'Encourage yourself in the Lord'

First Missionary Baptist Church celebrated the 14th pastoral anniversary of Dr. Tyrone A. Blue, pastor of the church, and his wife, First Lady Cynthia Blue by showering them with love and gifts to thank them for their wisdom and leadership throughout the years.

The pastoral anniversary celebration has been held during the 11 a.m. Sunday morning worship service every Sunday this month at the church at 1515 SE 15th St. The celebration will conclude on Sunday with the guest speaker being the Rev. Antwon Nixon, senior pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Folkston, Georgia. Refreshments will be served after the service.

"Thank you for 14 years," Blue told the congregation during the service on Sunday. "I love you and greater is on the way."

The service began with an invocation prayer by Deacons Billy Daniels and Kenneth Simmons.

"We thank you for another opportunity," Simmons said. "We asked for your blessing upon everyone this morning. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We thank you for allowing us to rise this morning with strength and shelter over our heads and breath in our bodies. Thank you for giving us our pastor for 14 years."

Elder Angel Muhammad presided over the service, and read scripture from I Samuel 30: 1-5, which was followed by Herbert L. Meekins reading scripture from Romans 10: 14-15.

"We welcome you all and thank you for celebrating with us on this glorious day," Meekins said. "I pray you felt the presence of the Lord when you entered the sanctuary."

The guest speaker was Dr. Deonia Simmons, pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist church in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Simmons thanked the FMBC congregation for welcoming the Blues to lead the church for 14 years.

After the congregation gave the pastor and first lady a standing ovation, Simmons began his sermon on the subject of "Encourage Yourself in the Lord."

He read I Samuel 30: 6: "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."

Simmons gave three reasons why believers should stay encouraged during times of distress.

The first reason to stay encouraged in the Lord is the power of God.

Simmons referenced Mark 10: 27 which reads: "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'"

"God can bring you out of what you're going through," Simmons said. "I know there are saints in the house who can testify how he changed your life. He uses his power to help us no matter what we're going through."

Simmons then compared God's love and power to the Energizer Bunny.

"The God we serve never goes down," Simmons said. "He keeps going and going and blessing each and every one of us. No matter how bad a situation is, he can work it out for your good. How is he able to do that? Because he has all the power."

Simmons' second reason to stay encouraged in the Lord is to know that he is always in your presence.

"There is no place you can go where God is not there," Simmons said. "God has a history of being present in people's lives."

Simmons said that similar to how detectives in the television series called CSI Miami collect evidence to see who committed the crime, believers can look at their surroundings and collect evidence abou the presence of God.

"Collect notes that prove to you that God is with you every step of the way," Simmons said. "The greatest evidence that God is with you is that you're still alive. When you're in his presence, there's peace."

Simmons said that some things are not worth forcing if it is not in God's timing.

"Sometimes we try to produce fruit that's not in season," Simmons said.

Simmons third and final reason to stay encouraged in the Lord is that God keeps his promises.

"A promise is only as good as the person who makes it," Simmons said. "God's word is where you find his promises. We can count on his word. Folks love God but not enough to open the Bible. They love him on payday but not enough to where they study the Bible."

Simmons shared a testimony about families being gathered at a high school graduation and the teacher asked all families to hold their applause and comments until the end of the ceremony.

When the teacher presented the class valedictorian, the student's grandmother shouted "Nothing but the Lord," after the teacher shared each accomplishment of the valedictorian.

After the third interruption, the teacher politely asked the grandmother to save comments and applause until the end of the ceremony.

The grandmother responded by saying, "I have to give honor and credit and respect when its due," while remembering the trials and tribulations her grandson had faced.

The valedictorian's mother died when he was a baby and his father died from drug abuse, his grandmother said. Simmons then encouraged the congregation to remember the three reasons to stay encouraged in the Lord; because he has the power, he is in your presence and he keeps his promises.

Blue was licensed as a minister on Oct. 9, 2005 at Greater Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Callahan, where he served as an associate minister under the leadership of the Rev. C.J. Brown.

Blue became pastor of FMBC in June 2008. At the time, there were 51 active members, and since then membership has grown to 400. Also, FMBC in March of 2015 moved into a new $1.5 million sanctuary that includes administrative offices on the church's property.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Parishioners at First Missionary Baptist Church were urged to encourage themselves in the Lord