“a spy among us”: a sermon still for today

In this month’s Beacon we take a look back at a sermon from May 6, 2012. This was the first sermon I ever preached as then, your Interim Pastor. God has continued to be with us since that day. We have celebrated many of His gifts and He has helped us through every challenge. This month consider-ing where God has brought us to, I think this Scripture is worth revisiting.

In His love, Pastor Jason

Scripture: Numbers 13:17-14:12

Open your Bibles and turn with me to the OT book of Numbers. Today we will be studying Numbers chapter 13 beginning with verse 17.

Here we find the emancipated Hebrew peo-ple, led by Moses out of the bondage of slavery and freed from the oppressive rule of Pharaoh. Throughout this whole process God has been with his chosen people, just as he was with their father Abraham. God sent plagues on Egypt to liberate them and parted the Red Sea to make a way of es-cape. He led His people by a pillar of clouds in the day and a pillar of fire at night, pro-vided manna from heaven when they were hungry, water from the rocks when they were thirsty and even quail when they complained because of their lack of meat. God had provided them His law in the 10 Commandments and a great leader Moses. After two years of wandering and every-thing they have been through they are poised to enter this Land that God has

promised them.

In beginning of chapter 13 we learn that the Lord spoke to Moses and commanded him to send men to spy out the land of Ca-naan. He explains to Moses that this is the land He is giving the children of Israel and he gives specific instructions that Moses is to send one man who is a leader from every tribe.

So we find Israel sending out 12 of their best as spies; leaders of each tribe; to sur-vey the land of Canaan and bring back a report to the people. We know by a study of geography that these men traveled all the way to the northernmost part of Ca-naan and back down to return to their camp. During this journey which took 40 days or more and covered upwards of 300-500 miles we read the spies witnessed many things about the land. The lesson we can gain from the Scripture is in the testi-mony of Joshua and Caleb. Out of 12 lead-ers these two were the only ones who had faith in God despite the fact that all had witnessed God’s power working on their behalf. Many of us have heard this story before but this morning we are going to take a closer look at what God is teaching us about the practice of this Scripture.

Verses 22-24 notes for us two things the spies see when they come to Hebron, two things of great significance for the congre-gation of Israel. First, they see with open mouths the abundance, variety, and size of the fruit. We are told about one cluster of

grapes so big that it took two men to carry it. The second discovery is not as nice as the first: the descendants of Anak, or, giants have inhabited the land.

But notice how each man reacts. For in their reaction we can discern the motive of their hearts. Were they thinking of what God can do or were they thinking of what they could do? The most obvious lesson of these events that took place in ancient Isra-el is the difference between the good spies and the bad spies. Remember, they were all leaders, they had all seen God work in a mighty way on their behalf, and they wit-nessed the same things in the land of Ca-naan. The ten spies discouraged by unbe-lief brought back a bad report to Moses and the people. There is fertile soil they said. There is milk and honey.... But we cannot attack those people; they are stronger than we are. This morning I want you to see that what determines a servant’s effectiveness for God's kingdom is simply their level of faith. I want to warn you. We have a spy among us this morning. I’d like you to pay close attention as we take a closer look at the characteristics of a faithful servant and perhaps maybe we can identify this spy who hides among us.

About 350 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America.

Newsletter: February 2016: Vol. 23 Issue 2

The Beacon

“A Spy Among Us”: A Sermon Still For Today

Photography by Jason Hughes

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The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness. In the fourth year the people tried to im-peach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway? Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great obstacles to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision.

