WaveLink2024-11-21T15:35:30-06:00

WaveLink

WaveLink is the weekly newsletter of Lakeside Baptist Church. In it you will find a letter encouragement from one of our pastors, as well as important information for upcoming events, ministry updates, and missions info.

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Latest Newsletters

The Lord Is My Shepherd // February 6, 2025

The Reason We Are Forgiven Dear Church Family, I shared this at a funeral this weekend and thought it might bless you: The Lord is my Shepherd. That's a relationship. I shall not want -- that’s supply He maketh me to lie down in green pastures -- that's rest. He leadeth me beside the still waters -- that's refreshment. He restoreth my soul -- that's healing. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness -- that's guidance. For his name's sake -- that's purpose. Yea, thou walk through the valley of the shadow of death -- that's testing. I will fear no evil -- that's protection. For thou art with me -- that's faithfulness. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me -- that's discipline. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies -- that's hope. Thou anointest my head with oil. That's consecration, my cup runneth over -- that's abundance. Surely goodness and mercy [...]

February 6, 2025|Categories: WaveLink|

The Reason We Are Forgiven // January 30, 2025

The Reason We Are Forgiven Dear Church Family, Hope this devotional thought blesses you— Did you know Jesus does not forgive us because we confess our sins? That's a confusion of 1 John 1.9. John writes that if we confess our sins, God is faithful unto us to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now a couple of verses before then (verse 7), he pinpoints exactly why we are forgiven. He says, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins. Think of it this way, if you're sick and you go to the doctor and you tell the doctor, “I am sick, here's what's wrong with me?” Does your telling the doctor that you're sick lead to your healing? No, it's just a necessary step in the process. If you stay home and you either don't seek healing or if you stay home and you refuse to acknowledge that you're sick, as sometimes men will [...]

January 30, 2025|Categories: WaveLink|

Hospitality is the New Apologetics // January 23, 2025

Hospitality is the New Apologetics Dear Church Family, My friend Gary Stidham was in the Baptist Student Ministry at UTA for many years and is now a professor at Southwestern Seminary. He led his students to lead hundreds if not thousands to Christ. So, when he posted the following on Facebook, I paid attention. Hope it blesses you in your journey of evangelism: HOSPITALITY IS THE NEW APOLOGETICS In the past, people skeptical of Christianity felt that intellectual questions were their biggest barrier to faith. They needed a patient, intelligent defense of the Christian faith to overcome those barriers. They needed apologetics. TIMES HAVE CHANGED. Of course, there are still intellectual barriers to faith. However, those are not the most significant barriers for young non-Christian adults. In post-Christian America, many young adults were raised with no religious belief. They don’t have INTELLECTUAL questions about Christianity because they don’t have ANY questions about Christianity. What they do crave, however, is [...]

January 23, 2025|Categories: WaveLink|

The Forgiven Family of God // January 16, 2025

The Forgiven Family of God Dear Church Family, As we get ready for a new semester of discipleship here at Lakeside, I pray for you all as you seek God’s leadership in your next steps. Hope you’ve had a chance to check out our new website at www.lbcgranbury.com. It is so well done to help us all be in the know. Praying for Pastor Paul Pakebusch and his team as they prepare for DNOW next month. Praying for those seeking the LORD about mission trips this year. Thankful for another year of teachers, leaders, and just all-around servers. I read another great devotional by Chad Bird I wanted to share: God’s choice of Jacob over Esau was not based on moral, intellectual, or spiritual credentials (Genesis 25). He didn’t wait for the two brothers to grow up so he could assess their virtues and then choose the superior son. God made his decision “though [the twins] were not yet [...]

January 16, 2025|Categories: WaveLink|

Sharing the Gospel with a Neighbor // January 9, 2025

Sharing the Gospel with a Neighbor Dear Church Family, I had a brother from Lakeside ask me about some things to share with a neighbor to help them understand the Gospel and I wanted to share with you one way to share the Gospel with others. The following are 5 questions from Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. 1. Do you have any spiritual beliefs? Just listen. Their answer gives you an idea of where they are spiritually. 2. Who do you think Jesus is? Just listen. 3. Do you think there is a Heaven or a Hell? Just listen. 4. When you die, where do you think you would go? Why? Just listen. 5. If what you believe is not the truth, would you want to know? If their answer is no, then pray for another opportunity to share with them. If they answer yes, then share you should share your own testimony followed by [...]

January 9, 2025|Categories: WaveLink|

Redemption in the New Year // January 2, 2025

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, Hope you all had a blessed Christmas and New Years. Praying for a fruitful 2025. I saw this from Dr. Chad Bird and thought it might encourage you: The stories in the Scriptures often seem to be ripped from the headlines. You don't need to read any further than Genesis to encounter stories such as these: “Brother Murders Brother in a Fit of Jealous Rage” (Genesis 4) “Spiritual Leader Discovered Drunk and Naked in His Home” (Genesis 9) “Husband’s Lies Place Wife in Danger of Sexual Assault” (Genesis 12) “Militants Kidnap Family During Raid” (Genesis 14) “Wife Lets Husband Father a Child with the Maid” (Genesis 16) “Gang of Men Attempt to Rape a Man’s Guests” (Genesis 19) “Twin Brother Deceives Blind Father and Steals from Absent Brother” (Genesis 27) “Man in Polygamous Household Faces Incredible Strife in Family” (Genesis 29-30) “Mass Slaughter Perpetrated by Brothers to Avenge Sister’s Rape” (Genesis [...]

