Back on Track!

Well, we have had our two weeks off, and all the hustle and bustle of the Holidays is behind us--so it's time to get back on track!

We will be back in Small Groups this Sunday, studying John Chapter 13. I am praying now that we will all be able to be there and study the Word together.

I am looking forward to seeing you!

Progressive Dinner Pics

Everyone I have talked to wants to do this again! Maybe we can do it when it's not the holidays and everyone's schedule is a little less relaxed!

Blog? What's That?

Sorry that I've been A.W.O.L. this week. It has been a busy one! Don't forget we have our progressive dinner Monday! We will meet in the Fellowship Hall parking lot at 6:15!

And don't forget about Christ! He's the reason we celebrate! Take/Make time for HIM! Everything else is meaningless without Him!

Progressive Dinner

At our fellowship last week we tossed around the idea of a Progressive Dinner. If you are interested in participating, either by hosting a portion of the meal, or attending, please contact me or Cecilia!

It will be loads of fun! I hope to hear from you soon!

More Pics of Beautiful Ladies!

Oh, What Fun!

Here are some of the pics from our class fellowship! I really enjoyed it!

Words in Red

The next time you read the words of Christ in the Bible think about this:

There are two ways to look at these passages. One is to read them, value them as truth, the very word of God. Plant them in your heart, glory in them as they tell us so much about our One True Love. Then, read them again and allow them to be a checklist of sorts for your own heart and mind. Since the Bible tells us we are to be like Christ, can the same characteristics be seen in your life. When you see the deficiencies, ask the Lord to help you in that area of your life. Recognize that apart from Christ you cannot exhibit any of those qualities, but in Christ we should desire to be like him, and we have the enabling of the Holy Spirit. We will never attain His Perfection, but we should be growing.

Here's an example from last week's lesson:
John 8:28
So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

1. Delight in the fact that Christ was willing to carry out the Father's will. It results in our salvation. Lifting up Christ is our life goal. He did not have his own agenda, but delighted in the Father's will.

2. Ask yourself, in what areas of life and I working on my own initiative (will). In what areas am I pressing for my own agenda, my own way? Ask the Lord to show you, then repent, confess that what you are actually doing is saying, "God, my way is better." If you are discontent where the Lord has you, you are not exhibiting the character of Christ.

TRY IT! Look for those words in red and then look at it from both perspectives!

Thanksgiving Traditions

Here's a link with some ideas for creating a Thanksgiving tradition with your family. You have the opportunity to start when your kids are little. Trust me, they will be all grown up far too soon. It's not what's on the menu that will be remembered but the time you spend together.

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/holiday/specialfeature/thanksgiving_mgi_ms/

Where Oh Where....

Where oh Where has my little class gone? I missed all of you who were not there Sunday. Please let me or Cecilia know how you are.

We had a refreshing look at John and dissected the verbal argument between Christ and the Pharisees. We challenged ourselves and examined our own hearts by the light of the Scriptures.

I hope you have a grateful Thanksgiving and remember it's not all turkey, football, and shopping. It's about giving thanks to the Lord.

Cecilia's Latest Lesson...

Above are the pics of Cecilia's accident. God is sovereign and I thank Him for His protection.

Cecilia

I bet you didn't know that Cecilia was a deer hunter. Well, on Wednesday night, on her way home from church, she killed an 8 point buck! With her car! Thank the Lord, she is going to be alright. She did take a ride to the ER and had to have 4 staples in a cut on the side of her head and some wounds cleaned up. I'm sure she is very sore today, so please be praying for her.

The class is giving her a gift certificate to Lynda's Loft. You can contribute on Sunday if you would like. Please be praying for her. Her address is in the class directory if you would like to contact her.

Wild Week!

I've had the privilege of ministering to a sister in Christ this week who has lost her husband. I have just a few thoughts I wanted to share with you about this surreal experience.

