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Announcements Plus Devotional Aids

September Newsletter is now online.

Let's Learn a Bible Verse!

Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
--1 John 5:10-12 NIV

 

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Contents

Announcements

Meet and Greet for Rev. Simon and His Family - September 8

We invite everyone in our community and throughout Caldwell County to come by between 3-5:00 p.m. on Sunday September 8 to Meet and Greet our new pastor, Rev. Simon, his wife Rev. Eunice, and their daughter, Sarah. Refreshments will be served.

We hope to live in a cooperative way with our fellow Christian believers from all our area churches that will magnify our outreach to the lost everywhere. Pastor Simon's and our congregation's goal is to preach and teach from all of God's Word and show the love of Christ through our ministries as we spread the Good News of salvation in Jesus.

Please stop by to Meet and Greet Simon and his family, and please pray for us and our ministries, as we pray for you and your work for Christ, too. May God bless and empower all his Christian workers, and bring revival to our churches, communities, and nation. Amen.

New Sermon Series by Pastor Simon

Pastor Simon begins a new series of sermons on August 25 called SUMMER STORIES: Testimonies of Radical Change.

"This four-week sermon series explores the lives of four people who had profound, life-changing encounters with Jesus. We will connect their stories to people we know in our own congregation here at Ebenezer Methodist Church and other modern-day individuals who have had similar experiences."

Community Fun Day! August 10 - Report

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped with our annual Community Fun Day event. The wearther was great, and everyone enjoyed the food, fellowship, and fun. The big snake was a gigantic hit with the boys and girls. The water slide was busy all the time, the petting zoo animals cropped our grass nice and close, no one went away hungry. See you next year!

Bring your friends, co-workers, neighbors and family to our annual pre-Back to School fun day at Ebenezer on Saturday, August 10, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Everything is FREE! We serve hotdogs, chips, brownies, cookies, frozen pops; plus there will be music and many fun things to do, including a water slide, petting zoo, reptile zoo, bouncy house, and more!

This is our way of saying Thank You! to our community for your support throughout the year, and just another way we show the love of Christ to our community. We hope to see you there.

 

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Quote to Ponder

"Just because I am not true and beautiful does not mean Jesus is not true and beautiful."

--Frank Turek, in response to those who use bad people in their lives (father, mother, pastor, Christian co-worker) as an excuse to turn away from Jesus.

 

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For Meditation

"When somebody plays Beethoven poorly, who do you blame?

When somebody plays Jesus poorly, who do you blame?"

--Frank Turek

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Mini-Bible Lesson #88: Sacred Work – Two Aspects

References: John 21:1-14; Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 8, pp. 803-805.

"I’m going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We’ll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. –John 21:3 NIV

Bishop Thomas Wilson said, "To dispose our hearts to devotion, the active life is to be preferred to the contemplative."

That is a fact we are forgetting, with our insistence upon shorter working hours and more extensive leisure. For everything depends on how we use and fill the leisure. So long as a man is at decent work, his soul as a rule is fairly safe. It is when he is idling in his own time, lounging perhaps at the street corners, that he invites temptation. And it comes. (I.B. p. 803)

In this story of Peter and some of the other disciples going fishing after having seen the risen Lord, we see a dangerous movement away from the mission Jesus wanted them to do. He wanted the disciples, the believers, to spread the Good News about what Jesus had done for everyone who would believe on him. They were not doing what God wanted, and they caught no fish.

This is not to say that work is not needed or is not a good thing. As Karl Heim said:

When the temple was overthrown, the whole world became the temple of God. The workshop became a church, a man’s native land became a sanctuary; all who were engaged in maintaining human life became consecrated priests in this vast Church of God. (I.B. p. 803)

That attitude toward work of all kinds has been largely forgotten. "For masses of people work has neither dignity nor interest, is a sheer nuisance, an intolerable necessity that has to be grudgingly put through. And not till it is safely over does life, to be called life, begin."

Yet, in Genesis we learn that Adam and Eve were expected to work in the garden and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). The difference for us is that the garden is no longer cooperating with our effort. Now there are thorns and thistles. We must now toil by "the sweat of our brow" (see Genesis 3:17-19). But that does not negate the need for work, nor the dignity of work.

There are few facts needing more urgently to be relearned than the sacredness and sanctity of common work. If men would only cease these eternal ululations and self-commiseratings, and would grasp that in and through every proper task they can serve not man alone but the Lord Christ, putting their loyalty to him into the doing of it, they would again find that it is really true. (I.B. p. 805)

For "It is not only prayer that gives God glory but work." (Gerald Manly Hopkins)

Yet, there are some who are called to a more definitely spiritual service to God and his kingdom. When we are called, we should answer 'yes' and do as Christ says, then we too can be fishers of men, as well as catchers of fish.

Had the disciples given up on working for God’s kingdom, so they returned to their original work routine? They had no success at it. Maybe this was a hint from God that their best work should be more about the spiritual than the physical? When they had given up, Jesus appeared and gave them the direction they needed for success—both in the physical (secular) realm, and in the spiritual realm as the rest of Chapter 21 will show.

Do not be ashamed of good, honest work. Do not use that necessity to avoid doing the spiritual work we are all called to do. Do your best in all things as "to the Lord." Success will follow. You will be blessed and be a blessing to those around you.

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Special Resources

The picture below is our new Resource Room with books, dvds, videos, and a TV screen (not shown in photo). Individuals are encouraged to take resources home for Bible study or reading; and classes can use the room to show videos related to their studies. We would appreciate donations of books or dvds, especially for young children for this collection.

 

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Ongoing Collections - Updated - 10/09/2023

CCC & TI Food Pantry Collection - Yearly in April

Throughout the month of April, we will be collecting single serve, microwaveable or ready-to-eat items for students at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. Suggested items: single serve Ramen Noodles, macaroni and cheese, crackers with cheese or peanut butter, cookies, single serve canned meats, etc.

Oakhill Backpack Ministry

We are beginning to collect single serve, easy to microwave or use food items to send home with needy children, such as, fruit cups, mac and cheese, snacks, noodles, etc. The children will receive a backpack of these items to take home on the weekends, and use for themselves and their families. Put the items in the old fellowship hall. We thank you for helping.

Local Schools Supply Closet

We continue to collect items for our local teachers.This ministry provides items for teachers and their students that they cannot obtain through the regular budget.

They include the following: Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, hand soap, paper towels, facial tissues, sharpies, dry board markers highlighters, black/blue/red ink pens, colored pencils, glue sticks, composition books and notebook paper (wide and college ruled), crayons, scissors (children's type), index cards, construction paper, pencil sharpeners, sheet protectors, file folders, large and small legal pads, white out, paper clips, staples, pencil pouches, markers, rulers, ring binders, card stock white/assorted, 3 ring note books, large and small pencil top erasers, and post it notes.

South Caldwell Christian Ministries

We are collecting non-perishable food and clean used clothing in good condition that will be taken to South Caldwell Christian Ministries. You may leave the items at the church on Sundays or during normal office hours (8:30 to 1:00 p.m., Monday-Friday).

We thank you for helping us to minister to the needs of our community.

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Contact Information: 828-396-2214 or emcdudleyshoals@yahoo.com;
4948 Burns Rd., Granite Falls NC 28630