This is certainly not the case with Joshua and Caleb. In verse 30 we read their re-sponse… “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

I. Characteristics of God's Faithful

a. Submissive… they were submitted under the authority of God’s plan. Caleb understood that all things were under the Sovereignty of God and in His control: We must likewise submit under God’s authority. How can we be over what God intends us to be over if we are not under what God intends us to be under? The Bible speaks of submitting to authority many times, certainly to God, to His Scripture, to rulers and government lead-ers, our parents, and Eph. 5:21 tells us that if we have been converted and have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us we will submit to the each other in the fear of God. Submission is vitally important and a closer study will reveal that failing to submit to God and His commandments is rebellion and idolatry.

b. Obedient… they desired to honor God and worked for the completion of His will. Jesus teaches us that obedience is the evidence of love and it illustrates the faith that we have in the Christ, the Son of the Living God when we choose to obey His commandments.

c. Courageous… they were confident in the Lord that He would give them victory. What a liberating experience to discover that you can walk confidently in the arms of Jesus. Caleb and Joshua were coura-geous because they knew who God was. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” Hebrews 4:16 teaches that because Jesus is our High Priest we can approach the throne of grace boldly. If God is for us…who can be against us? Did not Jesus defeat death and Hell on the cross? Those who are faithful will under-stand Proverbs 3:26, “For the Lord will be your confidence.”

d. Trusting…Caleb could exercise all of these characteristics because He trusted God. This is the distinct difference be-tween having head knowledge of Him and developing a personal relationship with Him. For we know that mere intel-lectual assent is not good enough. Even Satan and the demons know Jesus is the Son of God and they know He was resur-rected from the dead. We are to love Him will all our heart above all else. This is how we trust Him as we learn more about His character. Caleb had walked with God. He knew God was working for His children even if he didn’t understand how everything would work. This is the same for us when we face adversity. Only those who have developed a personal relationship with Christ can know how to trust Him in the darkest hour.

Notice, the common denominator of all of these characteristics is they are fo-cused on God and not the limitations of men. Isn’t this true in our own lives… I know when I rely on my own strength and focus on myself instead of God I can quickly become discouraged, deceived, ashamed, or afraid of life’s difficulties. But when I trust in God and I rely on His strength, I am not ashamed because my sins have been paid, I am not afraid be-cause God is my protector.

So this really begs the question, was sending spies necessary for Israel to in-habit the Promised Land? I already men-

tioned that chapter 13 begins with God giving instructions about how to send the spies. But if we read Deuteronomy chap-ter 1:20-25 we learn that Moses had commanded the people to go up and pos-sess the land, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged. But they wanted to send spies. So from the Scripture we can see that evidently God gave Moses instruc-tions on how to send the spies only after Moses received suggestions from the people. So then Moses asked God how to go about this. This illustrates unbelief already. If you believe what God has promised what is the use of sending spies. It seems that we too often stop thinking about God’s power and focus on our own ability to come up with solu-tions. The Israelites could have certainly taken the land without spies. But isn’t it interesting to see how God allowed this to happen as a test.

What we need to develop these admira-ble characteristics of Joshua and Caleb is…

II. Faith in Our Mighty God: …Open Our Eyes Dear Lord

We know from Hebrews 11:1 that…

a. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

b. The spiritual realm: God is at work and He is always operating on our behalf. Many things are invisible to us and it re-quires faith to believe God’s word as the literal inerrant God-breathed book writ-ten so that we might understand the way things really are.

c. The only advantage of looking back is to… How many times have we as be-lievers seen God carry us through a tough circumstance, hardship, etc.? How many times have we prayed and God has pro-vided for us? And yet how many times do we forget all that God has done in the midst of a trial? The only advantage to looking back is to see how God has been at work throughout history to provide us with His grace, mercy, and salvation.

A SPY AMONG US by Pastor Jason Hughes

Continued from page 1

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WOMEN ON MISSION

Think of your own life. What had to take place for God to reveal Himself to you and for you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved? See how God has been at work throughout history. A careful study of the Bible will prove that God has been accomplishing His exact plan from before the beginning and nothing, NOTHING will stop Him from completing His good work.

There are many times in the Bible where we see faithful servants and the spiritual realm revealed. Here is one example. Turn over to 2 Kings 6:8-23 (Read it!)

