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Friday, June 14 2024
Reminder: Sunday is our church worship and picnic at Emmaus Community Park at 10:30. All is being provided. Just join us for worship, fellowship, food and fun! And bring a friend! Thank you to our picnic committee for planning a fun day for us!
Attached below is our simple financial statement for May. Please note that giving is increasing as we add members but we also know that everything costs more this year and there is still a deficit. Thank you for giving and supporting the work of God! May we always give back a tithe of what God has given us, and even sow more lavishly as a thank offering. He promises to bless our faithfulness and provide all we need as we trust and obey!
Four new members were installed yesterday! PTL! That has us at 10 new members so far this year! PTL! Remember when we prayed in early December for God to send at least one new member a month? (That would be 12 new members this year) He is answering and I am believing for at least a total of double that request! Keep praying and reaching out and inviting in! All new members were invited by someone to come and see and check out what God is doing and they have decided to join! PTL! for all He is doing and for the harvest! Continue to pray for harvest workers! (Is that you?)
Yesterday we discussed and voted to add air conditioning to the Fellowship Hall. The vote was 30-3 in favor. We will be addressing a few concerns raised before moving forward. We received another donation towards the AC of $300. yesterday. That means we have donations of $13,300. The estimate in Sept. was $15,500. God is providing! He is showing us His plan and provision and we have chosen to continue to trust Him. May we always seek, discern well, allow everyone a voice, and trust God as we sow into His plans and follow well.
Note: I was mistaken about the type of units to be installed. According to our HVAC tech, they will be two mini-split units that combined with our all-floor dehumidifier will provide adequate cooling and humidity removal. Marshall and our HVAC guy did find the proper source of power for these units. Our HVAC guy, Leo, is pricing out the costs of units today and will be getting back to me with current estimate in the next few days. He expects that units could be installed before the end of summer.
Our Support team meets next Thursday but could convene earlier, if necessary, to approve moving forward. There was a suggestion that we raise money to offset the difference. We will keep you posted about what the Support Team decides. We do have over $19,500. in the building fund and double what is needed in our Memorial Fund that could be used for this as well. God IS providing and testing our faithfulness and stewardship as we pray to sow lavishly into His plans. Thanks Lord! May we be faithful!!
The Support Team approved using the Spring Rally Day envelope offerings toward AC installation at our last meeting if we voted yes to move forward. Remember, this would be giving above your normal tithe and offering. You can also mark your extra giving towards this in your envelopes or just give an extra offering if God is stirring you.
Thank you all for seeking, listening, discerning and trusting God with this! I believe God has some great plans for our fellowship hall year round as we continue to connect to, minister to and invite outsiders to God and our fellowship! Keep praying into that! Have you heard God suggest some type of ministry to try this summer? Share that with us as we seek to connect to God's harvest and make His plans to reach out and love like Jesus.
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Good Morning Forgiven, Repentant, Cleansed, Very Loved Children of God! He knows your heart and your child-like faith. He redeems and restores what the enemy has stolen. This is the year of the Lord's favor! Rejoice! Confess, repent, trust and follow our Abba to His loving best. Allow His Spirit to have His way with you as He leads you to God's best. I am so overwhelmed and awed by God's amazing grace, loving and patient forgiveness and His wanting to always help us move towards His best. He knows us and still loves us and calls us by name to come to Him. He's preparing us for that promised day when we will all be in heaven. What a glorious day that will be! Check out the thread through our devotionals below. God really does love you! And He loves you too much to leave you as you are! He is working all things together for God and towards our eternity with Him. Worship! Trust! And choose joy as you follow Him to his best! Amen! May we be producers of good and lasting fruit as we glorify God in all we think, say and do. Or at least realize sooner when we don't, receive His forgiveness and help and repent as we turn around, renew our thinking and follow Jesus better! Amen! Become like children! They are sinners at heart, yet Jesus says let them come to me! He loves you and is calling you by name, little child-like!
Harvest prayer blogs:
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June 3 - God has Good Things to Give
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When asking for God’s blessing, perhaps start by asking for things that you know are God’s will for you to have. Things like the fruit of the Spirit, Christlikeness. “How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). Ask for those good gifts, says Al VanderGriend: “The ‘good things’ Jesus had in mind are the spiritual blessings of grace, wisdom, joy, peace, power, holiness, and so on. These are things in accord with God’s will. We can ask the Father for them with absolute assurance that he will give them to us. It’s what he has promised.”
Are there areas of your life that you know are sin or out of God’s will? Pray for God to move in those areas. Are there weaknesses in your character? Pray for God’s transformation. Do you want your life to amount to something for God? Then, if you are willing to take the exciting ride, ask for God’s blessing. Ask and ask and ask.
