The First Baptist Church of Geneva

“All through history the deity and centrality of Christ has been under attack, and never on a wider scale than today. Today there are highly organized and “successful” religions that carry as a hallmark a deficient view of Jesus. Besides the obvious affronts of secular society, cults like the Mormons (Latter Day Saints) and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and religions like Islam wage war on Jesus. Why?”

Better come Sunday to find out.

Sunday, July 27th there will be a

Youth Ownership Meeting @ 6:00pm followed by a

Girls Only and Boys Only Bible Study @ 6:30pm.

This section of the web site (a.k.a., The Grape Vine) is actually a blog. A blog (a brilliant coinage deriving from the words web and log) is perfect for updates and announcements, as well as for occasional articles on special topics. Keep checking The Grape Vine for news about special events, new members, prayer needs, and to read encouraging articles, excerpts from sermons, and helps for Christian living and evangelism. Some posts even invite a discussion among the church family in the comments section. So long as the comments feature is enabled for a post, anyone can comment (no account needed - see the comments section of this post and give it a try).

If you are a ministry leader, we would be glad to set up an account so that you can occasionally post updates and information relating to your ministry. Posts do not have to be lengthy - in fact, brevity is desired (generally speaking). You will be surprised at how easy it is to post here. And with more and more of our church members using the Internet, The Grape Vine may be an excellent medium for getting the word out on pretty much anything. Drop me an email if you would like an account.

If you are not a ministry leader and would still like to post something (i.e., a thank-you note, announcement, etc.), no problem. You need only to send us an email with the text, and we can post it for you.

We hope that this blog will prove to be an excellent tool for both getting the word out about FBC to the wider community, and to better serve our church family - to the glory of God.

Can you tell who is having more fun? The Awana teachers or students (click on photo to enlarge)?  Awana’s will start up again soon! Keep checking back for dates.

We haven’t yet posted the audio for last week’s sermon (July 13th), but we will soon. But in that sermon, Pastor Daryl Permenter made reference to what some people call the trilemma argument: that there are only three possible explanations about Jesus Christ. He was either a lunatic, a liar or He was (and is) Lord. I thought it might be good to post something about that here as a help for when we share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with the lost.

In his book, The Case for Christianity, C.S. Lewis used this argument powerfully. Lewis wrote:

I’m trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really silly thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That’s the one thing we mustn’t say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he’s a poached egg—or else he’d be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But don’t let us come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.

So those are the three possible explanations - Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. Of course, the first two explanations are totally unsatisfying. Jesus’ moral character, the mass of witnesses to the miracles he performed in public, etc., attest to the fact that he was no liar. And his reasoning, parables and arguments consistently baffled the smartest and most educated the world had to offer - Jesus was no lunatic. There is only one possible explanation. Jesus was (and He is) the Lord.

Is the United States of America a Christian nation? In this sermon, preached the week of Independence Day, Pastor Daryl Permenter argues that it is indeed.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mitsuko Hofmann,73, went home to be in the presence of the Lord.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, July 19th (viewing at 10AM, followed by the service at 11AM) here at the First Baptist Church of Geneva.  In lieu of flowers the family has requested contributions to the church designated to the building program.

Let’s pray for Richard and family during this time.

We had the great joy of wittnessing the baptism of Trinity Dixon. Welcome to the family, Trinity. Be sure to welcome Trinity in person, and you can do that in the comments as well.

Make sure to be here on Sunday morning (10:15AM)! Pastor Permenter is returning to Following the Pattern, a series on the book of Acts. If you have missed a few past sermons, feel free to visit the audio archives to catch up. This Sunday we will hit Acts 13.

As you can see, Richard and I are doing a little remodeling to the site. A few things might be out of order now, but make sure to check back in a few days!