January 2, 2025|Categories: WaveLink|Tags: , , , , , , |

Wavelink // December 26, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, The celebration of Christmas is also the celebration of Genesis chapter 1. One of the best Christmas books ever written is entitled On the Incarnation, by Athanasius. At the beginning of the book, Athanasius reminds us that it's through the same Word by which God brought all things into existence, that He also accomplished our redemption. In the beginning, in and with and through His Word, that is through His Son, God created all things, and then He sent that same Word down to us to assume our humanity, to make our human nature everlastingly His own. And then, as a man who is also God, Christ accomplished our redemption. In accomplishing our redemption, He accomplished our re-creation. The saving work of Jesus is the new Genesis of humanity. He took into Himself our nature and through His saving work He redeemed our nature. And by our union with Christ, we [...]

December 26, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|

Wavelink // December 19, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Is Christmas Pagan? Here are the ten most common erroneous beliefs about Christmas being tied to paganism. First, Christmas is the Roman feast of Saturnalia.” Saturnalia, honoring the Roman god Saturn, ran from December 17 to 23. Christmas on December 25 doesn’t even overlap. There’s no evidence the early Church chose this date to compete with Saturnalia. Second, “Christmas is actually the feast of Sol Invictus”. Sol Invictus was declared in AD 274. Hippolytus of Rome linked Jesus’s birth to December 25 in AD 20. If anything, Sol Invictus may have been Rome’s attempt to counter Christmas. Third, “Christmas is the celebration of the winter solstice.” The solstice is around December 21, not December 25. Christians picked December 25 because it is 9 months after March 25, the Annunciation. Fourth, “Mithras was born on December 25.” There is no historical evidence linking Mithras to that date. Besides, the celebration of Christmas predates the cult [...]

December 19, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|

Wavelink // December 12, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, What an incredible concert last Sunday evening! I’m so grateful for Carey and Michael and their teams. The choir and orchestra, and the children’s choir truly led us to worship. I wanted to share part of the testimony of Marnie Thielke, who went to be with Jesus recently. Pete, her husband, gave me permission to share. It just shows you that God can multiply our offerings to Him to change eternity: Marnie Thielke and John Ensor were fellow students at Bethel College in the 70's. In 2013, they reconnected at a fundraiser with two foundations in Texas. John was seeking to fund a campaign designed by the pastors/leaders of the underground church in China, to train up 1 million people in their churches in biblical pro-life ethics and equip them to rescue mothers and babies from forced abortion. At that presentation, one of the foundations was skeptical because John's work in [...]

December 12, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|

Wavelink // December 5, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. I love this time of year and look for opportunities to build bridges for the Gospel. I also want to thank you for your patience regarding our water issue this last Sunday. Our team diligently worked throughout the weekend to get it resolved by Sunday, but it just didn’t work out that way. I appreciate Pastor Carey, Michael Wilcox, Carol Horton, and Dr. Ashlock for helping us to have an online worship experience. One of our members told me that he and his wife drove up on Sunday and after they found out we had cancelled in person services, decided to drive to Glen Rose to go to First Baptist there. But the LORD began to speak to his heart about going to a small church he was familiar with from some friends who attend there. The pastor, out of the blue, said, “Brother do [...]

December 5, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|

Wavelink // November 28, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, Read this by Chad Bird and thought it might speak to you like it did me: Making a Mockery of Ordination The Hebrew phrase commonly translated as "ordained" in the Old Testament is literally "to fill the hands." For instance, when God told Moses, "Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons," (Exod. 29:9), he said in Hebrew, וּמִלֵּאתָ֥ יַֽד־אַהֲרֹ֖ן וְיַד־בָּנָֽיו, that is, you shall "fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons." Why "fill the hands"? It reflects the ritual act of sacrifices being placed in the hands of men becoming priests (cf. Lev. 8:27), which they then offer before the LORD. To be ordained in Israel, therefore, like our word "mandate" (lit. "give into the hand"), was to be "handed" an office in which you use your hands for holy things. This ordination given by God was sometimes twisted and mocked in Israel. For instance, we read [...]

November 28, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|

Wavelink // November 21, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, I read this and it was so insightful I wanted to share it with you all: The Devil Left Him Until an Opportune Time John closes his Gospel by saying that Jesus did many other things, but if all those details were included, the world itself would not be a big enough library to hold all the books. It’s a good reminder to us that there are huge gaps in our knowledge, not only of what Jesus did but also of what he suffered. Yes, God has given us everything we *need* to know about our Lord’s life in the four Gospels, but nowhere near everything we *could have known.* Among those “could-have-knowns” is how many times the devil tempted Jesus. In Luke 4, at the end of the temptation account, Luke writes that the devil left Jesus “until an opportune time” (4:13). I suspect we focus so much on those [...]

November 21, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|

Wavelink // November 14, 2024

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, I’m so proud to serve with you all and from time to time I get to hear a powerful testimony from one of my brothers or sisters here. Friday morning at our Men’s Ministry prayer breakfast, I heard Miller Scanlan share his testimony and his wisdom on discipling other men. I asked him if I could share this here. I thought it would encourage you all! Good morning, I was honored and humbled when asked to speak before this group. This morning I wanted to share some of my experiences working with others, mainly covering discipling or mentoring, but before that I wanted to share part of my story and how God brought me to where I am today. I was raised in NM on a ranch where I learned the value of hard work and trust in myself. There was not much God introduced in my life, a handful of [...]

November 12, 2024|Categories: WaveLink|
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