Announcements - April 23, 2017

Iron Sharpens Iron Conference Saturday, April 29 from 8:30 a.m.- 4:55 p.m.: See Dave Fergus for more information and to sign up for the early bird group rate. Cost is $45, $32 for students, with an $8 optional lunch. Call or write Dave with any questions you might have: dfergus54@gmail.com.

All-Church Prayer Meeting Wednesday, May 3: Join us as we gather at 6:30 p.m. to pray together. We’ll meet in the cafeteria at the Handke Center. All are welcome. Child care will be provided.

Guest Speaker on Sunday, April 30: It will be our privilege to have Joshua Whetstine preach the Word next Sunday. He will preach on local missions and church planting. He will stay for the second hour for a Q & A about joining with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Quarterly Business Meeting Sunday, May 7: We will devote most of the time to the vote on whether or not to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention. The elders are still recommending this action, and whatever the direction of the discussion we will call for the vote that day.

You are invited to an Exciting Event! Abba Pregnancy Resource Center Fundraising Banquet: Come May 11 at 6:30 p.m. to Fountains of Ramsey in Ramsey to hear keynote speaker Reverend John Ensor. RSVP by May 1 via email event@abbaprc.com or phone 763.445.9650. See Shelley Herzog with any questions.

Wednesday Morning Prayer Meeting: Anyone who would like to join in corporate prayer may do so. The prayer time is from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. at the church office.

Next Week’s Fighter Verse

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Comments

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit. Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vending m

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF. However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive. I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church. In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority. Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installment of elders as non-negotiable

Does the Doctrine Divide? by Patience Griswold

“Oh, I try not to talk about doctrine. It’s so divisive.” This is a sentiment that I’ve heard expressed, as well as implied, on many occasions, and one that raises the question, does doctrine divide? In answering this question, we must keep in mind a very important truth and that is that everyone holds to some sort of doctrine . “Doctrine” is defined as “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group.” Regardless of whether or not someone publicly holds to a statement of beliefs from a particular church, every Christian, by definition, holds to a particular set of beliefs. As Carl Trueman observes in his book The Creedal Imperative , [W]hile Christianity cannot be reduced to doctrine, to mere teaching, it cannot be meaningfully separated from it, either. Even the most basic claims, such as “Jesus is Lord,” carry clear doctrinal content that needs to be explicated in a world where, as we have noted before, every heretic has his text and n

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