Summer Ladies Study, Prayer, and Fellowship

Ladies, you have a great opportunity to meet during the summer months for Bible study, prayer, and fellowship on Thursday mornings from 9:30 until 11 at Gloria Eynon’s home beginning this week June 17th. Gloria lives at 4203 Rosedale St., Unit 29B , Gig Harbor, WA 98335.

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Ezekiel 36: 26-27

In the past few days I have been meditating on the message in these verses. What a contrast God presents here of a heart of stone being taken from us and a heart of flesh being given to us. My prayer is that this would be a reality for all of us. Oh that we would have hearts that are alive, vibrant, and on fire to live wholeheartedly for God.

Oh Glorious Day!!

Just a little over ten months ago demolition and then rebuilding began on our church facility. With great excitement we look forward to a wonderful celebration of the grand opening and dedication of this amazingly remodeled building this coming Sunday afternoon at 2:30. Please make plans to be part of this historic day. God has blessed us beyond anything we could imagine during this past year of Covid restrictions and Sunday mid-afternoon meetings. Although we will continue to meet this coming Sunday in the afternoon, the following Sunday begins our regular schedule of 9:30 Sunday School and 10:30 Worship Service.

Just in case you did not get Pastor Chris’s communication this week about Sunday, I have copied it below. This is a great challenge for all of us.

Church Family:

 The Lord has moved mountains today! Pierce County officials have assured us of our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy and we are confirmed for our May 16 Grand Opening Celebration & Dedication Service!

Note that this is a 2:30 pm service. This will allow friends and family from other local churches who are worshiping in the morning to be able join us for this very special occasion. "Open house" before the service and fellowship afterward. More details to come in the next few days. Meanwhile, please feel free to invite others to join us.

 Just a few years back, we studied through the book of Nehemiah on Sundays. The unprecedented effort to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem has served as an inspiration to church construction projects through the ages. But there's an aspect of their dedication service that should also guide us as we prepare to celebrate this Sunday. Just prior to the day of celebration, we read in Nehemiah 12:30 that "the priests and the Levites purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates and the wall." While this was indeed a religious formality for Israel, it represented something God wanted to be happening in the heart: purification.

 What better way for us to prepare for Sunday's milestone of wonderful celebration than to enter the place of worship with "clean hands and a pure heart"! Such sanctification is required of those who will "ascend into hill of the Lord" (Ps. 24:3-4). Every one of us wants this Sunday to be the very best it can be. We've waited and served and given for years to reach this day. While touching up the paint and mopping the floors and putting up decorations will all contribute to the joy of the moment, let us remember that nothing compares to personal holiness. Church family, as children of God let us draw near to God in personal repentance and worship and revival as we ascend the hill to this coming weekend. Upon this foundation of hearts right with God, we can expect the celebration to be TRULY AWESOME! May God be glorified!

Biblical Leadership

A lot of confusion exists today concerning the qualifications of a good spiritual leader. Oh course the only true spiritual leaders are those that function within a Biblical realm; all other supposed “spiritual” leaders actually should be labeled false spiritual leaders. But even within Christian churches people commonly have a worldly mindset when it comes to recognizing those who would lead them. Frequently, worldly success, showmanship, dressing the right way, being a good organizer, or even certain advanced educational degrees become determining factors as to whether someone is a good spiritual leader. However, think about the life of Christ for just a few minutes and you will realize that He would not have met any of these qualifications. Actually, the Bible clearly tells us what qualifications we should look for in spiritual leaders; it all boils down to character. 1 Timothy 3 “2 Therefore an overseer (pastor) must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”

Our final Bible Study for this spring will be this Thursday morning at 9:30 at Harborview Fellowship. Let’s have a good discussion concerning true Biblical leaders—there is actual application for all of us. Beginning next week we will pour our energies into helping to get our new building ready to move into.

Keep an eye on Community for updates on workdays.