First Assembly of God - Harrisonburg, Virginia: First Assembly of God Newsletter

1310 Garber's Church Rd. | Harrisonburg, VA 22801 | 540.433.8687

First Assembly of God Newsletter April 2010

I am a strong believer that before anything of significance takes place in the church it must be bathed in prayer. We have two important outreaches to our community planned for the month of April that will only be successful if we begin praying now.

The first is our Community Egg Hunt held on Saturday, April 3rd at the Boys and Girls Club at Simms School. This will be for children ages 5- 12, and will target families in the northeast part of Harrisonburg that are not presently attending church. We will be giving a presentation of the gospel through skits and puppets for the children, and have a short devotional for the adults. Following that we’ll conducting an egg hunt for the children, with an award ceremony following. There will be inflatables and games, and we are praying to connect with families so we can follow up and invite them to church.
The second outreach is revival services with Greg and Robyn Hubbard scheduled for Sunday, April 11th through Wednesday, April 14th. Service times on Sunday will be at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Monday thru Wednesday at 7 p.m. Greg is an anointed speaker and relates to people of all ages, so bring your children and attend the meetings as a family. Robyn is a gifted singer, who has a heart for God and people, and has ministered to many through the message of song. Make a note of these dates and plan to be there as many nights as possible.

The following article was given to me on the subject of "prayer". It is taken from Reinhard Bonnke's "Mark My Word" devotional. I pray that it will challenge you to become a prayer warrior.

"Christians have a world to reclaim and regain for God. The enemy has brought about vast destruction, death, and wickedness. Prayer opens up God's Armory with its superior weapons. If we think we do not need to pray, we do not know what we are up against! If we think we can manage on our own achievements, we simply make ourselves the devil's laughing stock. Prayerless means defenseless. Cleverness and science are a feather duster against a tank. The limitless greatness of the Cross is needed against the comic evil."

"Prayer and intercession cast out the entrenched enemy, violate his borders, and retake lost territory. The devil hates this kind of prayer. Prayer is not "meditative, retiring breathing". It is heaven's militancy! It is not a muttered litany, but a high "C" soul-shriek! Prayer is an aggressive multi-purpose weapon put in our hands by God to overcome every kind of Satanic resistance. The man who prays overcomes human limits. Believers are authorized to go to the counter of Heaven's Supply Store for superhuman resources."

"God is strong, and He wants you strong. So, take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. Put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels." "The mental image here is a far cry from the old man with meekly folded hands. It's much more like seeing a "warrior" who is well armed and ready for combat! Picture yourself that way today...well-armed, equipped and ready to do battle in the Name of the Lord! Pray long and hard, and then stand still and see what the Lord will do!"

—Pastor Jeff

BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATOR
NOTES

photo of business administrator Steve Parsons

How do you measure success? In today’s society people tend to look at someone’s wealth, power, position, and material possessions as a measure of success. Unfortunately, many of those whom society views as successful are leading empty, unfulfilling, and broken lives. Let me be quick to add here that wealth and material possessions are not the problem. As we read in Matthew 6:32-33 it is when we put those things ahead of seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness that we have a problem.

I recently read something from Crown Financial Resources dealing with two traps Christians can fall into concerning material possessions and success. These two traps are the poverty syndrome and the riches syndrome. In the poverty syndrome, some Christians assume that since the world puts so much emphasis on wealth and possessions, it must be God’s will for all of His followers to be poor. Jesus did say that the poor will always be with us, but He never said that His followers had to be poor. God’s promise is that He will provide all that we need. When we are in His will, He often will bless us with more than we need.

In the riches syndrome, some Christians have concluded that since poverty is not God’s standard, then riches must be. They then set out to fulfill what they see as God’s will. If God doesn’t provide according to their preconceived plan, they will rationalize that it is ok to accumulate large amounts of debt in order to help Him out. Still others try to manipulate God by giving with an attitude that He is then obligated to give back to them abundantly in terms of wealth and possessions. The truth is that God’s plan may not always provide the newest and the best, but it will always provide enough, and often more. When we have God in our lives we are truly rich no matter the size of our bank account or our material possessions.

My favorite definition of success is “Doing what you are called to do, to the best of your God given ability.” The Crown Financial article mentioned three keys to being successful from a biblical perspective. The first key to success in God’s eye is surrender. Every successful servant of the Lord who is entrusted with material possessions and spiritual rewards must first demonstrate an acceptance of God’s leadership, authority, and lordship.

My favorite definition of success is “Doing what you are called to do, to the best of your God given ability.” The Crown Financial article mentioned three keys to being successful from a biblical perspective. The first key to success in God’s eye is surrender. Every successful servant of the Lord who is entrusted with material possessions and spiritual rewards must first demonstrate an acceptance of God’s leadership, authority, and lordship.

The third key is persistence. A successful person in the eyes of the Lord is one who perseveres in the face of adversity. God wants Christians who don’t give up easily when the door seems to close. God needs those who will stand strong and not be shaken by circumstances or halted by obstacles.

Let’s not be like many Christians who fall prey to worldly success motivation. We are to “Trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). We can get into trouble when His plan for us does not align with what we think it should be and we take matters in our own hands trying to achieve “success.” The end result of such a decision can be confusion, emptiness, dissatisfaction, and disappointment. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6).

—Steve Parsons

I hope you are all enjoying this warmer weather as much as I am! As you know, Easter is right around the corner. On April the 3rd, the Saturday before Easter Sunday, our church will be going to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club on Simms Avenue in the Kelly Street area to have an Easter Egg Hunt from 10a.m.-12p.m. We will have a short service with a Gospel presentation by Kidz Express and our Children’s Directors, Matt and Carla Regginello. Afterward, we will have the egg hunt, an inflatable, and games set up for the kids. Each child will go home with a gift bag of small toys and information on our church.

The heart behind why we are doing what we are doing is to reach out to our community in a real, tangible way. There are a lot of people and families who are broken and in need of love in that area. We desire to be the church that God has called us to be and be a light to our community. Most of you will remember that we handed out Thanksgiving baskets in this area in November and we went back in December and handed out Christmas presents. We even had one little boy call and ask about the church after we had given him a present! Praise God!

If you signed up to be a part of the event on April 3rd, we would like to have a brief meeting after church on Sunday March 28th in the Fellowship Hall to go over safety, directions, etc. We are asking all volunteers to be on the field on April the 3rd at 9 a.m. so we can be set up and ready by 10 a.m. We really need everyone who is participating to be there so we can all be on the same page.
For anyone who is able, we will be meeting here on Thursday, April 1st at 10 a.m. to stuff eggs and gift baskets for the kids. Please bring a packed lunch and join us—this is an important part of what we are doing also!

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and is planning on donating time, eggs, prizes, etc. We couldn’t do this without you and remember you are a part of the Harvest!

—Pastor Stephanie