Our Mission To love all people at all times and lead them into a new life in Christ.
Our Vision To be a church that will be multicultural and generational, having a lasting impact on the people to whom we minister.
To see the gospel extend beyond the walls of our church through various outreaches.
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GOD’S WORD FOR NOW…. MEEK AIN’T WEAK
The word meek has a bad reputation. Most people hear it and think of someone cowering in timidity, but that’s not what the word means. It actually means “power under control.”
Meekness doesn’t come naturally. Often, we see the opposite extreme of angry defiance or wilting fear. Meekness isn’t a blend of those two traits; it’s altogether different. God has give all of us a set of abilities and character qualities. Meekness acknowledges that all our abilities and qualities are gifts from the hand of God, but we also recognize that we distort God’s original intentions when we pursue selfish aims.
Like the horse responding to the jockey’s directions, we move in concert with God’s instruction. And like the horse, we may sometimes need a little stronger motivation! When we allow God’s Spirit to direct us, a world of possibilities opens up to us. That’s what it means to inherit the earth. Zig Ziglar
“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good word.” 2 Cor. 9:8
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
SOME PEOPLE ANNOY US.. They interrupt us when we’re trying to concentrate, ignore us when we need their help, or give us unwanted advice. Sometimes, the best we can do is tolerate them.
Tolerating people is not loving them, and God has set a high standard for us in relationships. God has imparted genuine, unconditional love to us, and He gives us an example of what love looks like. He is the prime mover, the One who initiated love toward us when we were completely unlovable.
The love we show others indicates our level of love for God. If we fail to love horizontally, we can assume there’s a problem in our vertical relationship with God. We won’t reach out in love until God has first reached into our hearts to enable us to love Him.
We love those around us by pursuing what’s best for them. When we’re listening, we’re fully present in the moment. When we’re caring, we give everything we’ve got because we’re aware that God gave His all to us. Who are the people and what are the situations when the best you can do is to tolerate them? Zig Ziglar
“We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him; that he who loves God must love his brother also.” 1 John 4:19-21
“HOLD ON TO HOPE….” BIBLICAL HOPE
Be hopeful. God is working in our world. Through all of the pain and conflict, in the personal and private tragedies as well as in the public world-shaking crises – our God is at work to bring about His peace on earth. Consider these ten benefits of hope to carry you into 2015 …
- Hope provides you joy in any situation.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12 NIV 2011).
- Hope generates faith and love.
“We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel” (Colossians 1:4–5 NIV).
- Hope causes you to live like Jesus.
“All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3 NIV).
- Hope inspires you to persevere and endure through difficulty.
“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV).
- Hope uplifts your depressed soul.
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 43:5 NIV).
- Hope prompts you to praise God
“As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more” (Psalm 71:14 NIV).
- Hope anchors your soul during the storms of life.
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain” (Hebrews 6:19 NIV).
- Hope moves you to take action with great boldness.
“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Corinthians 3:12 NIV).
- Hope develops your patience.
“If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:25 NIV).
- Hope establishes your sense of security and safety.
“You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety” (Job 11:18 NIV).
Hold onto hope! Don’t let today’s disheartening, distressing headlines smother your joy. Experience true joy in anticipating a glorious and certain future while anchored in the guaranteed assurances of biblical hope.
by June Hunt from THE CHRISTIAN POST
“Help Is On The Way”
Michael w. Smith
People say time will heal
But you know, they just don’t feel what you feel
Times are hard but God is so good
He’s never failed you, and He said He never would
He see’s your tears
He fights your fears
[CHORUS]
Hold on, help is on the way
He said he’d never leave you or forsake you
Stay strong
Help is on the way
He’d said he’d help you
Just reach out and take his hand
He knows your heart, He lifts your head
He’s always close enough to hear every word you said
When you’re weak, He said He’s so much more
His arm is long enough to reach you where you are
He see’s your tears
He fights your fears
Three friends die in a car accident and they go to an orientation in heaven. They are all asked, “When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?”
The first guy says, “ I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man.”
The second guy says, “I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher which made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow.”
The last guy replies, “ I would like to hear them say….’Look!, he’s moving’!”
I know this is a joke but why not take the time to tell your family, friends, and leaders how much you appreciate them. My mom used to say, “ Give me my flowers now while I can enjoy them. Don’t wait until I die to tell everyone else how much you appreciate me.”
“COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS, NAME THEM ONE BY ONE..”
Don’t wait for Thanksgiving to be “thankful.” Begin today, counting your blessings instead of counting your problems. We used to sing that old hymn, “Count Your Blessings.”
“When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Are you ever burdend with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by.
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.”
by Johnson Oatman, Jr.
published in 1897
Place Your Life Before God
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2 Message Bible
Certain kinds of roots can be dug up, dried, ground, and mixed with oil to make dyes to color fabric. A dye misused causes a terrible stain. Bitterness is like a misused dye–it colors how we look at life, and it stains every relationship.
