May 2024 Newsletter
Contents
- Meetings, Events, etc.
- Something to Pray About
- Celebrations
- Council Minutes
- Special Events and Fundraisers
- Special Giving
- Hid In My Heart
- Military Prayer List
- Other and Miscellaneous
- John Wesley Said
- Praying for Revival
- 10 Reasons Church Attendance Is Declining
Pastor's Note
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Meetings, Events
Food Ministry
The next Lord's Supper Ministry meal will be delivered on Monday, May 20th. Please contact Ricky Baker if you would like to help with the cooking, etc. Delivery people need to arrive by 5:00 p.m.
Senior Citizens Gathering
Our Senior Citizens next monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, May 21st at 11:00 a.m. No details available at this time.
Church Council Meeting
The Council meet next on Sunday, May 26th at 4:00 p.m.
Ebenezer's Methodist Women
Ebenezer's Methodist Women will meet on Sunday, May 26th at 6:00 p.m. All women of the church are invited to participate.
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Something to Pray About
References: 2 Samuel 11:1-27; 12:1-25; The NIV Application Commentary: 1 and 2 Samuel by Bill T. Arnold.
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (11:1-4a NIV)
King David sends his commander, Joab, and the Israelites solders to fight, but he remains in Jerusalem. Lazing about, he spies a beautiful woman bathing on a lower house’s roof. Even after being informed that she is married, he sends for her to come to him. Whether or not Bathsheba, the woman, is a willing participant, this is coercion because David is the King. How could she refuse him? The immediate consequence of this sin is that Bathsheba becomes pregnant with David’s child.
What to do now? Can this sin be hidden? David makes a valiant effort to do so. He recalls Bathsheba’s husband, a soldier in the army of Israel, to Jerusalem to make a report to him about how the war is preceding; then invites him to go to his home and to his wife before returning to the battle. Yet, Uriah the Hittite (of gentile ancestry?) sleeps outside the palace with other servants instead. When David is informed of this, he tries to get Uriah drunk, but that doesn’t work either. The contrast between Uriah, a man of honor who refuses to be comfortable while his fellow soldiers are at the battle and living in tents, and David, the King, who had refused to go to the battle at all, and then took another man’s wife is stark. But this sin of David’s has not come to complete fruition, yet.
Unable to make it seem that the child Bathsheba carries is Uriah’s, David arranges for Uriah to be purposely put in grave danger and killed on the battlefield. So, David has gone from laziness and self-indulgence instead of carrying out his duties as King to adultery, then to murder within a few days. From triumph to tragedy, and what comes next? Punishment.
One sin often leads to more and greater sins. All sin has negative consequences though they might not be noticeable at first. The hardening of David’s heart because of his sin is shocking in his flippant response to the report of Uriah’s death (11:22-26), not to mention that other soldiers were killed in the same action. King David must face his own hypocrisy as his newborn son from his adulteress relationship dies despite much fasting and prayer. Yet Nathan the prophet tells him that much worse is to come for King David—all because he had “displeased the LORD” (11:27).
Yet, in 12:13-14, after David confessed, "I have sinned against the LORD," Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
Here we see that the LORD finds these sins reprehensible because they sully His name and reputation, along with causing harm to the others involved in David’s sin. Have you sullied your Lord and Savior’s name recently? Or has your heart been hardened by continual sin?
Notice that, even though Nathan tells David that his sin has been "taken away," David and Bathsheba’s first son died anyway. God will let the natural consequences of our sin happen, including deserved punishment here and now. God will strengthen us and return us to fellowship with him; yet bad things will happen to us and those around us when we or other people sin. This is why the world groans for release from the decay brought about by sin (disobedience to God) inherit in this world since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (see Romans 8:20-22).
But God, in his infinite, merciful LOVE has prepared a way for our Redemption, as he did for King David, who remained to God a "man after mine own heart (Acts 13:22)."
When you sin, turn to Jesus to be cleansed and given redemption. Just don’t count on the consequences of your sin to be washed away in this life. The fear of negative consequences may help keep you from sinning, but loving your Savior for what he has sacrificed to provide you with eternal life gives greater incentive to be righteous and makes for a more joyous and peaceful life. Praise God for his infinite mercy and love.
