Saturday, April 10th:
Noon: It’s time for all Serving Sisters to have a girlfriend lunch date at the church: our Spring Serving Sisters Luncheon.
On the Lord’s Day:
- 9:15 am — Sunday school classes for all ages: Classes for graded age groups meet to learn from the Scriptures. To see Sunday school classes, ages and meeting locations, click on the red “Ministries” button under the category “Pages” (to the right).
- 10:30 am — “The Church Around the World” a new study series in the book of Acts begins this Sunday. What was the early church like? How did they reach out to the known world? How does this inform us in the 21st century American church? Come and find out!
The church is looking for a new home for a color inkjet printer/scanner. If you are interested, please contact the church office.
During the Week:
- Tuesday: Our Ten-thirty Tuesdays Bible will NOT meet this week.
- Wednesday, 6:30 pm: Awana Clubs conclude for the spring with “Awards Night.” The clubs will take a break until September.
- Thursday, 6:30 pm: The Thursday Night Toolkit Bible study meets this evening, continuing our survey of the New Testament.
- Saturday, 9:00 am: Join us as we lift the needs of the body and our community to the Lord in prayer at our Monthly Prayer Breakfast.
Upcoming and Ongoing:
- Mark your calendars now for a special Bible Conference! Friday evening, May 21, thru Saturday lunch, May 22nd, our friends at First Baptist Church of Freeport are hosting a special Bible Conference featuring Dr. Steven Lawson as the main speaker. Dr. Lawson has been a particular favorite of the men who have attended Shepherd’s Conference in the past few years. He is an engaging and challenging expositor of God’s truth. We are looking into going as a group in a large van. Please let the church office know if you are interested in attending this event. We will return to Rockford on Friday evening, and lunch Saturday is included.
- Are you qualified to be an Encourager? If you’re over 60 and you want to encourage those younger (and each other!) in the faith, you are qualified! And one of the unique privileges of an Encourager is the fellowship of others at specially planned events!
- Sunday, April 25th: After the morning worship service, meet at 12:30 at the Stockholm Inn for an Afterglow Luncheon! Your cost will be whatever you order from the menu. Please sign up on the back table by Wednesday, April 21st.
- And set aside Wednesday, June 9th, for a Luncheon Cruise on The Pride of Oregon, a paddlewheel riverboat, to cruise the beautiful Rock River.
- Elim’s monthly newsletter, The Refresher, is mailed out to arrive in your homes by the first of the month. This keeps you up to date with activities and events in the body of Elim.We are looking into the feasibility of e-mailing this newsletter (as a .pdf file) in the future. If you would prefer to receive the newsletter by e-mail, please contact the church office.
From the Pastor’s Recent Reading:
“There is much truth in the humorous adage that some people make things happen, others watch things happen, while still others are left wondering what happened. What is true of individuals is also true of churches. Some churches are dynamic, aggressively reaching out with the gospel to make an impact on the world. Some know God is moving in other churches and wonder why they aren’t experiencing that power. Still others just barely exist, languishing while the spiritual (and maybe even physical) weeds grow. They make an impact only on their members’ social lives.
Acts 11 introduced a leadership and a congregation that God used to make things happen—the Antioch church, the first beachhead of Christianity in the pagan world. That church had an impressive beginning. Acts 11:21 records that “a large number who believed turned to the Lord” under the ministry of Hellenistic Jews who fled Jerusalem following Stephen’s martyrdom (11:19–20). The Antioch church grew dramatically under the capable leadership of Barnabas and Saul (11:26). It was in Antioch that the name Christians was first given to the followers of Jesus Christ (11:26). Although it was intended as a derisive term, the believers wore it as a badge of honor. Members of this largely Gentile church showed their love for their Jewish brethren by sending them famine relief (11:27–30).
But of all the factors that made the Antioch church strong, the most significant was its submission to the Holy Spirit. Both the leaders (cf. 11:24; 13:9) and the congregation (cf. 13:2, 4) of the Antioch church were Spirit-filled. They were utterly dependent on the Spirit, who energized every phase of their ministry.
What marks a Spirit-filled church? A Spirit-filled church may be defined simply as one whose members walk in obedience to the will of God. Since God reveals His will in Scripture, a Spirit-filled church must be deeply committed to the Word of God. Indeed, a comparison of Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 reveals that being filled with the Spirit and letting the Word richly dwell in one’s life produce the same effects. Therefore they are the two sides of the same spiritual reality.”
— John MacArthur, Acts 13-28 New Testament Commentary
Posted on April 9th, 2010 by Janet
Filed under: This Week @ Elim