Join Us Online

We truly appreciate you continuing to be with the church by participating in online worship, loving your neighbors in practical ways, being faithful in your giving, and so much more! Join us online this Sunday at 9:30AM for modern service or 11:00AM for traditional service.

Please keep in mind that First Baptist Church has reopened for Sunday worship gatherings, but we encourage you to continue worshiping online with us until you are ready to return to in-person gatherings.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

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Join Us In Person

Our campuses are now open for in-person worship gatherings! Join us this Sunday at 8:00am (Modern Worship) at our Lakefront location.

Join us at 9:30am (Modern Worship) and 11:00am (Traditional Worship) at our Island location.

Please contact shaynes@fbcvenice.org for more information.

The Search for Clarity

January 15-16 – Day 12

Proverbs 16:9 (NLT) We can make our plans, but the Lord

determines our steps.

A swimming pool game is played by countless adults with their small children. We stand in the water and ask our child to jump. We tell them, “I will catch you.” We tell them, “You will be ok, you can trust me!” We stand close to the edge of the pool and tell them to, “Jump!” You have probably played this game as both the child and the parent!

In the Bible, Jesus told the professional fishermen Peter and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people” (Matthew 4:19). The Bible does not record Peter or Andrew asking Jesus to clarify what He meant by following Him and fishing for people. They simply followed. They were not told that by following Jesus they would see miraculous healings, encounter demons, see dead people come to life, see thousands of people fed with only 2 small fish and 5 loaves of bread, face persecution, abandon Jesus, see Jesus die, and experience His resurrection! They trusted and followed.

I will admit it is sometimes frustrating not knowing where God is leading. If He would just clarify things so that I would know what I may encounter. Spelling things out for me so I can understand more fully makes the following much easier. Too often He does not do this. God stands on the edge of life and tells me to “Jump, you can trust me!”

In my senior year in college Tassie and I were called to be the interim pastor at a church in Pensacola, Florida. This was our first. We knew absolutely nothing about being an interim pastor. However, one of the older couples in the church spent time with us, prayed for us, and encouraged us. They gave us a wonderful Study Bible and included this verse from Joshua on the inside cover.

Joshua 1:7-9 Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. ⁸This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. ⁹Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

They knew we were looking for clarity in God’s call for our lives. They also knew what we needed most was trust! We want clarity, God says, “Jump, you can trust me!”

In Christ,

Pastor Tom

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