Announcements
Pancake
Breakfast!—The
men of the church are going to be cooking a pancake breakfast on
Sunday, June 10 as a fundraiser for Living Waters for the World.
Come between 9:15-10:30 to enjoy fresh pancakes. Suggested donation
is $5/person.
Food
Collection—Thank
you for your generosity! We
will continue to collect food for East Brainerd Elementary over the
summer. Please remember to bring in individual size fruit cups &
macaroni/chili individual size servings.
New
Hope News
Sermon
Series—This
Sunday we'll begin a two month sermon series on what the New
Testament has to say regarding different topics. This week we'll
tackle parenting, and we'll move on to money, work, service,
outsiders, salvation & being a good spouse. If there is a topic
you'd like for a sermon to explore, let me know!
Sunday
School—We'll
explore Ezra this Sunday @ 9:45.
Sunday
Evening Prayer Service—Come
check out a prayer service this Sundy evening @ 6:00 in the McMillan
Building.
Pray
for:
David
Smith
Mandy
Matthews
Links
Book
Recommendation
I
know I've heard from several people that Billy Graham's Nearing
Home
is a great read. If you're looking for a great biography of him,
Marshall Frady wrote one that is pretty balanced and a great look
into the man's life. It's simply titled Billy
Graham.
Random
Thoughts
Like
a man with a new fisihing rod who looks for any excuse to hit the
lake, Caleb is rolling over with reckless abandon. We have to keep a
closer watch on him now (no more leaving him in the house by himself
while Rachel and I go out to dinner), because he doesn't always stay
where we set him down. Baby gates and further-terrified-cats are in
our near future.
The
church is somewhat like this—just when we think we understand it
and are in control, things change. The world changes. Our
understanding of what it means to be faithful is challenged in some
new way, and we have to wrestle with what it means to be a faithful
community. Sometimes we have to set new limits and boundaries,
understanding that a new danger lurks just beyond. Often we have to
dwell uncomfortably with a new thing, trying to figure out how to be
church when our vision has changed.
In
all of this, Jesus Christ is Lord. We are still called to give our
hearts and minds and strength to him. We are still pushed beyond
what we are willing to give, challenged to see the world through his
eyes, called to love a world that may seem so foreign to us at times.
Being a disciple is never easy, but Christ promises us that abundant
life is possible only through him, despite what the advertising on
television may say, despite the exotic lifestyles that are portrayed
as the answer to our problems. Only Christ fills the void within us
that sin creates.
So
the world, our lives, may not always make total sense. We aren't in
charge. Our job is to follow Christ, to love each individual made in
the image of God, and to grow as disciples, loving God each and every
day. May we see change as resting within the palm of God's
sustaining hand, and let us be comforted that God is Alpha &
Omega, beginning and end.
Text
for Sunday, June 3
Luke 11:9-13
‘So
I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone
who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone
who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you
who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of
a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a
scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
New
Hope on iTunes
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