Volume 25 Issue 6 REMOVE THE MASK By Pastor Dennis Felder June 2021 Not certain if you are or were a fan of Batman. Batman disguises his true identity by wearing a mask. Behind the mask, Batman is a wealthy millionaire by the name of Bruce Wayne. Whenever a threat would arise, Bruce Wayne would slip into the bat cave; put on his bat costume and mask to conceal his true identity as he heroically fought the villains of Gotham City. Each time the villains placed Batman in a precarious position, they tried to remove his mask to reveal his true identity. During this pandemic, we too have been donning masks to fight an evil villain named COVID. COVID was and still is a ruthless disease, but we are about to eradicate its power with proper hygiene, medical advancement, and mask wearing. Slowly but surely, we are not only raising our hands in victory, but slowly and surely, we can lower our masks. When our masks are pulled down, we can see the real person. We can see one’s radiant smile or a frown of displeasure. Although needed at the time, masks did conceal one’s real identity. Masks often hide the true emotions of what a person is really feeling. Now that masks are being removed, how will others see you? In life, there are many masks that people wear that are not made of cloth. They are inward masks that will hide one’s true emotions, deep thoughts, and genuine feelings. These masks are frequently put on so that others cannot see the “real you”. Such measures are taken because one is afraid of what others will think of you or how others may treat you. It is fearful to remove these protective masks. If you are living your life trying to conceal your true emotions, deep thoughts, or genuine feelings, let me offer you some Biblical advice. • First, have God to search you to help you better understand why you put on such masks. The Bible says in Psalm 139:23, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” This verse tells us to invite God to intimately examine our lives to reveal who we really are (the good, the bad, and the ugly). God One Person At A Time Time A At God Person One Impacting The Kingdom Of The Kingdom Impacting • Second, trust the Lord in how He leads you. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” The Lord will help you deal with your insecurities. You do not have to battle this by yourself. • Third, let the Lord remove your mask. The Bible says in Psalm 18:16-17, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.” Do not try to rescue yourself. It is through God’s power and strength that will help you take down your masks. So, as the world makes progress in removing masks due to COVID, you too can make progress in removing the masks that haunt you emotionally and spiritually. Let God help USBC NEWS Pastor: Dr. Dennis Felder Felder Dennis Pastor: Dr. NEWS USBC OUR MISSION: OUR MISSION: you to drop the masks that are hiding the real you that Jesus wants the world to see. Let’s see that smile of true freedom! REMOVE THE MASK! FATHER’S DAY POEM By Brie Carter By Pastor Dennis Felder As your Pastor, I want to take this moment to wish all of our men a very special Father’s Day. It has What Makes a Dad been said, “That anyone can become a father, but it takes a special person to become a dad.” How God took the strength of a mountain, true! The majesty of a tree, The warmth of a summer sun, God has called all of us men to be Godly, but what The calm of a quiet sea, does this look like? There are two important traits that I want to share with you. First, STAND The generous soul of nature, STRONG. We live in a world that is challenging The comforting arm of night, the value of the father. Satan’s attack is to The wisdom of the ages, discourage us and discouragement leads to self- The power of the eagle’s flight, doubt. When we allow self-doubt to enter our The joy of a morning in spring, behavior, we become weak. The word of God calls The faith of a mustard seed, upon men to remain strong. This encouragement is The patience of eternity, found in 1 Corinthians 16:13 which reads, “Be on The depth of a family need, your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” Then God combined these qualities, When there was nothing more to add, The second important trait is to BE HUMBLE. For He knew His masterpiece was complete, men, this can be challenging. How is that? And so, He called it … Dad. Because we men can have an ego and when that ego inflates, it can push God away. Yes, God created us with strength, but when we rely on our own strength, we fail miserably. So how do we keep our AYDEN’S BAPTISM ego in check? By humility. The Bible tells us in By Pastor Dennis Felder Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” A big “shout out” to So, if you want to be a Godly man or father, Ayden D’Monte for remember to be strong and to be humble. Happy being obedient to Father’s Day! Christ and following through with Believer’s Baptism. On May 2nd, the entire church rejoiced with Ayden as he let the whole world know that he loves Jesus by being baptized. It was a great celebration! DIVE DEEPER MASK MISSION BIBLE STUDY By Pastor Dennis Felder By Pastor Dennis Felder (This Dive Deeper The face masks that Bible Study, “The have been donated to Mystery Man” has the church have been rescheduled for blessed us and so June 27th) many more. To date, the church has th On Sunday, June 27 , distributed well over our Dive Deeper Bible 1500+ face masks to Study will take place at neighbors, friends, 4 p.m. The study will family, churches, take place on Zoom/ schools, assisted Phone and the study topic is entitled, “The Mystery living facilities, hospice care, businesses, and many Man”. In Hebrews 7:3, the verse says this about other places who were in need. the mystery man, “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end Now, we will be sending a significant amount of of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a face masks to India. India has been hit hard with priest forever.” This mystery man is Melchizedek the CORONAVIRUS and is in desperate need of and there is a lot of speculation as to who he really masks to help control the vicious pandemic that is is. sweeping across their land. Some people believe that Melchizedek was actually One of our own church families, the D’Monte’s, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. Could have family and friends in India who would be Melchizedek be Jesus Christ? To unravel the greatly appreciative to receive these face masks. mystery of Melchizedek, join us for this special The masks will be given to a Christian school and study as we try to solve this mystery with a good old Christian college so that they can be distributed to fashioned Dive Deeper Bible Study. meet the needs of the people. However, if you or if you know of someone who is still in need of masks, there are still plenty to go around. Just let the Pastor know of your need. Lucas Felder Bachelor of Science U of MD Global Campus Lucas earned a BS in Computer Networks and Cybersecurity. What better way to celebrate the birth of our nation than with hot dogs and Nigel Hendricks apple pie? Immediately following our 11 a.m. worship hour on July 4th, you Associate of Arts will be given a tasty hot dog and a delicious piece of apple pie. You can Montg. College Campus remain on the church grounds to share in this informal church luncheon or Big thanks to God for getting me here. you can take your meal with you. I want to thank my family for all the Along with your hot dog and apple love and support. Thank you to every- pie, the church will be providing chips one who made it. Love you all. and drinks. USBC NEWS Upper Seneca Baptist Church 23401 Davis Mill Rd. Germantown, MD 20876 Next Newsletter Deadline God’s Plan Of Salvation Trust Jesus Christ today! Here's what you must do: June 20, 2021 1. Admit you are a sinner. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23) Weather Policy 2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent). If the church cancels any service or activity due to Jesus said: "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye inclement weather or wintery conditions, a message shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:5) will be placed on the church’s voice recorder to inform you of such changes or cancelations.