You, Lord, are a good Father! I worship You in Your holiness. Your word says I do not have because I do not ask, but I never want to ask You for anything that is not in alignment with what You want to give me. Help me to seek You for those things that You have promised to all of Your children. Lord Jesus, I ask You for the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I ask You to pour out wisdom and to transform me more and more each day into Your image! I want to be holy as You are holy. Keep me focused on what You want to pour into my life. Thank You, Father, for loving me this much and for training me up in holiness and righteousness so that I might bring honor and glory to Your name alone!
--Adapted from The Power of Personal Prayer (Learning to Pray with Faith and Purpose) by Jonathan Graf. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise God, who is your rock, your fortress, and your deliverer (2 Sam. 22:2).
- Thank God for delivering you from your sins and for promising to keep you safe from harm even into old age (Isa. 46:4).
- Confess times when you’ve played with temptation and not sought God’s way out.
- Commit yourself to living a holy and godly life.
- Ask God to deliver you from the evil one day by day (Mt. 6:13).
- God is a God who rescues and saves (Dan. 6:27). Pray that God will rescue and save persons you know who do not yet believe. Ask that they will find God to be the rock, fortress, and deliverer they’ve been looking for all along.
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Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
Connection (Devotions for Everyday Life) © 2024 is a free devotional published daily by Harvest Prayer Ministries. Subscribe here. |
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CS:
ODB:
My first short-term missions trip was to the Amazon jungle in Brazil to help build a church by the river. One afternoon, we visited one of the few homes in the area that had a water filter. When our host poured murky well water into the top of the contraption, within minutes all the impurities were removed, and clean, clear drinking water appeared. Right there in the man’s living room, I saw a reflection of what it means to be cleansed by Christ.
When we first come to Jesus with our guilt and shame and ask Him to forgive us and we receive Him as our Savior, He cleanses us from our sins and makes us new. We’re purified just like the murky water was transformed into clean drinking water. What a joy it is to know we are in right standing with God because of Jesus’ sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:21) and to know God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
But the apostle John reminds us that this doesn’t mean we’ll never sin again. When we do sin, we can be assured by the image of a water filter and be comforted by knowing that as “we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Let’s live confidently knowing that we’re continually being cleansed by Christ.
By Nancy Gavilanes
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Why is it vital to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins? How does it feel to know you don’t have to be a prisoner of sin?
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Verses 6-10 of 1 John 1 all begin with a conditional statement: “If we . . . .” In verse 6, John uses a phrase unique to him: “[we] do not live out the truth.” It could literally be translated as “we do not do the truth.” This phrase is also found in John 3:21: “Whoever lives by the truth [literally, does the truth] comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” In both instances, “doing the truth” is connected to one’s relationship with God. Since God can’t lie (see 1 Samuel 15:29; Titus 1:2), those who do not “do the truth,” are, by implication, liars and can have no “fellowship with Him” (1 John 1:6). In contrast, if we “do the truth”—“walk in the light”—Jesus’ blood “purifies us from all sin” and “we have fellowship with one another” (v. 7).
J.R. Hudberg |
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UR: Become Like Children
“Allow the children to come to me,” Jesus said. “Don’t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children.” - Matthew 19:14 (CEB)
My daughter works at a nursery school as the specialized nurse for a young boy whose brain has been impaired since birth. He is nourished via a tube in his nose and cannot walk or talk with the other school children. My daughter helps to maintain his medical equipment to ensure his health and comfort.
During afternoons when the weather is good, my daughter takes the boy out to the playground. One time she noticed what appeared to be two children struggling over a toy, but the boy who “won” gave it to the young boy my daughter helps care for. Another time a girl came over with a picture book she liked and appeared to be reading it to him, even though the boy was not able to understand the book. Many of the children came over, saying sweetly, “Let’s play.”
I always remember my daughter’s stories of these children when I think about today’s scripture verse, which tells us we must “become like little children.” They are the ones who set themselves aside, who aren’t concerned about how people see them, and who give to others and offer their assistance without seeking anything in return.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven, as you have taught us to love one another, help us to be persons who, like humble children, put it into practice. Amen.
TWFYT:
May Simple Financial Statement:
St Matthew’s Financial Update
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May
2024
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Monthly
Revenue
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Monthly
Expenses
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YTD
Revenue
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YTD
Expenses
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General Fund
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$10,595
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$11,549
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$58,664
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$74,556
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The figures for the “General Fund” include all revenue and all expenses for the month. This includes all revenue from offerings, rent, and other income. The expenses reported above are actual expenses for the month. The totals reported for Missions and the Rebuilding Fund are also included in the “General Fund” figures.
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Missions
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$816
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$1,030
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$4,901
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$5,150
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Rebuilding Fund
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$170
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$0
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$940
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$0
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