AUGUST THEME – “Experiencing God: From Knowing About Him to Walking With Him”

SUNDAY’S SERMON SUMMARY  

Sunday’s message made clear that biblical healing isn’t a stunt, a performance, or a “vending machine” reward—it is the restoring work of Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever, flowing from His presence into body, mind, and spirit. Scripture presents healing as wholeness: sometimes immediate, sometimes a layered journey of surrender, stillness, trust, and daily closeness with Him. I shared my COVID season, when God’s presence became oxygen and His promises a foundation; though symptoms lingered, the Lord healed my spirit, faith, and identity from within. Because Jesus often forgave before mending bodies and bound up hearts before strengthening limbs, the call to us was to pursue the Healer—releasing bitterness, receiving forgiveness, and trusting His timing. We also anchor our hope in ultimate healing in eternity, where pain and sorrow end. Whatever the need—physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual—we were invited to come to the altar and stop carrying what Jesus has already paid to heal: the Healer is here.

GO TO www.belmontbaptistchurch.com/sermons and listen to Sunday’s message.

Beats From Your Pastor’s Heart

The Healer Doesn’t Just Fix—He Rebuilds

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” —Psalm 147:3

God is not a quick-fix technician; He is a faithful rebuilder. The world discards what’s cracked, but the God of Scripture gathers the shattered pieces and holds them long enough to make them whole. He doesn’t patch you up and push you out the door—He abides. He restores. He rebuilds. Many came to the altar Sunday with wounds too deep for words, but you don’t need the perfect vocabulary for the Great Physician to begin. He already knows where it hurts and what it will take. He does not return you to “factory settings”; He makes you new. Think Nehemiah, not a handyman—God surveys the ruins with tears and then sets a plan in motion, rebuilding wall by wall, gate by gate, until what was defenseless becomes secure again.

Restoration isn’t merely about being mended; it’s about receiving a new design with a stronger foundation. What the enemy meant to destroy, God uses to develop—every loss becomes raw material in the hands of the Redeemer. He doesn’t erase your story; He redeems it so that the very place you were wounded becomes a place others find healing. Rebuilding comes with a rhythm: He lays the foundation with truth, sets the cornerstone as Christ, mortars every stone with the Spirit’s love, and invites community to build alongside you. Expect the process—repentance, forgiveness, new boundaries, renewed habits, and patient obedience. Storms will test the structure, but they will also prove the strength of what God has done. Even when you feel there’s nothing left to save, He sees a future worth building—and He stays until the work is done.

Prayer:  God, I bring You the pieces. I don’t know how to rebuild, but You do. Lay a new foundation in truth, set Christ as my cornerstone, and bind every fracture with Your Spirit’s love. Turn my pain into purpose and my ruins into something beautiful. I trust You with what’s left of me—and with what You’re making me become. Amen.

Challenge:  Show hope in action today. Write a brief note of encouragement to someone who’s hurting, tidy one neglected space as a sign of fresh beginnings, and re-read a Scripture that once carried you (start with Psalm 147:3 or Joel 2:25). Then name one “brick” for this week—an act of forgiveness, a boundary you’ll keep, a habit you’ll restart—and lay it on the altar in prayer.

WEDNESDAY’S PRAYER REQUESTS

Andrea Nix– Friend of the Shellnutts

Angela Bryan’s Sister

Ann Stanley – Surgery Soon

Debbie Foskey – Home

Jessica Headrick – Pray As She Recovers From Surgery

Kim’s Sisters – Ann & Brenda  

Linda Mays – Rehab – Going Home Friday   

Sheila Simmons

Danny Jarrard 

Darlene Wiggins

Doris Loyd

Dr. and Mrs. Davis

Eric Magnusson’s Mother

Eric Ward

Friend of Linda Hodge

Gayle Sparks

George & Linda Alexander 

James Burnette

James Garner

Jason Parker  

John McClain’s Mother

John Parillo

June Cronan’s Sister

June Davis

Kailey Bateman

Kathryn Raines

Kim McClain’s Mother 

Lee Cronan

Lillianna Magnusson’s Mom

Linda Breedlove’s Sister – Sarah 

Lonzo Christian 

Lori Blount’s Mother

Mary Williams

Mary Williamson – Dana Jackson’s Mom

Mrs. Franklin 

Nora Allison

Rose Fuller – Pruitt-Monroe Nursing Home, Forsyth GA

Sadie Almand 

Scott Lanier 

Scotty Nix

Stephanie Seivers – Friend of the Shellnutts

Steve Michaels

Tom Witcher