Eastside Baptist Church – Page 8

We Stand Ready to Preach This Gospel

Posted on June 29, 2015Leave a comment

Dear Twin Falls and the Magic Valley,

The born-again, repenters of unspeakable sins, who gather at 204 Eastland Drive North in Twin Falls, Idaho cried out to Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10) and found a solid ground to stand upon.

By the grace of God we found a solid place to stand, a firm foundation that did not disappoint.

This was not a place filled with romance that never delivered on its false promises.

We, too, were once slipping down a slippery slope to certain disaster, accumulating false teachers and creating false doctrines to justify our fleshly cravings when a faithful soul, standing on a firm foundation, gave a clear warning; We didn’t even know we were sinners at the time. That faithful follower of the Lord Jesus spoke of a righteous God who would justly judge all sinners and find us guilty and already condemned.

This righteous, loving God invited us to respond to His holiness and repent. By His grace, we were rescued, in faith, by the satisfying requirement of the necessary death of a perfect life. Jesus Christ, this redeemer of sinners took our place, and appeased the wrath of God on our behalf. What a Savior.

Like us, when you discover that helpless estate of pride, selfishness, and unbelief, cry out to God in the name of Jesus the Christ, described by the bible, repent and be saved.

May He plant your feet on a firm foundation, on Christ the Solid Rock. Where “all other ground is sinking sand, may you in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”

We stood ready to preach this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ when it was popular; and now, when it’s not, with great patience and instruction, we ask God for strength to endure. We will not, by the grace of God, abandon our post in the city. We will steadfastly engage in the advancement of the gospel.

We strive to speak with compassion, as those before us, so as to call all sinners unto repentance.

To compromise our message is to compromise our duty. To abandon our duty is of unimaginable hatred.

We remain steadfast as ever, willing to endure hardship for payment. Come, all who deserve God’s wrath, come, come, to Jesus. He stands able and ready to redeem all repenting sinners.

Paul Thompson
Eastside Baptist Church
Twin Falls, Idaho

An Update About New Horizon Home

Posted on June 25, 2015Leave a comment

It is past time for an update on the ministry of Eastside Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti at our girls home. A lot of things have been happening. Let me give a brief update with short testimony and a few pictures.

The faithful at Eastside Baptist Church continue steadfastly praying for all the needs to be met. We don’t put out pleas for help from others (we don’t oppose those who do). We take all of our request to God and trust Him to provide as He moves His people. We never turn down an opportunity to share about the work with those who ask and we don’t shy away from informing organization offering support upon requests nor from sharing with our church family how God answers our plea.

Here are some recent ways God answers those prayers:

First of all: Meet Jean Alexander Veillard, born Tuesday morning to Alex and Johanne Veillard. Alex is the director of New Horizon Home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
There is not a week that goes by that God does not prompt someone to give to the ongoing ministry work of New Horizon International. Faithful giving of people every week at Eastside Baptist Church. Faithful giving of strangers we’ve never met. Faithful giving of churches from around the country. Faithful giving of children collecting pocket change. Faithful giving of widows on fixed income. Faithful giving of businessmen, labor workers, work-from-home moms, etc. The mail man has little idea of the kind of blessings from God he delivers regularly. May the Lord bless His people at the following churches… Second Baptist Church, Amarillo, TX. The Church at Quail Creek, Amarillo, TX. Bear River Valley Baptist Church, Tremonton, UT. Eastside Baptist Church, Twin Falls, ID. Berean Baptist Church, Wendell, ID. Magic Valley Baptist Association. Treasure Valley Baptist Association. The River, Twin Falls, ID.
In a few weeks a group of 8 college students from Boise State University will travel with me to do some bed construction (funds for the beds are provided by The Church at Quail Creek in Amarillo, TX), general care to the home, ministry in a local hospital, English school, and local Baptist Church. Work on our own water well has been going on since my last visit back in January. Until now we did not have our own water source. By the grace of God, we are nearing completion of our water well at New Horizon Home. Alex, our director at the home, is very careful with all money and understands that we can only buy and pay the workers with what God gives us. New Horizon Home continues to receive high inspection marks and Alex is told by officials that New Horizon Home is unlike most homes in the city; clean, efficient, happy. We count this a blessing from God.
We have received word that we now have about 10 acres of agriculture land to begin using. I don’t know how we received it, who gave it to us, or anything about it. On my upcoming trip I will discover all these details and bring report back to the Lord’s people at Eastside. Wow.
About one year ago I was asked to preach in Tremonton, UT at Bear River Valley Baptist Church on a Sunday morning. By the kindness of Eastside Baptist Church, Renee and I left early one hot July Sunday morning and drove to Tremonton to gather with the Lord’s people. We shared at the Lord’s Table together, sang and opened the word of God together. Through conversation with Nancy Nicholas after the service and later at lunch with Jim and Annette Williams I was able to share some of our gospel work God has called Eastside Baptist to in Haiti, they asked if they could begin collecting school supplies for our school.
Yesterday, I received a phone call from Jim, an elder at Bear River Valley Baptist Church, asking if they could bring me the supplies they have for our upcoming trip. Of course I said “sure, thank you.”

