October 2015
A LDERSGATE U NITED M ETHODIST C HURCH
Inside this issue: Birthdays 2 Did You Know ? 3 Our Laity 3 Sunday School (children) 4 Trick or Treat UNICEF 4 Third Grade Bibles 4 WNL 5 GriefShare 6 UMM BBQ/Stew 6 Missions Yard Sale 6 Quiet Days 7 DivorceCare 7 Family Fall Festival 8 Sunday Morning Worship 9 Specials Sundays 9 Talents and Services 10 Survey Thank You’s 10 Drive-Thru Prayer 11 Angels Basketball 11 Help Feed Urban Ministry 12 Conduit Tutoring 12 C4C 13 Stop Hunger Now Update 14 Agape4Kids Update 14 Music Notes 15 Worship Wonderings 16 You’re Invited 16 Acolytes/Altar Guild/ 17 Trusteed/Nursery Multiplying Our Gifts 18 Ways to Give 18 October Lay Assistants 19
Experience
How can we find real peace? We need to steal time from our daily schedules to talk with our heavenly Father. If we insist on going at full speed, we rush blindly ahead without God's help and guidance. I have gained strength and encouragement from the words in Isaiah 26:3: "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You." It is only as we keep our minds centered in God and the Bible that we are able to summon peace for every situation. We can begin on a small scale. Maybe we need to take five minutes every lunch hour for a time of prayer. After we have managed five minutes, increase it to ten minutes of prayer and ten minutes of reading from the Bible. Don't expect to become a spiritually sensitive person in an instant, but take steps each day to grow in your spiritual connection and knowledge of God. Seek to create a consistent awareness of God's presence in your life. We need to focus on God's voice and His Word, the Bible.
How can we find the strength to walk in purity? Draw from the source. The natural reaction is not to turn to the Bible as the absolute means of truth and guidance. In our pride we think, there must be another way. Often we turn inward to ourselves. We feel we must have the inner strength to handle our thought lives. Yet when we try, we fail. Deuteronomy 28:1-2 promises, "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today … all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you." Obedience is the key to experiencing God's direction and blessing. The path to purity is an everyday process and a growing experience as we walk in obedience.
Homer E. Morris, Senior Pastor