The Official Blog of Dr. Bobby Mullins

MEETING GOD IN THE MORNING

Be ready in the morning, and come up . . . present
thyself there for me in the top of the mount. And
no man shall come with thee. (Exo. 34:2-3)

The morning watch is essential. You must not face the day until you have faced God, nor look into the face of others until you have looked into His.
You cannot expect to be victorious, if the day begins only in your own strength. Face the work of every day with the influence of a few thoughtful, quiet moments with your heart and God. Do not meet other people, even those of your own home, until you have first met the great Guest and honored Companion of your life—Jesus Christ.
Meet Him alone. Meet Him regularly. Meet Him with His open Book of counsel before you; and face the regular and the irregular duties of each day with the influence of His personality definitely controlling your every act.
The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early upon their knees. Matthew Henry used to be in his study at four, and remain there till eight; then after breakfast and family prayer, he used to be there again till noon; after dinner, he resumed his book or pen till four, and spent the rest of the day in visiting his friends.
Doddridge himself alludes to his “Family Expositor” as an example of the difference of rising between five and seven, which, in forty years, is nearly equivalent to ten years more of life. Dr. Adam Clark’s “Commentary” was chiefly prepared very early in the morning. Barnes’ popular and useful “Commentary” has been also the fruit of the “early morning hours.” Simeon’s “Sketches” were chiefly worked out between four and eight.

I have just quoted from the March 2 reading of Streams In The Desert, Vol. One, compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman and first published in 1925. I am not familiar with all those men she mentioned who met God in the morning, but what a wonderful legacy to have. You may not be able to spend two hours early every morning in communion with God like Doddridge or nearly all the day as Matthew Henry, but couldn’t you spend the first part of your first hour of each day with the Lord? Just think, a half hour to an hour alone with God each morning is equivalent to spending three to five years of quality, one-on-one time with the Lord over forty years. No seminary education nor seminar of any kind could provide such a training ground for spiritual growth and maturity as your simply meeting God in the morning. Why the morning instead of having your devotional time at some other time of the day? Nothing will get your day going in the right direction more than spending time with the One who made the day and ordered your steps before you ever were (Eph. 2:10). Not only will it make a positive difference in the course of your day but what a phenomenal difference it will make over the course of your life.

MEETING GOD IN THE MORNING

Be ready in the morning, and come up . . . present
thyself there for me in the top of the mount. And
no man shall come with thee. (Exo. 34:2-3)

The morning watch is essential. You must not face the day until you have faced God, nor look into the face of others until you have looked into His.
You cannot expect to be victorious, if the day begins only in your own strength. Face the work of every day with the influence of a few thoughtful, quiet moments with your heart and God. Do not meet other people, even those of your own home, until you have first met the great Guest and honored Companion of your life—Jesus Christ.
Meet Him alone. Meet Him regularly. Meet Him with His open Book of counsel before you; and face the regular and the irregular duties of each day with the influence of His personality definitely controlling your every act.
The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early upon their knees. Matthew Henry used to be in his study at four, and remain there till eight; then after breakfast and family prayer, he used to be there again till noon; after dinner, he resumed his book or pen till four, and spent the rest of the day in visiting his friends.
Doddridge himself alludes to his “Family Expositor” as an example of the difference of rising between five and seven, which, in forty years, is nearly equivalent to ten years more of life. Dr. Adam Clark’s “Commentary” was chiefly prepared very early in the morning. Barnes’ popular and useful “Commentary” has been also the fruit of the “early morning hours.” Simeon’s “Sketches” were chiefly worked out between four and eight.

I have just quoted from the March 2 reading of Streams In The Desert, Vol. One, compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman and first published in 1925. I am not familiar with all those men she mentioned who met God in the morning, but what a wonderful legacy to have. You may not be able to spend two hours early every morning in communion with God like Doddridge or nearly all the day as Matthew Henry, but couldn’t you spend the first part of your first hour of each day with the Lord? Just think, a half hour to an hour alone with God each morning is equivalent to spending three to five years of quality, one-on-one time with the Lord over forty years. No seminary education nor seminar of any kind could provide such a training ground for spiritual growth and maturity as your simply meeting God in the morning. Why the morning instead of having your devotional time at some other time of the day? Nothing will get your day going in the right direction more than spending time with the One who made the day and ordered your steps before you ever were (Eph. 2:10). Not only will it make a positive difference in the course of your day but what a phenomenal difference it will make over the course of your life.

BE THANKFUL

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:15-16 NKJV).

One of the evidences of a Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled life is the expression of thankfulness. Christians may not be happy with the way life goes every day, but we always have something for which we can be thankful every day: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57 NKJV). Concerning the debt Jesus paid for the forgiveness of our sins, and the free gift of eternal life in heaven we have received through placing our faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have victory in Jesus every day.

