What's up with the Bible Study

We will be viewing the 2nd video in the Truth Project series on this Tuesday night.  Then next week we will be back in Hebrews.  We started alternating weeks in Hebrews with the Truth Project for a few reasons.  First the Truth Project is a good way to establish a good grip on a biblical world view.  Also the book of Hebrews is a bit complex and hard to grasp.  There are several things in it that are herd to understand and therefore we are taking two weeks to go over each section to give us all a bit more time to study it out. 

On a bit of a sadder note;  the attendance has slacked off some.  Please pray for God to give you the strength and desire to be closer to him.  The bible study is just an easy means to that end.

Keeping you all in my prayers,
Cainan

Prayer of Thanksgiving

For about 3 weeks now I have been blocked from this site at work and have been unable to update it as often as I would like.  When I am not at work I stay so busy that I do not have time to write about what all is going on, but when I am at work I have some down time to reflect on what is going on in my life and at my church.  I want to thank God for bringing this back to me at work.

I also want to thank God for looking out for my wife, Heather.  A few weeks ago she went to the doctor to have a test done to see if she has developed gestational diabetes, and she failed the test indicating that she had.  Then just last week She went back to take another test (a more accurate test) to verify the first test and it came back negative.  Heather hasn't developed gestational diabetes.  Thank you Lord. 

I also want to thank God for allowing me a chance to better prepare my house for Silas.  I have been able to fix up his room and put together furniture for him.  This is something that I have been worried about with how busy Heather and I have both been. 

Thanking God,
Cainan

Homecoming

Homecoming is this Sunday.  The Zion Quartet is going to be with us singing.  We are looking forward to a great day of worship and fellowship.

The Service will Stert at 10:30 in the morning ang will be followed by dinner on the groungds.  We will not be having Sunday School or an evening service.  Please join me in prayer that the Lord will move on this service and that everything goes well.

Keeping you all in my prayers,
Cainan

So Much Going On

There is still a lot of things planned for us that are happening soon.  

We still have one more February Friday Night Revival Service.  Bro. Earl Partain Sr. will be bringing God's message.  Our choir will be singing once again, and after this weeks service we will be enjoying a Hobo Dinner.

Then in March we will start off with Homecoming on the 6th.  On the 11th we will be having our second ever Gateway G.O.L.D. meeting.  This is a meeting for our Good Ole Ladies & Dudes the activities are geared toward those in the congregation that are 50 and up, but like everything else no one will be turned away.  This will be in the late morning and end in the early afternoon. Then later that evening the Upper Room Sunday School class will be having a March Movie night.  The movie that will be featured will be The End of the Spear.  This is a christian movie based on the true story of a missionary and his trip to spread the gospel to a violent group of people who have never heard the gospel.  Marcus and Angela will be hosting the event so pray for them that God will be with them in their work. 

Following that just one day; on the 12th we will begin the day with Food Share in the morning and in the evening we will all be riding together to go eat and fellowship at the Top Of The River restaurant.  Then on the  21st Pastor Jeff will be preaching at Piney Woods Baptist Church and our Choir will be singing.  

I hope every one is going to join us as much as they can, and praying more than they can for God's blessing on everything that we set out to do.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

News for the Bible Study

Last night we started the Truth Project video series.  We talked about it and have decided that we will be going through the rest of the 12 lessons bi-weekly and continue going through the book of Hebrews intermittently.  I am looking forward to expanding our study.

I pray that everyone of us would grow in our interest of the things of God.  I know that just coming to this Bible Study is a way to show interest but is that enough for you.  Why don't we go the second mile.  What is the second mile you ask?  Well honestly in this context I don't know.  But I know that there is one and I fully intend on figuring out what it is and going the distance, and I hope that I am not alone.  

Please pray for guidance from God for the future of our Bible Study.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

Sometimes Everything Doesn't Get Done

Sometimes I get to the point to where I have spread myself too thin.  I just want you all to continue praying for me that the things that I do, that I do them for the Lord.  I would also like to ask for you to pray that god gives me the knowledge to do everything that I need to do in order that God wants them done and by his priority list. 

I know that I have let the posts slack for about a week and apologize for that.  I have been extremely busy working in other ways for the Lord.  Pray for me that I will be able to keep up the good fight and to finish my coarse.

Keeping you all in my prayers,
Cainan

Being the Trash Man

Yesterday I went to Helping Lazarus again to volunteer.  I thought that I could do a little more for God on my days off.  I realized that there is something that I can do to really help them out.  I found out that they do not have any garbage service.  Since I take my trash to a convenience center free of charge I decided that I would also go buy regularly to take their trash also.  I know it isn't much but it will save them a little money,   and it would bring me closer to God.

