Psalms

This coming Sunday (9:15 AM) most of our adult Bible Study (Sunday School, small groups, whatever) classes will be starting a study in Psalms.
Here are some tidbits to get us started!

• The word "psalm" comes froma greek word and denotes a song or hymn.
• The Hebrew word for the book is related to the word "hallelujah" and means "praises"
• Psalms has many authors, the most prominent being David who penned 75 of the Psalms.
• The book is called Psalms. An individual chapter is one "Psalm" thus you would say "Psalm 1," not "Psalms 1"
• Psalm 90 is said to have been written by Moses, and would date from the 1400s BC!
• Some of the themes found in the Psalms: Praise, God's power, Forgiveness, Thankfulness, and Trust.

Join us Sunday - the month of September will be on the theme "Singing God's Praises" and will focus on learning more about God.

James 5:13-20

Someone suffering? Pray!
Someone cheerful? Praise!
Someone sick? Pray and ask others to do so!
Sinful? Confess!
The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful!

Hope to see you in Adult Bible Study at Parma Baptist Church Sunday morning (9:15 AM) to finish our study of James!

James 5:7-11

Your future is secure!
Patiently wait for Christ's coming! Continue to be faithful and God will reward!
Let's not get into the blame game about the troubles we see, but rather stand firm seeking how god can be glorified through it all!

James 5:1-6

1 Come now, you rich people! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. 2 Your wealth is ruined: your clothes are moth-eaten; 3 your silver and gold are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You stored up treasure in the last days! 4 Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who reaped your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the land and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned—you have murdered—the righteous man; he does not resist you.

James 5:1-6 (HCSB)

The rich unrighteous will be punished.

The rich think that they will store up earthly treasures and that is what will save them. Wrong!

The true riches are those who treat people with respect and do righteous acts. These people have been despicable and will get their reward - only it will not be their earthly riches!

James 4

It was a good lesson yesterday. A good reminder to reject worldly behavior and turn to God, seeking His will in our lives. how many times have I asked wrongly - seeking only my desires and not His! As we move toward looking at James 5 next week, what can we change this week to make it easier to draw near to God?

Visitor's Parking!

As a staff member of a church, one thing I don't get to do much is utilize the church visitor's parking. So this past weekend when I was away intentionally visiting another church, I was excited to be able to use the visitor or guest parking. I actually visited a church on Saturday night and another on Sunday morning. On Saturday I scored a great "first time guest" slot near the door. (If I ever go back there, I guess I won't get as close beacuae I won't be a first timer.) Sunday morning in the lot I was in the visitor slots were all taken. Dissappointing, but what a great problem for this church to have. They need more visitor parking!

It was interesting to "secret shop" a church. All along the way when they did something good, i was asking - "Are we doing that a PBC?" and when something went wrong, I wondered, "Are we doing that at PBC?"

All in all it was a great experience. I think I learned a lot. Perhaps as I process it all, I will share more.