Here is a picture of Jim, his wife Annette, and a deacon Jerry today (June 25, 2015). Jim called me at about 11:30am this morning asking if we could meet them at the airport for lunch. I picked Renee up for lunch and to get the supplies. May the Lord bless His kind people at Bear River Valley Baptist Church.

Annette, Jim, Jerry

The Plague of the Christian Celebrity Culture

Posted on May 27, 2015Leave a comment

There may be a plague in the land. Consider this…

If I were to secure a popular Christian musician to be present at a Wednesday night at Eastside Baptist Church (the going price to do so is a minimum of $10,000.00) I suspect we would have to rent a facility to house the number of people who would come.
If I were to secure a popular Christian athlete to be present at a Wednesday night prayer meeting at Eastside Baptist Church, I suspect we would have to turn people away.
If I were to secure a popular Christian actor to be present at a Wednesday night gathering, I suspect we would gather more than just Christians.
If I were to secure a popular preacher we could fill the Lord’s house and would talk about that gathering for months to come.

thus showing us at least two problems…

The current atmosphere among the “Christian” community is plagued with an attraction for the popular, the rich, the talented, the attractive, the comfortable and is completely naive of the opportunity that is before them to be in the manifest presence of Holy God.
What pastor’s (myself included) are calling “worship services”, “prayer meetings”, “bible study” etc, may not be genuinely Christian in nature and more a product of his imagination.

It is my observation that both may be part of the problem. Christian, you have before you an opportunity to gather with the Lord’s people for perhaps the most uniquely compelling reason you could imagine. Can you imagine a worship service where the presence of the Lord God Almighty is so obviously present? Can you imagine a prayer meeting where those present experienced a pouring out of the Holy Spirit that all present were radically changed?

Put that moment up against the last episode of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.
Put that gathering up against the opening night of the long anticipated movie blockbuster.
Put that time of prayer up against a date night with your spouse.

Our casual approach to worship, prayer, bible study exposes a serious issue. And pastor (I’m preaching to me again) your casual approach to preparing shows you have little knowledge as to who you are representing.

There is no celebrity guest appearance showing up at 204 Eastland Drive North in Twin Falls, Idaho, tonight. There is no celebrity interesting enough to take the stage as the opener. We will humbly ask for the Lord’s manifest presence to be present. May He visit us tonight.

Definitions Are Important

Posted on May 13, 2015Leave a comment

Because my office number is forwarded to my mobile phone I get the normal telemarketer calls that come to the church office even when I’m away from my office. This is convenient, but not always.

If I’m not busy with someone or in a spot where I can’t take a call I’ll let it go on to voice mail. I had just pulled into a parking stall at the hospital yesterday and my phone began to ring. I didn’t recognize the number as an Idaho number but I answered “Eastside Baptist Church, this is Paul” anyway.

The phone conversation went like this…

Person on the phone was kind and professional; “Hello, Paul, can I speak to the person in charge of ministering to your children or youth?”

Striving to be kind, I asked “maybe you can help me understand what you mean by ‘the person in charge of ministering to our children and youth?'”

Person on the phone, still kind and professional, but clearly confused by my need for clarity said, “I don’t know what you mean? Do you have a children or youth pastor I could talk to?”

I don’t ever want to be snarky with a well meaning person doing their job, I really don’t. I get that they are doing their job and respect this of them, but I also don’t want to waist their time or mine so I only asked one more question, “Oh, well, what is your definition of a children/youth pastor?”

Getting to the bottom of the reason for the call, the salesperson simply said, “Who is in charge of fund raising for your children and youth ministry?”

This kind of information on the front end would have saved both of us some time.

Granted, a person hired to call churches to get them to hire them as their “fund raiser” is doing a job and will hope to be rewarded for doing a good job. They have no idea when they call the next phone number on their list of Southern Baptist Churches what they are in for when they call Eastside Baptist Church.

It would have been overwhelming to this salesperson if I gave them the phone number to every father and mother in our church. Because that’s who I consider to be in charge of our children and youth ministry. Plus I don’t think all the parents would appreciate me giving out their phone numbers either.

I concluded the conversation politely and kind and just said, “We don’t have anyone in charge of fund raising in our church. Thanks for calling and I hope you have a great day.”

Definitions are important. We do have ministry to children and youth in our church, they thought we were like every other church, we care about all who attend our church, they have learned that churches are a good place to generate revenue.

Has the church been reduced to little more than a potential group of fund raisers? I hope not. I don’t mind defining what I mean and I don’t mind knowing what others mean when they call.

