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05/03/2025
Good morning church family,
GIVING THANKS:
* Thanks to all of the saints within our body who work humbly and – in harmony – behind the scenes to help this church glorify God. He is SO good!
* Debbie Christy celebrated her 80th birthday last Sunday! Nadine shared this picture of the fund-raising cancer event they attended that evening.
POEM OF THANKS WRITTEN BY PAULA ROSS:
Thank you Lord:
Thanks for the roof over our head,
Thanks also for our Daily Bread
Thanks to Jesus that He sacrificed himself and bled.
Thank you Lord for guidance to be Spirit led,
and Thanks For all the words of Jesus in Red,
Thank you Lord for your utmost promise of all…
That we may look to the Days of Glory ahead!
Let us help your message to the world be spread.
PRAYER REQUESTS
* Karen Stanzione’s mother Daryl Christiano agreed to having dialysis. The next few weeks they will be getting her ready to begin.
* Prayers for Michelle Wilson, Mary Hill, Jen Jones and Janet Ross as they travel this week.
* Mary Warren who joins our Wednesday evening zoom bible study asked for prayers for her friend’s daughter Jenna who has Cystic Fibrosis and j ust contracted Covid. She is very sick and, in the hospital, and appreciates our prayers.
* Tracie and Jim Walkup requested prayers for their close friends Brad & Shirley Fry’s daughter who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Prayers for the whole family.
* Continued prayers for the Ruiz family. The court didn’t have enough information to make a decision on Levi’s custody hearing, so the date was pushed out to June.
AREA EVENTS:
 [JUNE]MEN’S RETREAT:
June 13th & 14th
Men are encouraged to sign up soon for the upcoming Men’s retreat in June.
[JULY]
TIDAL RIVER CHRISTIAN CAMP:
tidalriverchristiancamp.com
TRCC is fast approaching. They are always looking for members to help out in many capacities. Please see Pat Keller if you have interest in helping out at camp this summer.
TRUMBULL EVENTS:
Wednesday evening zoom studies:
Ron has begun a bible study on the Old Testament Prophets. We had a wonderful study of Isaiah this past Wednesday. Please look for the link and carve out time to join in.
The next Saturday Ladies Bible class will be on Saturday May 10th from 10:00 – 12:00 noon at the church building. Molly Medling will lead us in a lesson on the fruit of “Gentleness” .
YOUNG ADULTS:
The Young Adults attended the Danbury Hymn Sing last Sunday…here is a group shot!
They also had a great evening in our home last night for singing, games and fellowship.
Tuesday May 13th is the next Ladies Bible study via zoom at 9:30.
The study of Revelation continues to be a great mid week study. Thanks to Lisa and Mary Lou for leading these classes!
TEEN EVENT – Friday May 16th
There will be a teen event Friday, May 16, from 5:30p to 9pm, at the church building. There will be Pizza, games, icecream, and a devotional. Teens are asked to bring their favorite ice cream topping. For more information see Ron Saracino.
MEN’S BREAKFAST COMING UP – Saturday May 17th. See Ron, Jay or Bruce for details. The start time is usually 9:00 or 9:30 and all men are encouraged to attend.
NEXT POT LUCK – Sunday, June 29th. We will be honoring our High School Seniors at this pot luck.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL – Saturday July 26th. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details. Thanks to Derin & Kristen Wilson for leading this each year.
LET’S STAND IN AWE OF GOD’S AMAZING FIRMAMENT!
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
In the Amazon, butterflies there have been photographed and videoed doing something incredible. The butterflies drink the tears of the turtles that live there!
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There are 8 different species of butterflies who all seek one thing….sodium. Sodium is a rare mineral in the Amazon rain forest. The area is lacking in salt because of the distance from the open sea. The Atlantic Ocean is more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles away), and the Andes Mountains are blocking the wind from carrying important mineral particles to this region. This causes the animals that live here to get a bit creative to find salt. The turtles do not feel any pain as the butterflies feast off of their tears.
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We serve an AWESOME GOD!
God in all of His Glory, has created us magnificently as we read in Psalm 139 and .
Every human has been made in HIS IMAGE. We need to stand in awe of His creation and keep learning about who HE IS, and grow closer in our relationship with HIM.
When a human being is born, it is breathtaking. Tiny human beings who are completely vulnerable and dependent on their parents. As this infant grows, their bodies will transform, and grow. They get a first set of teeth, then lose them to make way for a second set of teeth (adult teeth). Children continue to grow to be teenagers, then adults, and well….life just happens. We laugh, we cry, we grieve, we keep on keeping on, with God’s help through it all. This thing is called LIFE...
Seasons come and go with happiness and tears laced in between. Life is an intense roller coaster ride with days of rejoicing, mixed with days of deep loss. Joy and pain are both mingled together through the seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. For the Christian, God escorts us gently through all of the peaks and valleys in life and He calls us to walk with wisdom. Our true fulfillment is not in earthly achievements, but in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Ecclesiastes Chapters 1, 2 and 3 speak boldly that this life is meaningless, without a relationship with God. These chapters share that everything in this life is meaningless…they are like “chasing after the wind” & vs 26.
The great truth of Ecclesiastes as the writer shares, lies in the acknowledgment of God’s ever-present hand on our lives. We can trust HIM, even when life becomes difficult and overwhelming.
