What A Mighty God we serve

Good morning all,

 

James 4:13 tells us that “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

 

This life is fragile and uncertain.

 

Savor every moment. 

 

Count blessings. 

 

Embrace your family and each other, and praise God along the way.

 

 

GIVING THANKS:

 

• Thanks for all of the prayers for all families recovering from Covid. 

 

• Thanks to all of our Health care workers and teachers who continue to go above and beyond in a fractured and stressful working environment.

 

• Thanks to all who promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serve others.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ONE MORE OF OUR COLLEGE GRADUATES…

 

KIMBERLY KELLER

 

Kimberly Nadine Keller graduates with a BA in General Studies from Albertus Magnus college. She had a truly eclectic mix in her classes: sign language, music, child psychology, painting and biology, are just a few.

 

During her first year, she was a valued player of the Volleyball team, assisting the Falcons in increasing their number of wins over the previous year.

Kimberly worked throughout college, both on and off Campus. Her current position as Teacher’s Assistant at STEAMulating Young Minds Imagination (SYMI) Academy is definitely her favorite. She speaks of “her kids” with obvious love and passion. 

 

Kimberly truly loves working with young children and hopes to continue her education focusing on Early Childhood.

 

Please join her parents, Patrick and Nadine, and her brother Brian in congratulating Kimberly on meeting this milestone.

 

 

REMINDERS:

 

• We are collecting toiletries for the Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence.  Prayers for all recipients that they be blessed with better days ahead.

 

Note:  If anyone would be interested in being a liaison to one of the organizations that we have assisted over the past six months, please let Ron know:  Yale,  Boys detention center,  Umbrella center for domestic violence, etc.  

 

 

• Every year congregations support Tidal River Christian Camp with a few needed supplies.  Our congregation will supply these items which are due in by the first week in July. Camp starts July 10^th.

 

Cookies (15 packages, any kind)

 

40 Gallon trash bags (2 of the 50+ count)

 

20 pump bottles of hand soap (antibacterial)

 

Cash donations are also gladly accepted.

 

If you have questions or delivery changes… Please call or text at (860)940-0803 and leave a voice message or email at tidalriverchristiancamp@gmail.com

 

 

COMING UP…

 

• Tuesday May 31^st will be the last of the Tuesday morning Bible studies at 9:30 a.m.   watch for the zoom link. Thanks to Lisa Saracino and Mary Lou who have lead the studies this past year. 

 

JUNE:

• Men will have a zoom bible study on Thursday, June 9^th at 7:30 p.m. watch for the link.

• Lord willing, Friday evening June 10^th 7:00 p.m. will be a time of singing and fellowship for ladies and teen girls.  This evening we will share our canvases!  We will now be meeting at the church building instead of our home.  Feel free to bring an appetizer or dessert. Zoom option will be offered.

• There will be a building clean- up day at the building on Saturday June 18^th from 9 to 12:00 noon or so.   Goals for the day are to clean up the property outside & indoors.  We will need magic erasers, cleaning supplies, rakes, paper towels, etc. that would be great!  

• The Kent Men’s retreat will be held on June 24-25.   All men are encouraged to attend!  See Patrick Keller for registration details.

  

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Pray for our world that people see God’s glory and His peace that passes understanding.

• Our prayers are for all families dealing with tragic loss, grief, and pain. Our hearts go out to all of those affected by the recent shootings in Buffalo, NY and Texas and for those victims who are hospitalized and trying to recover.

 

• Special prayers for the family of Joe & Irma Garcia in Ivalde TX.  Irma was one of the teachers who was killed at the Ivalde school shooting.  Her spouse Joe was so overcome with grief that he died shortly after from a heart attack.  This poor family.

 

• Pray for all students, teachers, first responders, and healthcare personnel 

• Prayers for Chelsey, Karsen and Callie Eddy as they drive to Tennessee to visit family and deal with their dog who is terminally ill.  

• Fran has been moved to Newtown Rehabilitation and Long Term healthcare in Newtown.   Pray for her transition since she has been confused and struggling since she had covid.

 

• Continued prayers for Patrice Yaglowski who is dealing with Tinnitus due to covid. She is seeking alternative medical treatments and appreciates all of our prayers.

 

• Prayers for Charlie and Geralyn who both tested positive for covid.

 

 

• Prayers for LOVE to prevail over anger, hatred and dysfunction.  

 

As we continue to study the Life of Jesus, we are humbled at both his deity and humanness as He walked this earth.    He reminded his disciples that He is with them, no matter what they endure.

 

Hebrews 13:5 “…Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

 

John 15:21 “They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.”

