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Announcements Plus Devotional Aids

Let's Learn a Bible Verse!

"And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck."
--Psalm 37:16 (NIV)

 

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Contents

Announcements

August Newsletter is now online.

Chaos, Noise, Liveliness, and Blessings Galore

Our church has had 51 guests residing in our church since Sunday, July 20th. Our guests came here from South Carolina and Ebensburg, Pennsylvania on a mission trip. All week they have been sending teams of (mostly) young people up the mountain side to help with the continuing Hurricane Helene recovery.

When this proposal to house the teams was brought before our church, we all knew it would be a wonderful cause to support. Though we had a fundraiser on the Saturday before and the Blood Drive on the Monday after they arrived, the Church Council still enthusiastically voted to accept our mission from God. And God has seen us through a little bit of chaos and noise, but given us many, many blessings from our guests.

Our joint worship service on Wednesday evening was an amazing event. Our members were blessed by having so many young people in our church again, and they gave us hope for our church and the Christian Church in general. These young peole were dedicated and passionate in their faith. They prayed with our members who were present, and one of their pastors also prayed over our church. May God make it so--everything that the pastor prayed for and the requests each group prayed over us individually.

We thank you, Lord, for giving us this opportunity to help, and ask that you watch over all these young people and their families, pastors, teachers, and their churches. May your blessings abound for all, and their faith continue to grow and remain strong. Amen and Hallelujah!

Pancake Breakfast & India Crafts Sale

On Saturday, July 19th from 8:00 a.m. to Noon, we invite you to enjoy a delicious breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Then stay and browse through the remaining India crafts items donated to us last year. Everything must be sold, so make us an offer we can't refuse. We are asking for donations for the breakfast.

Proceeds to toward our disaffiliation loan payoff. We thank you for your support!

Report: Blood Drive July 21st

The American Red Cross collected 25 units at our blood drive on the 21st. Thank you to everyone who gave and helped during this worthy event. May God bless you all.

Our summer blood drive for the American Red Cross opens on Monday, July 21st, 2:30-7:00 p.m. Please consider signing up now. The theme for this year is "Kindness is in your blood." Visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter the Sponsor code "Ebenezer UMC" to sign up.

We will serve a free spaghetti meal to our donors and workers, and offer free snacks, too. Blood type "O" donors are especially needed at this time. We thank you for helping with this worthy and vital service.

 

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Quote to Ponder

"Edmund Burke, in writing his observations on the revolution in France, stated, “Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetites. ... Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.  It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free.  Their passions form their fetters.”"

https://www.americanthinker.com/ articles/2025/07/ how_to_keep_the_republic_this_4th_of_july.html#:

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For Meditation

"You — yourself — can be truly Christian in moments.  You can give your money to the poor and turn the other cheek and go the extra mile.  You can take the lowest place and bless those who curse you and even put yourself on a cross.  But the second we cross from a Christian moment to a Christian government, we don’t get Christ at all.  We get the Devil.  What we get is you, a person overflowing with spiritual abundance (or maybe the opposite), forcing other people to throw themselves away, too.  We have many terms for that.  We call it stealing, or tyranny, or slavery, or murder — the very things that government was designed to protect us from.

My belief — and who knows? maybe I’m wrong — is that you can’t love your neighbor if you ruin his country.  And the second you cross from giving yourself away to giving your neighbor away, you’re not being Christian at all.  You’re being a sanctimonious jerk and a lunatic.

We thus have no way to really synchronize Christianity and government.  But I don’t believe we were meant to.  As Thomas Paine put it, government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence.  It’s a tool for living in a broken world by broken means.  And love has always been controversial, because loving somebody always means ignoring or fighting somebody else.

Thankfully, God knows what we’re up against.  What we need to pray for is wisdom to choose, at moments, which path to take — and also for a lot of forgiveness.  I think we’re all going to need it.

Jeremy Egerer is the author of Prejudices"

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/ 2025/05/can_you_be_a_trump_supporter_ and_a_good_christian.html#:

 

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Mini-Bible Lesson #98: All the World

References: Acts 1:8; NIV Application Commentary by Ajith Fernando.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” –Acts 1:8 NIV

Notice the progression from local to the ends of the earth in Christ’s command about witnessing. He begins locally, which for the disciples was the Holy City, Jerusalem. Then he calls them to go to Judea, or their “State” within the Roman Empire. Samaria, a part of the same area, but considered by most Jews to be apostate or unclean by the standards of the Jews comes next—a place where the Jewish disciples would feel uncomfortable in being  and consider themselves to be superior to or better than the people living there. And last, but not least, to the ends of the earth, which includes everywhere else.

Jesus wants us to witness to everyone and everywhere. We need to avoid parochialism—where we concentrate only on our little corner of the world with the gospel message and Christian charity. We are called by Jesus to go “to the ends of the earth” with our witness. When the Church in history has pulled back into itself, only serving the “people like us,” God has sent “people like the Moravians and John Wesley…to bring it back” (Fernando, p. 67) to its full and wide mission field. William Carey helped lead the Baptists to consider world missions and then founded the Baptist Missionary Society. “William Temple is credited with the statement: ‘The Christian church is the one organization in the world that exists purely for the benefit of non-members’” (p. 68) In other words—Missions!

“The church that lives for itself will die by itself” (p. 68). How does a church avoid getting so wrapped up in its own little problems and community that it neglects to witness to people outside of its walls, who do not feel compelled to attend its services or events?

“It is the responsibility of Christian leaders first to burn with the passion themselves for mission and to pay the price of such commitment (see 1 Corinthians 9); then, out of the credibility won from such passionate commitment, they must constantly keep the vision of mission before the people they lead.” (p. 69)

Individual witnessing is included in missions. Even preaching is an individual witnessing about the truth of God’s Word and the gospel message and using his own beliefs and his own experience in his relationship with God to  move his listeners toward God and his Son Jesus. The best preaching is done by true believers and lovers of God and man. (p. 70)

Being a witness does not come easy, especially in today’s culture, which has been busily removing even the mere mention of God from the public space (except as a curse word). The more grounded you are in the faith, the easier witnessing will be.

“If something that the Bible testifies about is not true in our lives, we must stop all activity and grapple with God until we know that it is true for us, just as the disciples waited in Jerusalem, devoting themselves to prayer (Acts 1:14). To believe in the Bible is to believe that what it says works…” (p. 70).

Witness with your life, witness with your contributions to the church, witness by raising your children in the Christian faith, witness by giving time, effort, and money to missional work, both here and abroad. Leave the results to the Holy Spirit. Lean on the Spirit for the strength and courage and wisdom you need to be a witness for Christ and the gospel message here and around the world.

 

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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