God is ALWAYS faithful.
The GRACE of God is visible and overwhelming.
God's plan for our lives is UNIQUE and always good.
Whatever is happening in your life today is a PREPARATION for the what God has in store for you.

I will share with you more in class on Sunday.

Breathe Grace...

I enjoyed today's lesson, and I hope that you benefited as much as I did. It was great to have Jennifer visiting with us. God is faithful, we need to keep praying for our new enrollees and reaching out.

Look this week for the person who needs grace and be the one who has the privilege of offering them the Gospel. I would bet that there is someone you know who is weary and heavy laden. Why would you not share with them your faith and the joy of knowing God?

Also, remember to breathe grace and encouragement to those who are facing the holidays who have lost someone in the last year. When the whole world is celebrating it can be very painful and lonely for those in grief.

Remember the motto, "Something is better than nothing, and always aim for more." However much time you have been spending with the Lord, work to increase it this week. I want to hear testimonies of how you did this....

Have a great week in the Lord!

What took me so long?

Sorry for the late post this week. I have NO good excuse! I pray that you have had a good week in the Lord and that you will get to be there Sunday. I know it's that time of year for sickness, so if you are not going to be there, let us know so that we can be praying for you! You can email me at bornagin@bellsouth.net, or call my cell 256-436-1142,

or home 256-386-0270.

Reach Out!

Have you extended the Gospel to someone this week? I hope you have, whether its a card with an invitation to class or a call to begin a relationship with one of our new class members. God has given you your own special way of reaching out. Do it! I promise that if you do it for the Lord, you will be blessed.

Special Prayer Requests

Please join me in praying for our missionaries the Joberts as requested in the following emails. Also, pray for our pastor who is not feeling well. Lisa

Hello prayer partners,

We have an urgent prayer request: Tomorrow we will be meeting with a Chinese woman named Happy. She lives in the Buddhist temple here. We have been trying to meet her for months. We just found out that she is moving to the States next week to live in the temple there.
She called Cindy tonight and asked to meet with her. They talked a long time about Buddhism and Jesus. We have a dinner with her tomorrow night. PLEASE lift her up and pray that the Lord would open her heart to receive the gospel.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement,

Steven and Cindy

God's Grace!

It's election day! And I have a few thoughts to share with you. First, it's a privilege to live in a country where we are free to vote, and as your mother might have told you when you didn't want to eat your vegetables, "Children in China would love to have that right." God, by His grace has allowed us to continue to live in a democracy so be thankful and show your gratitude by voting.

Secondly, contemplate today how blessed we are that we can vote our faith. We can choose to vote for a candidate that shares our view on life and marriage. It's clearly possible that a time could come where Christians can't participate in the democratic process because there isn't a single candidate that it wouldn't violate our conscience to support.

Lastly, as you vote, pray for our country. It only takes a clicking through the channels to see the moral condition of our land. Pray and ask God to show mercy on us and send revival. Sadly the country that was founded by Christians has so strayed from her roots. Ask God to help us return to Him.

God, please bless America.

Reading With a Purpose!

Happy Monday! I'm posting the diagram that we have been using in class to help you in your personal Bible study.

The Bible is not casual reading, it's the Word of Life, our very sustenance for living. I promise you that if you will read looking for a promise or a truth you will find one!

I want to encourage you to finish out Chapter 6 using the diagram and don't forget the best part:

When you have finished with your list, praise the Lord for what you've learned of him and petition him to help you in your shortcomings. Then, use the description of the lost man to pray for those who you know who haven't experienced His saving grace.

BOLO - is one of my scanner terms, and I am officially putting out our own BOLO (be on the look out) for those around you who you can breathe grace on. You might find them in your own home or down the street, but LOOK for someone to share your faith with this week! Believer or unbeliever, share what God is doing in your life.....and if He's not doing something...ask yourself Why?

Busy Bee....

I'm sorry for not blogging more this week, but it has been a busy one!

This is what I know...

I think we have contacted in some form or fashion all 13 of the new ladies enrolled in our class. Let's all reach out to them in the name of the Lord. He has brought them our way for a reason.

