STILL EXCITED

I am so glad for Sunday School. Before you had all of the other discipling ministries, there was Sunday School. And Sunday School has endured. Yes, we do some other things here at Wildwood. We have opportunities for discipleship with RU. We have the most intense discipleship program called Heritage Academy. We have our Men's Prayer Fellowship each month. Sunday School really beats them all as an all-around discipleship program. All-ages, solid Bible teaching, fellowship, etc. in our Sunday School. If you have not been in attendance recently, make the effort to come and be with us at 9:45 this Sunday morning. I believe you will be glad you did.

Our study in the Book of Acts is coming to a close. Hold on to your seat because we are diving right in with another group of lessons that focus on the principles of growing a Sunday School class. These will be a blessing and a help to each of us as we seek to be better witnesses for the Lord in 2010.

UPCOMING EVENTS
1. Chili Cook-off is coming up this Sunday night. We want to work at bringing family and friends to this time of fellowship. It is also an opportunity for lost folks to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
2. Family Valentine Banquet. (February 13; 6:30 PM) TICKETS are $5.00 per person. Another witnessing opportunity. :-)
3. RU has been on vacation for the last few weeks, but will start back on the first Saturday in February. Others have found this program to be helpful to their Christian growth, and its regimented program might be something that could help you grow as a Christian, too. It starts each night at 7:00 PM. Be in prayer for this ministry.

PRAYER REQUESTS
- Harold and Joanne need special prayer this week for their business situation
- Ray Herndon and family
- Tammy's cousin with cancer
- People in Haiti who need the Lord
- Spence will be taking a test soon at work
- All of our church ministries. . . if you are not involved in serving the Lord through a ministry of Wildwood, pray about where the Lord would have you to serve Him.
- 50 souls to come to Christ this year!!
- 20 in our Sunday School class attendance
- For each other. . .(sometimes we are too self-centered to be worth anything) :-)
- Outreach efforts
- Pastors and church leaders
- National leaders, elected officials, too
- God's power and presence


I hope that you all have a wonderful week in the service of the King of kings! Drop me an e-mail if you have a request to add or anything. mlsauvageot@hotmail.com is the address to use. The church e-mail site is experiencing some rather crude invasions right now for some reason we have not been able to figure out.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, it would be my highest privilege to share what He has done in my own life. What He has done for me, He will also do for you. Talk to me. Let me know when would be a good time to talk.

A New Year and New Goals!

It is always a challenge to start new. 2010 means goals that stretch us and bring us to a place of new commitment.

We spent two class periods viewing Zig Ziglar's video on setting goals, and it was a blessing to me. Our class is following Zig's steps in setting a goal for the new year of reaching 20 in attendance. This is a pretty big goal for us, but we are going to work towards it and pray towards it. I am typing up some of what we discussed in class last week so that we can each have a copy and so that we can work with this as a team.

Another thing that God has laid upon my heart is winning fifty people to Him in 2010. First I was convicted that my focus had not been what the Lord wanted, then He put this number on my heart. It is not a great number for Him. He is in the soul-saving business! It is a huge number compared with last year. So I am forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to the things which are before. I am asking for prayer for God's presence, power, and leadership on my life and ministry for 2010. As you pray, please remember this.

"Redeeming the time because the days are evil."

Good Time Sunday!

It sure was good to see everyone here Sunday! Savannah Brandon made her debut at church, and everyone was very excited to see her. She is precious. We also had the pleasure of having Brother Mitch's class join us last Sunday. It was mixed emotions since Brother Mitch was out for family matters. His father had passed away Saturday and Mitch was helping make funeral arrangements and such with the rest of the family. Keep on praying for the Robbins' family.

Another urgent request that we received from the Cook's yesterday is that David's dad is not doing well. They have put in a catheter in order to give him some relief, but things are not looking good right now. Please pray for this family.

Today is the day that the man is supposed to be coming to look at Harold and Joanne's dairy farm down in Tylertown. Pray that the Lord would open the door for them to sell the place if it is the Lord's will. Pray that the Lord would give them some relief from the financial burden.

REVIVAL MEETING starts up Sunday. Larry Sauvageot will be preaching the meeting, and we are praying for a real touch from Gog upon our lives. Will you also pray? Will you plan now to attend these special meetings? I hope that you will.

Next Sunday we are going to be looking at the end of Acts 15 and the beginning of the 16th chapter. Be reading ahead.

Have a wonderful week in the Lord!

We Are Halfway!

I am excited about our study in the Book of Acts. God has not stopped working. He still calls men and women to His service today. He still works through His churches. All He looks for are hearts that are clean and surrendered to Him. He also has promised to provide for our needs. Who will get on board? This is one of the main challenges of the Book of Acts.

Several were out last weekend and we missed you. You are in our prayers. Keep on praying for the Brandons. Savannah is doing well. . . as are Spence and Tammy. Praise the Lord for His blessings. Also keep praying for Francis' brother and sister-in-law down in Tylertown, MS. The deal with the investor fell through, but they are still hanging on the the Lord for help. Pray for our REVIVAL MEETING that is coming up in October. Let's determine to be there. Do it now. Do not wait until the week of to try to decide. Just make up your mind to come. Dad will be glad you did and the Lord will meet with you and speak to your heart. Pray for Dad and Mom as they come for the meetings. It will be good to see them and catch up on all the Australia information. God has blessed them in their travels.

WORK DAY is this Saturday. Many may not have gotten the word, so now you have. Make plans to be here at around 8:30. We will have something to eat if you come a little earlier. The preacher was talking about biscuits and gravy. We are trying to so some fixing up around the building as well as some painting. MEN AND TEENAGE BOYS are all encouraged to come and lend a hand.

Be reading ahead for the study this week. Our passage is in Acts 15.