Isn’t that extraordinary! Let me tell you something folks. God is the same yester-day, today, and forever more. Remember

John 10:10. We have a good Shepherd who takes care of His sheep. He laid down His life for us. Even though the enemy seeks to kill, steal, and destroy Jesus came so that we might have life and life more abundantly. Sure we are to be in this world but certainly not of this world. And we are to wait excitedly for the Day of the Lord when King Jesus returns gloriously and establishes His perfect kingdom. But until that day we do not have to live de-feated, scared lives. We have been made alive in Christ and we are joint heirs with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We can live life victoriously and so we should as we constantly look to be in service for the Kingdom.

How many chariots were with Elisha and his servant? That’s right…the mountains were filled with them…hundreds or maybe even thousands… Let me ask you this… Do you think when Satan rebelled in heaven there was a huge struggle between God’s power and the enemy? I don’t think so. How can a creature even come close to the power of the Almighty Creator? Rest as-sured that even though Satan has led a rebellion, judgment is certain for the ene-mies of God. And I think in the back of Satan’s mind he knows what is coming and that is why he is trying his best to destroy as many as possible before his time is up.

Pure Water, Pure Love For many people in the world, walking miles while carrying heavy jugs of water in order to make sure they have clean water is a daily re-ality. Many missionaries constantly run the risk of contracting a disease or parasite from the water in the countries they serve. This is where Pure Water, Pure LoveSM takes ac-tion. The primary goal of PWPL is to provide missionaries with water filters and the people they serve with wells that offer clean water, free from disease-causing microor-ganisms. With the help of hundreds of churches, PWPL provides thou-sands of water filters to missionary families and helps fund clean water projects. Our Women on Mission here at FRBC has chosen to support this ministry of WMU by donating $500 to PWPL (Pure Water Pure Love) to

pay for one water filter and enough supplies to service it for one year. We pray this will give support to one of our missionaries so they can share water with those in their community as well as provide the Living Water through witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For more information about Pure Water Pure Love, please go to the website www.wmu.com. Click on the Ministries tab, then Pure Water Pure Love.


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Lee Rizzardi 919-542-1755 [email protected]

April Apple Deacon Chair 919-815-0790 [email protected]

Sam Ebi 919-813-9009 [email protected]

SPOTLIGHT: REFLECTING GOD’S GLORY

The dictionary defines family as: all

the descendants of a common ances-

tor. We are all descendants of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Je-

sus said: “30And you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your

mind, and with all your strength.

This is the first commandment. 31And the second, like it, is this: “You

shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment

greater than these.” Mark 12: 30-31,

NKJV

We have such a blessed church fami-

ly. We have people who step for-

ward during times of need, during

times of sorrow and during times of

celebration or even just to say

“hello”. We pray for one another, we

sit with each other when we are sick

and we pray for one another during

times of need. I am so blessed to be

a part of this loving, praying family

and to have a part in serving you.

As always please know that your

deacons are there for you, please let

us know if you have a special need

or a prayer request. We will do our

best to help where we are needed.

You’re Sister in Christ,

April Apple

DEACON FAMILY MINISTRY

This month’s spotlight is on Marilyn

Hackney. Marilyn is a gifted servant of

Christ in our church and quite the multi

-tasker. Marilyn serves as President of

our Women on Mission ministry. This

ministry does exciting and fulfilling

ministry for our ladies and our commu-

nity. Each month they meet to pray,

study the Bible, discuss mission activi-

ties across the world, and participate in

their own. Marilyn leads the Gum Drop

Ministries which supplies elementary

age children with food and supplies

each month. Last year this same group

led a Christmas gifting program for

children in need. Now WOM is praying

about a new ministry to help with fresh

water wells across the world!

In addition to these fine things Marilyn

is also a key member of our Finance

Committee. She is vital in managing the

church budget, payroll, and has been

key in the new building process.

Finally, Marilyn is highly involved in

our Children’s Ministry. She is a regu-

lar team member in our Children’s

Church and always eager to support

our VBS program! Marilyn is a caring

person who loves the Lord and others.

