JUST SEE WHAT HE WILL DO! There are amazing miracles in store for us dear people … if we will only step out in faith in our everyday walk with God. Just what does THAT mean? It means that in e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g we do … e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y … we must stay connected in our relationship with God. It means we are praying – and asking and trusting. It means we are believing and claiming in faith ALL that God has for us for THAT day. It means we are giving to Him out of joy-filled hearts, excited about being a part of His work on this earth. It means we are receiving and accepting from His hand what He has planned for us. It means being in partnership with the King of kings and Lord of lords! Imagine THAT! And He is OUR Father! OUR Friend! OUR Business Partner! OUR Source! OUR Peace! Our Companion! OUR Healer! OUR Comfort! OUR Strength! OUR E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!! There is NOTHING that He is NOT! You can fill in the blanks for what you are desiring God to be in your life. And for whatever you are needing Him to be? Well, the Bible contains a formula for that – wanna know what it is? Check out Matthew 6:33 … “But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.” (Amplified Bible) It would help us to know that God really, truly understands right where we are at in our thinking – if we would back up a few verses earlier where He is talking to those who constantly worry about what they are going to eat or drink or wear. Does that sound like us? Then in the verse just previous, in verse 32, he is reminding us that we “wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.” He goes on, “But” … and then He talks about seeking Him FIRST. So, let’s recap. We all have our needs and our desires and our wants. God tells us He knows all about our needs; He is aware of each one of them. But before saying that He’s going to take care of it all, He gives us His prerequisites for handing out His provision. This is what He wants from us: that we will seek HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness first – before we seek any of our needs – before we crave and diligently pursue anything else. HE wants to be most important in our lives. HE longs to have us pursue HIM before we count on our jobs – or run to the banks – or rack up our credit cards with more debt that will be nearly impossible to ever pay off. You see, that’s seeking everything else first, and leaving God to come in last. What’s His order of things? Let’s go back to verse 33: seek HIM first – and everything else, I mean everything else, comes AFTER Him. What’s His promise? He says if we will seek Him FIRST, then these other things will be given to us AFTER. And God’s promises? Well, in case you haven’t realized this … He’s never, ever broken even one. Ever. That’s quite an astounding record! I think we can rest assured that God will always come through with what He says He will do! Here at Elevation North we are standing on the threshold of crossing over into His promise of provision for us as a church who desires to be used for His glory! Soon we will be able to reveal the story of what and how He is providing for the next chapter in our ministry! Then His work that is seen will stand as an amazing testament to promises fulfilled – and just how true He is to His Word! Sometimes it seems as His children, we ask and ask and ask some more. And sometimes the answer never seems to come – we even to begin to wonder if it is even in sight – or if it will ever come. Sometimes we feel like giving up! And suddenly, things begin to happen! Things change. Things look different. Things have come into place that previously were only hoped and longed for. The “suddenly” has G-o-d written all over it! He is the One who has kicked things into action. And He is the One who has rearranged things to His order. He is the One who makes all things new and brings favor and increase – that’s why they look different. And what was lacking is now multiplied and our faith takes a giant leap! The faith we had all along has suddenly manifested into reality … into things seen with natural vision now - that before we could only envision by faith. How exciting!!! Especially when everything that is happening is really about others, about reaching out and being the catalyst for change in our world … and letting GOD be that change. Someone has recently said, “We’re not taking anything with us when we die, except the people whose lives we’ve touched through the power of Christ!” Here at Elevation North, let’s take as many people to Heaven with us as we can!!! And with that as our passion, let’s just see what He will do!
IN A NUTSHELL . . .
IN A NUTSHELL . . .
- INCREDIBLE! That’s the word to describe our worship and our fellowship this past Sunday … along with the picture-perfect day God gave us as we went for a fun afternoon to the pumpkin patch – taking in everything we could! Even the adults got in on the action that usually caters to the kids ~ what a great time everyone had! It was the perfect opportunity for some of our newer families to get to know everyone a bit better!
- SPECIAL BIRTHDAY WISHES are sent to our youngest grand-daughter, Lindsay, who celebrates her 11th birthday on October 3rd! Lindsay, you bring such fun blessings into our lives and we pray that Jesus will always be #1 in your life! May your year be the best ever … we love you so much!
- LOOKING AHEAD . . .
- THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2ND: 10:00 A.M. – WORSHIP & PRAISE/WORLD DAY OF COMMUNION … in our NEW location! Our first service in the place God has provided promises to be joy-filled as we celebrate ALL that God has done in our midst! And with God’s help - we’ve only just begun! Pastor Doug’s message will be: “What We Should Look Like As God’s Church!” Our thanks to Jimmy for providing the juice from his home-grown grapes for Communion!
- SPAGHETTI LUNCHEON will be served following worship, and topped off with “make your own sundaes”! Plan to stay and enjoy this time of great food and wonderful fellowship with your church family!
- RE: FUEL YOUTH will be heading out for a PAINT BALL adventure with Matthias right after the luncheon. Be sure to have your signed permission sheets ready … and enjoy the afternoon with your friends!
- ARE YOU INVITING GALS to join us for WOMEN OF FAITH coming up soon on October 21-22? And have you turned your $89 ticket money in yet? We still have more tickets just waiting for someone’s name – so let’s match up every ticket we have with a gal who would benefit so greatly from a weekend away in God’s presence with lots of girlfriends! See Debbie as soon as possible!
- MEN’S STEAK FRY – also on Friday, October 21st … a time just for the guys - that you won’t want to miss! Be inviting some guys you know as an outreach for our church! More details to come!
- PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES . . .
- OUR MULTITUDE OF ANSWERED PRAYERS prove that our God is real!!! Over and over we get to hear your excitement about what God has done or is doing in your lives! Isn’t it great that we can be a small, yet important part of being used by God to touch others as we lift them up before the Lord?! Let’s thank God for the long-awaited miracle of a new home for Elevation North! And let’s remember to pray for each other, for the lost, for the sick and hurting, for our young people, for our military personnel, for our nation’s leaders, and for victories in the Name of Jesus! Never doubt … for God is able!
- REMEMBER . . . “We have a God who delights in impossibilities!” ~ unknown
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
