February 28, 2021 Ferguson Avenue Baptist Church 10050 Ferguson Avenue ❖ Savannah, Georgia 31406

Where Christ Is Exalted and the Fellowship Is Exciting Announcements Elders’ Meeting Elders meet on Tuesday, March 2, at 7:00 p.m. Please respond to any emails you re- ceive if you would like them to pray for you. Your requests are kept among the elders only, unless you want them shared with the church body.

Live Stream Study Check out YouTube and/or Facebook on Wednesday, March 3, at 7:00 p.m. as Bob Dimmitt continues teaching through Romans. Links to both platforms are found at www.fabchurch.com/live-stream

Senior ’ Bible Study Join Tom Keller for the Thursday Morning Bible Study in the Fellowship Hall on Thursday, March 4. Coffee will be provided. This study should also be streamed live on YouTube. Monthly Fellowship Lunch is March 16. Signup coming soon.

Evening Worship Evening worship is scheduled for Sunday, March 7, at 6:00 p.m. Join us!

Deacons’ Meeting Tuesday, March 9, at 7:00 p.m.

Save the Dates! Justin Kron from Chosen People Ministries will present The Passover Experience on Sun- day, March 21, at 6:00 p.m. Good News Jail & Prison Ministry International will host a Coffee and Dessert reception to catch their local supporting churches up on what they’re doing on Monday, March 22, at 7:00 p.m. here in our Fellowship Hall. Details to come on both of these events!

Masks Only in Overflow Rooms The overflow rooms are reserved for those wearing masks who also prefer to maintain social distancing. If you would like to sit in the overflow room, you must wear a mask. If you do not have a mask, there are extras in the foyer. If you are not wearing a mask, do not sit in the overflow rooms and do not use the overflow rooms as a pass through. No exceptions. Thank you!

FABC Elders Bob Dimmitt Tom Keller Steve Posner Church Phone: Senior Pastor Assoc. Pastor/ Elder 912-355-0949 912-398-4363 Senior Adults 912-704-5617 [email protected] [email protected] 912-308-3767 [email protected] www.fabchurch.com [email protected] February 28, 2021 10:30 a.m.

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship Hebrews 13:6

Hymn #268, bulletin p. 5 “How Firm a Foundation”

Prayer of General Confession Tom Keller John 1:29

Hymn, bulletin p. 6-7 “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder”

Scripture Reading Mark 8:31-38 Shawn Champion

Hymn, bulletin p. 8-9 “And Can It Be that I Should Gain?”

Message Bob Dimmitt WOL (Way of Living), Part 9 1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Corinthians #92

Hymn, below “Doxology” Old Hundred Tune

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen

2 A.M. Notes

WOL (Way of Living), Part 9 1 Corinthians #92 1 Corinthians 13:13

Many believe that true religion is a quest for inner peace. In Christianity, true reli- gion is a witness—to what God has already done for us and for the whole world in the suffering, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“God loves us, but we too love in the power of God’s love. Our love, our agape love, corresponds with God’s love. Our love is an echo of His love, a mirror of His love.” – J

Our love for both God and neighbor is a sign of God’s love for us.

There is nothing that motivates God to love us. That is how we are to love others (we are motivated by our love for God and His love for us; however there should be nothing in the other that motivates us to love them).

There is joy in God’s love for us, and there is joy in our love for God. There is joy in service to our neighbor as well. But we should not and do not serve our neighbor in order to find joy and happiness.

Continued on p. 4 3 If you marry to find happiness or to be happy, if you have children to find happi- ness or to be happy they will always disappoint, your love for them will be frail, fragile and unsatisfying and you will not find the happiness you are looking for.

In 1 John the word love appears 36 times between chapters 2-5

1 John 3:11 and 14

1 John 3:17 and 23

1 John 4:8, 11 and 21

Agape love proceeds outward, whether the other person responds or not.