A Christian may not feel like being thankful, but even in the midst of difficulties, we are not to follow our feelings but to believe the Bible. Believing the Bible is living it. The theme of thankfulness is found throughout the Word of God. Singing is a means by which you can develop a spirit of thankfulness regardless of your circumstances. Peace will rule in your heart as the Word of the Lord dwells in you richly, and as you sing with grace in your heart to the Lord. Not only make the “Him Book” (the Bible) a part of your daily spiritual diet, but use the Hymn Book to energize what you have been fed spiritually from the Word. If you have a favorite hymn, Scripture song, Gospel song, or chorus, sing it as a praise offering to God or as an expression of your soul. You will also find that many verses of the Bible can be sung to the tune of your favorite melodies. Whether you can carry a tune or not, every Christian ought to, at the least, have a song in his heart. Remember, too, that the psalmist said, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, . . . come before his presence with singing” (Ps. 100:1-2). Some of the most blessed singing I hear is not always the best, as far as hitting all the notes just right, but because of the thankful spirit by which it is delivered, it is pleasing to God.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving,

Bobby Mullins

I have been preaching through The Model Prayer, known better as The Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-12) on Sunday mornings at Fellowship Baptist Church in Hernando, Mississippi, where I am the pastor. Some of those sermons can be viewed on our web site: www.fellowshipbaptisthernando.org.

When I recently preached on Matthew 6:12 and the subject of forgiveness, I spent a couple of Sunday messages on the subject of forgiveness and one Sunday pulled out a sermon I had preached one other time over two Sundays in November 2005. In between the two Sundays I preached that 2005 message in two parts on The 10 Commandments Of Forgiveness, something happened between two individuals I knew, that should have resulted in their repentance, but instead they tried to defend and cover up what they did. A side result is that it caused several people who were their friends to take sides and once close friendships were soon no longer! And, had the ones who made the mistake owned up to the mistake they had made there would have been forgiveness granted to them by their friends and full reconciliation and restoration would have been possible. It escalated into one of the worst examples of unforgiveness and unchristian actions among church members that I have ever experienced in my now 32 years full-time in the ministry and 51 years as a Christian.

The sweetest, most Christ-like Christians I have known this side of heaven have been among the members of churches where I have been a member and a minister, but some of the meanest, most hateful people I know have been members of those same churches. Amen, Oh, me, or Ouch! I have taken some key subjects such as marriage, gratefulness, and forgiveness and applied the Ten Commandments to them. So, that is how I have come up with The 10 Commandments Of Forgiveness. Many Christians today are focusing on the wrong people, issues, and situations in life as the greatest threat to our Christian beliefs that are threats and concerns, but they aren’t our greatest threats. I believe among the reasons why the modern day church is not reaching the numbers for Christ that we should be today, and why numbers attending churches are down is not because of the music not being contemporary enough or the worship services exciting enough or because the people in attendance are too dressed up, and so on. It is because of the lack of forgiveness Christians do not exhibit toward the world or to one another and our lack of gratefulness concerning God’s blessings. One only needs to read social outlets like Facebook where those who claim to be Christians are among the most vocal whiners and complainers about just everything. Why would the secular world want to be like us or part of us!

Anyway, let’s learn to look for the good in life and others more than their faults, admit it when we make mistakes and help others get over their mistakes, learn from our mistakes and don’t let how others have wronged us cause us to become bitter but better, and move on beyond it. Sometimes you’ve just got to get over others and get over yourself and get on. That’s what Paul did and exhorted us to do when he said “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13,14). Let’s live our lives so that we can look back with no regrets and look ahead with great anticipation.

Blessings,

Bobby Mullins

“THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF FORGIVENESS”
Based off MATT. 6:12; MARK 11:24-26; EXODUS 20:1-20 and too many other Bible verses to list here

I. THOU SHALT NOT RETALIATE AGAINST THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED YOU: DON’T GET MAD AND DON’T GET EVEN

II. THOU SHALT NOT LET YOUR UNFORGIVING SPIRIT TOWARD ANOTHER PERSON GET BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: DON’T LET YOUR BITTER, UNFORGIVING SPIRIT CAUSE YOU TO LOSE THE JOY OF YOUR SALVATION AND QUENCH THE WORKING OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ANY WAY WHERE YOU ARE

III. THOU SHALT NOT UNDULY CRITICIZE THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED YOU: DON’T BE GUILTY OF WHAT YOU ARE CRITICAL OF ABOUT OTHERS

IV. THOU SHALT NOT LET A WRONG THAT YOU FEEL A FELLOW CHURCH MEMBER COMMITTED AGAINST YOU CAUSE YOU TO QUIT ATTENDING YOUR CHURCH: DON’T RUN AWAY FROM WHAT YOU NEED TO RECONCILE

