Announcements - April 8, 2018

Special Welcome! It is our privilege to welcome Pastor David Livingston to our pulpit today. He has served in a variety of roles at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis since the early 1980s, and now serves as the Pastor for Global Outreach Member Care. He has also been a personal mentor to Pastor Charlie since 1990. David and his wife Karin have four daughters (Sarah, Anna, Krista, and Lydia) and ten grandchildren.

Abiding in Christ - 50 Days of Prayer and Fasting: Make sure to get a copy of the prayer guide. Extra copies of the guide are on the information table. Also, copies of the article on fasting and praying by Bill Bright are available on the table.

All-Church Prayer Meeting at 6:30 p.m. this Wednesday: We will continue our season of prayer together in corporate prayer, seeking the Lord’s will for the long-term lease or ownership of a property in Elk River. All are welcome! Child care will be available.

Adult Sunday School: We will begin a six-week class on Christian Hedonism: The Relentless Pursuit of Joy in God. Join us as we grow in our understanding of the joy of God and discuss how we find joy in him. Class meets in the cafeteria.

Act Like Men - Husbands: If you are a husband or hoping to be a husband someday, GCF will be offering a class outlining the 7 L's of a godly husband. The class is scheduled for Saturday, April 14 at the church office from 8:00 to 10:30 a.m. Breakfast with Dunn Bros coffee will be served. $5 per participant. Notify Pastor Kevin by Wednesday, April 11 if you plan to attend.

Women's Retreat Coming Soon! Brochures are available on the information table. We look forward to getting away together April 27-28/29. This year's speakers are Jan Goris and her daughter Lisa Howse. The theme is Hope in God (1 Peter 1:18, 21). Ladies 16 years of age and up are invited to register. See Susan Fergus, Claire Belknap or Shelley Herzog if you have questions.

Next Week’s Fighter Verse

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!

Psalm 96:6-8 (ESV)

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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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