Salem Baptist Church, Salem, NM

BeforeI saw these things in the Bible, C. S. Lewis snagged me when I wasn'tlooking. I was standing in Vroman's Bookstore on Colorado Avenue inPasadena, California, in the fall of 1968. I picked up a thin blue copy of Lewis's book The Weight of Glory. The first page changed my life.

Ifthere lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own goodand earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submitthat this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no partof the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promisesof reward and the staggering nature ofthe rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord findsour desires not too strong, but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures,fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy isoffered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud piesin a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of aholiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Never in my life had I heard anyone say that the problem with the world was not the intensity of our pursuit of happiness, but the weakness of it. Everything in me shouted, Yes! That's it!There it was in black and white, and to my mind it was totallycompelling: The great problem with human beings is that we are far tooeasily pleased. We don't seek pleasure with nearly the resolve andpassion that we should. And so we settle for mud pies of appetite instead of infinite delight.[16]

The Dangerous Duty of Delight.

John Piper

But there is a different way of looking at the relationship of joy and faith. In Hebrews 11:6the writer says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him, forwhoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that herewards those who seek him." In other words, the faith that pleases Godis a confidence that God will reward us when we come to Him. But surely this does not mean that we are to be motivated by material things. Surely the reward we long for is the glory of God Himself and the perfected companionship of Christ (Hebrews 2:10; 3:6; 10:34; 11:26; 12:22-24; 13:5). We will sell everything to have the treasure of Christ Himself.

Sothe faith that pleases God is the assurance that when we turn to Him,we will find the all-satisfying Treasure. We will find our heartseternal delight. But do you see what this implies? It implies thatsomething has happened in our hearts before the act of faith.It implies that beneath and behind the act of faith that pleases God, anew taste has been created—a taste for the glory of God and the beautyof Christ. Behold, a joy has been born!

Once we had no delightin God, and Christ was just a vague historical figure. What we enjoyedwas food and friendships and productivity and investments and vacationsand hobbies and games and reading and shopping and sex and sports andart and TV and travel...but not God. He was an idea—even a good one—anda topic for discussion; but He was not a treasure of delight.

Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.

I found these descrition of Salem folks at www.prizm.com

58   Back Country FolksDownscale, Older Mostly w/o KidsStrewn among remote farm communitiesacross the nation, Back Country Folks are a long way away from economicparadise. The residents tend to be poor, over 55 years old, and livingin older, modest-sized homes and manufactured housing. Typically, lifein this segment is a throwback to an earlier era when farming dominatedthe American landscape.

 Bedrock AmericaDownscale, Middle Age w/ KidsBedrock America consists of young,economically challenged families in small, isolated towns locatedthroughout the nation's heartland. With modest educations, sprawlingfamilies, and service jobs, many of these residents struggle to makeends meet. One quarter live in mobile homes. One in three haven'tfinished high school. Rich in scenery, Bedrock America is a haven forfishing, hunting, hiking, and camping.

55   Golden PondsDownscale, Mature Mostly w/o KidsGolden Ponds is mostly a retirementlifestyle, dominated by downscale singles and couples over 65 yearsold. Found in small bucolic towns around the country, these highschool-educated seniors live in small apartments on less than $32,000 ayear; one in five resides in a nursing home. For these elderlyresidents, daily life is often a succession of sedentary activitiessuch as reading, watching TV, playing bingo, and doing craft projects.

We will start meeting  on Wednesday nights instead of Sunday nights starting this week. We will not meet Sunday night. July 26 and will meet Wednesday July 29

Another good night of Mission VBS. Even more kids than last night.

-Josh

The kids enjoyed a movie day at the new theatre in Las Cruces. Ice Age 2 - 3d

A fun time was had by all.

Youth go to Bob-Os on Friday.

First night of mission VBS went well. About 20 or 25 in attendance. It seemed that a good time was had by all. Good news presented.

Looking forward to the next two nights.

Our Sunday night Bible Study will move to Wednesday nights starting in August. Join us for a good time of worship, Bible Study and fellowship.

We had a good day passing out flyers for the mission VBS this week. We are praying for a good turn out. Please pray that God brings some kids to Himself through this effort.

The parsonage is finished!

Thanks to everyone for al your help (especially Billy and Wayne). We plan to have a party on the 20th. Ya'll come!

I talked to Tina yesterday. Kathy's Dr. appoint with the dermotolgist looked good. He said he like what he saw. She will see the cancer Dr. next week and do some tests in a month or so to see how effective the recent proceedures have been.