Pastor’s Ponderings
“And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightenings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, ‘Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’” Exodus 20: 18-19
Do you hear people say “The Lord spoke to me” or “God said…”? And when you do, do you think, God hasn’t spoken to me? Do you sometimes wonder why God never speaks to you? Could the reason possibly be that you don’t want Him to? Moses (their pastor), had been telling them what God was saying. God had just given them what we know as the ten commandments. Then the people saw and felt a physical demonstration of the might and power of God as recorded in verse 18 above. Could it be when they heard the requirements of this mighty God they realized the difficulty of keeping these laws of God and they literally feared for their lives? As you read this passage of scripture and you see the people removing themselves from the presence of God in the same passage you see Moses as he “drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” v-21. Here is the principle, that which drove some away drew others to the power and might. Why was this? The answer is multi-faceted in this particular situation, but the bottom line is, Moses wanted to be near God. Moses wanted to hear from God. In fact, Moses begged God to let him see His face. What is your true heart’s desire? Do you really want to hear from God? Do you want to be so near to Him that you can feel His very presence and the warmth of His love? Or do you have a small compartment somewhere in your heart that you have used to store that “little” thing that violates one of the laws of God?
Sweet friend, there is nothing in this world that compares to being in the presence of the ever-loving God. Do not let that “little” whatever it is keep you from the joy of the presence and pleasure of the One that loved you and died to pay for your sins. Get into His presence so He can give you a word as He did Moses that you can share with others and be a blessing to them.
2017 is going to be our best year yet. Be a part of it.
Pastor Homer
MUSIC MINISRY
I recently read this from an article by John McArthur on True Worship, and would like to share it with you. “Ministry is that which comes down to us from the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit, to one another in the form of spiritual gifts. Worship, on the other hand, is that which goes up from us, by the Spirit's power through the Son, to the Father. Thus, ministry is that which descends from God to us, while worship is that which ascends from us to God. And both must be in perfect balance. Unfortunately, we tend to be too ministry oriented (like Martha) and not oriented enough toward worship. We need to learn from Mary how to sit at Jesus' feet and worship Him.
Ask yourself the following questions: "Do I worship God? Is worship a priority for me? Do I faithfully and regularly attend church with a deep heart of commitment to worship God? Am I so consumed with a hungering desire to worship God that I hurry myself into the assembly of His people for the expression of worship?" Well, God seeks acceptable, true, spiritual worship, and if we're going give it to Him, we must understand what it is.” “True Worship, Part 1” John McArthur GTU Ministries
Serving Our Savior, Joe
I hope everyone enjoyed watching our new President, Donald J Trump take the oath of office last Friday as much as I did. I could not stop smiling. In honor of that glorious event, the Cultural Impact Team is sponsoring “40 Days of Praying for the New President.” President’s Day is coming up this month. This will give us not only the opportunity to pray for our new President, but to thank God for being merciful to us as a nation. Let's pray for his safety. Let’s pray that God will give him wisdom to rightly govern us just like He did for Solomon. Let’s continue our pre-election prayer for the overturn of Godless legislation that promotes sin. We can pray these general prayers every day even beyond the 40 days. We will let you know of specific needs as they arrive.
President Trump has already stopped funding of international planned parenthood. Now let’s pray that it will be defunded here. Let’s pray for the passing of the H.R.7 - No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2015. We understand that they are bringing this bill before the house again. For those votes, please contact Rep. Pittenger (202-225-1976) if you live in Mecklenburg or Union County and Rep Hudson (202-225-3715) for Stanly or Cabarrus County.
Please contact our Senators to have them approve President Trump’s cabinet nominations. This is especially true for our sister in Christ, Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. She wants to invite the Lord back into the classroom. Richard Burr 202-224-3154; Thom Tillis 202-224-6342
As we receive alerts from Family Research Council and The American Family Association, we will post them on Facebook.