I think that if God will use you to do something then you should do it.  It doesn't matter if it is being the pastor or if it is being the Garbage Man.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

Bible Study on The Great Salvation

What is the "great salvation" that the Hebrews describes? Hebrews views salvation as nothing less than the exaltation of humanity (Ch. 2 v. 5-13), and as an escape to freedom (Ch. 2 v. 14-18).

God made man in original glory, "in His own image" (Gen 1:27) and God gave him "dominion" (v. 28, KJV). That dominion was lost in the Fall, shattering God's intention. But God's love wasn’t lost in the Fall. Man was still God's concern, and so Jesus stepped down to become Man, suffering death that He might bring "many sons to glory" (Heb 2:10). This is the exaltation! In Christ, we have been lifted up to share the Jesus’s glory, becoming in Him so fully "of the same family" that we are called by Jesus Himself, "My brothers" (Ch. 2 v. 11-12).

This exaltation, puts us far above the angels to be Christ's brothers in God's family, is also our guaranteed freedom. Satan, who held the power of death, was destroyed by Christ's self-sacrifice. Now we are freed. There will still be temptations in the way. But now Christ lives as our faithful High Priest to help us when we are tempted. 

I hope that this helps.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

Looking forward to the Bible Study

I really want to give you all a good jump start into the book of Hebrews.

The author of the book isn't stated in the scriptures but there are
several clues to who the author is.  Most people believe in a Pauline
authorship of the book of Hebrews.

Many scholars generally regard the book of Hebrews to be second in
importance only to Paul's letter to the Romans in the New Testament.
Because it defines Christ as high priest of Christianity, superior to
the Aaronic priests in the tribe of Levi, and how he fulfills the Law
and the prophecies. This book presents Christ as the Author and
Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). However, both the authorship
and audience are in question.

There is no salutation, the letter simply begins with the assertion
that Jesus, the Son of God, has appeared, atoned for our sins, and is
now seated at the right hand of God in heaven (Hebrews 1:1-4).  The
letter closes with the words "Grace be with you all" (Hebrews 13:25),
which is the same closing found in each of Paul's known letters (see
Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 16:23; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians
6:18; Ephesians 6:24; Philippians 4:23; Colossians 4:18; 1
Thessalonians 5:28; 2 Thessalonians 3:18; 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy
4:22; Titus 3:15; and Philemon 25). However, we should also be aware
that Peter (1 Peter 5:14; 2 Peter 3:18) used similar—though not
identical—closings. I believe

that it was simply customary to close
letters like this with the words "Grace be with you all" during that
time.

Church tradition teaches that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews,because
in most KJV Bibles the book is titled "The epistle of PAUL the
apostle, to the HEBREWS", and until the 1800s, that issue was closed.
Although a vast majority of Christians—both and scholars and
laymen—still believe Paul wrote the book, there are some tempting
reasons to think otherwise.

First and foremost is the absence of a salutation. A personal
salutation from Paul appears in all of his letters. So it would seem
that writing anonymously is not his usual method; therefore, the
reasoning goes, Hebrews cannot be one of his letters. Secondly, the
book of Hebrews has a lot of quotes from the Old Testament. Paul, as a
Pharisee, would have been familiar with the Scripture in its original
Hebrew language. In other letters, Paul either quotes the Masoretic
Text (the original Hebrew) or paraphrases it. However, all of the
quotes in Hebrews are taken out of the Septuagint (the Greek Old
Testament), which isn't consistent with Paul's usage. Finally, Paul
claimed to receive his revelations directly from the Lord Jesus (1
Corinthians 11:23; Galatians 1:12), but the writer of Hebrews
specifically says that he was taught by someone else (Hebrews 2:3).

Well, if Paul didn't write the letter, who did? Some suggest that this
was actually a sermon Paul gave and it was written later by Luke, a
person who would have had the command of the Greek language which the
writer shows. Barnabas is another likely prospect, since he was a
Levite and would have been speaking on a subject that he knew much
about. Others suggest Apollos, since he would have had the education
the writer of this letter must have had. Priscilla and Clement of Rome
have been suggested by other scholars.

However, there is still a lot of evidence that Paul wrote the letter.
The most compelling comes from Scripture itself. Remember that Peter
wrote to the Hebrews (that is, the Jews; see Galatians 2:7, 9 and 1
Peter 1:1). Peter wrote: "...even as our beloved brother Paul also
according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you" (2 Peter
3:15). In that last verse, Peter is confirming that Paul had also
written to the Hebrews! Hebrews also mentions Timothy in 13:23, "Know
ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come
shortly, I will see you."

The doctrine presented in Hebrews is consistent with Paul's. Paul was
a proponent of salvation by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8, 9), and that
message is strongly communicated in Hebrews 4:2, 6:12, 10:19-22,
10:37-39, and 11:1-40. Either Paul wrote the epistle, or the writer
was trained by Paul.