Let’s take

this month

to thank her

for her com-

mitment to

the things of

God!

mailto:[email protected]





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III. A Spy Among Us

We have talked about the characteristics of a faithful servant, we have talked about faith and the spiritual realm… so who is this spy among us…and what kind of report will he or she give?

The truth is that we are all spies. It is up to us to give our report of what God has promised. We give these reports by our conduct and our conversation and pay close attention…this report either leads men to despise religion or draws them to the Bread of life. Let me ask you this, do most men and women in this world read their Bible to find out for themselves if faith in God is good? The answer is no. What they do is listen to the report from the spies within. If they hear discourage-ment, and dissension, and witness all types of ungodliness in our lives they determine in their heart that they don’t want anything to do with religion or faith in God. The same is true for some Chris-tians. They haven’t pressed the depths of Scripture to develop a deep and personal relationship with God; instead they have based their understanding of a Holy Awe-some God on the mere actions of de-praved men. We have to be very prudent about the way we are reporting the faith to the masses. For we are not merely representing ourselves and this church, no because we are made in the image of God and claim to be born again regener-ate Christians we are representing Jesus Christ Himself as His ambassadors. But don’t misunderstand what I am saying. We are responsible for our own actions but this does not excuse those who reject the faith.

Charles Spurgeon, says that if all Christ's church were inconsistent, so long as there is a Bible upon earth, you could have no excuse for the day of judgment; Hallelujah!! For Christ was not incon-sistent, and you are not called to follow Christ’s followers; you are asked to fol-low Christ himself.

This certainly does not remove us from our obligation to confess Christ before men in word and deed and by the way we live our lives. And it is for this reason that we need to be mindful that the re-port we give is based on our Mighty Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a look at the reactions that fol-lowed the report of the bad spies. First we see Joshua and Caleb rip their gar-ments and lament because they cannot believe the report from their brothers, filled with doubt and unfaithfulness.

Immediately, after Caleb and Joshua ex-plained that we can possess this land for we are able to overcome it, the bad spies quickly discourage the crowds by point-ing out the problems of the land. And look!, Soon after in 14:3 they are begin-ning to question the Lord. The same God who parted the Red Sea in their lifetime! After that, in v. 4 they are ready to select a new leader and return back to be slaves in Egypt. Look at Moses and Aaron’s re-action. In v.5 they fall on their faces be-fore the congregation. They begged and pleaded with the people to think of the exceeding goodness of the land God promised them. In verse 8, Moses re-minds them of the God they serve. He says, If the Lord delights in us then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows of milk and honey. Only do not rebel; pay close attention… Their unbelief is rebellion; Moses contin-ues, do not rebel against the Lord and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. And if that wasn't convincing plea, what do they decide to the next?…. Let's stone our leader! And then an amazing event takes place, one of the most pivotal points in the Bible. Watch this,

verse 10 reads now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses: how long would the people reject me? And how long will they not believe me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disin-herit them, and I will make you a nation greater and mightier than they. Robert Cole writes in the New American com-mentary on Numbers, “Humanity’s sinful rebellion has yet again reached an uncon-trollable crisis, God would intervene to wondrous means to demonstrate his power and glory, and then manifest His justice and grace by endeavoring to draw his crowning creation back for himself. From Noah and Abraham, to Moses and Elijah, and finally ending incomparably in Jesus, the story of his redemptive power has resonated through His Word to chal-lenge those whom He desires to call his own.”

