving one another. I can’t quite wrap my mind around the concept of a humble God. I think the only way true humility is possible is to know deep in your soul who you are and who God is. God is God and we are his children, holy and dearly loved. Our identity and our value are found in Christ alone.

I pray we would all dwell on this passage of scripture this week. As you interact with your family members or co-workers this week, I challenge you to let this be your guide. Remember who are you and use your words and your actions to show how much you value other people. Let humility and grace be our guide. Leave other people feeling loved and appreciated and valued every time you speak to them. Will this be difficult? Possibly. Okay, probably. But let’s do it anyway. Much love—Sarah

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Join Us In Honoring Our Graduating Seniors!

The spring semester came to an awkward end, but we still want to celebrate our graduates! This Sunday, we will honor our 6 high school graduates and 1 college graduate during our online worship service. This will be a wonderful time to recognize their achievements and show the church’s support as they enter the next chapter of their lives. If you’d like to send them a card, please reach out to Andrew for details on how to do that. Please tune in on Sunday at 10:30 as we celebrate our graduating seniors!

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Stay Connected from a Distance

Even though we are all keeping our distance from one another, there’s still plenty of ways to stay connected to your church family!

We are posting a LOT of new content to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/firstbaptistokc). This is where Sarah will be delivering her sermons, we’ll have prayer times, interactive questions, and much more. The page is open to the public, so you don’t have to have a Facebook account to view the page.

Please use our Facebook page as a way to stay connected! Think of it as our virtual church building.

If you have a prayer request that you would like to submit, please email PrayFirst@fbcokc.org. If you would like to receive the Pray First emails, please email PrayFirst@fbcokc.org.

We have a new website! If you haven’t heard, we’ve been working on a new website for several months. It’s got a fresh look and is easy to navigate. Check it out at www.fbcokc.org

Finally, reach out to your fellow church members. Give them a call, a text, or video chat. We’re all in this together, so find creative ways to stay connected.

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Budget Report:

Includes contributions through: May

Budget Requirements thus far (thru the Month of May) 247,677.50

Budget Receipts Received Thus Far 202,623.56

Budget Requirements-Month 49,535.50

Budget Receipts Received This Period 23,916.00

Received to Date (%) For Current Month 48%

Received to Date (%) For Year (thru May) 82%

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

This week I found another “to do” on my “to do” list. We all have those lists around the house. Things that we pass by and catch our eye and bug us until we finally give in and take care of it. For me it was re-hanging a huge picture in our living room. I had moved the sofa in front of it and now the picture needed to be moved higher. So, I pro-ceeded to get the necessary tools – a ladder, hammer, and Velcro sticky tab. That is all I thought I needed but soon found out that I needed a

level to make sure the picture was hung straight so I didn’t have to tilt my head every time I looked at the picture. I found a level app on my phone because one day at the office Andrew had shown me that I could get a level on my phone – who knew? (Let younger people teach you a thing or two). I climbed the ladder once again to make the necessary adjustments. Finally the bubble was in the middle of the circle – success – level. And then to make sure it stayed level, I put one of those handy dandy Velcro pieces at the bottom to secure it in place. All too often we have things in our lives that need to be straightened and we need to go find the level. Our level should be Jesus Christ. He is our measuring stick, our plumb line. All of life should line up with Him. That level should be placed at the very center of our eyes, heart, and soul that we might gain proper insight and perspective of what is straight or not straight in our lives. We level out and then comes something that shakes us up and we are off center again. We then need that additional back up to help keep us level. The Velcro sticky stuff might be the word, a friend/fellowship, a sermon, a song, an act of service, a gift of grace, prayer, surrender, acceptance, trust, obedience, forgiveness – whatever your sticky stuff is that helps to keep you straight and with your eye on the prize, to be able to stay in place, endure the hardships, persist in the mundane and change, pursue a new perspective and remain faithful. Do you need to level something in your life or move the nail in your life to hang at a different height or apply something that helps you remain steady? What would that look like in our lives if we looked at the “level” and made adjustments? Toni

It is our hope to resume in-person worship services at the beginning of June. That

is our aim and our hope, but we will continue to walk with caution, paying attention to medical

professionals. This first step will be for worship services only (no Bible Study or Wednesday

night activities).

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY

Church Family,

Would you help us prepare for our worship service for Memorial Day Weekend. We would like to honor the veterans in our lives who have passed away. We would also like to open this tribute video up to honor all those we are holding in our hearts this Memorial Day. Send in a picture of your person and write a brief sentence or phrase about something you remember or that they taught you. If they were a veteran, let us know their military branch and where they served. Send them to FBCOKCpics@gmail.com by Tuesday, May 19th. If you have a picture of you with your person, even better! Thank you for helping us make this a special Memorial Day Weekend.

FAMILY BUILDING COMMUNITY