4 5 6 7 8 9 Articles Critical Race Theory: Is it Christian? First Principles (Part 4) By Owen Strachan

Fifth, CRT destabilizes truth, making it narratival rather than absolute. We see the postmodern dimension of CRT here. While CRT advocates embrace stand- point epistemology and thus honor absolute truth conceptually, CRT emphasizes that our access to social location will shape our handling of truth. This can lead easily to the promotion of “my truth,” which when possessed by an unprivileged person becomes a weaponized tool of cultural change. CRT, like postmodernity, is not “soft” truth, though; it is actually “hard” truth, very hard indeed. Yet there is no deeper ontological grounding for postmodern truth, and for CRT; rather, CRT simply asserts its commitments without foundation beyond the personal. It is difficult to underplay how significant this point is. If in practice we make truth narratival and relative rather than theistic and absolute, we lose truth. If we lose truth—true truth, normative and norming truth—then we lose the super- structure of the gospel and the Christian faith. Christianity depends upon truthful- ness; truthfulness is grounded in the character and identity of God. To personalize and relativize truth according to social location is to take truth out of God and ground it in us. Doing so means that truth claims are merely the opinions of one group; CRT oddly makes the claims of a single person representative of their entire ethnic or racial group, eliding the fact that people of different ethnicities differ wild- ly in their viewpoints. This general viewpoint means that reading theology, for example, can become little more than a matter of identifying a given author’s background and ethnicity. Theology and biblical interpretation thus morphs into sociology. This is deeply damaging to the pursuit and adjudication of truth. Can we bring our biases and background into our work to its detriment? We surely can. Is it healthy to read a wide range of voices? It definitely is. Does this possibility of bias, however, under- mine the very nature of our theological work, rendering our sermons and writings and claims merely the words of one representative of an ethnic group? It does not. A statement or claim or proposition or story is not true because of our background and cultural standing and lack of privilege; our teaching is true because it accords with truth, with the Word of God above all. CRT epistemology begins by saying something realistic—that everybody has their own perspective. But it loses sight of the fact that God’s truth is true for everyone, regardless of their background or past experience. God’s truth is true at all times and in all places. We do not want a system of truth that molds to us; if we are in Christ, we want a system of truth that molds us. In biblical epistemology, we have such a system, one that makes sense of us and of our world. Indeed, only in Chris- tian epistemology anchored in God himself do the one and the many cohere, and only in this divine system do we have unity in diversity. CRT, however, gives us

10 only diversity, for its dependence upon standpoint epistemology ends up collapsing the world into multi-perspectivalism and the resulting contest for power. Instead of unity in diversity, we are consigned to estrangement, eternal subjects of hostility. Sixth, CRT is uncritically associated with (or susceptible to) various move- ments that are not consonant with Christianity. CRT makes common cause with “underprivileged” groups, including “sexual minorities” who find their place in the LGBT movement (as one example). This term shows how CRT and related systems recast movements in terms of power dynamics, not categories of truth. Scripture knows nothing of the language of “sexual minorities,” and Christians should steer clear of such speech to the full. Scripture knows of godly sexuality which God loves, and ungodly sexuality which God despises and will judge. CRT effectively makes virtuous most any movement that is in a minority position in society irrespective of its views. This is a key part of how “transgenderism” has become a civil right, when in truth it is no such thing; it is sin, not worthy of appro- bation, and should in no way be classed as a disability or a righteous cause. We are already seeing how pedophilia is traveling the same path; the logic behind its rise is inevitable given the dynamics behind CRT and intersectionality. Nor can we fail to note that our culture’s predominantly therapeutic worldview speeds this ascent. Since there is no such thing as sin in the traditional sense, and since everyone needs affirmation as they are, there is no depravity, no perversity, that a godless order will fail to elevate as a noble cause. Rising support for pedophilia aside, CRT takes complex issues and makes them deceptively simple. Many advocates of CRT approach immigrants as a minority group, positing immigration as a natural, inalienable right. Any who raise concerns about the pragmatics of immigration are therefore presented as harming minorities. While it is unquestionably wrong to see immigrants as inherently evil, we must be much more careful regarding immigration than CRT urges us to be. Immigration is for many people a matter not of principle but of pragmatics; in other words, it is not whether we should welcome immigrants—for this is widely believed—but how many people our country can welcome, and into what conditions and situation they come, that draw real and justifiable concern. Where CRT tells us to have a blanket policy here, we do much better to have a thoughtful, balanced, and societally-sound policy. The life of a nation is a complex thing, and we must handle with care in order to preserve the strength of our country, whether in an economic or sociopolit- ical sense. At this point we can make a related observation: CRT is inherently activist. In surveying the world, it diagnoses immediate problems and calls for sweeping and unimpeded changes. It looks at very complex situations and reduces them to action items. In CRT, everyone who is not a person of color is effectively a racist, and so needs to repent; society is fundamentally misaligned, and needs massive redress; our solutions cannot be gradual, but must be instantaneous. Some situations do call for immediate action, it is true, but many do not. CRT’s activist nature tempts us as a cure-all, but we should urge caution regarding not only its actual principles, but its default activist mode. Seventh, CRT thus represents a different system of thought than Christianity, one we should carefully study but ultimately reject. As we have seen, CRT is not Christianity; CRT is distinct from Christianity. It overlaps with Christianity in that

