This Sunday, May 29th, we'll be looking at James 2:1-13 and discussing how our faith works to help us overcome favoritism. I hope you'll be able to join us.
As most of you are aware, I'm a huge Seahawks fan. The Superbowl loss to the Patriots was painful on a lot of levels, but I never was tempted to respond like the guys in the video did. (My family is thankful for that!) This Sunday we'll be looking at James 1:19-27 and it has some important things to say about anger, control, and submission to God. I hope you'll be able to join us! Church Cleanup This Saturday, May 21stJoin us this Saturday morning to help us do some Spring cleaning on the church building and grounds. We'll meet out by the picnic shelter starting at 8:00 am and then attack the various jobs that will help get things into tip-top shape. Come when you can and stay as long as you're able. As the saying goes, "many hands make for light work." If you're unable to join us on Saturday, you can always "adopt a job" and do it on another day or time that works for you. See Paul White for more info.
I'm sure that most of you have set up and knocked down dominos at one time or another. A simple search online will lead you to numerous elaborate and complicated patterns that people have created with hours of planning and careful set up. When the preparation is finally complete, one tile quickly leads to all of them falling. Playing with dominos may entertain, but the same sequence of falling tiles is seen in how thoughts lead to temptation - which lead to mulling over the temptation - which leads to action - which leads to sin - which leads to consequences including spiritual separation from God. It can seem like an inevitable trajectory. But there's hope if we turn to God and make use of the resources he's provided for us. This Sunday we'll be looking at James 1:12-18 and how Faith Works in Temptation. I hope you'll be able to join us. Giving and MinistryOur Church Council has been brainstorming at our monthly meetings about how we could bless our community in new and creative ways. Many of you participated in one of those ways as we raised money to support the Elementary School's reading program by paying for the reward trip to Slide Waters in Chelan for those students who reached the reading goal. We're also looking toward a special Sunday of serving in August. Expanding ministry provides increased opportunities for pointing people towards Jesus.
Unfortunately, our church income has been less than normal over the past few months. Although our spending has been less than our approved budget, we've still come up short in meeting expenses. As a result, we've needed to dip into our church savings to make up the difference. If this pattern continues, our reserve funds will be gone before long. It will certainly impact the ministries we'll be able to add and will probably force us to cut back on some of our current ministry. If you haven't been in the habit of giving to CCC, I'd like to encourage you to consider starting. For those of you who are regular givers, will you consider if God may be prodding you to increase your giving? We can only do ministry that we can fund through the money we receive. If it would be more convenient, you can give through our church website or by clicking on this link You can also download the Pushpay app to give using your phone by following this link Thanks for your prayers as we make budgetary decisions.  Life is full of surprises - and those surprises are often things we'd rather not experience. We simply cannot avoid those bad things, so the question is: how are you going to respond? The old adage tells us that when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade. In other words, make the best of the situation. But not everyone feels like we should just accept the situation and "roll over". Comedian Cave Johnson insists that you should instead: "Make life take them back! Get Mad! Say, "I don't want your lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man whose gonna burn your house down - with the lemons!" It may make you feel better on some level to rail against the injustice of it all, but it doesn't change the reality. God has a completely different way that he'd like us to see things: difficult times are an opportunity for great joy! What?!! How can that be?
This coming Sunday, May 8th, we will be continuing in our new sermon series on the book of James that we're calling "Faith Works". In anticipation of what I'll be sharing, take a few minutes to read James 1:2-12. I hope that you'll be able to join us as we consider how our faith can bring us practical help in dealing with whatever comes along. |
Pastor JeffThoughts about living as a Jesus follower and life at Community Covenant Church Archives
December 2020
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