V. THOU SHALT NOT DISHONOR SOMEONE ELSE’S FATHER AND MOTHER AND YOUR GODLY MOM AND DAD BY YOUR UNFORGIVING ATTITUDE TOWARD SOMEONE ELSE’S PARENT(S)

VI. THOU SHALT NOT TRY TO VERBALLY MURDER YOUR CHURCH IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE BEEN WRONGED THERE: DON’T FIRE PARTING SHOTS AT YOUR CHURCH OR A GROUP OR AN INDIVIDUAL IF YOU CHOOSE TO LEAVE

VII. THOU SHALT NOT LET THOSE WHO HAVE AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT LURE YOU INTO GOSSIP ABOUT ANOTHER PERSON THAT CAUSES YOU TO TURN AWAY FROM THEM: DON’T HANG AROUND PEOPLE WHO HELP TO RUFFLE YOUR FEATHERS

VIII. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL FROM THE UNITY OF YOUR CHURCH BY YOUR UNFORGIVING SPIRIT IN ONLY ASSOCIATING WITH THOSE IN YOUR LITTLE CLIQUE WHO SHARE YOUR FEELINGS, BARELY SPEAKING TO CERTAIN OTHER MEMBERS, GIVING THE COLD SHOULDER AND ACTUALLY PLANNING TO AVOID INTERACTION WITH THOSE WHOM YOU CANNOT FORGIVE, OR WITHDRAWING FROM FELLOWSHIP WITH THOSE WHO DON’T SIDE COMPLETELY WITH YOU: DON’T STRETCH OR TEST THE RULES YOU SHOULD ABIDE BY IN SEEING WHAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH, EVEN WHEN THE RULES APPEAR TRIVIAL TO SOME

IX. THOU SHALT NOT LISTEN TO SOMEONE’S CRITICAL OR SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ABOUT ANOTHER PERSON WHO IS NOT WILLING TO GO WITH YOU TO THE INDIVIDUAL THEY ARE BACKBITING ABOUT TO SEEK RECONCILIATION AND RESTORATION: DON’T MAKE SNAP ASSUMPTIONS, FORMING OPINIONS ON VERY LITTLE INFORMATION, MAKING ASSUMPTIONS THAT OFTEN PROVE TO BE WRONG BY PROVIDING A LISTENING EAR TO THOSE WHO USE THE WICKED ART OF INNUENDO

X. THOU SHALT NOT BECOME JEALOUS OR ENVIOUS OF SOMEONE ELSE WHOM YOU FEEL IS GETTING MORE ATTENTION, RECOGNITION, PROMINENCE, OR SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL BLESSINGS THAN YOU: DON’T KEEP A RECORD OF WRONGS

First Preached by Dr. Bobby Mullins at Central Baptist Church, Oak Ridge in the Sunday morning worhsip service on November 13 & 27, 2005

WHAT IS TRUE WORSHIP?

For a starting point, the people today who think their church is the one that truly worships aren’t the ones who are truly worshiping. The effect of the worship of God does not make one spiritually arrogant or having a sense of superiority over the way other churches conduct their worship services. One of the popular phrases used by churches who think they have discovered something about worship and church that none of the rest of us have, some of whom have been at it twice the years of some of the new “worship experts”, is that their church is “real people with real needs with a real message for the real issues of real life.” Say what! What does that mean? Does it mean if our church does it differently from theirs we aren’t real? I don’t think they know what it really means. They probably got it from some other “seeker friendly” “market driven” church because they think it makes them sound relevant and hip.

I read awhile back how a church got its name by going up to people at a restaurant bar, sharing several possibilities for the name of a new church, and based off the answers, some of whom may have been tipsy (slightly drunk) or completely inebriated, they determined the name of their church. And, of course the word “Real” was in the name of the church! It’s a good thing that they let the bar patrons choose from a list of names instead of suggesting names. Otherwise, their church may have been named the “I Like Beer” church or the “Drink Your Blues Away” church, and I won’t go any farther, but can you imagine naming a church, supposedly built on the Lord Jesus Christ, that way. Would Jesus do it like that? No! There is no biblical basis for it. I know they are well-meaning, and I am sure sincere individuals, who are just too concerned with relating to the world instead of reaching the world.

