Pastor’s Ponderings
“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death.” Romans 7:24
This blessed month we will be celebrating Easter. That great event when Jesus died so we could live. Live eternally in His presence with a joy that will be beyond anything we have ever known or ever could imagine. Plus, in this life a freedom from guilt, failure, and discouragement.
Do you feel sometimes like Paul did in the scripture above? Does the failures of the past haunt you? Maybe even to the point of despair like Paul? Consider Judas. The Bible tells us that he was so consumed with regret over what he had done that he brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders and cast them down in the temple, and went and hanged himself. There was his tree. A tree of death to deal with the regret.
Today, dear friend we do not have to have a “hanging tree” of regret. Because of Easter we can go to the tree of life on which our precious Savior hung when He gave His life for us. Our tree was located on Calvary. As the old song says, “Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.” Another song says, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
Let’s celebrate our “tree” this Easter and give our Lord and Savior the praise and worship He deserves.
Pastor Homer
2-Jeff Johnson, Bentley Brown,
Laura Hough
12-Judy Mullis, Kathy Hinson
15-Wayne Pinion
16-Thea Ellis
17-Doug Mullis, Joe Frye
18-Jason Terrell
24-Mark Jones
26-Danny Mullis
29-Gail Maynor
MUSIC MINISRY
“Rejoice! We have a reason to sing for we are children of the risen King, a people redeemed through the blood of a spotless Lamb. Easter is more than a celebration; it is a declaration of a timeless truth: CHRIST IS RISEN!”
These are the words that introduce the music the choir will be singing on Easter morning. The words to the first song read, “Come people of the risen King, who delight to bring Him praise. Come all and tune your hearts to sing to the Morning Star of grace. From the shifting shadows of the earth we will lift our eyes to Him, where steady arms of mercy reach to gather children in.” Can you feel the presence of Almighty God in these words? Have you experienced His steady arms of mercy? REJOICE! We are redeemed through the blood of the Lamb!
Please make a special effort to join us for worship, not just at Easter, but every service. We, as a people are so blessed as individuals, as a church, and as a nation.
Serving Our Savior, Joe
Since writing the last Cultural Impact article, we have had the privilege of listening to President Trump’s State of the Union address. I am thankful to say that he addressed many issues that we as Americans are now facing. He offered successful solutions to each of these issues. He even quoted from the Bible. Let’s Praise the Lord for allowing us to have a President who is trying so hard to do things right.
Let’s pray for people even within this nation who are being persecuted for their beliefs. A few examples are the Benham brothers for saying they support traditional marriage and the grandmother florist who refused to service a same sex wedding.
Let’s pray for the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. In his case, we can also contact our senators asking them to vote in favor of his confirmation. Richard Burr 202-224-3154; Thom Tillis 202-224-6342.
Let’s thank the Lord that President Trump is pro-Israel. Let’s pray for him as he attempts to restore the relationship between the United States and Israel.
Again, let’s search our own hearts to make sure we are right with the Lord. The only way we can really impact our culture is to reach our world for Jesus Christ. And we cannot do that unless our hearts are right before Him.
Thank you and God Bless you all.
David and Jody
Upcoming dates to remember for Awana:
April 2, BARF / Store Night
April 9, 4-6 (Time Change)
April 16, No Awana (Easter)
April 23 Regular Schedule
April 30 BARF and Store Night
The Baptist Men continue with projects around the church. We have just finished the Women’s bathroom in the Sunday school building. Kevin Clanton is our project coordinator, Gary Williams handled all the installation of fixtures. Pastor Homer, David Faulk,Sam Hopkins, Clyde Hooks, and Millis Hough all helped out. We appreciate all their hard work.
April we will continue doing things around our church. We can always use extra hands.
On April 8th at 9am we will have our Spring workday. We are asking all men to come out and help us. (Lunch will be provided).
Next meeting is April 18th at 6:30 pm. Looking ahead, we have a mission trip coming up on May 4th through May 8th. Sign up in the vestibule.
Let's Be about Our Father's Business
God Bless,
Tommy Carlucci
Ladies on Missions
To God be the Glory, great things He hath done and greater things are ahead for us at Clear Creek Baptist Church.
I would like to thank everyone who gave to our Annie Armstrong Offering and we will continue this thru April. $1000.00 is our goal for this mission offering. God has called us to go into the entire world, either by praying, giving or going. To proclaim and tell of His great love and share our Jesus story.
I would like to thank ALL the ladies who have and are working on our Salvation Dolls. The ladies work on Mondays, Tuesday andThursday of each week, at the parsonage. On March 6th, we sent out 200 dolls to Mama Tara Miskito Orphanage Home in Honduras. A mission team from another church will be leaving in July, 2017 to do a clinic and will be passing out these dolls to the children there. Pray for a lot of salvations thru these dolls.
Our Christmas Joy items for April is combs or brush and hair accessories. A small list of each month items is on the table in the foyer for you to carry in your pocket book. Please remember to look at your list to see what each item is each month.
On April 4th, will be our next Ladies Night Out. Meet at the church at 6:00 or at 200 North Family Restaurant in Locust at 6:30 p.m.
Our next Baptist Women’s meeting is April 18th at 6:30 p.m. We will be meeting in Mrs. Norma’s Sunday School Room.
We still have a lot of cookbooks for sale. Some of our money from the cookbooks will help with the expense on redoing our ladies’ bathroom. We would like to thank the men who have worked so hard on redoing our ladies’bathroom. So, thankful for what you have done.
We have several events in the near future for our ladies. Dates will be decided at a later time.
Our Secret Sister’s is going well. Don’t forget to pray for her and to give her a gift to surprise her!
God Bless us and lead us as we serve Him daily. Love you all,
Barbara
6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”- Luke 24:6-7
We are so excited for our new youth assistant Chris Mangum, if anyone would like to get in contact with him his phone number is: (704) 965-3171 and his email is:. The youth would like to thank Thea Ellis, we greatly appreciate her and all she has done for the youth!!
Camp Caswell is approaching fast, if you would like to go with us this year the deadline for the first deposit of $75 is due ASAP. If you cannot afford this but would like to go or if you are interested in chaperoning, please see Maggie Brandon.
Don't forget that the youth is visiting Woodridge Assisted Living Home the first and last Sunday of every month and we would love for everyone to come sing with us!
The youth will be having an Easter Celebration Wednesday April, 12 in the youth room; all youth are invited!!
Maggie
Since Easter is this month, we are featuring two children’s books on Easter. The first is “The First Easter” retold by Catherine Starr, and the second is “What is Easter?” by Michelle Medlock Adams. I have them standing on the table by the shelves containing all the children’s books. These are for younger children, second grade and younger. We don’t have any books on Easter for older children, youth or adults, but we could all read the Easter story out of the Gospels. So, I would like to challenge all of those who are 8 years and
above to read the Easter Story from the four Gospel Accounts. If you want to read about the whole week from the Triumphant Entry to the Resurrection, read Matthew 21-28, Mark 11-26, Luke 19:28-chapter 24 and John 12:12 through chapter 20. It will bless your heart.
Thank you. Jody
VBS-
Please continue to pray for VBS and sign up to help. A Sign-up sheet is in the vestibule.