But redemption was often prefaced by judgment, so from the cloud of the Lord's presence came the revelation that God had had enough of their lack of faith and He was contemplating to ravage the Isra-elite nation with plagues and to rebuild a

new and greater kingdom through Mo-ses. This is not the first time God thought about this. This potential of starting over to Moses had been raised by Yahweh when the people constructed the golden calf soon after the Exodus which you can find in Exodus 32:10.

a. The reality of God…

Let me ask you this friends, do you see the gravity of our report and our respon-sibility as spies, as spiritual witnesses to the things of God? We must be very care-ful to make sure that we represent God and Farrington Road Baptist Church in a way that glorifies our Lord and Savior. The question naturally comes, well I don't believe in blind optimism I'm a re-alist. I've often referred to myself as a realist. But then I realized my error. If I am truly a realist than the reality of God is that there is no problem that he cannot solve; there is nothing he cannot do; there is not any enemy, not one who has a chance of standing against Him; there is no weapon that will prosper against His children, and the gates of hell will not prevail against His church. Why because He said so, He is God and we are not. If we choose to be realist we can never for-get the reality of who God is.

But what does the Satan try to do?

b. Discouragement: the enemy's tac-tic of focusing on men instead of God.

Discouragement is the enemy’s tactic of focusing on the limited power of men instead of the absolute power of God. The Scripture makes it very clear in John chapter 15 that Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches and apart from Him we can do nothing. We cannot make the mistake of giving a bad report about God's kingdom because we are so fo-cused on the limitations of men. The fledgling congregation of Israel allowed the unfaithful report of the bad spies to discourage them which lead to 38 more years of wandering around the same de-sert in misery. Not one person who was unfaithful from that generation was al-lowed to enter the Promised Land.

c. A spy's report

This morning I am going to give my re-port as a spy among you. God has led our church to a pivotal point in its history. There are many similarities between the narrative of the spies and our current situation. We are in transition on three fronts. We are seeking God's direction to find the new pastor for this body, we are moving forward to put a new mission


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Donna Hearne 2/7

Dorris Terry 2/9

Tim Noszek 2/13

Jason Hughes 2/14

Carolyn Hawkins 2/20

Lurline Whitaker 2/26

Our February Birthdays

and ministry vision in place for our church, and we are well along the way in determin-ing a new property and building a new fa-cility. We are in a sense, on the border of many great possibilities for the ministry of this church. Our spiritual leader has re-tired and I have stepped in this position on an interim basis until this church decides who the Lord desires to be the next pastor of this church.

And as your Pastor I would like to give my report this morning. Let me be very clear on what I am about to say, listen very closely… Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to over-come it! (fist pump) =)

In order for this to happen we must focus on God and His provision for His children. It is amazing how easy the wonderful things we have here in our church are overlooked. One for example is that fact that we are a Bible believing Baptist Church who doesn't compromise the truth of God's word for popularity in the middle of a hotbed of liberal humanistic philoso-phy that denies the truth of God's word. Praise God in a world which often corrupts God’s Word, we stand up for the truth, Amen? We have the potential to be a shin-ing light for Jesus Christ, among a dark and lost people who desperately need his love and forgiveness. And we know what life is like apart from Christ because we used to be one of these people, lost in sin with a broken relationship with God. Next, we have true fellowship. It was an absolute privilege for me and Amanda to serve alongside each one of you yesterday! What a wonderful was to grow together as we serve God! I couldn’t help to feel God smil-

ing as so many of you labored for God’s kingdom. That my friends is a labor of love. We are a body of believers united by the Holy Spirit in fellowship and love. We have many dedicated servants, many years of wisdom in the Christian walk, a genera-tion of young people who God is already using, dedicated staff, an exciting develop-ment plan with new property and re-sources, and unlimited potential when we realize the reality of God. He can do what-ever He wants to in this church. God has great things in store for Farrington Road Baptist Church. But we must be mindful of the reports we give to each other, and to the lost community about our Lord and Savior. These reports are about our faith in Him, about the joys of being in a fellow-ship of Christians; and about that reality that God is working on our behalf whether we see it or not. I want to ask each one of you to become encouragers to one another and to not let the enemy persuade you to focus on problems because of a lack of faith in God’s awesome power. Christ has com-missioned us all to represent Him as His church. We are called out to proclaim His glory. God will use us to be a mighty in-strument of His holy will if we will just have faith in His unending power!

