Announcements
Volunteer—Friday,
March 1, from 9-2, is Read to Kids Day at East Brainerd Elementary.
If you're interested, please contact Kimberly Wheeler
(wheeler_k@hcde.org)
to reserve your time and grade spot. Or you can call 855-6161.
Books will be available, or you can bring your own.
Movie
Night—Every other Saturday, there is a
group that watches movies in the basement and talks about the
spiritual themes in them. Tim Meyers leads the group. They meet at
5:30 on March 2nd for their next meeting.
UTC
Board—The UTC Board is still in need of
members. If you're interested in joining, or attending a meeting to
see what they're like, let me know.
Community
Kitchen Spot
There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God
and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to
help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday &
put them in the grocery cart.
Coffee/Creamer
Pasta
Black Pepper
Cereal
Dry Milk
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will study 1
Corinthians.
Worship Committee—This Monday @ 6:30
Building & Grounds—Meets Sunday following worship
Worship Committee—This Monday @ 6:30
Building & Grounds—Meets Sunday following worship
Pray
For:
Christine
Dyer
Judy
Smith's brother Nelson
Pray
for those who do not know Christ.
Links
A
great story all the way around—a kind act turns into over $150k
for a homeless man
Keith's
Random Thoughts
I
spent the weekend in sunny southern California. It was glorious for
several reasons.
First
of all, I now know where all the sunshine is. They're saving it up
out there in case they run out. I tried to bring some back east, but
I think we lost it in the turbulence somewhere around Kansas. While
my definition of a good flight is any flight that lands without
exploding, I'd have to say the Russian judge would have given that
one a 2.4. Which is even higher than the French judge gave the
flight from Atlanta to Chattanooga. I'd just as soon forget that one
ever happened.
Secondly,
the Hertz guy upgraded me to a Ford Mustang GT with a 5.0 liter V8.
For a guy who loves cars & usually drives a Hyundai station
wagon, this was pure joy. I drove to and from the conference each
day with a silly grin on my face, laughing like a little kid every
mile of the journey. (Except for the part where I cried when the
Hertz folks had to pry the keys from my hands at the end of the trip.
Parting truly is such sweet sorrow.) If anyone is pondering any
gifts for National Parade Day (March 4th), I'd like one with a glass
roof and the 6 speed.
Finally,
and far more important than either of the two subjects above, I was
nourished by the spiritually mature this weekend, and it was a
blessing. When I visited a monastery in the fall, I asked God to
show me the sins I needed to address in my life. What God did was
surround me with a palpable sense of his love and then reveal to me
some growing edges in my life (I believe God always works this
way—reminding us of his love before calling us to labor for his
Kingdom). While I have spent the period between November and
February working on what God revealed to me, this was the next
chapter—a time to examine my private thoughts and my priorities.
Dallas Willard spoke about the key to a spiritual life is wanting a
relationship with Christ more than we want anything else. He spoke
clearly, plainly, yet deeply, and we all drank from the fountain of
the Holy Spirit that sprang up.
I
understood anew how paramount it is to be on our guard, to resist the
devil and to seek Christ. It's truly hard to put into words, but I
pray that what I heard this weekend will permeate every fiber of my
being and every act of my life, that I might be transformed. I hope
to hand over some of the things that I learned, that others might
hear and see them and direct their lives to God anew. I pray for the
wisdom to grow, slowly and steadily, towards the man God is calling
me to be. I pray that I will seek the abundant life and recognize
the lie behind every other temptation in this world.
Text
for this Sunday
Isaiah
53:4-12
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
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