Remember the Lord loves you and so do I!!

Blessing!

It was a good fellowship and Bible study Sunday morning. We continued with our study of Acts and talked about the Lord's calling upon our lives. Certainly He has the rightful claim upon our whole-hearted obedience because of what He has done for us on the cross. It is good to be able to serve Him. He wants us all to yield our lives to His service to be willing to serve Him in whatever capacity He desires. We will continue in the 13th chapter of Acts this week.

Also, do not forget that the Wills will be with us Sunday. Seems like this is the month for singing. Last Sunday we had Made by Mercy with us, and this Sunday we will have the Wills from Fort Worth, TX here to sing. The Sunday after that, the Sauvageot family will be singing a mini-concert for the Sunday morning service. Y'all come on out and be blessed!

Be praying this week for Jordan Alshargatli. He is back in CCU in Jackson. He had a spike in his temperature.

Also, pray for Harold, Francis' brother. There may be someone buying his place this week. Since we have been praying for so long about this, let's just keep on praying. He should know something by this Wednesday or Friday.

Pray for Tammy. . .the baby's time is coming. Also pray for Tammy's cousin. SHe has bone cancer and needs prayer.

Keep praying for all of our parents. Some are in poor health. Some are traveling long distances. Others are in need of spiritual encouragement.

Pray for the ministries of Wildwood Baptist Church. RU, Heritage Academy, outreach, Sunday School, retirement homes, and nursing home ministries. . .we earnestly desire the power of God upon us as we serve Him.

Continue to pray for our national leaders and the state of our nation's people. May the Lord raise up His truth in the darkness so that many could be saved.

It was good to have Terry and Mary's family in our class Sunday. Brother Tom was also in town and it is always good to have him in our group. Be praying for each other that we might be faithful and in this way encourage each other to keep on keeping on for the Lord.

Bless y'all this week! Holler if you need anything. Remember not to be a stranger even in the football season :-)

I'm Back!

Greetings! It has been too long since I have posted something on the wall for our Sunday Bible Study. . . which has been perking along by the way.

I would like everyone to know Jesus Christ and to walk with Him on a daily basis. This is the purpose of our Bible Study. Yes, we enjoy fellowship. Yes, we like to pick on Brother Mike. Yes, we do enjoy the donuts and the coffee. MOST OF ALL, I want you to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior. Once you know Him, I want you to learn to fellowship with Him. . .earthly fellowship is good, but not nearly so special as to enjoy being in the presence of the Lord daily. I want you to know how you can share your faith with others.

In line with these goals, we have been doing a little homework for our group. Every day, or as often as we make the time, we are "journalling". With our Bibles and a notebook we are jotting down the ways that God speaks to us and also the prayer needs and burdens of our hearts that we share with the Lord. It is amazing how this little exercise brings a new life to our quiet time with God. Hopefully it will help you to be more faithful and to develop the good habit of making this a priority each day, too. Next Sunday we will be sharing at least one thing. . .an insight or an answer to prayer or something like that. . .from our journals. I hope that you can be here and also that you can help make this a great time of sharing. It is not an exercise in perfection, just a time when we can brag on the Lord.

God is doing several things in the lives of His children as He molds us into the image of Christ. He is teaching us. . .giving us doctrine. He is also showing us the things in our lives where we have made mistakes. He then wants to show us how to make these errors correct. Finally, He wants to teach us how we can stay on the proper path of life. In these ways, the Word of God works in our lives. Our sharing may include one of these aspects of God's working in our lives.

PRAY
Mrs. Francis will be traveling this weekend.
Tammy's due-date is getting closer each day.
Keep praying for our parents who are struggling with health issues.
Pray for revival in America and in our own personal Christian lives.
Pray that souls will be saved.
Pray for our revival meetings coming up.
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS BLESSINGS!
Confess your own sins and failures to God.
Spend some time just thanking God for Who He is.
Keep Brandi in prayer as she is in her new job now.
Lift up the various ministries of the church for His leadership and blessings.

HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK! I am praying for you. Let's be faithful to our Lord.

After the Threats

Yesterday we pursued our study in Acts by looking at the response to the initial persecution from the Jewish Council. Sometimes we receive opposition to our Christian faith. In fact, it seems like being tolerant in our society is for everybody and towards everybody except Bible-believing Christians! From all appearances, unless we have a revival of real Christianity in our nation, this intolerance toward Bible believers will increase. Our Bible study proves remarkably relevant.

1. Gain support and strength in corporate worship and cooperation with other believers. Not only do we gain encouragement and spiritual sharpness as we gather to hear the preaching of the Word of God, but we also gain strength as we jointly state our purpose of serving the Lord and as we serve the Lord together.

2. The second response to opposition is PRAYER. Joining together in prayer with other Christians builds unity and puts everything in perspective. Ask God to demonstrate His power and enliven your witness.

3. Maintain faithfulness in the basic areas of Christian living. In our chapter we find the disciples demonstrating love for one another by giving sacrificially to the needs to others. The early church at Jerusalem contained a large number of "displaced persons". Many had come for the Feasts and then stayed. Some had experienced "shunning" from family, and were in real need of financial support. Even in the midst of persecution, the disciples did not become introverted and self-centered.

Let's be sure to include these steps in our response to opposition to our expressions of faith.

PRAYER NEEDS:
Terry's dad and mom. . .health needs.
Spence's mother is recovering from surgery.
Tammy - expecting :-)
Larry and Ginger are traveling in New Zealand.
Summer school for the next six weeks as well as enrollment for the fall.
Church ministries;
Those who are looking for work or needing jobs;
Sonya Haas is having trouble with a nerve causing her pain.
Tom goes for a Dr.'s visit Monday.
Pray for each other!

Let's invite someone to join us this next week.

Love Y'all,
Brother Mike