I must admit, a sermon Bailey Smith preached at a Real Evangelism Conference in Knoxville in March 2007 was the initial motivation behind the theme of this blog (I wrote a similar article for a church newsletter the week after attending that conference). Bro. Bailey said that we need to do away with the two most overused words today in the church worship wars, “Praise” and “Worship,” and quit referring to the music leaders as Worship Leaders. Perhaps, it would be better to use the term “Music Worship Leader.” I believe Bro. Bailey is on target when he stated that the pastor is to be the worship leader of the church and worship does not end when the congregational singing and special music are over. Preaching is worship, too, and true worship keeps the sermon the focal point where true worship of the Lord reaches its highest level in culminating with a personal response by the worship participants.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor. 13:14)!

BACK TO THE BASICS MINISTRIES UPDATE THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION

At 8:32 a.m. on July 10, 2009, a new ministry, A FRESH START MINISTRIES, was chartered by the state of Tennessee. A few weeks later, in a letter announcing the founding and purpose of the ministry I wrote:

I resigned my full-time pastorate in October, 2008, in what I call a “lean not to your own understanding faith moment” because I desired to expand the range of my ministry for Christ beyond the pulpit of a local church and pastoring personally, for the most part, the members of that church. My desire is to minister to people of all ages and all backgrounds, helping everyone I can to live life to its fullest at a time when many people are dealing with difficulties they never imagined they would face.

I formed A Fresh Start Ministries because “At Sometime We All Need A Fresh Start.” There are countless “fresh starts” that may be needed in life when you take into account the life issues and situations of millions of people individually. All of us have experienced times when we had to make a fresh start, such as going through a divorce, losing a job, the death of a mate or loved one, alcohol or drug addiction, a rebellious child, personal health problems, maybe even being convicted of a crime and serving jail/prison time, even joining another church, for various reasons, after leaving a church where you were a member for many years, and the list goes on. I want to provide examples and principles from a Christian point of view, but in an upbeat, motivational, non-condemning manner that will help someone face whatever fresh start they need to make.

I also shared in that initial mailing a goal to begin a television program:

MY DESIRE FOR THE INITIAL FOCUS OF A FRESH START MINISTRIES IS THE WEEKLY AIRING OF A TELEVISION PROGRAM TO BE TITLED, “A FRESH START.” It will give a face to the ministry, and will help us promote other avenues of ministry under the umbrella of A Fresh Start Ministries. Each program will have special music, for the most part, provided by Melody, Mallory, and/or me, then a message addressing from a biblical perspective the fresh starts people face in life.

Thanks to the generous giving of the financial supporters of what is now Back To The Basics Ministries (changed the ministry name in November 2010 because of a name similarity with another Tennessee non-profit group), “A Fresh Start” TV program premiered on WVLR in the Greater Knoxville/Smoky Mountain Corridor area the first week of November 2009 with a Tuesday night airing at 8:30 p.m. and a repeat airing each week on Saturday at 7;00 p.m.

SOME MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS

July 10, 2009 A Fresh Start Ministries is chartered by the Secretary of State of Tennessee

August 14, 2009 General Announcement via e-mail and standard letter of the formation of A Fresh Start Ministries and appealing for financial support

August 14 , 2009 First donation received to the ministry

November, 2009 A Fresh Start TV program premiers on WVLR TV airing main broadcast at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and a repeat airing at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday

January , 2010 First ministry newsletter, AFSM January Update, sent via e-mail and hard copy

November 19, 2010 A Fresh Start Ministries is renamed Back To The Basics Ministries

March, 2011 Tuesday 8:30 p.m. broadcast of A Fresh Start is moved indefinitely to Sunday at 11:30 a.m.; 7:00 p.m. Saturday broadcast becomes main broadcast.

December, 2011 Ministry reaches the $100,000.00 mark in donations received

January 3, 2012 A Fresh Start returns to its Tuesday airing at 8:30 p.m. as a repeat airing with the Saturday airing remaining the main program broadcast. The program continues indefinitely a repeat airing at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

February 18, 2012 A Fresh Start begins airing on WTWV in Memphis, Tennessee with main airing at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, a repeat airing at 1:00 a.m. on Monday, and a repeat airing at 2:00 p.m on Saturday.

THE BENEFITS OF TELEVISION: PREACHING AT BOTH ENDS OF THE STATE TWO DAYS A WEEK

Since January 8, in addition to my work with Back To The Basics Ministries I have also been the pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Hernando, Mississippi. I stayed at my mom’s home in East Memphis and commuted the 25 miles to the church, until Wanda and I recently rented an apartment in Hernando,. Until we moved into the apartment July 1, I would make a Monday to Saturday trip to Knoxville once a month and Wanda, who was staying at our Knoxville home and getting things ready for an eventual move, would come to Memphis/Hernando for a few days each month. Melody is staying at our Knoxville home until it sells.

