May 20 Ladies' Worship and Sharing Night

Well, we sang and we shared!!  It was great - we'll do it again sometime!!

May 6 Care Group

Our text for the evening was Romans 5: 9-11.  Here are the ideas we discussed:
-Heb 7:25
-His ongoing life guarantees our salvation, we are on our way to heaven, recipients of his grace, saved from the wrath of God!
-Now we always have light and hope even in extreme trials.  In hell there will be NO hope, NO mercy.
-We are hidden with Christ in God - Col 3:3  Lord, Hide me under the shadow of your wings.
-We are reconciled to God by His death.  Because of His death we will glorify God as He lives in us.  It is a process - that life working in us and saving us from temptations, trouble, sin...
-We rejoice = delight, enjoy, more than anything else
-Jesus, in his glory, is caring about the details of our lives and paying attention to us, answering our prayers.
-We can get side-tracked and think we have to take care of ourselves.  We must remember to keep looking to Him and asking for grace and help.
-Sometimes a lack of joy can stop us from enjoying his salvation and from giving joy back to God.
-We are sorrowful yet always rejoicing!
-Our real identity is who God made us to be.  Our prayer is "Lord, bring out your nature in me."
-We look forward to being with Him and that wonderful day when we will see Him and be changed into His likeness.

April 8 Care Group

We spent the evening discussing possible ways to serve all the new people who are coming to our church.  We prayed for everyone who is making decisions about how to structure care groups and make new ways for people to build relationships and meet new people.

March 18 Care Group

Mark began by asking us if we had a strong grasp on "Righteousness through faith in Jesus."  Here are the comments:

-It's amazing that God counts Jesus' righteousness as toward me!
-He sees me as perfectly righteous now.
-It's refreshing to keep hearing the truth of the Gospel from the pulpit.
-The environment of our church is "rich in truth" and this helps chip away at our tendency to look at ourselves and be introspective in an unhealthy way instead of looking to Jesus.
-Our righteousness is in heaven - Jesus Christ himself!
-The lack of legalism in our church is restorative.
-I feel completely free to serve God without fear or guilt.
-Religious rituals can lead to deadness and dryness of spirit.  God wants us to experience His righteousness through faith.
-I Cor 6:9-11 "...and such were some of you."  We have been moved from darkness to light.  Now our fundamental identity is that we are righteous in Christ!
-What hope this brings to our lives.  All we encounter in this fallen world beats us down.  He equips us with His outlook, like glasses to see through.
-Knowing the truth of His righteousness given as a gift through faith in Jesus lifts the burden of having to perform to please God.
-Thank you, Lord!