 

1 Peter 4:12-19 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.  However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God And, “if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”  So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. ”

 

2 Timothy 3:12 “In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

 

 

As we watch world suffering on a global scale, we must remember we serve a mighty God who is in control.  Our limited human perspective cannot be compared to God’s infinite knowledge, His omnipotence and omnipresence.  His power and greatness are vast. He alone is worthy to be praised and adored, and we can always trust Him!  God is mighty to save.

 

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

 

Job 26:14 “These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?”

 

Romans 11:33 “Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

 

 

We cannot make sense of the suffering and anguish that is sweeping the nation.  The pain and afflictions that we all endure, help transform us into being more dependent on God.  God uses these things to get our attention and draw us closer to Him, and ultimately have a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

CS Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

The apostle Paul endured so much and suffered greatly.  He explains the relationship between suffering and character in Romans 5:3  “But we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

The book of Job calls us to humbly trust in the Lord. He will sustain His people through it all for His purpose and glory.    Job’s afflictions transformed him into an even more righteous man.  

In Job 38:3-14, 22-23  God shares a lot with Job…and Job learns about his utter weakness and inability to comprehend the things of God. As we read this passage, we try to grasp God’s majesty here…

 

“Brace yourself like a man: I will question you, and you shall answer me.

 Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

 Tell me, if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its footings set, or who laid it’s cornerstone,

While the morning stars sang together, and all the angels shouted for Joy?

 Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

When I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

When I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

When I said, “This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt”?

Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea,

Or walked in the recess of the deep?

Have the gates of death been shown to you?

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

What is the way to the place where the lightening is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over all the earth?

Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

From whose womb comes the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens,

When the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?

Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?”

 

We are unable to comprehend the things of God.  His ways are higher than our ways.  As soon as we begin to trust Him, follow Him, glorify Him, we walk with a greater wisdom and can endure any storm.  For our Creator knows and cares about what we are going through.  He gave his one and only Son, who was perfect and without sin, yet He was tortured and crucified…. for us!  He knows, and He cares.

 

He not only provided the lamb as the sacrifice for all sins, but we have the Holy Spirit which helps us through life!

 

Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

 

John 16:1-33 “For he who whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.”

 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

 

There is blessed assurance for the Christian in that God does not allow evil and suffering to come into our lives without producing greater good!  Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”   For the Christian, we look up to our Creator, and know, there is far greater good that will come,  than what we are enduring now! We have hope.

 

For those outside of Christ, we pray that they will see God’s glory and learn about the saving power of Jesus Christ. 

 

 

CAN YOU COUNT THE STARS?

“God clothes the grass of the field…will he not clothe you?”  Matthew 6:30

Can you count the stars of evening,

That are shining in the sky?

Can you count the clouds that daily,

Over all the world go by?

God the Lord, who doth not slumber,

Keepeth all the boundless number:

But He careth more for thee,

But He careth more for thee.

Can you count the birds that warble

In the sunshine all the day?

Can you count the little fishes

That in sparkling waters play?

God the Lord their number knoweth,

For each one His care He showeth:

Shall He not remember thee?

Shall He not remember thee?

 

Can you count the many children,

In their little beds at night,

Who without a thought of sorrow,

Rise again at morning light?

 

God the Lord who dwells in heaven,

Loving care to each has given:

He has not forgotten thee,

He has not forgotten thee!

 

 

WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE

“He will be called mighty God” Isaiah 9:6

 

What a mighty God we serve,

What a mighty God we serve,

Angels bow before Him,

Heaven and Earth adore Him;

What a mighty God we serve!

 

 

MIGHTY TO SAVE

“Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

 

Everyone needs compassion,

Love that’s never failing.

Let Mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,

The kindness of a Savior.

The hope of nations.

 

Savior, He can move the mountains,

My God is mighty to save,

He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave.

 

Shine your light and let the whole world see.

We’re singing,

For the glory of the risen King!

 

Take me as You find me,

All my fears and failures.

Fill my life again,

I give my life to follow,

Everything I believe in.

Now I surrender…

 

Savior, He can move the mountains,

My God is mighty to save,

He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave.

 

Shine your light and let the whole world see.

We’re singing,

For the glory of the risen King!

 

Savior, He can move the mountains,

My God is mighty to save,

He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation,

He rose and conquered the grave,

Jesus conquered the grave.

 

 

 

Our world is in a fallen state.  Evil and sin seem like they are prevailing, but God is in control and He is mightier!

 

The world has no hope unless people change their ways, follow and put on Jesus Christ as their savior. 

 

For the Christian we look to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Let us not lose focus…

Ephesians 6:10  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”

 

It is our purpose to seek and save the lost, giving them the hope of heaven.  To spread the gospel to all nations…

 

Have a blessed weekend and be safe!

In Him,

Bruce & Paula