11 it expresses concern for those who have been wronged for racial and ethnic reasons. But even the way it construes this problem is decidedly different from the biblical vision, and the solution offered by CRT to the problem it frames is radically differ- ent from gospel . CRT is a system we do well to study, think about, ana- lyze, and critique; it is not a system we should endorse, adopt, or embrace. One additional matter: As a different system of thought than Christianity, we should not be surprised to see CRT handle history differently than a Christian ap- proach to the same. In a CRT framework, history is effectively divided up between two groups: those who are evil and should be cast off, and those who are virtuous. This line of assessment should trouble us as believers, for while there is real sin in the Christian past, we are those who know that any of our predecessors can only be imperfect and flawed. It is right to identify and decry sin in the Christian past, but it is not right to marginalize and silence born-again believers from the past who erred along racial and ethnic lines. CRT encourages us to take such a stance; it summons us to apply a doctrine of sin to our past leaders that is distinct from the biblical one. With all the foregoing in mind, CRT is one of many systems of thought in our world that we must not let take us captive (Colossians 2:8). Instead, we should “demolish strongholds” by subjecting unbiblical systems to biblical, theological, and ethical critique, emulating Paul as we do so (2 Corinthians 10:4). We do not embrace part of Marxism, or part of Epicureanism, or part of existentialism, or part of homosexuality, or part of transgenderism, or part of pedophilia, or part of post- modernity as believers. We learn about these causes and worldviews, we compas- sionately engage those enmeshed in them and thus headed for eternal destruction, and we refute them. This is what we call cultural deconstruction and gospel recon- struction. Conclusion - Our discussion of CRT and related matters must end where Chris- tian faith begins: the cross of Christ. The cross, as Luther said, is truly our theology. The cross is stronger than any system, however enticing. We are left with the fol- lowing conclusion: we should not marry CRT to Christianity. We should instead pray for the release and liberation of those who have fallen prey to it. About these things we must be clear. Some people will respond—okay, maybe you’re right, but what is in CRT’s place? In the place of CRT is biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is the great need of our age. Biblical Christianity is local church oriented. It urges us to enflesh our Christ-secured union in local congregations. Biblical Christianity is resolutely ethical and anti-racist and anti-ethnocentrist. Wherever there are genuine forms of either of these sins, true believers oppose them. But we also oppose a vision of hu- manity, and especially regenerate humanity that sees us as implacably and innately divided. Our major work, therefore, is theological and spiritual. We preach and teach the whole counsel of God. We believe in the “one new man” created by Christ through his atoning death (Eph. 2:15). Our major cultural and social program is this: to preach the gospel, and to live according to the realities of redemption, and to op- pose evil anywhere we find it. Such enfleshed Christianity is activist primarily in terms of , but also in terms of the public square. Fundamentally, Chris- tians seek to conserve that which is true, good, and beautiful. This does not mean only preserving virtue, of course, but promoting it. Nonetheless Christians must steer

