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Prayer Corner
We are in the midst of searching for a new property. Our miracle goal would be to find a property that can serve as our Sunday meeting area, our office and youth center but a property that large is currently out of our price range (barring a miracle, of course) Our secondary goal is a large enough facility that we can have mid-week youth meetings, Youth Venture teen mentoring and our office. While prices continue to fall we are still looking at numbers above our reach. Still, in faith, we are continuing to look. This may take many months - or God may choose to open up a door next week! Pray that God will open up a door for us so we can maximize outreach and ministry. Take a minute and pray right now.... |
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This Coming Sunday, February 7, 2010
It's easy to miss the opportunity that is right in front of us. Sometimes we miss it because we're stressed out, over tired or worn down. Other times we might see an opportunity but we dismiss it because we don't think we can make it work or it  doesn't seem like a real possibility. Even worse, we listen to the voice in our heads that goes: "you've failed so many times before, what makes you think this will be any different. You're going to fail again so you many as well not even try." But God wants us to know that He is willing to set an open door in front of us, a door that no one can shut. We need to be able to see that door and walk through it. Come on out this Sunday as we study a message called "To the angel at the church of Surprise, write....Part 6, Philadelphia." See ya Sunday.
Coming up...
February 14: To the angel at the Church of Surprise, write....Part 7, Laodacia
- February 21: Mark 1: 1- 8, Sold Out.
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A Word of Encouragement
Matthew 9: 2b (NKJV)
And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."
Jesus spoke these words before the last supper, before He went to the cross and before the resurrection. If the price for our sins is the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross, how could He say this before He went to the cross? The answer is something I believe can give us a very deep comfort in our struggle against our temptations. The answer is in the nature of God Himself.
God is not constrained by time. From His perspective, all times are NOW. An interesting way to think of it might be saying: "God doesn't know the future, He remembers the future." God is outside of time, outside of any material or natural thing. He is utterly "other", unlike anything or anyone. From God's perspective, the cross has always been completed, even before time itself began. This is why "all judgment has been given to the Son" because it is Jesus who decides to whom the grace of forgiveness will be given. Notice that Jesus responded to faith - yet He was being asked for a healing, not forgiveness. Still, in response to a simple trust in God for a physical need, He gave the man by far more than what he was asking, something so powerful it stretches beyond the constraints of time and physics and biology. When I ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins He forgives them all - even the ones, from my perspective, I have not yet committed but from His perspective are ancient history. They are all washed away.
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Thank You
A special thank you goes to Melissa Lane for volunteering to join our set-up crew at 8:30 on Sunday mornings (when she doesn't have to work at the hospital). It is so much fun to work together and adding another volunteer makes the work so much easier. Thanks Melissa.
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Vision
If we are able to find a property that can double as our church office and youth meeting zone, we would like to begin using the property for our Youth Venture teen-mentoring concept. Youth Venture should be a place where a kid can find all sorts of games and a comfortable hang out spot and then be drawn into a mentoring relationship with a trained Christian adult. So far, we've received a number of donations, such as a large screen TV and some video games, and as we search for a property we hope, pray and plan to ask folks for other donations to make Youth Venture a stellar hang-out for kids. Stay tuned. |
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Special Announcements
February 6: Ladies Breakfast. Betty and Denny's house. 9 a.m. (map on the website)
February 12 - 13: Ladies garage sale to raise funds for the Beth Moore conference. Contact Martha for more details at 623-221-3071.
February 13: Men's Power Breakfast. Desert Palms restaurant, 7 a.m.
February 21: Financial Peace University. 6 p.m. (location TBA) 13 week class - Average participants save $2,700 and pay off $5,700 in debt. Cost = $100 - sign ups available at the visitor's table on Sunday morning. |
