Announcements
Prayer
Coordinator—There
is
a movement afoot in Chattanooga! Project 29:7 is trying to get
churches signed up to be responsible for a day of prayer, meaning
that the church would need to find 24 volunteers to cover a day in
prayer. I have more details, but if you're interested in
coordinating this project, please speak with me!
Wednesday
Fun—A
big thank you to Lynne Brock for organizing these!
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.
ZIPLOCK SANDWICH BAGS
BROWN PAPER LUNCH BAGS
# 10 CANS VEGETABLES
COFFEE CREAMER
CEREAL
CANNED TUNA
NAPKINS
METAL FORKS / SPOONS
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will study Jude,
the 'most neglected book in the New Testament'
Building
& Grounds—There
will be a building & grounds meeting on July 10. Speak with
Larrie Mansfield if you'd like to attend.
$.02/meal—Next
collection will be July 21. Be sure to save your pennies!
VBS—Will
be the week of July 15-18. Make your plans accordingly!
Pray
For:
Those
struggling with the heat wave in the West
Egypt,
Syria and other places caught up in chaos
Russell
Mabry
John
L. Wright – He is now in Sisken for rehab (he's in room 522 if
you'd like to give him a call). Continue to lift he & Peggy up
in your prayers. John L. is doing well and hoping to be home soon!
Links
Keith's
Random Thoughts
The
Taco Bell across the street is being renovated. They've gutted the
building and completely demolished the exterior. Nothing but the
core of the building has been left untouched.
Unfortunately,
when they're finished, the
food won't be any better. The heart of their business will remain
the same.
Jesus
talked about the same idea in a conversation with the Pharisees. In
Luke 11, he told them that they clean the outside of the cup, but the
inside is filled with wickedness and greed. In essence, their lives
look fine from the outside, but their hearts are far from God.
When
we become a Christian, we promise everything to God. We promise to
let him be the sovereign Lord not only of our outside life, but also
of our inner life. We pledge our actions and words and our thoughts,
too. We ask the Holy Spirit to transform all of us.
If
we only offer Christ our outer life, we've only done half the work of
discipleship. If we go to church and don't pay attention, we're
missing the point. If we serve others but despise them in our
hearts, we're failing at offering him all of ourselves. If we act
polite in public but privately lash out at others or hoard secret
sins, we're not growing in faith.
Christianity
is a tough religion. We are called to a narrow way of discipleship,
to a demanding faithfulness. It indeed takes dying to ourselves each
and every day, in the hopes that Christ's life will grow within us,
taking hold of our hearts and minds and traveling outward,
transforming our exterior life as well as the interior one.
I
don't pretend that this is easy, nor would I claim to have mastered
it. My heart is a cesspool of greed and envy and pride and laziness.
I pray for renewal each and every day, hoping that Christ will
transform me, little by little, into a new man, a faithful man, who
can live his calling with integrity.
Without Christ renewing the inside,
the work we do on the outside leaves us hollow. I don't want to be
like Taco Bell—I want to consume the Bread of Life and lead others
to it.
Text
for this Sunday
Daniel
4
is a pretty long chapter. I'm not going to be reading the entire
chapter, just bits and pieces, but the sermon is based on the entire
arc of the chapter. If you'd like to read it,
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel
4&version=CEV
New
Hope on iTunes
Keith's
Blog
& Devotionals
for your Kindle
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