12 clear of a fundamentally progressive and liberal mindset in which sociology trumps theology and activism replaces ecclesiology. There is much more we could say about CRT, however, we must conclude. We close by noting this in sum: a failure to stand up and tell the truth about this philos- ophy or any other is a failure of theology, and because of this, a failure of love. This is a matter of grave urgency. Let us remember the early church in our particular moment, and let us recall how they simultaneously told the truth about every unbiblical worldview, preaching Christ as the hope of every sinner of every kind. So must we. ❖

How are there 6 billion people on the earth if we started with only & Eve?

It’s not as hard as you think; let’s start in the beginning with one male and one female (Adam & Eve). Now let’s assume that they marry & have children & that their children marry & have children & so on. Also let’s assume that the population doubles every 150 years. Therefore, after 150 years there will be four people, after another 150 years there will be eight people, after another 150 years there will be sixteen people, & so on. It should be noted that this growth rate is actually very conservative. In reality, even with disease, famines, & natural disasters, the world population currently doubles every 40 years or so. After 32 doublings, which is only 4,800 years, the world population would have reached almost 8.6 billion. That’s 2 billion more than the current population of 6.5 billion people, which was recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau on March 1, 2006. This simple calculation shows that starting with Adam & Eve & assuming a most conservative growth rate, the current population can be reached well within 6,000 years. As a side note: Evolutionists are always telling us that humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years. If we did assume that humans have been around for 50,000 years & if we were to use the calculations above, there would have been 332 doublings, & the world’s population would be a staggering figure—a one followed by 100 zeros; that is 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000. We should actually be asking the question, “If humans have been around for over 100,000 years, why is the population so small?” That is the question that those who believe in & support evolution must answer.

reat quote from a pastor in the Middle East: the problem with following Jesus is that you can’t actually do it passively and invisibly. It seeps G through your words and your actions. True Christianity cannot be hid- den or contained…Christianity is not just a set of beliefs; it is a lifestyle. Are you seeping?

13 Missionary of the Week

Bill & Barbara Boggess Equipping Leaders International

We supported the Boggesses for years as church planters in France. Since retirement, Bill is training French-speaking pastors on the Afri- can continent, and we help from time to time with special gifts.

February 17, 2021 Dear friends and family,

I hope you all are doing well at this time of Covid and winter storms. As most of you know, in the fall of 2019 Barbara had surgery to remove her gall bladder. It turned out that it was cancerous, stage 2. After two surgeries, she had chemotherapy through June of 2020, and we thought she was cancer-free. Unfortunately, she was not, even though all previous tests did not show any presence of cancer. A week ago, she had some tests that showed that there are two cancerous tumors. Yesterday she had an endoscopic ultrasound to get more information. It showed a tumor where the gall bladder was. We haven’t received the biopsy results yet, but the doctors consider this to be serious. Please pray for her as this is unwelcomed news. Our son Benjamin and Sabrina and Reza are driving down today from Washington DC for a week so. Our other two boys and families will come in March. We believe that God is good, and powerful, and we are talking to Him about this. He has the right to upset our plans. We want to glorify Him in life or death, good times or bad.

II Corinthians 5:6-9 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from — 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

I, along with several other teachers that I have recruited to help me teach, will teach Romans to about 40 pastors from Mali, Ivory Coast and Senegal through Zoom Mon- day through Thursday next week. I am grateful to the men who are taking the load off my back at this time by teaching some of the lessons. I am thankful as well for those who gave generously so the African host pastors could buy the equipment (computers, projectors, speakers, screens, etc.) and host the participants for the four-day conference. If you would like to contribute toward the expenses for future conferences, you may send contributions to ELI at http://equippingleadersinternational.org/give/ or to TEAM, P.O. Box 1683, Carol Stream, IL 60132-1683. The Zoom conference last month that François and I taught on Bible Study Methods to 40 pastors in the Congo DRC went very well. The technology worked!

