Announcements
NURSERY WORKERS: All current workers and those who have recently signed-up, please stop by the Welcome Desk to pick up a copy of the revised Nursery Schedule. Our Wednesday Evening Nursery is on hold as we still need two more workers and a coordinator. Please contact Anne-Marie Albaugh at (443)375-2078 if you can help.
LADIES FALL FELLOWSHIP: will be on Friday, November 4, at 6:30 pm in the Great Room. Ladies can choose to bring an appetizer or dessert, or pay $5.00. Please sign-up at the Welcome Desk.
GRIEF SHARE: will be hosting a one-night seminar entitled “Surviving the Holidays” on Tuesday, November 8, at
6:30 pm. This is open to everyone. Please see Kathy Reed or contact the Church Office for questions.
CHILDREN’S ACTIVITY: “Kronk’s Intergalactic Voyage to Space” for 1st -6th grades is on Friday, November 11. Registration deadline is Sunday, November 6. To participate, you may register online or at the Welcome Desk. Volunteers are also needed and there is a separate sign-up sheet for this at the Welcome Desk as well. See Pastor Josh for more information.
From My Heart
It is amazing to watch the signs of the times and then read the Bible and realize we are living in the “last days.” The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” (II Tim. 3:1). For the next nine verses, Paul describes our world today in such precise and accurate language there is no misunderstanding that the period he is describing is exactly the conditions in our world today.
The Lord Jesus did the same thing in Matthew 24-25. He described our world today in such a clear fashion, it is almost as if He started His sermon by saying, “Here is what you will see in 2022!” The Disciples asked the Lord Jesus in Matt. 24:3, “…Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” And once again, the Lord Jesus began to speak, and one would think He was speaking with today’s newspaper in His hand and simply reading aloud the headlines!
There is one thing the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul warn us about which I think many of us overlook! In Matt. 24:4, as the Lord began to answer the three questions they asked, He said these words, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” In II Tim. 3:13, Paul said, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
The answer to not falling for the lies and deceit of the Devil is to (v. 14) stay strong in the things which we have learned from the Word of God. The best way to not be deceived is to make sure you know the truth! In v. 15, Paul reminded Timothy that “…from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
This is the reason we come to church, so we can learn the Scriptures! We learn truth from the Word of God, and the truth is the thing that keeps us from being deceived. There are so many folks who have no idea what the Bible says is going to happen in the last days, but the believer has the Scriptures, and the Scriptures clearly describe for us what is coming and what is already happening! The only thing the believer needs to do is read the Scriptures and trust the Bible. What it says is what it means and understand that it means what it says.
You see Christian, as the people of God, we have an eternal hope which the rest of the world does not have! Our hope is revealed to us in the Word of God. Let me challenge you this week to dig into the Scriptures this week and find out more of what this blessed hope is all about! Simply start with these two passages I refer to in this column: Matthew 24-25, and II Timothy 3:1-17.
Have a great day!
Pastor Norris