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Celebrations - May
Birthdays
- 8th--Marsha McRary
- 12th--Paul Burson, III
- 12th--Heather Wallace
- 13th--Ricky Baker
- 13th--Meredith K. Starnes
- 14th--Carolyn Davis
- 15th--Darren McCrary
- 24th--Gavin Bachman
- 27th--David Bachman
- 29th--Ted Daniel
Anniversaries
- 30th--Monte and Bleaka Hollar
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Council Minutes
Attendees: Tammy Adams, Irene Austin, Ricky Baker, Ted Daniel, Bleaka Hollar, JoAnn Knepp, Judy McCrary, Marsha McRary (Chair), Becky Silver, Kenny Silver, Monte Hollar, Kim Knepp, and Peggy Jenkins.
Marsha opened with a Scripture reading and prayer. (No reading of previous meetings minutes because the Administrative Assistant was absent.)
Finance Report – Irene Austin
We are holding steady with our finances. We have been able to send it $2,112.82 to the Global Methodist Church for Connectional Funding. And we have paid $8,589.53 on our disaffiliation loan. We now owe $51,410.47 on the $60,000. Loan. Let’s keep whittling away at this. The next fundraiser is on May 18.
Trustees Report – Ricky Baker
The water heater in the CLC was repaired. A door at the parsonage was repaired. The Umbrella policy was cancelled, and a refund is coming.
Monte looked at the playground and said he needs about $500 to replace some of the deteriorating lumber. Motion was made by Irene to fund this repair project, seconded by Judy and JoAnn. Motion passed.
Marsha noticed a damaged place on the wall coming into the old fellowship hall from the CLC. This will be checked. Ted mentioned slamming the door to the CLC could cause problems.
Staff Pastor Parish Relations – Tammy Adams
We have located a Pastor, and they will get back to us in a couple of weeks about him. He begins in July.
GMC NC regional Conference Report
Marsha, Irene, and Kim went to the Conference. Marsha was impressed with the way to Conference was handled. This meeting will occur every six (6) years. Our region will be sending 12 clergy and 12 delegates to the Annual Conference in June.
Our Register of Deeds paperwork has been received and completed.
Monte brought up the June BBQ and Golf Tournament. Discussion.
Our next fundraiser is on May 18th and will include fish, catfish, French fries, slaw, baked potatoes, and hush puppies.
Monte reported that John McCrary had made a new rail and put it up on the front steps to the sanctuary entrance. The council thanked him for his effort.
Bleaka Hollar requested that people who donate to the Methodist Women’s group Country Store this year, "please price the items you bring in." Becky Silver volunteered to help with this.
Meeting adjourned. (Minutes typed and augmented by Cindy Sears.)
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Events and Fundraisers
Mother's Day Celebration
Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 12, and we will be honoring all our mothers in the congregation that day during the Worship Service at 9:00 a.m. Please join us as we celebrate our mothers on this special day, and thank them for all they have done for us before and after bringing us into this world.
Fish Fry Fundraiser
Oh, goody, It’s time for a fish fry again at Ebenezer. As we continue to pay off our disaffiliation loan, our friends and members get to enjoy ever more delicious meals. We will be serving up fish and catfish with fries or baked potatoes, slaw, hush puppies, and dessert for donations on Saturday, May 18, 4-7:00 p.m. Take out will be available.
We thank you for your continued support and generous donations. We have raised and paid almost $9,000 so far on our $60,000 loan. Praise God!
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Special Giving
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Hid In My Heart
Command those wo are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. --1 Timothy 6:17 NIV
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Military Prayer List
Please pray for the men and women who protect our freedoms.
- Ricky Garland
- Shane McRary
- Jamie Mullinax
- Hunter Tolbert
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Other and Miscellaneous
John Wesley Said
"As the most dangerous winds may enter at little openings, so the evil never enters more dangerously than by little unobserved incidents, which seem to be nothing, yet insensibly open the heart to great temptations."
Praying for Revival
Where the Spirit is, there is revival. If the Spirit is given in the end times, then revival must also come.
The people of God must never lose hope in that. They must never give up praying for revival; they must actually begin living in revival. If they do that, revival will have begun.
--Jonathan Cahn, Josiah Manifesto
10 Reasons Church Attendance Is Declining
- Greater Affluence--more options, more travel, more activities
- Higher focus on children's sports
- More travel
- Blended and single parent families--more poor ones--no transportation, visits to other side of the family
- Online options
- Cultural disappearance of guilt about church attendance
- Self-directed spirituality; declining trust in institutions
- Failure to see a direct benefit--cannot see value in attending
- Valuing attendance over engagement
- A massive culture shift
Carey Nieuwhof