Praise: • For a very good conference in Goma, Congo. The technology worked well. (This is probably a class B miracle. J) 14 Nursery February 28 Bible Reading Schedule 10:30 A.M. Babies: March 2021 Lisa & Addisyn Rowe Toddlers - 4 year olds: 1 1 Samuel 20-24 Jimmy & Tammy Kicklighter 2 James

Nursery March 7 3 1 Samuel 25-28 10:30 A.M. 4 James Babies: Carolyn Blanton, Cindy Wise 5 1 Samuel 29-31 Toddlers - 4 year olds: 6 James Ashley Keller, Myri Hymon 7 2 Samuel 1-5 • For several generous gifts toward the 8 James expenses for these conferences. I know God is glorified by this money 9 2 Samuel 6-11 put to strategic use for His kingdom! 10 James • For excellent doctors at this time. 11 2 Samuel 12-15 Prayer: 12 James • Barbara’s health situation as she faces a dangerous cancer. 13 2 Samuel 16-20 • For the ZOOM conference on Ro- 14 James mans for 40 pastors in Mali next week. 15 2 Samuel 21-24 • For the African pastors to faithfully 16 James transmit the truth to other pastors in the outlying areas. For God to en- 17 Ezra 1-5 courage them, provide for them, keep 18 James them healthy, give them wisdom, strengthen their faith, enable them to 19 Ezra 6-10 be light in the darkness and salt in their culture during these trying 20 James times. 21 Nehemiah 1-5 • For success with the online training sessions. 22 James • For wisdom concerning the timing of 23 Nehemiah 6-10 our next teaching trip. 24 James • For more provision for equipping sev- eral other servants of the Lord and 25 Nehemiah 11-13 funding for the next round of courses. • For perseverance in translating the 26 James ELI courses 27 Isaiah 1-5 • For additional colleagues who speak French and who have a heart to teach 28 James spiritually hungry pastors. 29 Isaiah 6-10

Love to you all, 30 James 15 Bill and Barbara  31 Isaiah 11-16 This Week at FABC

Today Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship: Meeting & Live Stream 10:30 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study: Romans, Live Stream only 7:00 p.m.

Thursday Senior Saints’ Bible Study: Meeting & Live Stream 10:00 a.m.

Sunday School Classes & Descriptions Adult “Psalms” Fellowship Hall: Bob Dimmitt/Chris Leverett Various Topics Olde Bishop Wade Manse: Steve Posner

Children & Students Babies Room 3: Kay Stanford & Saundra Bridges Toddlers & PreK Room 25: Emily Wise & Kamee Roberson/ & Ruth Kleinpeter K, 1st & 2nd Grade Room 200: John & Pam Humphrey 3rd-6th Grade Boys Room 202: Ric Zittrouer, Richie Mills 3rd-6th Grade Girls Room 204: Mary Ann Fowler, Amy Horton Youth Guys Room 206: Bobby DeLoach, Shawn Champion Youth Girls Room 208: Jessica Dimmitt

Lockup Deacons for February: Ron Fowler, Jimmy Kicklighter Lockup Deacons for March: Jay Rowe, Napoleon Martin

For Hearing Impaired If you have difficulties hearing, we have listening aid devices available. Ask any of the ushers, or the technician in the sound booth, if you are in need of one of these devices.

If you have any questions concerning the message from today, or are interested in obtaining information about church membership, please see any of the pastors after the service, drop a note in the offering plate indicating your desire to talk with a pastor, or call the church office.  Video and audio recordings of the messages are available for listening or downloading from www.fabchurch.com/sermons 16