One Saturday, I left Knoxville about 1:30 p.m. to head to Memphis. It was about 3:00 p.m. EST and 2:00 p.m. CST when I had past through Cookeville, but I was about to preach in Memphis. Later in the drive, as I had just passed through Jackson, about 6:00 p.m. CST and 7;00 p.m. EST, I was about to preach in Knoxville. On that particular Saturday, Melody had sung a solo and was performing in Nashville as part of a praise team from Sevier Heights Baptist Church, Knoxville before several thousand teenagers, youth leaders, and chaperones at the Tennessee Baptist Youth Evangelism Conference, yet she sang solos with the Sevier Heights choir and orchestra that afternoon and evening in Memphis and Knoxville. All this was possible because of A Fresh Start TV program.

We have all made the statement, “I can’t be two places at the same time.” Well, through a television ministry I can be several places at one time that, of course, would be impossible otherwise. On Sundays now, I preach in the morning and evening at Fellowship Baptist Church in Hernando, but about the time our morning worship service is beginning at Fellowship, I am preaching in Knoxville via A Fresh Start. Then on Sunday evening a couple of hours after the evening service is over at Fellowship, I preach in Memphis via A Fresh Start. Even though television is no longer considered cutting edge technology by today’s standards, it’s one of the most effective ministries for the cost that a church or non-profit ministry could have. Thank you, financial supporters of Back To The Basics Ministries, for making it possible to multiply our witness for Christ through television.

LOOKING BACK WITH NO REGRETS, LOOKING AHEAD WITH GREAT ANTICIPATION

I often close out a Facebook posting or e-mail with the words above. I will write more on those words in the next BTTBM Update. Like you, I have had times in my life that were difficult and experiences that I would have preferred not to have had! But, I can say without hesitation that since I have been in the ministry, I have never intentionally made a decision that I felt was not the way the Lord would have handled it and wanted me to handle it. I have done so, knowing that some people, even some of my closest friends, may not agree with me or understand why I came to the decision I made. But, I have always sought to hear all sides of the story, and then find God’s side. And, it has caused some to turn on me, and sadly, even on my family. But, had I looked back over some of those difficult decisions and, for the sake of not being disliked or losing friends, I had compromised or disobeyed what I felt to be God’s will, I would look back with regrets. Because I can look back with no regrets in knowing that I have sought to follow God’s will concerning all the issues of life, and God has seen through the good times and the bad times up to this point in my life, I look ahead with great anticipation to what God has in store for my life, my family, and my ministry. I believe the best is yet ahead. And, I pray that the best is yet ahead in your life, and it will be if you live it in accord with the Lord’s will for your life. Blessings!

Bobby Mullins
(Please send your donations to the address below or through Paypal via my web site Donations link)
Back To The Basics Ministries     P.O. Box 32486      Knoxville, TN 37930 www.drbobbymullins.com     brobmullins@aol.com

BACK TO THE BASICS
MINISTRIES
Dr. Bobby Mullins
JANUARY-FEBRUARY
2012 UPDATE
“It’s Time To Get Back To The Basics of Life”

TELEVISION EXPANSION

I am pleased to announce that we have expanded our television outreach into the Greater Memphis market with A Fresh Start now airing on WTWV. The program is seen over the entire Memphis Metropolitan area and its suburbs and reaches into communities in Arkansas, the bootheel of Missouri, and into Mississippi, including the thousands of hotel rooms at the nine casinos in Tunica, Mississippi. The program airs at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, following the one hour broadcast of Bellevue Baptist Church, which is the largest church in the state of Tennessee and the surrounding states and is one of the ten largest in the Southern Baptist Convention. A repeat broadcast of the program airs at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday night.

The A Fresh Start program that broadcasts each week on WTWV will not necessarily be the one that broadcasts on WVLR in a particular week in the Greater Knoxville/Smoky Mountain Corridor, as we will air programs in Memphis that will be new to that market which have previously aired on WVLR. My main purpose for airing A Fresh Start has never been for self-promotion or to try to get viewers to attend a church I pastor. It is to get a witness for Christ into homes and places where people are who are not church attenders. Many of the program’s viewers are regular church attenders and the program is intended to motivate and uplift believers and committed Christians, too, but we receive little financial support from viewers of the program whom we don’t know, so it is an outreach of Back To The Basics Ministries where we pay for the privilege and honor to take the message of salvation and the abundant life through Christ to the ones who need Him the most.