“Thanks for calling and I hope you have a great day.”

What Would Happen If Your Church Did This?

Posted on May 4, 20151 Comment

I’m starting week 10 of a 12 week bible study entitled “Behold Your God” (I recommend it to all of you).

The teaching has been challenging and convicting in many respects. Likely the most sobering moment, a reality check if you will, came in the day 5 portion of week 9. The author John Snyder, was explaining that Jesus was submissive to the Father in all he said and did. Meaning the way He did things was as important as what he had to say.

on page 187, Snyder hit the nail with accuracy as he spoke about John 10:37; “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me..”

He expressed it like this for the pastor.

“This is certainly not a popular pattern today. Just imagine for a moment a church that prints a great banner and hangs it over the pulpit. It reads: “If our pastor does not do the kinds of things that are in harmony with our God, then he is a liar and you are not to listen to him.”

I think I would preach with much more fear and trembling. I would preach with more grace, I would prepare sermons with more tears, I would preach with more urgency. But more so, I would live my life with more grace, I would shed more tears, I would live with greater purpose and urgency, I would be more careful with how I live.

I told my church last night that I would be alright if they put this kind of banner behind our pulpit. Not because I don’t fear the implications, but because I want this kind of accountability.

What would happen if your church did this?

New Sermon Series Begins on Sunday, April 26

Posted on April 21, 2015Leave a comment

If you’ve never driven on an interstate highway in the west you don’t know about this, but if you miss an exit it could be half an hour or forty-five minutes later before you are able to get to the next exit to turn around. Just one simple miss and now you are far off the mark of where you were wanting to be.

This can happen before you know what has happened. This is how it is with sin too. You have a plan of where you want to go, you even know where you are going and then… all of the sudden you’ve missed your exit and too far down the road to quickly fix the matter. It can still be corrected, the right path can be reclaimed, but for now, the consequences of not giving attention to where you are may have a longer effect than desired.

This is the story of the book of Kings.

We will take First Kings this coming Sunday and begin examining where Israel became derailed and why. While doing so it will be of greatest interest to learn as much as can be learned about the God of Israel.

Join me this Sunday as we begin the examination of First Kings

1 Corinthians

Posted on March 25, 2015Leave a comment

Last Sunday I finished the last sermon in a 46-sermon series in the book of 1 Corinthians by reading the entirety of the letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth.

Here are all 46 sermons from the 1 Corinthians Series. (A few sermons did not make it to the audio version due to technical complications.)

Seek My Face

Posted on February 24, 2015Leave a comment

I am thankful to the Lord to have just received confirmation that the keynote speaker at the October (Oct. 18-20) Pastors’ Conference at Eastside Baptist Church (in Twin Falls) will be Richard Owen Roberts.

Rethinking God Biblically

Posted on February 24, 2015Leave a comment

Behold Your God – Sunday night, March 1, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.

Join me and others at Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls (204 Eastland Drive North) for a 12 week study on the God of the Bible. In “Behold Your God” we will learn of historical figures in church history and hear from modern day preachers, evangelist and missionaries as they reveal the God of the bible from Scripture.

Introduction: Welcome to “Behold Your God” from Media Gratiae on Vimeo.

Our God, Our Help In Ages Past by Jon Yerby (Behold Your God Original Soundtrack) from Media Gratiae on Vimeo.

Do Not Think This Strange

Posted on February 3, 2015Leave a comment

“You must never forget those past days when you had received the light and went through such a great and painful struggle. It was partly because everyone’s eye was on you as you endured harsh words and hard experiences, partly because you threw in your lot with those who suffered much the same. You [sympathized] with those who were put in prison and you were cheerful when your own goods were confiscated, for you knew that you had a much more solid and lasting treasure in Heaven. ” (Hebrews 10:32-36 Phillips)

Sometimes, when I think about those God ordained days I weep as I consider the weakness of my mind. I think about those moments I would rise in the middle of the night, nearly overcome with the consuming thought of what people must be saying and thinking about me? what must Renee be enduring? what will become of Silas? what will become of the Thompson name? how is my church doing during these days?

I think about those moments at night when I would make way to the bathroom in near complete darkness stepping around and over other inmates and be consumed with the reality that the Lord’s faithful around the world endure much worse than even this.

Nothing, in what I have come to call – my American Christian experience – had prepared me for this. I was, in many respects, learning how to deal with this experience without any practical preparation.

I would find a sliver of light through an outside source and open that lamp of Scripture to preach to my weaning heart (that selfish, praise-of-men craving heart) and became immediately aware that I had adopted an unbiblical belief of how strange it is that this was happening (1 Peter 4:12-13).

When I consider those God ordained days, I consider them with joy, and it does not seem strange at all to look at them as such.

“…do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing,
as though some strange thing were happening to you…”
1 Peter 4:12 (NASB)

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