How often do we put God in a box?  Perhaps these verses in Isaiah 55:8,9,11 could somehow show us in context how great our God is: "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts...It is the same with my word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it  to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it." NLT

These texts remind us in a powerful way one of the most important elements of our relationship with God --the element of mystery.  A common mistake made by some Christians is to attempt to somehow categorize or distill the God of the universe into some small, understandable package.  Any god who can be so reduced, is not the God of the bible, and certainly not the God we desperately need.

This may have been the issue behind J.B. Phillips' book Your God Is Too Small. Our God is too great, vast and incomprehensible to be minimalized or neatly packaged.  His ways and thoughts are beyond us.  That means that we, in our finiteness, must learn to accept the mysteries of His greatness.

The Church Staff

The Kingdom Life workshop comes to us again on Sunday morning, March 10, at 10:30 a.m.

You do not have to have attended previous workshops to avail of this great opportunity to learn how to experience a closer walk with our Lord. Pastor Hansel leads.

Gospel Life's presence on the internet is currently undergoing revision.  We have engaged a professional website developer to update our website, make it more user friendly, and to simplify its presentation.

Soon you will be able to tell your friends, neighbors and family members to check it out. They may even get curious enough to  come and pay us a visit at one of our services!

Only for Saturday, March 23:

Our church service will begin at 4:00 p.m. instead of the usual 5:00 p.m. to accommodate another event that day.

Please take note so you don't get there after the service is over.

Tonight the Pink Ink group meets again at 8:00 p.m. at the church.

This is a not-so-small group of women going through a study of The Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free. 

Caution: The author of the book being used in this study may have a way of expressing certain thoughts or ideas which may not be exactly as  you believe, so keep that in mind as you go through the pages of this book. The important thing is to be able to recognize some of the lies that a lot of women may have believed in, and to be able to get out of that mire by trusting in God.

A TIP ABOUT WORSHIP 

You can worship by yourself but corporate worship is important.  It is not to be neglected.

Do you sometimes feel too depressed to come to church to worship?  That's when you need to do it.  Once you do it, you feel great.

Just like going to the gym.  Many times you don't feel like going, but you feel great everytime after you do.

"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near." Hebrews 10:25 NLT

A Call To Worship

 

...but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. - Exodus 6:9

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It is very difficult to lead when those you are leading believe they have been mistreated and have lost all hope. Such was the case when God called Moses to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. They had lived under many years of oppression and slavery. Yet God heard their cry. He sent someone to bring them out of slavery "so that they might worship God" (see Ex. 8:1). Interesting that God didn't say, "to serve Him." Above all else, God desires our worship. A person cannot enter into true worship of God while still in slavery and bondage.

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In Proverbs, the writer tells us "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Prov. 13:12a). There is a place in life where life becomes so discouraging and hopeless that we lose all hope, and it can actually make us sick. I have been at this place; it is a scary condition. It brings you to the edge of despair.

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The people would not listen to Moses. Yet God did not deliver immediately. In fact, it would be many plagues later before ultimate deliverance would take place. Why does God withhold deliverance at times? It is in order to bring greater glory from the situation. It isn't because He doesn't care. It is because His plan for mankind is resting in these events. It is a finely tuned plan that involves many people and situations - all operating at the same time. It can seem cruel at times.

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But God knows that His children cannot worship Him if they are in bondage and lose all hope. He won't allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, so He has a plan of deliverance for each of us. This plan is not always the kind of deliverance we might think is best. It sometimes has pain surrounding the deliverance. When a mother gives birth, that child is delivered into this world through much pain. But with that pain comes great joy on the other side. Every mother will say the pain was worth it because of the exceeding joy that child brought in the midst of the pain.

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Wednesday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. - The Awakening - at the Church

    8:00 p.m. - the Pink Ink meets - at the Church - Tessa & Pastor Joannie

Saturday, March 9, 4:00 p.m - Coffee  - Church Portico

    5:00 p.m. - Church Service  - Pastor Hansel at the Good News Hour

Sunday, March 10, 10:30 a.m. - Kingdom Life Workshop - Pastor Hansel

Saturday, March 16, 7:30 p.m. - Monthly Fund-Raising Fellowship Dinner