To God's Beloved At Cloverdale Baptist Church
What a joy it has been to relax with family and friends over the summer! It is hard to complain when it is so beautiful out, but I am ready for some cloud cover. Someone remind me when I say the same thing about rain in January (I am ready for some sun), and we can praise God together for seasons. It has been a great summer in so many ways, and now I can't wait for fall to kick in!
Now as we near the middle of August, the engines are starting to engage for the fall. For our family that not only includes three boys in university and one in grade 12, it not only includes one last high school football season, it means that our church is getting ready for our fall kick off and all this includes. We will be doing a Ministry Kick Off, on September 16. This is worth coming to for the sticky buns, but even more important it is worth coming to, to help us become a stickier church. Plan on being there, finding people you don't know and welcoming them, and learning more about who we are as a church and how you can connect in. Please pray for the upcoming ministries and join us in this great Sticky Day. More important, join us in serving and being served in the coming year.
Perhaps the most important way to connect with God, each other and our church is through our Growth Groups. Please consider joining one this year, as we long for a church that is growing more and more connected in those three key ways. If you are ready to join now, talk to Pastor Les, or fill in a connect card and we would love to see the majority of God's people here connected in this way!
Reminder: Elder Led Prayer Meetings on Tuesday nights. 7-8 pm. "Believe me, if a church does not pray, it is dead." - C.H. Spurgeon . We want to be a church that grows in our dependence on God and in our corporate and private prayer. Please consider joining us in this important time of dependance, and show your life and through that our life by joining us in prayer on Tuesday nights.
Reminder: We are seeking to build a culture of PRAYER, HOLINESS, MISSION (Evangelism), LOVE, and TRUTH. The idea behind building a culture is that we don't just talk about these things, or point to others and ask why we are not doing them, or program them, we actually choose to, each one, engage in these things! So, please help us become who God wants us to be! Your engagement in these five key pursuits is essential in us becoming who God wants us to be! Please pursue these things personally, and help those in our family to do the same. Talking about them, or others lack of doing them is not enough, so please engage with us in seeking to become the church that God desires us to be!
Reminder: Please pray for our missionaries that have gone from this church. This week please pray for those we have at Sunnybrae, serving Jesus there and drawing children to Christ. Please pray for their energy and growth, and they would come home and continue to build into what God is doing at CBC.
Please also pray for Dean Eden, as he ministers on our behalf in the Ukraine. Pray that many children and volunteers could be found to reach into the unreached villages around him. Pray that he would be strong in the Lord and have fruit that will last. He is doing well, and continues to need our prayers.
Sunday Is Coming:
Our focus for the last few months has been stories from the OT that impact us today. This Sunday we will be studying one of the most famous stories in the entire Bible and as we engage in this story seek to have it change our lives.
Title: A Teenager Who Rocked His World
Text: 1 Samuel 17
As you read this story again try to avoid coasting because of what you remember from before and seek to read it as if for the very first time.
- How does this story help us in seeing how God works?
- What is the difference between David's worldview and the worldview of the other soldiers?
- How does this worldview change David's response to an impossible situation?
- What can we do so that we see life as David did?
- How can you be a person who chooses obedience and lets God handle the outcome?
Hoping for cooler weather and that you have an amazing week!
Looking forward to another great Sunday of song, prayer, WORD, and together seeking the glory of our King in the richness of His grace.
Face the impossible with the incredible power of God and you will never find yourself insecure or alone in the battle's He has called us to fight.
Pick up a few stones, and join me in His strength, to pursue His glory, for our good...
Pastor Rob