In we read:
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill, and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build.
a time to weep and a time to laugh.
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain.
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak.
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
What does the worker gain from his toil?
I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;
yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.”
This chapter from Ecclesiastes beautifully covers just about every aspect of life. From the creation of time, God has been with us. He has set eternity in our hearts, and as King Solomon shared, we cannot fathom what He has done!
Our relationship with GOD is critical. What will our lives reflect? We will either live forever with HIM, or forever without HIM. That is up to us!
Because Jesus was human and God in the flesh, He can identify with us! He can identify with everything we are going through, except sin. JESUS CHRIST Suffered it all, for us.
One of the reasons that Jesus came to earth was to help us understand more about God our Father. He told His disciples, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”
The scriptures show us clear images of His experiences and allow us to bring our human understanding, to a higher level, and look beyond our own trials.
Jesus as God, was able to see the whole picture from beginning to the end since HE IS the ALPHA and the OMEGA.
“Remember the former things,
those of long ago,
I am God, and there is no other.
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come...”
We shed tears of JOY and SADNESS through the seasons of life.
Weeping, or crying, is our human response to overwhelming emotions, both good and bad. Most of us have cried at times of intense sadness, profuse joy, or overwhelming relief. Scientists have found God’s greatness even in one of the most minute phenomena—human tears. Tears have numerous functions which benefit us as we go through life. After crying, people feel better emotionally and physiologically.
When JESUS took on the form of man and came as Jesus to live on this earth among us , He felt the full spectrum of human emotions that we feel.
The Gospels record a wide range of emotion expressed by Jesus, including a couple of occasions when He wept. & .
Jesus’ expression of sorrow helps us identify with Him even more. For our losses in this life are hard to bear. Grief hits us to the core of our soul, yet God empathizes with our grief. For He gave us His One and Only Son, who was tortured, and crucified. God’s pain was over the Royal blood which was spilled out for US. He gave us the best of Heaven. It was a searing loss.
“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,“Elio, Elio, lama sabachthani” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The earth shook and the rocks split.
The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
They came out of the tombs ,
and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened,
they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the son of God.”
Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His arrest, crying out with dread as He begged the Father for some other way to save us.
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”
God has great compassion for HIS CREATION –
In the darkest of nights, when we feel that God is nowhere to be found, when the storms destroy and our grief is heavy laden, when all we know is loneliness, God is WITH US!
God loves us so much that when we cry tears of joy or sadness in life, God catches our tears in a bottle, and records them on His scroll…
God desires all of mankind to come to HIM so He can help us bear our burdens.
Jesus said,
Jesus also said,
There will be no tears in Heaven!
God has eternal salvation store for all who follow JESUS CHRIST.
This life is fleeting and but a vapor, as we read in .
We are nothing but a blip in time.
Ecclesiastes puts ALL of this life in perspective! Our labor and toil are nothing, without GOD’s rule and reign in our lives.
“As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.”
Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 vs. 13 – 14 summarizes his words of wisdom…
“Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole, duty of man
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.”
As reminds us of when the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon where they experienced hardship and sorrow, but ultimately returned to their homeland with JOY!
The promise is that hardship and sorrow like seeds which are sown, will ultimately lead to a harvest of JOY!
KEEP ON KEEPING ON and REJOICE in the HOPE WE HAVE IN JESUS CHRIST!
KEEP SINGING:
How GREAT is our GOD!
The Splendor of a King,
clothed in majesty;
let all the earth rejoice,
all the earth rejoice.
He wraps Himself in light,
and darkness tries to hide;
it trembles at His voice,
trembles at His voice.
How great is our God,
sing with me, how Great is our God,
and all will see, How Great, how Great is our God!
And age to age He stands,
and time is in His hands,
Beginning and the end,
beginning and the end.
The Godhead three in One
Father, Spirit, Son.
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb
How Great is our God,
sing with me, how Great is our God
and all will see, How Great, how Great is our God!
How great is our God,
sing with me, how Great is our God
and all will see, How Great, how Great is our God!
THAT’S WHY WE PRAISE HIM
He came to live, live a perfect life.
He came to be (to be) the Living Word, our LIGHT.
He came to die, so we’d be reconciled.
He came to rise (to rise) to show His power and might!
That’s why we praise Him;
that’s why we sing.
That’s why we offer Him our everything.
That’s why we bow down and worship this King,
cause He gave His everything,
cause He gave His everything.
He came to live (to live),
Live again in us.
He came to be (to be) our conquering King and Friend,
He came to heal and show the lost ones His love.
He came to go (to go) prepare a place for us.
That’s why we praise Him;
that’s why we sing.
That’s why we offer Him our everything.
That’s why we bow down and worship this King,
cause He gave His everything,
cause He gave His everything.
Keep looking up because there will be no tears in heaven!
Our true purpose in life is to glorify GOD, so we can live with HIM FOREVER!
The profound gift of salvation that GOD has given us, gives true meaning to this life.
IN CHRIST we are made alive!
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.“
Every day the sun comes up we have wonderful opportunities to share the GOOD NEWS with all of the world!
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.”
TO GOD BE THE GLORY, GREAT THINGS HE HATH DONE!
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