Announcements
Thanksgiving
Lunch—Thursday, Nov. 22 @ 2:00 at the church.
Please talk to JoAn Wright if you're interested in joining this
wonderful tradition.
Wednesday
Night Suppers—There will be no Wed. Night Supper
next week, Nov. 21. The following week, guests associated with Fair
Trade products will present on the work of the church through fair
trade, and they'll also bring some products to sell that would be
great Christmas gifts!
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class with discuss
generosity.
Pray
For:
The
new elders of New Hope—Larrie, Walt, Pete & JoAn.
Give
thanks. Think about how you might display your gratitude to the
world.
Pray
for those who do not know Christ.
Links
The
Grateful Gobbler is November 22. (Monies raised
go to support Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition.
Keith's
Random Thoughts
I don't ask for prayers very often, but I would be most grateful if
you would take a moment or two to lift me up before our God in
heaven. See, I'm going to be spending a few days at Gethsemani
Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. It's a place of silent
retreat, meant to cultivate the growth of the soul. I'm greatly
looking forward to my time there, hopeful that Christ will do a work
in me—I'm hoping that He will slow me down, calm me down, enough to
hear his voice.
I have many hopes for my time there. I hope to have my sins
revealed, that I may repent of them and turn from them. I hope to
see where my own brokenness is preventing Christ's work through me,
that I may get out of the way of grace. I hope to vision forward, to
see how the Lord is calling me to serve. I hope to rest, secure in
the love of our eternal God.
I have many hopes, but I also need to set them aside and let God do a
work. I want to let God lead me, to use the time as God sees fit. I
could effectively design a retreat that left out room for God,
therein defeating the entire purpose. I'm taking some books and
journals, but in the end I simply desire stillness before God, that
the love and power of God may surround me and entice my soul to lay
down the burdens it has picked up and revel in the amazing love of
God. I hope to worship unencumbered, to be without restraint, to
listen without anxiety and grow as a disciple.
So I ask for your prayers. I shall spend much time in prayer there,
and perhaps the Lord might speak to all of us, calling us back to
him, back to faithfulness, and together we might walk the road that
Christ has set before us.
Thank you.
Text
for this Sunday
2
Kings 2:1-13
Now
when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind,
Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to
Elisha, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.”
But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I
will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. The company of
prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do
you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?”
And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” Elijah said to him,
“Elisha, stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he
said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not
leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who
were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know
that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he
answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.” Then Elijah said to him,
“Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said,
“As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave
you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of
prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they
both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and
rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one
side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
When
they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for
you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me
inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have
asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you,
it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued
walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated
the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.
Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots
of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him,
he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
He
picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went
back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He
took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the
water, saying, ‘Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ When he
had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the
other, and Elisha went over.
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Hope on iTunes
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Blog
& Devotionals
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