Youth Day

Last Sunday we celebrated "Youth Day", where our youth led in all aspects of our morning service. They did a fabulous job and freely shared their talents and gifts as they led music, prayer, offering and testimony. We appreciate our youth and urge you to always keep them in prayer for their faith and integrity to stay strong through their lives.

Family Ministries Meal

This week's Family Ministries Meal will be
Grilled Hamburgers and Hot Dogs
Tater Tots
Corn on the Cob
Dessert

Children and youth will meet at 6:30 PM, adults will meet for prayer meeting.  Come and join us for Family Ministries!

Ladies Fellowship

Our ladies gathered for their monthly fellowship last week. It was a beautiful time of food, fun and a heartfelt devotion encouraging us in the ways of the Lord. Thank you ladies for sharing and growing together!

Who Do You Follow, Walk for Christ

The annual Who Do You Follow Walk for Christ will be April 15.  If you are not involved with our Children's Easter Celebration which is the same day, be encouraged to join other churches and Christians in a community wide walk to exalt our Lord publicly. More details will be shared as the event comes closer, but please mark your calendars and save the date!

Children's Easter Celebration

Our Children's Easter Celebration will be April 15 beginning at 10:00 AM.  This will be a time of celebration with games, prizes, an egg hunt and a time to share the true meaning of Easter.  There will be lunch following the egg hunt. All children are welcome, be encouraged to bring your family and also to invite other families you may know.

We will be needing lots of individually wrapped candy and you are welcome to donate bags of candy to help fill this need. There will be a drop off box in the church foyer.  Thank you!  

Take a Look At This!

Praise be to the Lord for a generous gift donated to Antioch. A beautiful and updated organ was recently received as a gift from a generous donor. Word spread quickly about it after Family Ministries and several stopped in the sanctuary to take a look! Our musically gifted girl quickly jumped in the seat to try it out and it plays beautifully!

We are so thankful for this new addition and anticipate many hours of worshipful music coming forth from it! 

Ladies Fellowship Thursday Night

 

We have a wonderful ladies fellowship planned for this month!  We will meet on Thursday (March 23) at Charlotte M.'s home beginning at 5:30 PM.  All ladies are welcome and encouraged to come, bring a finger food, salad or dessert to share and plan to enjoy an evening of fellowship and a time to grow in the Lord. 

This month we will be talking about by passing New Year's resolutions (which have probably been broken by now!) and focusing on a word for the year.

The idea is simple – choose one word to fully embrace in 2017. A word that will guide you, inspire you and challenge you this year. Your word can become part of your daily life all year long. Like a gentle reminder to inspire you in the choices you make throughout the year.

The idea is that we should choose one word we can focus on every day, all year long — one word that sums up who we want to be or how we want to live. Especially because, when we force our self to funnel the hopes and goals for an entire year into a single word or phrase, we also force our self to focus on what truly matters and what will make an eternal difference in my life and the lives of those I care about.

Be encouraged to be in prayer about a word that draws us closer to the Lord and allows our focus to be on what God alone can do in our hearts. Hope you will plan to come to the Ladies Fellowship Thursday night!  

Here are some examples of word to ponder and pray over:

Compassion

Generosity

Gratitude

Abundance

Creativity

Willingness

Kindness

Courage

Confidence

Kindness

Grace

Mercy

Hope

Order

Rejoice

Blessed

Peace

Discipline

Self-Control

Patience

Silence

Purity

Faithfulness

Youth Sunday

This Sunday is "Youth Sunday" where our youth will be leading the morning worship service. The youth group will be responsible for greeting, music, ushering and speaking. We are excited about the opportunity for our youth to share their talents and also grow in the Lord as they use them.  Please plan to be there this Sunday as we celebrate Youth Sunday!

How To Develop a Heart for God Part 2

Developing a heart for God is not as difficult as it may sound. It involves concerning our heart with the concerns of God's heart. We must develop those qualities that are worth having in our lives.

Each of these steps is an antidote, a cure, or a remedy, to the diseases we have just discussed. 

A. Be humble in spite of success.  In order to keep success from crowding God out of the heart it must be kept in check. Humility is simply recognizing the grace and mercy of God. When it comes to success and accomplishment, humility recognizes where these things come from.  Perhaps the ultimate test of a heart for God is: How do you handle success? The greatest test of our character is not adversity but prosperity. When things are going well do you pray as often? When you are enjoying promotions and bonuses do you recognize God as the ultimate source of those blessings?

B. Be mindful of the Shepherd.   The antidote for selfishness is the exaltation of God. Whereas selfishness shrinks the heart, the exaltation of God expands the heart. It creates room for God. It dispels the unnecessary things in life.

C. Be available in service.  The antidote for sloth is service. Sloth dries up the heart. Service opens a floodgate of life-giving resources to bring energy and power to one's heart and devotion to God.  It has been said that God wants our availability before he wants our ability. The truth is he wants both. But the fact remains that he can't use our ability unless we have made ourselves available to him. 

D. Be repentant of sins.  David prayed, "God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). He wanted a heart that was clean before God. This represents an individual who devotes their life to God.

