Heritage Baptist Institute Graduation

Another class will graduate Heritage Baptist Institute on May 22 at 7:00 p.m.

Graduation Sunday

On June 9, Cleveland Baptist Church will honor all graduates in the morning service.

Junior Camp

Join the HayDay at Junior Camp this year. 4-6 grades are invited to Pleasant Valley Ranch for camp. For more information, please see Luke or Pam Brown.

Teen Camp

Teens are invited to attend this year’s Great Lakes Baptist Camp at Camp CoBeAc June 10-15. The cost to attend is just $190 per person. Registration forms are available at the church or you can email info@clevelandbaptist.org to receive one. Evangelist Hal Hightower will be our speaker for the week. The teens will enjoy his humor but more importantly his capability to preach the Word of God. Please contact Brother Pete for more information.

Police Devotional

“Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.“ Matthew 20:20

In police work, you often get called to domestic fights. Many of these involve couples living together and having kids out of wedlock. So you’ve probably heard, “that’s just my baby’s father (or mother)“ more times than you can count. Couples “shacking up” is symptomatic of a sinful culture. One man was complaining around Christmastime that he had two (or was it three?) baby’s mothers to deal with. Another time the police were called where a woman was having a dispute with another woman, whom she referred to as “my baby’s father’s baby’s mother”.

So what in the world does this have to do with the Scripture? If you’ll notice, the lady in this verse is called “the mother of Zebedee’s children”. That verse is written that way for a reason. Remember, “Every word of God is pure:…“ Proverbs 30:5 She’s not called Zebedee’s wife, so it’s possible, although we can only speculate, that either she and Zebedee were divorced, or her sons were born out of wedlock.

At any rate, regardless of what had happened in her past, she’d received Jesus as her Saviour. The passage tells us that she worshipped Him (recognized Him as God), and asked that her two sons could sit on his right and left in his kingdom. Jesus responded to her request at some length, too much length for this devotion, but one thing He DIDN’T do was beat her over the head with her past. Jesus didn’t say, for instance, “You’ve got some nerve, lady, after you’ve had kids out of wedlock (or been divorced) and you’re going to ask ME something like that!”

The two sons, by the way, were the apostles James and John. They were two of Jesus’ three closest apostles, Peter being the third. James also wrote the Epistle of James, and John wrote the Gospel of John, the three epistles of John, and the book of Revelation. God used those two men powerfully to touch lives throughout history for Christ, regardless what had been in their past.

Sin can do a lot of damage to your life, and maybe some of it can’t be undone. But when you come to Christ for forgiveness of sins and receive Him as Saviour, all of your sins–past, present, and future–are forgiven in His sight. When people come to Jesus to be saved, he will “…cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19 Not only that, when you receive Christ, God works in your heart to change your life. You find that you want to live pleasing to the Lord because of what He’s done for you. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13

So don’t think that you can’t be forgiven for your sins and saved because you’re divorced or you’ve got some past issues in your life. These words about Zebedee’s “children’s mother” are in the Bible to assure you that the Lord wants to forgive and save you just as much as anyone else, and He wants to use you to serve Him and reach others, too. If you want to see in the Bible how to be saved, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org and click, “How do I go to Heaven?”

Brian Miller 5/18/2013

Great Lakes Baptist Camp

Teens are invited to attend this year’s Great Lakes Baptist Camp at Camp CoBeAc June 10-15. The cost to attend is just $190 per person. Registration forms are available at the church or you can email info@clevelandbaptist.org to receive one. Evangelist Hal Hightower will be our speaker for the week. The teens will enjoy his humor but more importantly his capability to preach the Word of God. Please contact Brother Pete for more information.

Police Devotional

“Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word: If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way,…” Jeremiah 26:2-3

God called the prophet Jeremiah to preach to the Israelites, who as a nation were desperately wrong with God. As our passage says, He commanded Jeremiah to preach to people who were worshipping in the LORD’s house. Surely of all places, Jeremiah should have gotten a warm reception from people in church, right? After all, isn’t that why people go to church, to hear God’s Word? It should be.

God sent Jeremiah to the house of worship because even there, people were guilty of sin. Our passage makes that fact very clear: “If so be they wll hearken, and turn every man from his evil way…” Jeremiah 26:3 Apparently they had some evil ways that needed to be addressed, and apparently the leader at the house of worship wasn’t doing his job of addressing them.

