--------------Sunday August 24, 2008--------------
PURIFY YOUR HEARTS
James 4:7-9
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Confessing our sin and repenting does not insure that we will remain cleansed. We must also purify our hearts because the thoughts and strongholds in our minds must also be destroyed. When we confess and repent without purifying the heart (mind), we are likely to repeat our sinful behavior in the future. Why? Because the stronghold is still there in our mind. Satan will look for another time or place to "bring it up" again. If we destroy the cause (evil thoughts) or location (strongholds) in our minds, we can begin to realize the victory we have in Jesus. What can we do to purify our hearts? We need to read a little further in our passage for the answer:
James 4:9-10
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Who does the lifting? When we see sin the way God sees sin, we will be reduced to mourning and grief. When our sin causes us to hurt the way God hurts, to the point of crying, then we are in position to be purified by the Lord.
Satan wants us to joke about sin. When we are desensitized to sin around us, we no longer see how painful it is to God. It becomes a part of life and "no big deal." This passage presents a different picture: "Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom."
Our attitude toward sin should bring us low. Humbled before Almighty God. It is when we are humbled that God will do the lifting up. Not to a position of honor or power in this world, rather we will be lifted up above our sin...no longer a prisoner of war (POW) in the spiritual realm.
Looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday! Dave
PRIVELEGED TO SERVE... August 24th, 2008
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Lesson
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Dave Grant
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Song Leader
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Marc Sundquist
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Worship Leader
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Jesse Huff (James 4:7-10)
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Table Servers
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Dave Albaugh, Tom Grant, & Mike Couillard
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Greeters
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Marc & Jody Sundquist
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Clean-up
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Dave & Cindy Albaugh
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Nursery
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Marquela Sundquist
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This Week's Sermon "Following the Apostles' Example"
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\\\\\//////\\\\\/////NEWS NOTES\\\\\////\\/////\\\\\/
Everyone is invited to SUPER SUNDAY at the Escanaba church of Christ this Sunday from 2-6 pm! This will be a time of fun for the whole family! Come out and enjoy children's games, great prizes, inflatable rides and free fellowship and dinner! All events are free and open to the public. Invite your family and friends!
IRON MOUNTAIN-KINGSFORD & ESCANABA WOMEN'S RETREAT All women are encouraged to attend the 2nd annual retreat being held at the Laurel Wreath home on September 19th and 20th. The theme of this event is "Balancing Your Spiritual Identities". Registration will be from 6:30-7:30pm EST on Friday the 19th. The retreat will be done at 4:00pm EST on Saturday the 20th. There is a sign up sheet posted. See Bonnie Grant with questions.
DVD LESSONS AVAILABLE We have DVD copies of lessons presented by Ed Mathews-IMK and Dave Grant-ESC and the TV Lessons from Let the Bible Speak. They will be made available on a regular basis on the back table by the baptistry. Try to remember to return them when you are done so others may borrow them, too.
SHOEBOX DONATIONS Items being collected for the Month of August are: SCHOOL SUPPLIES. We are still in need of plastic shoebox sized containers w/lids. These donations can be left in the basket at the back of the auditorium. Thank you for your generosity!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to David and Cindy Albaugh on the 24th! Fred and Jewel McCracken on the 28th!
PRAYER CONCERNS
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Health Concerns
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Loretta Iverson fell and dislocated her shoulder and is in a lot of pain.
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Autumn Fournier has mononucleosis.
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Aubree Couillard returned to Ann Arbor for care. She had a MRI on Monday, and they are now waiting to find out when the next heart surgery will be.
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Kristen Creeger is under doctor's care for a brain aneurism.
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Virginia Powers has been hospitalized.
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Rusty Johnson's treatment for cancer is not going well. Pray for Rusty as he battles.
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Thanksgiving
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Les Grant is feeling better and was able to be at church Wednesday night!
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Sundquists have arrived safely from their trip to Alabama.
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Traveling
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Jesse & Tiffany Huff are traveling. Pray that Jesse's doctor appointments go well.
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Lord's Control
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Mary (Richard) Ault has been taken off the life support. Pray for her family through this difficult time.
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Continued Concerns
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Katie Yarger, Fred Mott, Aubree Couillard, Mark Hazen, Ron Nelson, Rusty Johnson, and Tom LaChance.
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Additional Prayer Conerns:
Health pregnancies for Tammy VanBrocklin & Teri Degrand - (friends of Jamie Beaver);
Sandy Erickson has breast cancer & having surgery on Monday. (this is the same family that lost their son-in-law in the spring, their house burned down this summer & now this....)
August 17th ATTENDANCE: Sunday School-46 Worship-63 OFFERING: $1,297
