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First Assembly of God Newsletter July 2008 |
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I encourage you some time to during the month of July to read again the Declaration of Independence that was signed on July 4, 1776. Most of you are familiar with the paragraph that begins, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Notice, they didn't say happiness, they said "the pursuit of happiness." Do you know why? Because the founders were wise. They acknowledged that these rights: life, liberty, and pursuing happiness, came from God. When Jesus told His disciples, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32), He was referring not only to an intellectual assent to the truth, but also to the application of truth in basic issues of life: our goals, our motives, and our sense of self-worth. Unfortunately, many of us give only lip service to the powerful truth of the Scriptures without allowing them to affect the basis of our self-esteem in a radical way. Instead, we continue to seek our security and purpose from worldly sources such as personal success, status, beauty, wealth and the approval of others. These rewards may fulfill us for a short time, but they soon lead us to a sense of urgency to succeed and the need to be approved again. To meet these compelling needs, we drive ourselves to achieve, doing virtually anything to make people happy with us. Often, we avoid situations and people when the risk of failure and rejection is high. It's a rat race that can't be won by simply running faster. We need to get off this hopeless treadmill and begin to apply these fundamental truths that can motivate us to seek God's approval rather than man's. God is busy in our lives even when we are unaware of His activities. He wants us to find freedom in this life. He is determined that we have a chance for freedom. Although we will never experience absolute freedom this side of Heaven, if we are willing to cooperate with His plan, we can experience much more than we could ever imagine. This will be a process. It will occur only as we are willing to go to a deeper relationship with Him. There will be many struggles and failures along the way. However, God does not get tired of being there to bring us to victory. The only question is "Are we willing to go with Him?" May prayer is that we will respond with a resounding "YES!" Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." — Pastor Jeff |
BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATOR NOTES
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Last month I shared information about the Angel Food Ministries (AFM) program which is being sponsored locally by Mercy House. AFM is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing grocery relief throughout the United States. Through AFM anyone can obtain high quality groceries for about half the retail cost. AFM is available to everyone regardless of income level. For additional information about the program you should contact Mercy House at 432-1812. I would like to hear from any of you who have used the AFM program to see what you thought of it. This month I want to share information with you about the Hope Distributed program which we are helping to sponsor. As many of you know, we are collecting canned and non-perishable food items on the third Sunday of every month. These food items, plus cash donations, are forwarded to Harrisonburg First Church of the Nazarene which distributes the food to eligible individuals through their "Hope Distributed" program. We can all help out our less fortunate neighbors by bringing in food items on the third Sunday of each month. Suggested food items are canned meats, ravioli, spaghetti and sauce, soups, and other items that can easily be heated and served. If you prefer to make a monetary donation you should indicate "Food Pantry" on your offering envelops and we will see that the funds are sent to Hope Distributed. — Steve Parsons |
| A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" |
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