100 Years at Vero Beach
This past weekend Gary and I made the trip over to Vero Beach and spent time with the Taylors. This was no ordinary church meeting, but rather we were celebrating how good the Lord has been to bless Antioch Church have made it to 100 years there in Vero Beach.
The story of how they came to be is an interesting one. In 1908, 7 members of John's Island Primitive Baptist Church decided that they really wanted an Church on the mainland. They had been use to traveling in an area with little to no roads, even fewer of them paved, down to the shoreline, and taking a boat over to the Island, and then making the rest of the trip to the church for Sunday morning service. They were dedicated Church members but really wanted a church closer to home. Over the years there have been many preachers, the membership has varied, and the area has certainly grown up; but one thing is for sure, over at Vero Beach they are still holding to not only the beliefs that those orginal 7 members held to 100 years ago, but they are following in the much older paths of Jesus and the apostles. We hope the Lord blesses them to be a healthy and active body of believers for another 100 years.
Friday night, Elder Chris was blessed to deliever an excellent message on grace taking his text primarily from Ephesians 2:8-10. Telling us the ways in which grace has nothing to do with works, and yet at other times has everything to do with works. In short you can't work your way to heaven, but the work of grace in your life should make you desire to do good works while you are here. Saturday morning, Issac started out leading singing, and then Bro. Chris spent a few minutes relaying the history of the church and the building, Gary lead a bit too, before Elder David Crawford preached.
He had an excellent sermon as well, trying to convey alot of encouragement and exhortation to us. I don't know that I could quickly or easily tell you all that he told us, but he reminded us that the Church was to be a light in the community and how we should be overjoyed to share the greatest story we know with others, the story of how Jesus took care of everything just for us. He talked about how to avoid getting discouraged by others actions, words, or non-attendance, but to always focus on what the Lord does for us on a daily basis. He exhorted us to study and not leave the truth, because for as long as he's been around they've been preaching the death of the Primitive Baptist and as long as we stick with God given truth we will be fine. After his sermon we had a great time of fellowship in the lunchroom (not to mention all the good food) and then had a sing afterward. We were so blessed to be able to spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ several hours away on the East coast, and hope to see them again soon.
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