Sunday School: 9:30 AM
Worship Service: 10:30 AM
Women’s Bible Study: Thursday 10:00 AM
Men’s Breakfast: Saturday 7:00 AM
Letters to givers of record were passed out last Sunday in church, and other letters, for those absent, will be mailed. If you want to see your account record in whole, please contact Suzanne Lowry, or speak with Pastor Tom. We are immensely grateful for your faithful giving to God's work through NHCF.
We will have an after church Valentine's Banquet on Sunday, February 13th. It will be a planned potluck. Please sign up on the clipboard in the Commons. Besides the dinner we'll have some party favors and entertainment. Reserve the date and be "our Valentine."
This coming Thursday, February 3rd, in our church at 2:00 pm, we will be hosting a meeting of those interested in supporting Bill Glass Behind the Walls ministry to prison inmates. They want to get Arizona opened up again to gospel ministry visitation programs in our prisons.; This is an in-formational meeting, and you are under no obligation.
We continue to celebrate human life into the new year, remembering to pray our repentance as a people, and to pray God’s forgiveness of our nation.
It is imperative that we believers are committed to preserving hu-man life in the womb. Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision of the Supreme Court that opened the door to abortion on demand, was passed on January 22, 1973. Since then, 50 million viable babies have been sacrificed.
Jesus says, "Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you" (Matt.7.1-2). The Lord did not mean that we aren't to judge at all. He was speaking to the issue of hypocritical manners in judgment. "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye" (7.3)?
This judgment thing is a touchy issue, basically because we are making judgments all the time which may be vital to our survival. Many of these judgments have a saving value, like avoiding rattlesnakes, or observing speed limits. It's the judgments about people of which Jesus is speaking.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom.3.23),
Healthy judgment is accompanied with mercy and grace. It's much like the Cross of Christ. Jesus on the Cross was being judged for the sins of the world by God the Father, but at the same time, Jesus asked, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23.34). The Cross is the perfect judgment and the perfect mercy which overcomes sin.
Our judgments need to be in the same manner. Many behaviors deserve judgment, like murder and thievery, but at the same time, there needs to be room for mercy in our hearts.
It's much like Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice." Where Shylock, the merchant, demands a pound of flesh from his debtor, Antonio, but Portia, the lawyer, gives a magnificent soliloquy in the debtor's defense, saying, " The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. Upon the place beneath...It is an attribute to God Himself...(Act IV, Scene I).
Pastor Tom
"I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life”.
(John 8:12)
Pastor Jim Powell
Pastor Tom Brown
Pastor Jim Powell, Assoc. Pastor/Worship leader Terry Lowry, Elder
DEACONS & STAFF
Bill Bujnowski, Lee Copeland, Lanny Dameron, Chris Lewis, Roger Brown and Lee Larson
Lora Slater – Secretary
John Greer – Media,
Tami Powell – Nursery, and Kitchen
Cathy Parry– Prayer