POST HEART ATTACK PROGRESSION

In the December Update I mentioned that I received 3 stents shortly after midnight on Monday, December 12, after it had been determined that I was having a heart attack. My heart attack symptoms actually started in a hotel room on December 11 about 4:25 a.m. that morning. I was to preach in view of a call at 10:30 that morning at Fellowship Baptist Church in Hernando, Mississippi. I took OTC pain medicine and made it through the day and back to Knoxville before heading to the hospital at 11:00 p.m. that Sunday. By the way, I received a 100% secret ballot vote of the 129 church members who voted for me to be their pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church, Hernando. Before Wanda and I left the Hernando area on December 11, after having lunch with the members of the Fellowship Pastor Search Committee, we stopped at my mom’s house in Memphis for a few minutes. My OTC medicine had worn off and I mentioned that I had some symptoms that are identified with a heart attack. Wanda and my mom thought it was probably just stress related to all that is involved in preaching in view of a call and receiving a call to pastor a church. After all I was supposed to be in good shape with all the jogging I did! So, I took more OTC medicine and made it to Knoxville. When I started unloading the car the symptoms hit again, and we knew it was time to go to the hospital.

I was released from the hospital on Thursday, December 15, but about mid-afternoon the next day, I had the same heart attack symptoms again, and back we went to the hospital. On the following morning, Saturday, I was taken back for another heart catheterization and received two more stents. I am blessed to say that my recovery has gone well and I am feeling as good right now as I have ever felt! I was told not to jog for three months after receiving the stents, but I am walking three miles a day most every day.

PASTORING FULL-TIME AGAIN

I mentioned earlier that I accepted the pastorate of Fellowship Baptist Church in Hernando, Mississippi, which is about 15 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Hernando is similar to the Farragut community near Knoxville and is located in Desoto County, which is the fastest growing county in Mississippi. Olive Branch, which is just due east of Hernando, is the fastest growing town in the United States. So, the Lord has given me a great opportunity at 60 years of age to help to grow a church spiritually, most of all, and numerically in an exciting place to be.

The church moved into a new two story octagon shaped building with a beautiful worship center in January, 2011, with about 300 padded seats out for worship, but 500 seats can be set out if needed. The church was begun in 2005.

The pastor search committee contacted me after a longtime family friend recommended me to the church. I didn’t even know about the church, but at this point in my life, it’s just right for Wanda and me. She will stay in Knoxville some and come to Memphis some, where I will stay at my mom’s home until we probably rent an apartment for awhile in the Hernando-Southaven area. We will continue to air A Fresh Start on WVLR in the Greater Knoxville/East Tennessee area and are excited about airing the program on a Memphis station that will allow us to get into the thousands of hotel rooms at the Tunica casinos.

Wanda’s job was phasing out as is at CAK (Christian Academy of Knoxville). They were increasing the responsibility of the position by adding alumni affairs to the admissions director position and also preferred someone more technically savvy. Wanda would have completed 10 years on staff at CAK in August. Her last day with CAK was January 6. So, she has been packing our home in Knoxville as we will soon put it up for sale and getting to spend a little more time with our grandson, Brantley, before we make the move away from him, Brandon and Megan, and Melody and Mallory.

As I continue to build Back To The Basics Ministries, the move to pastoring full-time again will allow me to concentrate more on programs/ministries/book publishing/music recording than having to receive enough donations to supplement living expenses. And, I will be able to spend some quality and quantity time with my 87 year old mom.

I am thankful to have fulfilled a long time dream and vision to live and minister in the Greater Knoxville Area, and had planned to live in the area after retirement, and still may do so. But, through A Fresh Start TV program I can still proclaim the message of Christ to many over East Tennessee who might never be reached for Christ otherwise and whom I would never be able to preach to in person.

As I have stated before, one of my reasons for airing the TV program was to get the program and a Christian witness into the thousands of hotel/motel rooms and chalets/cabins in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Smoky Mountains corridor where hundreds of thousands of people vacation and attend conferences each year from all over the United States and the world. Now, I will also have that opportunity with thousands who come from across the United States to the Tunica casinos. Perhaps, when I get to heaven, I will meet some there who were spiritually influenced in a positive way, even saved, through viewing A Fresh Start TV program in a hotel room in the Smoky Mountain or Tunica areas.

YOUR GIVING IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR CHRIST IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Even though I am pastoring full-time again, please don’t think that the purpose for which Back To The Basics Ministries exists is in any way diminished. With my having some guaranteed regular income now, and not being so dependent on stipends from the ministry, we will have more funds for ministry outreach, such as television expansion, and for the publication of the first book by Back To The Basics Ministries in a few months. Our outreach ministries will continue on and your financial support is needed as much as it has been from the day the ministry was founded in our effort to do our part in impacting the world, and especially the world around us, for Christ. With the expansion of the television ministry into the Memphis market, the potential viewers and opportunity for reaching people for Christ has more than doubled. And, your giving allows you to be a part of reaching souls you and I could not reach for Christ otherwise. Well, glory!

Blessings, Bobby Mullins

“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, worshiping together,
building godly homes, supporting the Lord’s work financially, sharing the faith.”

(YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO BACK TO THE BASICS MINISTRIES MAY BE SENT VIA REGULAR MAIL TO THE ADDRESS BELOW OR YOU MAY DONATE ONLINE BY CLICKING ON TO THE WEB ADDRESS LISTED BELOW AND CLICKING ON THE DONATE LINK)

P.O Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930

   

« MY BETHEL “The Three Trees” at Halle Stadium in Memphis, TN
(where I prayed after jogging about every day from June 1977-June 1981)

BACK TO THE BASICS MINISTRIES
DECEMBER 2011 UPDATE
“It’s Time To Get Back To The Basics of Life”
P.O. Box 32486 Knoxville, TN 37930 / 865-966-4150
brobmullins@aol.com / www.drbobbymullins.com

THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

One of the most beautiful and moving narratives I have ever heard for a Christmas musical is from the cantata, Noel, Jesus is Born. The musical score was written by Lanny Wolfe, and the narration was composed by the late Bob Benson. Here is a timely excerpt from it that is so relevant to where most of us find our personal circumstances at Christmas:

Well, He [Christ] still comes into a crowded world. It was crowded then, but it’s more crowded now. We lead such busy, jostling, cluttered lives—and they’re even more so at Christmas. We come loaded with bundles of gifts of love for others, but we get impatient and blow our horns at the cars ahead of us. Hardly time enough to buy a tree, we frantically wrap the last of the packages just moments before we’re to tear them open—so we can rush off to somewhere else and back again exhausted.
     Here we are at Christmas again—hoping to hear the angels singing, needing a star to follow, really wanting to kneel at a manger. We mean to adore Him with Mary, we do believe with Joseph. We want to worship with the shepherds, our hearts long to rejoice with the wise men—but somehow there isn’t any time.
     It is into just such a world the angels come again and again to sing these eloquent, lifegiving words—Jesus is born, Jesus is born.
     Just as those words came and changed a barn filled with cows and straw into a shrine, a hillside dotted with sheep and shepherds into a cathedral, a sky filled with stars into a message from the Father—so they come to you, as old as eternity—as fresh as the morning—as simple as a baby—as majestic as a psalm. Warm as a mother’s arms—mighty as God Himself—Jesus is born, Jesus is born.

A recent survey revealed that over 50% of the citizens of this country no longer view the birth of Christ as the most significant emphasis surrounding Christmas. Excuse me! But isn’t that where the reason for this season originated? I mention this statistic because most of us feel that we keep the emphasis upon Jesus at Christmas time. Do we? Evaluate your schedule and see what truly matters the most at Christmas. Every year, I am sensing the worldly side of Christmas crowding more and more into our spiritual worship and service, which is the year long, lifetime result of what this season is truly all about. Don’t let the rush and busyness surrounding Christmas cause you to focus most on the secular side of the Christmas season. Don’t let it cause you to neglect your spiritual duties and responsibilities.
     Keep Christ as the central focus of your Christmas. Take some time every day to go back to that hillside with the shepherds, to rejoice at the manger with Joseph and Mary, and to glory in the good news, the best news, the greatest news the world has ever known and will ever know—Jesus is born, Jesus is risen, Jesus lives, and Jesus will reign forever.

MERRY CHRISTMAS From The Mullins Family – Bro. Bobby, Wanda, Melody, Mallory, Brandon, Megan, and Brantley (His 1st Christmas)

Aunt Melody »         
Aunt Mallory
Brantley

                  Mia, Poppy, & Brantley

Mom, Dad, & Brantley

“YOU’RE HAVING A HEART ATTACK”

I heard those shocking words shortly after midnight on Monday, December 12. I will give the details in the January 2012 Update, but I want to let you know that I am doing well after having 3 stints put in arteries, going home a day, then back to the hospital and having 2 more stints added to arteries. I have mentioned in previous updates that my life verse for this year is Ps. 35:28: “My tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all day long.” It has helped to sustain me throughout 2011. I am pondering now what my life verse will be for 2012. I will share it with you in the January 2012 Update. What about you? Why don’t you select a life verse for 2012 that will describe how you want to live each day in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and reflects Christ to the world.

TV PROGRAM REPEATS
We are repeating previously aired programs of A Fresh Start on a regular basis as a means of stewardship. I would like to air all new programs, but with the cost being $1000.00 for three hours studio time and eight hours of editing to produce four new programs, I believe the best use of ministry funds is to repeat every new program at least once. One of my reasons for airing the TV program was to get the program and a Christian witness into the thousands of hotel/motel rooms and chalets/cabins in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Smoky Mountains corridor where hundreds of thousands of people vacation and attend conferences each year from all over the United States and the world. With most of the tourists being in the area once a year, they don’t know if a program of A Fresh Start is a new airing or a repeat. So, we usually air four new programs in a row, then repeat those broadcasts at least once before airing new programs.