David and Jody
1-Betty Hudson, Tyler Youngblood
7-Chloe Welch©
9-Steven Hough
11-Maggie Brandon
12-Cline Perkins
15- Brenda Ritch, Brian Benton
18-Shirley Freeman
20-Sarah Presson, Erica Carpenter
21-Jonah Welch
22-Cutty Davis, Trena Fagan
23-Sue Black, C.J. Ferguson
25-Diane Perry
26-Greg Miller-Tammy Arrowood
31-Jennifer Hernandez
February Awana dates are
2/5- regular night,
2/12- heart night,
2/26-bring a real friend night
We will also have a Parents Night where we will show off what our children have learned. As always, we could use some extra hands so if you feel like God is calling you to get involved with Awana please let Erica know.
We have a few things planned for the upcoming months.
On February 6th, we'll be attending Region 6 Missions Rally at Hopewell Baptist Church. (sign ups sheets are in the vestibule). We are also beginning a Bible study titled “Experiencing God." (We already have 11 signed up and would love for all our men to come join us).
We will have a couple of work nights the next few months, with dates to follow.
Men, there are plenty of jobs throughout our church that you are welcome to be a part of, security, ushers, event setups, and much more. This is God's House and we are all a part of it. We would love for you to join us.
Next monthly meeting is Tuesday, February 21st at 6:30pm.
Looking ahead in March we will have another Soup and Chili night, so please come join us.
"Let's Be about Our Father's Business"
God Bless,
Tommy Carlucci
If you know anyone inour church who needs wood to stay warm, or someone in need of coats or blankets, please let the Baptist men know.
Ladies on Missions
I would like to thank everyone who gave to our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Our goal is $1,000.00 and we have $660.00 so far. We will continue to take up this offering for a couple more Sunday’s. This offering will give us an opportunity to help fulfill some of our opportunities to give to missions around the world.
We will continue to have our secret sisters program for this coming year. If you didn’t get to draw a name on January 22nd you can still fill out your form and give it to Connie Carlucci or me. We had fun last year and you will enjoy being a part of it this year.
The ladies have made more salvation dolls that will be going to Japan. Pray for some people to get saved through these dolls. Also, our ladies are working on items for Christmas Joy Boxes. One or two items each month and January’s item is soap wrapped in a wash cloth and placed in a zip-lock bag. Place your items in the brown container in the foyer. February items are crayons and a small coloring book. A list of items for the year is on the table in the foyer.
February 7th is our ladies night out. We ask you to bring your husbands or a friend. We are going to the Azteca Restaurant in Matthews. Will be leaving the church at 6:00 pm or meet us at 6:30 at the restaurant.Sign up so we can tell them how many we have coming. Our regular meeting is on the 21st at 6:30, and I would love to have all the ladies come and be a part of our Baptist Women.
On March 7th, we will be having a movie night with pizza and good fellowship. More details later on this event. Keep this date open and join us!
We have a lot of events and mission work going on this coming year and we would love to have you help us and share God with our neighbors and around the world.
Again I want to thank our ladies at Clear Creek for ALL that you do. You are the best ever!
Barbara
The Perry’s Friday February 24th
at 7:00pm
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The youth will be having a Valentines Day party Wednesday, February 15. All youth is invited!!
On February 19, the youth will be going to Winter Jam. Winter jam is one big concert featuring ten different artists such as, Crowder, Tenth Avenue North, Britt Nicole, Thousand Foot Krutch, Andy Mineo, Britt Nicole, OBB, Sarah Reeves, Steven Malcolm, Colton Dixon, and Newsong. Speaking at Winter Jam will be Sadie Robertson and Tony Nolan. The show will be at Time Warner Cable in Charlotte. We will be leaving following church service and going to eat and then standing in line for the concert. The concert is first come first serve. The doors open at 6 and the show will start at 7 we will be back to the church around 11:30pm. All who are interested are welcome to come!! The cost is $10.00 if anyone has an issue with the cost, please let Maggie Brandon know and she will take care of it!
Maggie
Since this is the month for President’s Day, I decided to feature two children’s books. One of these is entitled “The Story of Mount Vernon” by Natalie Miller. It is for children 3rd-5th grades and starts with the boyhood of George Washington. The other book is for middle schoolers. This book is from a series featuring the Presidents. Unfortunately, we only have the first three volumes of this series. Volume 1 covers George Washington and John Adams. It also contains short biographical information on other leading patriots. This will be an excellent resource if any of the kids having to do research on any of these people.
Jody