Have I Told You Lately.....

A note to the members of Rockport Baptist Church,

Hey Church,

Have I told you lately that I love you all and feel incredibly blessed to be allowed to serve you as one of our pastors and to be given the privilege of opening God's word with you each week? Sometimes I cannot fathom how kind God has been to us...and continues to be day after day. No, of course we aren't perfect -- that's why we need the Gospel! But I was just thinking about it after we'd taken the Lord's Supper together Sunday. We draw near because we are poor and needy. We have sinned and fallen short. We have failed to love as we ought to have loved. Our faith is weak and pitiful. But oh! He is merciful! And He receives us freely on the basis of His finished work on the cross. Therefore we can draw near -- not only to Him (joy of all joys!) but also through Him to one another! And there we find that we are loved, and forgiven and accepted and made one family in Christ! Wonder of wonders!

Hebrews 10:19-25
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

In Him!

S. Scott Lee
Soli Deo Gloria
www.RockportBaptist.org

Grace Camp Meeting

Exhausted but satisfied! That's the best way I can describe how I feel on this Sunday afternoon after our Grace Camp Meeting. God met with us. We have been instructed in His Word and filled with the joy of fellowship with fellow believers. There is so much I'd like to be able to share since Aaron was not able to finish his hoped-for live blogging. But all who would like may listen to the awesome messages on our Sermon Audio Site.

One thing that has warmed my heart so very much has been watching our young people serve so faithfully this weekend. From the young ladies who were helping in the kitchen to all the young men and young women who served our guests in the book room, by leading worship, by serving meals and cleaning up, etc, etc, etc. What a blessing you all were to us!

In His Mercy,

SSL

Grace Camp Meeting - Friday Night Update

Bro. Mike Williams and his wife are still in Texas as of 4:30pm this evening due to mechanical problems and storms. Therefore Mike Durham and Tim Conway will be preaching in this evening's sessions at 7:00pm.

Scott Lead us in reading Psalm 27

Songs for the second morning session:

How Great is Our God (including added verse noted below)

The Darkness of our Hearts
Has kept us far apart
From His amazing Love
From His amazing Love
He gave himself to die
My lifeless soul to buy
Redeeming sinful man,
Redeeming sinful man

How Great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
And all will see How Great,
How Great is our God!

Brother Mike Morrow brought the 2nd message of the morning session.

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Grace Camp Meeting - Friday Morning

We are getting started Friday morning with a time of singing some great hymns of the faith and enjoying fellowship with one another.

Songs for Friday morning:

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

There is a Fountain

Background Text - John 4:8

Theme – God is Love

Bro. Michael Durham

Here are some summary statements of part of the sermon. The full audio version will be available approximately 15 minutes after each session.

How do we define or explain God’s love? There is nothing lovely about us and there is nothing about us that can attract the love of God. God does not love out of want or need. We love because we need. The more we love something is in proportion to our need of it. We love because we gain from those things with which we place value. However God does not lack anything. God does not love out of need for anything.

God loves, not in the way that we do. He loves us, not because he gains anything from us. There is no profit for him because he is self-sufficient. Therefore how can a Holy God love unholy people? What happens among a people who are loved by God? How are they different? How do they love one another? Visit our Sermon Audio Site to listen to this and other sermons.

Grace Camp Meeting - Session 1

The song list for the evening included:

Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
Here is Love
Let us Love and Sing and Wonder

Let me first state that this is not anywhere near a complete outline or synopsis of what is going on here at Grace Camp Meeting, just a background text and later, hopefully, some testimony from people who have attended and been blessed. Let me encourage you to please visit our Sermon Audio Website to hear the complete sermon in detail. I would like to thank Jason Vaughn and Billy Jackson for working this evening with the audio and video equipment that we pray will be a blessing to all who read, listen, and watch.

Scott Lee introduced the first speaker of the night, Brother Michael Durham, whom Scott first met in the country of Romania participating in mission work with Heartcry Missionary Society. Bro. Durham serves as Pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Paducah, KY.

Brother Mike's background text was:

2 Corinthians 5:14

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

It is our prayer that our meetings would bless those beyond the group that has gathered and will be gathering each night. Please consider joining us for the services to come either in person or online.

Grace Camp Meeting Tonight!

We have been so very busy preparing for our Camp Meeting that I have not posted anything here in a very long time. Sorry about that. But I hope to jot some notes down as things go along! God has been blessing at Rockport and we're anxious to get to share in that blessing with those who will be coming to our conference.

Also, it is my intention to put up a summary of our elder's meetings as they occur every other week just to keep our congregation (and anyone else who cares!) informed. This past Monday was largely spent praying together for our conference and for our congregation and it's needs. We continue to seek the Lord for the salvation of those who don't know Him, of our children, friends and visitors, and that He would grant assurance of salvation to some who are struggling in that regard.

We anticipate that God will use this year's Camp Meeting in the life of our church and those who attend. We know that it is not by virtue of our planning that good things will take place, but as a result of God's mercy in choosing to visit us. That is the core of our prayer. Please join us in praying that God would come with power upon us as we meet April 16 - 20th, 2009. As soon as we are able, we will post links to the message on our Sermon Audio page.

Grace and peace to all
SSL

PS - For any who might be interested. Our guys have started going out and doing a little street preaching. Here is a link to their recent effort.