So Jeremiah preached to the people there, as God commanded. He warned them that if they didn’t repent, their land would come to ruin. But they weren’t receptive to Jeremiah’s words. The priests and prophets and people were angry, and took Jeremiah, and told him, “Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?“ Jeremiah 26:8-9 Isn’t it sad that the very men who should have been giving God’s Word to the people not only weren’t doing their job, but they threatened violence against one who WAS giving God’s word?

The same thing happened to Jesus years later. His worst enemies, the ones who engineered His crucifixion, weren’t the criminals and atheists. They were the religious leaders, who had turned Judaism into a racket. Jesus called them serpents, vipers, hypocrites, and children of hell. They didn’t like hearing that, but they knew that He was telling the truth. Even so, many people came to trust in Him as Saviour, but others didn’t. The chief priests, the religious leaders, were among the ones yelling, “Crucify him, crucify him.” John 19:6

So what does all this tell us? It tells us that having a building with the word “church” on it doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s Word is preached there, and the term “Reverend” in front of a man’s name doesn’t necessarily mean that he preaches God’s Word. It also tells us that people can have religion, but still be just as much without God in their life as an atheist. A church, by Biblical standard, is a place where God’s Word is preached by a man who recognizes himself as a servant to the Lord, and declares God’s Word faithfully as his Lord commands.

Most importantly, a church is a place for people to hear how to have their sins forgiven and have a home in heaven. If you want to know more, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org and click, “How do I go to Heaven?” If you’re looking for a church where God’s Word is preached faithfully, please visit.

Brian Miller 5/11/2013

Teen Department All-Nighter

On Friday, May 10 our teens will enjoy an annual All-nighter. We will leave the church at 5:30 pm on Friday and return at 8:00 am on Saturday. The cost to attend is $30.00 per person and features a youth rally, basketball, volleyball, swimming, pizza and pop, go-karts, laser tag, etc. Teens may sign up in their Sunday school classrooms. If you have any questions please contact Pastor Pete at 216-671-2822 ext. 104 or email him at petefolger@clevelandbaptist.org.

Police Devotional

“And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:38-40

Here’s an interesting fact: if you’re a cop, the Bible says that you should practice your shooting. It also says that you should have your gun with you, even off-duty, so you can be prepared for an emergency. It doesn’t say that verbatim, but it does say that in principle. Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;“ So if you’re going to do police work, you ought to do your best. Do it heartily, as if Jesus Himself were your supervisor, which, in reality, He is.

As for specifics about practicing your shooting skills, look at our Scripture. David was about to go fight Goliath. Saul lent him his sword and armor, but David didn’t want it; not because it was poor quality, but because he wasn’t used to it and had never used it to fight. “…I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them…” Instead, David went into battle with his sling. He had proven it. He practiced with it and he knew that he was proficient with it.

Do you practice shooting? You should. What if one day you have to shoot to save yourself, another officer, or an innocent citizen? If you don’t practice, you’re gambling with your life and other people’s lives. Some people may think, “Well, I’ll just trust the Lord if the time comes”. But faith in God does not preclude common sense. Proverbs 21:31 says, “The horse is prepared against the day of battle…” If you neglect your skills and then expect God to bless, you’re tempting God: “…Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Matthew 4:7

David also had his weapon with him. He didn’t see Goliath and say, “Let me run back home and get my sling”. No, HE HAD IT WITH HIM. “…his sling was in his hand:…” Ever hear of officers who go unarmed off-duty, because they don’t want to be “the police”? Hopefully they don’t carry their work ID off-duty, either. If they’re in a bank one day and a robbery occurs, and one of the robbers finds their ID but no gun, the robber may just execute them on the spot. Or if one day they need to shoot to save an innocent life but don’t have their gun and an innocent citizen is killed, they have to live with that fact. It’s one thing to be in a situation where you can’t shoot because of the circumstances. It’s another when you deliberately refuse to prepare yourself.

It’s great to find things in God’s Word that maybe you never expected. When God inspired the Bible, He didn’t give us everything that there is to know about Him and about life, but He did give us everything that we NEED to know. Most importantly, God tells us in His Word how to have our sins forgiven and a home in heaven when we die. If you’d like to see that, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org and click, How do I go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 4/14/2013

Open House 2013

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