OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

To prepare for Operation Christmas Child, we are gathering items year-round.  This will help us focus each month on specific items and keep us from collecting everything at once. For August, we will be collecting School Supplies. A box will be located in the front of the sanctuary and outside Nikki’s office.

PRAYER WALKING TURNER COUNTY SCHOOLS

The Turner Baptist association is hosting a prayer walk Tuesday, August 10 at 6 pm. Please join us at one of the schools.

Turner County Elementary School, 705 Hudson Ave, Ashburn, GA
Turner County Middle/High School, 316 Lamar St, Ashburn, GA

FREE BIBLE STUDY MATERIAL

On the table outside of Nikki’s office are Bible Studies and Devotion books. These are studies we have received as samples from Lifeway and cover many topics. Please take as many as you want. We don’t want to discard them if someone could use them.

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

Don’t forget to check out Brother David’s Mid-Week Devotion on the book of Psalms. They are uploaded each Wednesday on the sermon page.

Giving as of August 4, 2021

Budget for 2021 . . . . . . . .  $320,880.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . $191,289.80
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $160,379.53
Needed for weekly budget . . . $6,170.77
Tithes Received this week . .  $16,121.00

From our Family and Music Minister

God created us with a purpose:  to love Him, to love others, and to tell others of His love. In the same way, a toaster has a purpose. A toaster takes bread and turns it into toast. It is good at what it is designed for, but it is pretty much useless at everything else.  However, as great as a toaster is at making toast, it can only work if it has a power source.  Without a power source, it is just a bread holder.

How many times in our lives have we tried to make toast without our true power source?  When God created us with a purpose, He didn’t intend for us to do things alone. God gives us as believers the Holy Spirit to help guide and support us to fulfill His tasks.

In Acts 4, Peter and John have just healed a man and have been teaching in the name of Jesus. The religious leaders thought that this behavior would have died down after the crucifixion of Jesus, so they were beginning to get frustrated with the disciples.  In the hope of curtailing this behavior, they put Peter and John in jail overnight.  However, the council did not want a riot on their hands, so they released them and ordered them to stop teaching.

I have never been arrested, nor have I spent a night in jail, but I would do everything NOT to go back to jail.  I am pretty sure that the accommodations today are far better than what Peter and John faced.  Being faithful to their calling as Christians, they immediately went back to teaching and preaching.  In verse 29, we read, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”  They were not worried about going back to jail; they kept their focus on ministry.

 In our country, we often take our freedoms for granted. We are allowed to live out our faith completely without any chance of harm, but we don’t take advantage of that privilege.  According to Christianity Today, eight Christians worldwide are killed daily because of their faith. Every week, 182 churches or Christian buildings are attacked. And every month, 309 Christians are imprisoned unjustly.

The believers in Acts prayed for boldness, not protection.  They knew the source of their power. If we continue to read, we see what happens after they prayed:

“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:31

They prayed for boldness, and the building shook.  God wants to hear from you.  Prayer allows us to communicate with the Creator of the universe.  Why would we neglect to pray? We must stay plugged into the unlimited power of our Creator.  We can have the same power that shook that room to guide us every day. Don’t be a useless toaster that just holds a piece of bread; be an unstoppable force for your heavenly Father.