E. Be trusting in a Savior.  Stress breaks even the sturdiest of hearts. David had an antidote - Trust in a living God. This was the controlling factor in his life. 

Family Ministries Meal

Family Ministries Meal this week:

Fried Chicken
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Cabbage
Fruit Salad
Biscuits
Dessert

Hope you will plan to come out and enjoy great fellowship around the table followed by ministries for the entire family.  Be aware of the families you come in contact with through the week, and invite them to join us!

Developing a Heart for God

Sunday's sermon was on the subject "Developing a Heart for God."   Our society is obsessed with physical appearance.   But God has another standard. When Samuel was looking for a man to succeed Saul as King of Israel, God said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the LORD sees, for man sees what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7). Whereas man places a high price on the externals God examines deep within that man for something more. Man judges one on the basis of one's appearance, but God critiques the heart.

In Biblical thought, the heart was the central organ that controlled all activities thus determining one's character of living. The heart housed the place where qualities worth having in our lives were first formed. The heart embodied the womb of character.

I. What will destroy a heart for God?

Our physical heart is positioned by God to provide protection from destructive external forces. Not so with the spiritual heart. It is susceptible to all kinds of harmful diseases and influences that might jeopardize its integrity.

A. Success. Success crowds our heart with things and the signs of accomplishments. It tends to puff up our heart with counterfeit accolades causing us to say "look what I have done."

B. Selfishness. Selfishness shrinks our heart to where there is room for only three - me, myself, and mine. It becomes grotesque and unable to face life because it alienates the needed life support of others.

C. Sloth. Sloth dries up the heart with inactivity, laziness, and lack of service. The heart is like love, it functions to maximum capacity as it pumps out service to others.

D. Sin. Sin hardens the heart to the things that really matter in life. The heart becomes blackened like a chain-smoker's lungs as it is separated from its life source, God Himself.

E. Stress. Stress breaks the heart by placing unnecessary demands on it. The heart crumbles under the pressure. It fails to recognize the power that has been made available to prevent anxiety.

Each destructive force is a disease that must be held in check. 

Watch for another post later in the week on how to develop a heart for God. 

Our Role

IN THE BATTLE FOR LOST HEARTS, WE ALL PLAY A CRUCIAL ROLE

This is where we live. Where we raise our families. Where we work, and where we play. And it’s mostly a post-Christian world. 269 million of our neighbors in North America do not know Jesus Christ. Daily, we sit next to those without hope. But we can reach them through one of the most effective evangelism methods: planting churches. Together we can equip missionaries and reach the unreached in North America.

Together we can equip missionaries through the power of prayer and through our financial gifts. Missionaries need training, resources and education. They need a community network. They and their families need support for the basics of living life while they build a congregation.

Your financial gifts provide a solid foundation for these missionaries, their families and the churches they are building. We can’t all go, but we can all give together.

Spring Forward This Weekend

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night!

Family Ministries Meal

The menu for tomorrow's Family Ministries Meal will be:

Roast Beef
Mushroom Rice
Field Peas
Salad
Rolls
Dessert

Meal begins at 5:30 PM, ministries for the entire family begin at 6:30 PM.

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® changes lives forever by empowering North American missionaries to bring the gospel to the lost. With over 269 million lost people, North America and its major cities are some of the most spiritually dark places in the world. Join us on the mission to equip every missionary and reach every lost person in the United States and Canada.

100% of gifts given are used efficiently to support and equip missionaries in North America.   AAEO gifts are well-stewarded through an accountability process so you can be confident your gift is making a maximum kingdom impact.

Our local church goal is $2,000.00. Please begin to pray now about your gift. 

Focus on WMU

March begins our journey toward the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.  We will be highlighting and sharing some of our mission organizations in the church.

Woman’s Missionary Union challenges Christian believers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God.

OBJECTIVES OF WMU

Pray for Missions
To pray for missions means to communicate with God on behalf of missions work, people involved in missions work, and people that need to know and accept God’s redeeming love.

Engage in Mission Action and Witnessing
The teaching and actions of Jesus recorded in the New Testament show us that the Christian faith is not stagnant but active and participatory. We are to share the gospel in word and deed verbally and through our actions.

Learn About Missions
Learning about missions helps believers better understand what God says about making His name known throughout the earth.

Support Missions
Christians have a part in upholding the cause of missions, maintaining missions work, and encouraging missions personnel.

Develop Spiritually Toward a Missions Lifestyle
For the believer, spiritual development involves growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ. It involves day-to-day living that applies and carries out the missions imperatives of God’s Word.

Participate in the Work of the Church and Denomination
As a missions ministry within a congregation, WMU encourages and provides opportunities for all church members and other participants to be aware of and involved in missions and cooperates with other missions ministries within the congregation to help the congregation fulfill its missions potential.

Ladies Fellowship

Our ladies had their monthly fellowship last week. They enjoyed lots of food and fellowship, but also did some deep thinking of their sphere of influence and where to share God's love with others. What a blessing it is to share and grow together!