Dr. Lou Barbieri

10AM Biblical Living in a Non-Biblical World
http://bcctampa.sermon.net/main/main/20671777
On Sunday, May 8, 2016 (Mother's Day), in the Sunday School hour at Bayside Community Church, Dr. Lou Barbieri (former professor at Moody Bible Institute) offered great direction to living Biblically in a non-biblical world. Using Psalm 78, a Maskil (i.e. contemplative poem) of Asaph, this wonderful professor showed us three ways to maintain our Biblical prospective.

1. REMEMBER -
1. Remember the wondrous works of our Heavenly Father.
1. His leadership as He led His people out of bondage.
2. His protection as He shielded them from the hot sun of the desert with His pillar of cloud, and warmed them at night with his column of fire.
3. His provision of Manna (which translates means: "What is it?"). He gave them enough to eat for each day. When they grumbled and demanded meat, He gave sent birds into the desert. He ordered Moses to strike a rock to bring forth water to drink.
2. INSTRUCT -
1. Teach the children about Him.
1. Pass the Word to those who come behind us so that they will put their confidence in God. 
2. Teach our children and grandchildren about His strength and the wondrous works He has done.
3. Teach them His laws that they may obey His commandments and not turn away to worship false gods.
1. If we don't have children, we have opportunities to teach others who don't know about Jesus.
3. TRUST IN HIM -
1. Theocracy = God rules. The Israelites demanded an earthly king. They chose Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin. A tall, handsome man, he knew nothing about leadership.
2. God chose David, a shepherd from the tribe of Judah, to rule His people. Sheep are defenseless without a shepherd. 
1. He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds; From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people,
   And Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands. - Ps. 78:70-72
2. "For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." - 1 Peter 2:25
3. God wants us to stay the course. Our non-Biblical society will continue regardless of who wins the next election.

We can live Biblically in this non-Biblical world if we remember what He has done for us, teach our children and grandchildren, and about Him, and keep our eyes on Our Good Shepherd. Putting our trust in Him, instead of government or elected officials, we can set the standard. We must shepherd the flock of God.

"All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him." - Isaiah 53:6

11AM Lou's Top 10 and Why
http://bcctampa.sermon.net/main/main/20671767

Would You Read This Novel?

MISS ELLIE’S ORANGE TREE

 

 

“Three can keep a secret …

if two are dead.” – Benjamin Franklin

 

How deep do the roots of an orange tree grow – deep enough to sustain a sixty-six-year old secret?

 

Miss Ellie, now eighty-eight years old, looks out the window of her empty kitchen and views the towering orange tree in her back yard. “They’re going to tear down my house, aren’t they? And my orange tree, too?” She turns to leave and with a quick glance back, whispers, “And won’t they be surprised when they do.”

While war ravages Europe in the summer of 1944, eighteen-year old Ellie Miller must fight her own battles in the peaceful city of Tampa, Florida.

 

Lieutenant Joey Clement declares his undying love to her before boarding the train that takes him away to his Flying Fortress. 

She waits…and waits…and waits for a letter from him. The sprig of an orange tree she and Joey planted together from a seed offers her the only consolation in his absence.

 

 

Ellie’s tendency to panic throws her into a loveless marriage. Her drunken and abusive husband resents the baby she carries. And the worst onslaught of all – knowing the only man she’ll ever love is due to return to MacDill, unaware of her unbearable situation. Worn down from her own combat, she hasn’t the courage to face him.

Will Joey forgive Ellie when he returns from the war and learns she’s married to a man he despises? Will he forgive himself when he discovers that he, not Ellie’s husband, is the father of her child?

Is his love deep enough to cover her buried sin? 

Miss Ellie’s Orange Tree is an 80,000-word historical love story that moves from present day to the 1940s, and back to the present.