Memo for October 28
The first in a twice-a-week updates, looking back, looking ahead, but mostly looking Up.
Before we get into yesterday, please don’t forget to pray our prayers of the week and to reach out to our members. If you don’t have their contact, ask someone for it.
If You Missed
Speaking of Sunday…
Yesterday we looked at Revelation 17, a tricky passage that involves a prostitute and a beast. As a reminder, the chapter specifically tells us that the prostitute is a picture of the city of Rome and all its luxury and idolatry. On paper it seems obvious she would be someone we should avoid. But John himself shows us the reality is she is much more tempting than we give her credit for. So let us be careful about selling ourselves to this world in hopes of some gain—because her reality is one of destruction. While it appears that compromise with the beast is a good deal, in the end the beast hates you and will destroy you when it has the chance.
A. So don’t envy the wicked who have compromised. Their end is secured and their judgement will be severe.
B. And don’t compromise with the prostitute, as Jesus put it: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?
ALL IN Moment:
Last night during the members meeting, we looked at the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The key to this parable is understanding that FAITHFULNESS is the key, not success. With the blessings God has given us we must be faithful. As we seek to be “All In” this next year, the ultimate goal is not some profound excellence, but consistent faithfulness day in and day out. I think we can focus on 3 areas of blessings that we can and should be faithful with:
Relationships
Outsiders (the lost): Being faithful so that you can share the gospel
Members who are no longer attend: Being faithful to invite them back to church
Members who do attend: Being faithful to love, care, and disciple one another
Time: How can we be faithful with our time when it comes to our church, our family, our walk with the Lord?
Money: How can we be faithful with our money as we seek to support a faithful evangelical ministry among us?
Please pray through our prayers of the week. Reach out to these families to let them know you did.
Prayer Request
For Our Church: 100 Guests & 7 Salvations
Members: Randy & Keri Perkins and Sherri Pope
For Our Community: Centralhatchee Baptist Church and Mt Zion United Methodist Church
For Our Nation: Tyler Ballard, Vermont
For Our World: Shihuh in Oman
Worship Opportunities
We would love to involve more members during our Sunday Service. These are the ways you can get involved:
Read a Scripture
Pray for the sermon (for enlightenment)
Pray the prayer of thanksgiving
Help create a sermon or announcement slides
Fill the worship bags for kids
Record the sermon
More…If you have something else in mind, just ask!
Announcement
Mt Zion Prayer Walk (next Sunday): We will meet at Mt Zion Elementary at 5pm and prayer walk the school. We will give you a guide there.
Women’s World Day of Prayer: Saturday, November 9 women in our association will be gathering at the associational office from 9:30-11:30. There will be coffee and pastries available, Margaret Kelley will speak of WMU’s prayer partnership with Bangladesh and spend time in prayer for our community, state, nation, and the world. If you have any questions, please contact Keri Perkins.
Christmas Movie: We will have an outdoor Christmas movie November 30th at 5:30. Please invite people to come with you. Drinks, food, snacks—all free.
Trying to think of who your family can invite? Here are some questions to come up with a list:
Is there anyone in my immediate family who hasn't surrendered their life to Christ?
Is there anyone in my extended family?
Who out of my friends are lost?
Who are my neighbors? Am I sure each of them know Jesus?
What about my coworkers?
Is there anyone I see regularly enough where we know each others’ names? Am I positive they know Christ?
With these announcements, lets be All In!
Giving Online
You can now give to the church online, and it is really simple. Just go to our website: mypvbc.org and in the top bar click Give. Enter your information with a secure service that many churches use and trust. You can set it to recur every week, every other, or every month.