Sunday, May 9. 2010
|Pro 31:30-31
- Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
- (31) Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
©Heart to Heart ©
The last month of the school year is here. This means that summer is just around the corner. Vacation Bible School and the Youth Retreat are the next “big things” on our schedule. However, these things don’t “just happen”. They are the result of much prayer, planning, and the willingness of people to commit themselves to serve in these vital ministries. We are less than six weeks from VBS and we need teachers and workers, but especially teachers. Please prayerfully consider giving God the opportunity to use you in touching the lives of children for the kingdom of God. Then, contact Cyndi Smith and give her the good news. If you need more information about what is involved in teaching at VBS, call Cyndi and she will answer all of your questions.
The “Prayer Booklet” is nearing completion. The final draft is in the printer as I write this article. One more “proof reading” and we will begin to print and assemble it. The PB (Prayer Booklet) is designed to help you think about, organize, and keep track of the people and things you are praying for. You also can use it to keep a record of God’s answers to your prayers. This means that it will become a part of your personal story of your walk with God. It will contain God’s specific answers to your specific prayers written down by you as they actually happened. You may be thinking, “What’s so important about that?” Let me suggest several answers to that question. First, the record of God faithfulness and grace to you in His answers to your prayers will become a part of your Praise Time before God. Instead of just thanking Him “for the many blessings” you can thank Him for specific blessings He has showered on you in answer to your prayers. Second, it will be an encouragement to you in times of pain, trial, stress and need. The record of “God’s answers” will be a reminder that no problem, situation, enemy or need is too big for God. When Nehemiah faced overwhelming obstacles and was outnumbered and surrounded by enemies bent on his and his people’s destruction, he told God’s people, “remember the Lord, great and awesome” (Neh. 4:14). That statement was made in the light of God’s many and miraculous answers to Nehemiah’s prayer in the first chapter of Nehemiah. (I encourage you to read the entire book.) Third, your record of answered prayers is a powerful illustration of God’s faithfulness and power to those who believe and a strong apologetic (argument) to those who don’t. It can be an encouragement to others and a tool for evangelism as you seek to spread the gospel of the living God to a skeptical and unbelieving world. When your record of answers to specific prayers becomes so long that it is impossible to just dismiss them as “mere coincidence” you will be giving a powerful “answer for the reason of the hope that is within you” to unbelievers. This is a reason to believe that is hard to refute because the list just keeps growing. This, I believe, is part of what Paul meant when he said to the Corinthian Christians, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, know and read by all men; you are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3) One of the reasons that the church exists is to be a testimony to God, a light set on a hill, not hidden, but shinning for all to see.
I plan to spend a Sunday’s sermon, in the very near future, explaining how to use the PB. We will, as usual, record the message. Then, if you happen to miss that Sunday, you can still know how to use it. We will also supply a copy of the message to everyone who wants a PB to use. Let me say one last word about the PB. It is not intended to be just “another hand out” to take home, read over and forget. The Prayer Booklet is designed to be a tool to use in your spiritual walk, work and warfare. It is intended to be a reminder to pray, an encouragement to pray, and a rebuke when we fail to pray.
Love,
Brother Jimmy
Opportunities for Worship & Ministry
Sunday Services
Prayer Time in Prayer Room – 9:00 AM
Sunday School/Bible Study – 9:30 AM
Morning Worship – 10:45 AM
Evening - SPOTS – Time - TBA
Tuesday Services
SPOTS – 7:00 PM, Crestwood Coffee Shop
Wednesday Services
11:00 AM Prayer Meeting
Dinner – 5:40 PM
Student Worship Celebration – 6:30 PM
Children’s Activities – 6:30 PM
Adult Prayer Meeting – 6:30 PM
Adult Choir Practice – 7:15 PM
LOOK AT APRIL
Total Budget Receipts $ 27,901.65
Average Sunday School Attendance 118
Total Visitors in Sunday School 10
WELCOME COMMITTEE FOR MAY
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A complete list of prayer needs is available in the weekly Intercessor.
It is printed each Wednesday. Copies are available on Wednesday and Sunday.
ILLNESS & LONG TERM NEEDS:
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We extend Christian love and sympathy to Tom and Lee Ann Howle and Clay and Kelli Patterson in the death of Lee Ann’s mother, Mrs. Merle Little.
Attention: Crestway Ladies!!
The WMU Annual Conference
will be May 1, 2010, 10:00 AM,
at the WMU Headquarters
100 Missionary Blvd, Brook Highlands area
Lunch will be at 11:00 AM - $ 10.00
There will be a tour of the WMU Headquarters
with booths to view literature, new products & gifts.
Contact: Marilyn Christain. (987-2214)
ANNIE ARMSTRONG
EASTER OFFERING
Crestway’s Goal:
$ 6,500.00
Received to Date:
$ 9,304.00
CONGRATULATIONS to DavidCoutoumanos who is graduating from Shades Valley High School in May. Our Graduate Recognition Sunday is Sunday, May 16th.
BIRTHDAYS
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LITTLE LAMB CAREGIVERS
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VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
JUNE 14 – 18
MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW!
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