In the next few weeks I'll be leading us through a series of sermons about God’s mission for this church, His church! In the meantime I ask that every one of you be in expectant prayer, faithfully expecting the Lord to move. Do what you know you should as a child of God and He will enable us to give good reports about His kingdom. Together, we can accomplish great things for the Lord, but only as his followers, and

only while we focus on his power and his limitless potential.

Is your report of our church today based on God's power or man's limitations?

As Sandi comes to play, I want to take this message back to the precious Gospel. May-be someone here today is standing on the edge, desperately needing Jesus to save you from your sins and bring you into the promised inheritance of eternal life and forgiveness of sin. Romans 10:9 says clear-ly that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. If you would like to make that life-changing decision today won’t you come down as we sing and let me help you make this most important decision of your life? And if you are saved but desperately need to dedicate your life to God and pursue a deeper personal relationship with Him, the hour is now. Maybe you have been giving a bad report of God in the way you speak of His church or treat others. Come and pray with me and let’s confess our sin together so that He might forgive you and restore your fellowship with Him. We are going to sing Hymn# 426: Victory in Jesus. Will today be the day where you place your faith in Christ and begin your good report of this victory!

CLeaN JoKeR


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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2

3 6:30 PM Bible Study 6:30 PM M&Ms 6:30 PM Refuge 7:30 PM Praise Team Practice

4 5 6 Men’s Breakfast 7am

7 9:30 AM Sunday School/Growth Groups 10:30 AM Coffee 11:00 AM Worship

8

9


11 12 13 WOM 1pm


15

16


18 Deacon’s Meeting 7pm

19 20


22

23 24 6:30 PM Bible Study 6:30 PM M&Ms 6:30 PM Refuge 7:30 PM Praise Team Practice

25

26

27


COMMUNION

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26 27 6:30 PM Bible Study 6:30 PM M&Ms 6:30 PM Refuge 7:30 PM Praise Team Practice

28 29

AN EXTRA DAY TO

PRAISE THE LORD!

February 2016

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

CHURCH COUNCIL (5:30PM) AND OUR BUSINESS MEETING (6:30PM) HAVE BEEN RESECHEDULED TO MARCH 6TH, 2016. EVERY MEMBER, CHURCH STAFF MEMBER, OFFICER, AND CHAIRPERSON’S ATTENDENCE IS VITAL TO CONDUCT OUR CHURCH

BUSINESS. THANK YOU.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TITHING ENVELOPES: WE HAVE BOXES OF ENVELOPES IN THE CHURCH FOYER FOR YOU TO PICK UP. BECAUSE OF A SURPLUS OF OLD ENVELOPES WE NEED TO USE WE ARE NO LONGER ASSIGNING NUMBERS. GRAB

A BOX, WRITE YOUR NAME ON THE FRONT OR YOUR WEEKLY ENVELOPE AND YOUR ALL SET. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED FAITHFUL INVESTMENT IN GOD’S MINISTRY!

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The Beacon Newsletter

Jason Hughes, Pastor

Pastor Nathan Allcorn, Director of Children’s Ministry

Ms. Sandi Brady, Worship Leader Ms. Sharon Lassiter, Secretary

Email: [email protected] Phone: 919-489-5889

Fax: 919-489-1831

www.farobap.com Facebook: Farrington Road Baptist

Church Online Sermons:

www.farobap.podbean.com

Our Mission

With loving God as our first priority, we seek to glorify Him by

introducing people to Jesus Christ, helping them grow to be more like Him, and then to reproduce the process in others.

Memory Verse of the Month

“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We

should go up and take possession of the land, for we can cer-

tainly do it."

Numbers 13:30

Farrington Road Baptist Church “TO KNOW CHRIST AND MAKE HIM KNOWN”

Compassion Reverence Excellence

The Beacon 5936 Farrington Road Chapel Hill, NC 27517 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Bolin Creek, Chapel Hill, NC: photographed by Jason Hughes

“a spy among us”: a sermon still for today

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