Emmanuel Baptist Church
Ok, its late and told myself I was going to try to get to bed early, but when I was about to head to bed, I realized I wanted to post my happenings from Sunday. This past Sunday I visited Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid. My first impression of it was impressive. It is very different than Christ the King: a lot bigger, a very large choir, a couple of video screens, a full band with electric drums(which don't sound as good as the real thing by a long shot). Now keep in mind, this is the first church I've been to besides Christ the King, and Believers Chapel in Dallas. The songs they sang were very similar to the ones sung at RUF, except with a couple more instruments than guitars and congo drums (sorry J-Stu).
During the sermon, the pastor seemed more concerned with preaching to the camera which was projecting onto 2 large screens on either side of him. I don't know where else the sermon was being telecasted, but I would have preferred if he had been talking to the large audience that was right infront of him, rather that trying to reach everyone through the camera. It was weird watching him in person but listening to him through the screens. I guess that's something that I need to accept from a larger church.
The other thing I was a little confused about was the sermon itself. Now, I am no expert on the detailed beliefs of the Baptist church, but this one confused me a little bit. The reading was from Genesis 7:1-10 when Noah built the Ark. One of the big themes that was repeated throughout the lesson was that "when you feel the call of God, don't look at the clock"(Pastor Wade) It was said during the sermon that the Lord waited for Noah to finish the ark before He brought the floods.(1 Peter 3:20) and that God waited for Moses to be ready before He lead the people out of Egypt. Now I got this to mean that the Lord waited on the lives of these individuals before He acted. If the Lord waits for man to decide when the time is right, then how can man follow the Lord? Am I miss-interpreting what is being said? It seems like in this example, man is being held as high as the Lord, in that the Lord doesn't decide when things happen, man does. I see this as man saying I'm not ready to do something, and so it won't happen. But shouldn't it be the Lord saying man isn't ready, therefore it won't happen?
James 4:13-16 says to me otherwise. Specifically, in verse 15,
Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that"
Is this one of the difference in beliefs of the Baptist church? Am I miss-interpreting the message from Genesis?
While at the church on Sunday, I filled out one of their visitor cards and there was an option that I checked to have them call me to make an appointment to get to know me better. This will probably be one of the things that I ask him then. Any feedback on this issue is most welcome.
Anyways, the paper is still going well. I'm setting a deadline of tomorrow night for getting more pictures from the past 2 weeks up somewhere for people to see. I'll post where tomorrow. Bed time. Chow.
During the sermon, the pastor seemed more concerned with preaching to the camera which was projecting onto 2 large screens on either side of him. I don't know where else the sermon was being telecasted, but I would have preferred if he had been talking to the large audience that was right infront of him, rather that trying to reach everyone through the camera. It was weird watching him in person but listening to him through the screens. I guess that's something that I need to accept from a larger church.
The other thing I was a little confused about was the sermon itself. Now, I am no expert on the detailed beliefs of the Baptist church, but this one confused me a little bit. The reading was from Genesis 7:1-10 when Noah built the Ark. One of the big themes that was repeated throughout the lesson was that "when you feel the call of God, don't look at the clock"(Pastor Wade) It was said during the sermon that the Lord waited for Noah to finish the ark before He brought the floods.(1 Peter 3:20) and that God waited for Moses to be ready before He lead the people out of Egypt. Now I got this to mean that the Lord waited on the lives of these individuals before He acted. If the Lord waits for man to decide when the time is right, then how can man follow the Lord? Am I miss-interpreting what is being said? It seems like in this example, man is being held as high as the Lord, in that the Lord doesn't decide when things happen, man does. I see this as man saying I'm not ready to do something, and so it won't happen. But shouldn't it be the Lord saying man isn't ready, therefore it won't happen?
James 4:13-16 says to me otherwise. Specifically, in verse 15,
Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that"
Is this one of the difference in beliefs of the Baptist church? Am I miss-interpreting the message from Genesis?
While at the church on Sunday, I filled out one of their visitor cards and there was an option that I checked to have them call me to make an appointment to get to know me better. This will probably be one of the things that I ask him then. Any feedback on this issue is most welcome.
Anyways, the paper is still going well. I'm setting a deadline of tomorrow night for getting more pictures from the past 2 weeks up somewhere for people to see. I'll post where tomorrow. Bed time. Chow.
posted by Kyle Nosal | 11:27 PM
1 Comments:
yeh...what laurie said.
i think that what you heard in the sermon probably represents a healthy percentage of southern baptist churches' stance on the sovereignty of God.
it should make for interesting discussion.
glad to hear you are plugging into the community.
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