HUNDRED FOLD BLESSING BENEFACTORS, GIDEON’S 300 GIVERS AND DIFFERENCE MAKER DONORS

We have three special levels of giving that financial contributors to Back To The Basics Ministries can attain. On the first program of A Fresh Start my message was about Gideon and how his army of 300 routed an army of thousands, so many thousands that the Bible said they “were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude” (Judges 7:12). Wow! Little is much when God is in it! The idea behind the Gideon’s 300 Givers is for 300 couples or singles to reach the $300 level in giving to the ministry, preferably in a year. Once any donor has reached the $300 level in total giving to the ministry, they will become a Gideon’s 300 Giver. As of the writing of this update, 30 couples/singles have become Gideon’s 300 Givers.
     Another level of giving is that of the Hundred Fold Blessing Benefactors. A couple sent me a check for $100 soon after I began A Fresh Start Ministries/Back To The Basics Ministries, who are about the same age of Wanda and me, with three children about the same age of our children. They said that as long as the Lord blessed them to be able to do so that they were going to give $100 a month to the ministry. I am praying for 99 other couples/singles who could do likewise —give an average per year of $100 a month to the ministry. So far, 15 couples/singles have reached this level of giving (that also makes them Gideon’s 300 Givers, too) in a year’s time, and 13 have maintained giving at that level each year since the ministry was founded in July, 2009. For those who reach the level of Gideon’s 300 Givers or Hundred Fold Blessing Benefactors, in time we will have some ways by which we will thank such supporters of Back To The Basics Ministries, such as a complimentary copy of any book published by the ministry and other special means of recognition and appreciation.
     Everyone who makes a donation to Back To The Basics Ministries is a Difference Maker Donor. Regardless of the amount of the financial gift, you are making a difference in helping us to keep the television program on air and the ministry operating. In giving me the opportunity to minister and touch lives for Christ through A Fresh Start TV program and Back To The Basics Ministries, you have helped to make a difference in their lives, too, by making it possible for me to do it! I am humbled that anyone would give financially to allow me the privilege to preach and minister in the name of Jesus.

Blessings, Bobby Mullins

“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, worshiping together,
building Godly homes, supporting the Lord’s work financially, sharing the faith.”

I AIN’T MOVED

“But none of these things move me,”
(Acts 20:24)

“I have set the Lord always before me:
because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”
(Ps. 16:8)

The 1987 Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis was labeled “the Watershed Convention.”  It was at this meeting of the SBC that the conservatives won the presidential election for the ninth year in a row, and by the presidential choices of conservative electees to the convention boards and committees, the balance of control tipped from the moderate to the conservative wing.  The direction of the Southern Baptist Convention had returned to her fundamental grassroots and has remained that way since the Conservative Resurgence began in 1979.
      Wanda and I were in attendance when Dr. Jerry Vines preached the Convention Sermon in 1987, which is one of the greatest sermons I have ever heard.  It was titled, “A Baptist and His Bible.”  His sermon upheld the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible, and that it was the view held by the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists.  He shared an illustration that summarized the Bible-believing, uncompromising Southern Baptist he has always been:

Old Jeb and his wife were riding in their pick-up truck to town one Saturday morning. A car passed them going in the other direction in which a young woman was cuddled up right next to a man, who was driving the car.  Jeb’s wife looked over at him and said, “When we were first married, we didn’t sit this far apart.”  Briefly looking away from the road and over at his wife, Jeb replied, “I ain’t moved!”

I like that!  Every day we are faced with decisions that can greatly alter our lives and the lives of others upon whom we have an influence, some of whom we are not even aware we are influencing. Many of those decisions ought not to be ones we have to give much thought to.  You see, for many of the issues and questions of life, you need to learn the answer before you are ever asked the question.  The Bible has already provided the exact answer to many of life’s questions.  For the ones where the answer is not exact, the Bible provides the principles that lead us to the right decision or answer.
     Having been a full-time pastor for twenty years and serving full-time in the ministry for thirty years, I want you to know that there are some basics of being a pastor, but, most of all, in being a Christian, where I ain’t moved, and I never will be moved.  Our staying firm as Christians on some of these issues and questions of our day will result in persecution in some form. But, as Paul stated when he was told of impending persecution, “None of these things move me.” Oh, that all the disciples of Jesus could testify as Paul.  If we will stay true to the Word and stand firm, the Lord has promised He will equip and empower us to endure.  Therefore, the Lord is with me because I always set him before me, so I shall not be moved.  May the words of an old song be one of our theme songs in the compromising day in which we live: I shall not be, I shall not be moved; I shall not be, I shall not be moved; Just like a tree that’s planted by the waters, Lord, I shall not be moved.