Secondly, Caacie's Dad has been in the hospital, had a stint put in and is still on his way to California with her mom. He will only be in training so no physical work yet. But please be praying for their travel and Archie's health.

I saw the movie Fireproof last night. It was refreshing to see a movie that openly spoke of God, Christ and the power of love in a marriage. It was a good movie. I recommend it. Not theologically deep, but sound.

Post "Wonder of It All" we need to continue to make sharing the Gospel our focus. It's easy to jump on board for a few weeks, but it's our lifelong calling.

I hope to see you all in class tomorrow...where we will fill our hearts and minds with God's Word.

P.S. Pray for my dear friend, and our sister in Christ as she shares with a group of ladies from Ridgeview Baptist in Talladega tonight and tomorrow morning. May God give her the words to speak and receive glory from her willingness to share.

More Cute Kids

Bad Lighting, Bad Photographer, Cute Kids!

It's Moving Day

Today was Leslie G.'s moving day! They have worked tirelessly for 8 months on the remodel of the new house and today they are moving in! On behalf of the class I took them food to feed their moving crew, but be praying for them. You know how exhausting it can be to move. They have good help from friends and family and by noon it was looking like a home.

Don't forget about tomorrow. Pray that the Lord would bring us many visitors, and that He would be pleased to fill their hearts with His love through us!

I hope we will all be in our places and welcome our guests!

Wednesday! Already!

We have Visitation tonight! It's the last one of our enrollment campaign. If my facts are right, we will be going door to door inviting folks to Sunday, "The Wonder of It All." I hope you will all try to be there.

Don't stop looking for people to enroll. We have almost made our goal. Beyond that, I am convinced that God has already allowed us to enroll some ladies who need our prayers! Praise Him that He would consider us worthy to reach out to them.

Would you like to know the best way to prepare for Sunday? Well, I'll tell you anyway :) Spend some time between now and then thinking on how wonderful Christ is to you. List His qualities and characteristics that you have personally experience, then praise Him for them. If we will all come filled up with the joy of the Lord, and the gratitude of a beggar who has found bread, our guests will see our Lord through us!

I hope you will spend the next couple of days asking, begging, beseaching, compelling as many as possible to come! Who knows, this might be the one time that they will come and hear of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

PS. You might be wondering why the picture of the pansies. I'm off today and that is what I hope to spend some time doing, planting pansies in my window boxes. The hummingbirds are gone for the season and I need something to watch out my window :)

Monday!

It's Monday! I hope you had a great day in the Word on Sunday. Not only is it Monday, but this week is the LAST week of our enrollment campaign. If my counts are right, we are 3 away from our goal of enrolling 14. If you know someone, this is the week to call or visit them and ask them to enroll. Remember, you don't have to enroll the in our class, just in any Small Group class.

That also means that Sunday is 'The Wonder of It All' Sunday, and we need EVERYONE to be there. Plan ahead. Iron those clothes on Saturday night!

We had two visitors from out of town on Sunday. If you would like their contact information, just email or call me.

Cecila and Shea are going visiting in Lauderdale County today. Pray for them, that God would give an open door of sharing the love of Christ.

Miscellaneous Matters...

I thought I would put up a collection of little reminders...

First, be praying and looking for people to enroll in Small Group. We are half way to our goal, but time is ticking. Remember, this is not church membership, but it does make them a member of a Bible study. Remember our verse from Sunday, "an hour is coming and NOW IS."

Secondly, we have Visitation again this week. Come and go with us as we go as His ambassadors.

Thirdly, ask yourself today, "Who is on my heart? Who keeps coming to my mind? What's going on in their life?" Once you have the answers - ACT! Reach out, encourage with the Word, give a small 'just thinking of you' gift. Ladies, that's ministry. How do I know? Because the lost are selfish and self-consumed. If you have compassion for another - it's from God. So go, in His name, and share His love! And don't forget to give Him the glory!