Join us this Sunday night, August 27th, at 5:00 PM for community outreach. This is an excellent opportunity for us to share the love of Christ with our community and invite them to join our church family.

If you are unable to go out and visit, please take this time to text, call, or contact someone who you haven’t seen around the church in a while. More importantly, pray for the individuals you are contacting and also ask God to put on your heart those you might not have thought of.

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Giving as of August 15, 2023

Budget for 2023 . . . . . . . .  $348,707.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . $220,590.02
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $155,859.60
Needed for weekly budget . . .  $6,705.91
Tithes Received this week . . . . $4,140.00

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

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

From Our Family and Music Minister

Growing up, my imagination and plans frequently outweighed my abilities. After my 3^rd grade birthday, where I received nails and wood for my present, I built one of the best forts a kid could have. My friend and I spent all day Saturday in it and were so proud. It was top of the line that it even had a second floor. As we stood on that second floor showing our dads the incredible work, the structure started to move, and within a few seconds, a dozen sheets of plywood and 2×4’s came crashing down in a big pile. I can remember how upset I was at what seemed to be such a colossal failure at the time. 

As we grow up, we learn that failure is a part of life. Unfortunately, failure can tempt us to abandon projects, dreams, or things we love. Sometimes we are so humiliated that we never want to risk failing again. Even if our failures are a shock to us, they are never a shock to our Heavenly Father. Scripture is full of many good people who failed. From the creation of time, we see the failures of Adam and Eve as they let the serpent tempt them to sin against God. Later in the Old Testament, we read of Moses, who killed an Egyptian slave master and David, who committed adultery. In the New Testament, we are told the awful history of one of the most prominent evangelists for Christ. In all these examples, God used the evil for His good no matter how big the failure. Regardless of how disastrously you have failed, nothing you’ve done has taken God by surprise, and nothing you’ve done is too big to be covered by His amazing grace.

A few days before Jesus was crucified, He even told Peter that he would fail. No matter how hard Peter tried to convince himself and Jesus that he would never fail Christ, Peter was human like the rest of us and made a mistake. The great news for us is that we see through Peter’s life that failure isn’t final with Jesus. Not only does He forgive Peter, but He also restores him and uses him to build His Kingdom. Peter’s failure doesn’t define him. Peter is defined by the love and grace of Jesus.

I love the lyrics to the song “Failure is Final”

When the blood of Jesus gently encircles you, why do you give in to fears that cause such pain?

Failure isn’t final with the father. Failure opens doors to start again,
and falling only hurts for a season, and starting over brings new life again.

I am so glad that I didn’t let my early catastrophes in woodworking cause me to give up on my love of building things. Even though I still have some mishaps, my projects tend to stay together. We must accept that failure will happen, but we can’t forget that God promises that even our mistakes and mishaps can be used for our good. And as God gives us grace for failing, we must remember to show that same grace to others. Just as we fail, others will fail.  But as we are shown grace, we must show that same grace to others.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28