wednesday february 11, 2026, Heartbeats From Your Pastor's Heart

2026 THEME — “SEEING LIFE FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE”

February – Seeing Stewardship and Giving from God’s Perspective

NEXT SUNDAY

From where I sit as a Senior Citizen, living on a fixed income and counting every dollar carefully, missions is

not just a church theme or a special month on the calendar. It is part of my daily walk with the Lord. I may not

travel across the ocean, but I can pray. I may not have much to give, but I can sacrifice. And I have learned that

when something costs me a little, it means something to God. When we connect live with the Wachira family in

Kenya, you will hear real voices and see real faces. You will hear how your prayers and obedience help children

sleep safely at night, how believers are being discipled, and how families who once felt forgotten are now

finding hope in Christ. That is not theory—that is fruit. You will also hear from Marli and learn how Medical

Missions Worldwide carries life-saving care into places of deep poverty. In those places, compassion speaks

loudly. A bandage, a prescription, a listening ear—those simple acts often open hearts to the gospel. Sometimes

healing the body becomes the doorway to healing the soul. As you listen, I encourage you to pray—not just

about what to give, but about your availability. Ask the Lord if He might want you to go on a future two-week

medical mission trip or serve in some other way. I may not be able to go myself, but I can help send someone. I

can help hold the rope. And that matters. Whether you pray, support, or go, your faithfulness is not small in

God’s eyes. I have learned that He multiplies even widow’s mites. So together, let’s ask one simple, honest

question: “Lord, would You have me do?”

SUNDAY’S SERMON SUMMARY

Missions Month isn’t just another emphasis on the church calendar to me. I grew up in Calvary Children’s

Home. I am living proof that missions and giving are not theories—they are lifelines. When your church talks

about seeing missions from God’s perspective, I don’t hear pressure or obligation. I hear gratitude. I hear

opportunity. I hear love in action. There were people who gave when they didn’t know my name. People who

prayed for children they would never meet. People who trusted God with their firstfruits and responded in Faith

Promise, not because it was easy, but because it was obedience. And because they did, I had a safe place to

sleep, people who discipled me, and a future that once felt impossible. When Pastor teaches on giving, I don’t

hear a financial lesson—I hear a freedom lesson. Honoring God with our firstfruits isn’t about money; it’s about

surrender. It’s about saying, “Lord, I trust You more than I trust my understanding.” I watched missionaries

visit the Home. I saw how churches sustained ministries year after year. I saw how obedience—quiet, consistent

obedience—changed lives like mine. Through Scripture, testimony, and decades of faithful ministry, we’re

reminded that when we stop calculating and start obeying, God moves. He uses our prayers to strengthen weary

missionaries. He uses our gifts to rescue children. He uses our trust to push light into places we may never

personally see. Missions is not a program to me. It is the reason I had stability. It is the reason I found Christ-

centered mentors. It is the reason I graduated from college with hope instead of hurt defining my future.

Missions is love with a name. It is obedience with a face. It is our privilege to partner with God in reaching the

world—and sometimes, that world is a child like I once was.

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

1 Beats From Your Pastor’s Heart

Putting Your Wages in a Bag with Holes

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with

drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with

holes.” Haggai 1:6Few things are more frustrating than working hard and still feeling behind. The hours were long. The effort was

real. The income came in—but somehow, it never seems to stay. Bills rise unexpectedly. Resources vanish

quickly. There is motion without progress and effort without reward. God, through the prophet Haggai, reveals

a sobering truth: sometimes the problem is not the amount earned, but the order in which God is honored. When

firstfruits are withheld, blessing is not merely delayed—it leaks.

Activity Without Alignment

The people in Haggai’s day were busy. They were planting, harvesting, eating, drinking, and clothing

themselves—yet nothing satisfied. Their labor produced exhaustion instead of fruitfulness. God exposed the

root issue: they had prioritized their own houses while neglecting the house of the Lord. Productivity without

spiritual alignment leads to frustration. When our lives are full but our priorities are off, God allows us to feel

the emptiness so we will return to His order.

