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5 Worshippers Invite Jesus Into their Hearts On Sunday, the angels were praising God in Heaven as our 11:00 AM worship service came to an end. After the children's message Sunday, I noticed that our Junior Church volunteer was not with us. The volunteer happened to be my wife who attended the early service that morning but was committed to preach at the Sugar Grove Covenant Church at 11:00 AM. Serving as a Junior Church sub the previous week, she forget to find a replacement for her scheduled Sunday. Not seeing that she had a sub, I had to think fast so I instructed the children to return to their seats and remain with us. Part of my message Sunday was about the need to be born again in Christ. Jesus says in John 3:3, I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God. Unlike the first service, during the sermon I felt led to share my experience of coming to faith and inviting Jesus into my life at age eight while attending a church camp. As the sermon and service came to an end, I invited everyone to examine their hearts and invited those not born again to invite Jesus into their lives and hearts on this day. I mentioned that I would remain in the back to help pray for those wanting to make a commitment to follow Jesus.
I sat in the back for several minutes and no one came. Just when I was about to gather up my things, five of our children, Emma, Gavin, Sandra, Robert, and Rachel, on their own initiative, came towards me. Emma and Sandra, two of the oldest children, spoke for the group, saying that they wanted to follow Jesus and desired to invite Jesus into their hearts. By this time the children's grandmother, Karen Rutsky, joined us. Gladys Birt was still hanging around the church so I invited her to pray with us (Interestingly, Gladys herself invited Jesus into her heart at age 9, the same age as many of these children). I could almost hear the angels singing in heaven as I led these five beautiful children through a prayer where they each invited Jesus into their hearts.
You know I often say, that Jesus comes to us on his way to someone else. I thank God for grandmother who brings her grandchildren to church. That grandmother just gave her grandchildren the greatest gift ever - life with Jesus now and forevermore. To God be the glory!
As you begin to make arrangements for the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to invite you to worship with us Sunday, Nov. 23rd, at 8:30 or 11:00 AM. I plan to preach a Thanksgiving message to help prepare us for the holiday. We will be looking at Psalm 103:1-13. I encourage you to give it a read before Sunday. Within this Psalm are five reasons to be thankful. Listen to Sunday’s service by visiting our website: www.scandiacov.org.
Be God's Pastor James |
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Fall Harvest Dinner Thursday, Nov. 20th, 6:00 PM Scandia Volunteer Fire Department Special guests: The Otterbein Express Puppets A traditional Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pie, and all that other good stuff. Cost - donation to support our youth going to CHIC, SVFD, and the Otterbein Express Puppet Ministry. Invitation is open all. Seating is limited (200 guests) so please sign up early in the narthex or contact the church office today at 757-8052 or lighthouse@scandiacov.org. |
| Donations
Needed for the Harvest Dinner - We still need the following
for the Harvest Dinner: Corn, green beans, Jell-O/fruit salad, sweet
potato casserole. If you can donate, please sign up in narthex or email/contact
the church office. Altar Flowers - Is there a loved one, a special person you would like to recognize, honor or remember? You can do this by placing flowers on the altar for the special person/persons. At the close of the service, you may take your arrangement home or donate it to a shut in. Please remember to pay in advance. Order forms are located in the church entrance way. If you have any questions please contact Patti Anderson at 757-9268. Sermon Orders – You can now place an order for a sermon on CD for $3.00 each. Please place your order in the narthex for the date that you want. Make checks payable to “Scandia Covenant Church”. Remember, sermons can be downloaded from the website for FREE or signed out from our church library.
Mark Your Calendar:
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