People who are bitter feel they have every right to their feelings and perspectives. They feel like victims because they are victims. God doesn’t promise protection from every hurt we experience, but He doesn’t want our anger and hurt to fester into bitterness and ruin every aspect of our lives.
Bittler people look for fights. They may say they don’t like them, but the actually thrive on the adrenaline produced by intense disagreements. Instead, God wants us to stop this process before it starts: to pursue peace with all people. When they hurt us, we are to forgive them quickly. We need to watch out so that patterns of recrimination don’t steal our joy, sap our energy, and ruin our ability to represent Christ.
Bitterness is serious business. It’s a cancer that can’t be tolerated, or it’ll kill us. And it’ll kill us. And it’s contagious.
A LITTLE KINDNESS…Zig Ziglar
If you want to be on the receiving e4nd of kindness, you have to show kindness to others first. It’s the law of sowing and reaping. Mercy is responding compassionately to someone’s hurt, going the extra mile to help people in need, and being willing to listen when someone wants to talk. Hurting people are all around us and they’ll always be.
If our instant response to others in need is, “ Well, they get what they deserve,” then we haven’t realized that , by God’s grace, we don’t get what we really deserve.
If we have difficulty showing mercy, then we first need to go to the Cross to realize the wealth of God’s grace, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness given to us. With this realization fresh on our hearts, we’ll be quicker to extend mercy to others in need around us.
“ “Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing to return; Then you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
Our Worship of God...from Carroll Parish
Our worship of God is greatly affected by our view of God. Is He almighty? Majestic? All-powerful? Or is He our image?
How we see Him will determine how sincerely we worship, and the depth of our worship of Him. A low vision of God will bring forth a shallow worship of God. If He is seen as one who is impotent of power, or one who is not involved in or concerned about His children, then our worship will reflect that attitude. (p. 12-13 THE WONDER OF WORSHIP)
I Chronicles 16:29- “Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!”
Psalm 95:6 “Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
Psalm 99:5-”Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool–He is holy.”
Psalm 99:9 “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy.”
Psalm 138:2 “I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
THE WELL OF THE HEART….Zig Ziglar
“Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Matthew 15:11
“The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, But the perverse tongue will be cut out.” Proverbs 10:31
Most of us think very little about our communication. We’ve developed habits of saying the same things in the same ways to the same people. However, we need to be more intentional about the words we say to one another. Healing messages say, “I love you,” “I’m proud of you,” and “You’re really good at that!” Critical words cut like a knife. And sarcasm is the same knife with a pearl handle.
Words reveal what’s in our hearts. If what spills out is too often negative, biting, caustic, or sarcastic, we need to ask God to fill the well with faith, hope, and love so that positive words come out by the bucketful.
Think of the conversations you’ve had in the past day. How would you describe the content of your words?
What changes do you need to make in your communication, especially with those you love?
Life Promises
He who walks with the wise will be wise.
But the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Proverbs 13:20
“True wisdom is the ability to really live, to squeeze every drop of meaning out of life, and to look to God to give us the greatest adventure life has to offer. Can you find a wise friend or two? Can you be one? That’s the challenge.” Zig Ziglar
GOD’S WORD FOR YOU by Joyce Meyer
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are ruining the vineyards….” Song of Solomon 2:15
Little disappointments can create frustration, which in turn may lead to bigger problems that can produce a great deal of damage. Minor annoyances can upset us just as much as huge disappointments. We have to learn how to handle them and keep them in perspective. Otherwise, they can get out of hand and be blown up all out of proportion.
We have to be on our guard against the little foxes that destroy the vineyards, because all together they can do as much damage as the serious disappointments that often accompany them.
We must learn to do as Paul did in the book of Acts when the serpent attached itself to his hand–he simply shook it off (Acts 28:1-5)! If we practice dealing quickly with disappointments as they come, they will not pile up into a mountain of devastation.
GOD’S WORD FOR YOU……
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petitions, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:6-7
“Fear not (there is nothing to fear), for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My (victorious) right and of rightness and justice.,” Isaiah 41:10
Fear, which is spelled f-e-a-r, stands for false evidence appearing real. The enemy wants to tell you that your current situation is evidence that your future will be a failure, but the Bible teaches us that no matter what our present circumstances, nothing is impossible with God. ….Joyce Meyer
“How truly amazing that in our powerless, hopeless, sinful state we were given a redeemer; a Redeemer who left heaven and was made like one of us in humans flesh because we needed a Savior who was near of kin. But we needed more than someone related to us. We needed someone who was able to redeem us, and only One qualified for such a task. Because we were bound by the curse of the law we needed someone who was perfect and therefore stood outside the law. And so God gave us a Redeemer who was able… We would be hopelessly stranded if our redeemer were related and able but unwilling. And that is where Jesus Christ perfectly fulfills the role of kinsman-redeemer: He was not only close and able but He was also lovingly willing. “ Kelly Minter
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