Spiritual Leaks Often Feel Natural

A bag with holes doesn’t announce itself. Money doesn’t disappear all at once—it slips away gradually.

Unexpected expenses. Broken appliances. Medical bills. Repairs you didn’t plan for. The enemy loves to

disguise spiritual consequences as “just life.” But God was clear: the loss had a spiritual explanation. When God

is not honored first, He does not curse—He removes protection. What we call coincidence may actually be

correction, lovingly designed to draw our hearts back into obedience.

Firstfruits Restore Flow and Covering

God never demanded firstfruits to impoverish His people but to position them under blessing. When Israel

returned to honoring God’s house, He promised to rebuke the devourer and restore fruitfulness. Firstfruits are

not about percentages—they are about lordship. When God is first, provision flows with purpose. When God is

delayed, provision leaks without explanation. The order of giving determines the outcome of living. God does

not desire His children to live exhausted, anxious, or always behind. He reveals the holes not to shame us, but to

heal us. The moment the people obeyed, God responded with favor. What feels like financial frustration may

actually be a merciful invitation to reorder your heart. When God is honored first, the bag holds. The harvest

lasts. And peace replaces pressure. Imagine filling a bucket from a well, only to realize there’s a crack at the

bottom. You draw water again and again, growing tired and confused as it drains away. The solution isn’t more

water—it’s fixing the leak. God’s Word identifies the cracks so restoration can begin. Increase never fixes a

spiritual leak—obedience does.

Warfare Prayer: Father God, I come before You in humility. Reveal any area where I have placed myself

before You. I repent for honoring my needs before Your command. I ask You to close every spiritual leak,

rebuke the devourer, and restore what has been lost. I choose obedience over understanding and trust You as my

Provider. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Daily Challenge: Review your finances and your priorities today. Ask the Lord, “Am I honoring You first or

fitting You in later?” Take one concrete step of obedience—whether in tithing, giving, or reordered trust—and

watch how God begins to restore peace and provision

WEDNESDAY’S PRAYER REQUESTS

Brittany Smith ~ Breast Cancer

Darlene Kelley – Cancer Treatment

Don And Carol Franklin – Mae’s Uncle

Ed Franklin’s Son In Law – Heart SurgerySandra Mitchell

Tammy Shelnutt

Jean Partee

Aston Savage

Gloria Young

Amy Garner’s Dad

Bentley Smith – Broken Leg

Carol Lawhead – Riverside in Conyers

Joni Oberhage

Linda Mays

Myles Elliott

Rose Fuller – Pruitt-Monroe Nursing Home, Forsyth GA

Brando Echarte

Debbie Foskey

Don Franklin’s Daughter, Darlene, Son, David

Ed Adkins – Friend of Brian Edwards

Jake Jenkins

June Cronan

Jean Partee’s Sister

Kim McClain’s Daughter, Amanda

Deon Lotter

Doris Loyd

Nancy Brown

Annette Ford

Andrea Nix– Friend of the Shelnutt’s

Angela Bryan’s Sisters

Ann Stanley

Danny Jarrard

Darlene Wiggins

Doris Loyd

Dr. and Mrs. Davis

Eric Magnusson’s Mother

Eric Ward

Friend of Linda Hodge

Gayle Sparks

James Burnette

Jessica Headrick

John McClain’s Mother

June Cronan’s Sister

June Davis

Kailey BatemanKim McClain’s Mother

Kim’s Sisters – Ann & Brenda

Lee Cronan

Lillianna Magnusson’s Mom

Lonzo Christian

Lori Blount’s Mother

Mary Williams

Mary Williamson – Dana Jackson’s Mom

Mrs. Franklin

Nora Allison

Ron And Johnnie Barry – Friends Of Ashton & Glenda Bateman

Scott Lanier

Scotty Nix

Stephanie Seivers – Friend of the Shelnutt’s

Steve Michaels

Tom Witcher