So, who actually wrote Hebrews? The letter fills a needed space in
Scripture and both outlines our faith and defines faith itself in the
same way that Romans defines Christian living. It closes the chapters
of faith alone and serves as a prelude to the chapters on good works
built on a foundation of faith in God. In short, this book belongs in
the Bible. Therefore, its human author is unimportant. What is
important is to treat the book as inspired Scripture as defined in 2
Timothy 3:16-17. The Holy Spirit was the divine author of Hebrews, and
of all Scripture, even though we don't know who put the physical pen
to the physical paper and traced the words.
So now that we have looked into the controversial question of who the
author is and have decided that it doesn't matter, let us now look at
what the book of Hebrews has to say.  I want to try to give some brief
insights to what I get from this book when I study it and hopefully
you all will either get something good from what I am saying or share
some insight about where I may be wrong / misled / or in complete in
thought.  I want to encourage you all to read what I am writing and
go study for yourselves to see if it is accurate, and if it isn't
please correct me.  My goal is to share what I get out of the
scripture and to help you in your study. I will not lead you wrong on
purpose but I am just human and I will eventually mess up and get
something wrong, so again I encourage you to study this and not just
take what I write as infallible.

I know that there is a lot of intro to this book and that I ramble a
lot so now I am going to jump into the book at the beginning.
In the first few verses Hebrews tells us how lucky we are to have the
word of God spoken through his son Jesus, because God had used many
ways to speak to us sometimes by personal directions, sometimes by
dreams, sometimes by visions, sometimes by Divine influences on the
minds of the prophets.

Hebrews also starts off by assuring us that Jesus purged our sins and
is now seated on the right hand of God. It is the same Jesus who tells
us of salvation it is the one who came and died for our sins and is
the one who is seated on the right hand of God.  Hebrews 1:4 makes it
clear that Jesus, the son of God, is much greater than the angels.  We
are also reassured that God is the only God throughout all eternity in
verses 6 - 12.

I just stopped by

I was driving home from the tag office in Carrollton and I decided to stop in at Helping Lazarus.  I have been curious about it since it opened and even more since I found out that Bro. David McKenzie's church, Piney Woods, was running it.  

Helping Lazarus is a thrift store that Piney Woods runs to help fund their ministry where they help homeless people get on their feet.  They are taking in homeless people and housing them and helping them as they search for a job and a place to stay.  I think this is a very good way of being the church.  

Right now the homeless are being housed on the church grounds and they are doing some renovating at the thrift store so that the homeless will be able to be housed there.  I was taken on a tour of the eventual housing area and I was so surprised and glad to see how well this new place is working out for them.  The store is open from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm.  I want to encourage you to just stop by there and see what is going on and see if you can do something to help.

The people who run the store begin each morning with prayer and a Bible Study.  Right Now they are going through the book of Psalms and the book of Proverbs.  It was very inspirational for me to see people doing the work of God in such a winsome way.

I pray that their efforts are rewarded beyond their wildest imagination.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

Absent on Sunday

This is the third consecutive week that I have had to miss Sunday Morning Service.  I do the best I can to understand God's will for me but it is hard to understand why I am not able to be there when he nows that it is my desire.  I even asked to leave work early last week just to make it to the evening service and I was blessed to be able to go.  I want everyone to keep praying for me as I struggle with this burden and pray that God gives me understanding. 

I will be able to be there next week and so I thank God for that.  I will be sitting in a different Sunday School Class each opportunity that I am able to be in SS so that I can see first hand what is going on in each class.  I will then relay what everyone at the church is learning and what each teachers' goal is for their class.  I will continue to give a SS report to keep everyone in the loop on our progress in Building the Church.

Keeping you all in my prayers,
Cainan

Coming to Church to Get "Fed"

I've been thinking a lot about something Pastor Jeff mentioned in a sermon not too long ago.  He was talking about the common phrase that people say, "I got to go to church to get fed" or "That preacher don't feed me" or "I go to this church 'cause the preacher feeds me good".  

Pastor Jeff stated that if you are looking for someone else to feed you then you are a baby.  Well, that makes sense; babies are the only ones who can't feed themselves.  Now, don't get this wrong; he wasn't saying that you whine and cry a lot he was just saying that you come to church to worship God and to praise him.  Your feeding time should almost always be a time where you can get alone with God and his word and really get intimate with it.  Your own personal Bible studies is where you can really get fed, and don't worry if you are really hungry because it is always a buffet.

There is so much in the Bible that you could study it every waking minute of every day for the rest of your life, and you still would not have gained all the wealth of knowledge it has to offer.  However I want to encourage you all to gobble up every little crumb that the preacher throws out there, but still go home for your meals.  Crumbs are not enough to support you in your growth.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

First Friday

I can say nothing more than the service tonight was good.  God was right on target and Bro. David preached his heart out.  If you were there I'm sure you received a blessing and if you weren't you really missed out.  Bro. David reminded us that if we don't reach our loved ones and pray for God to convict their hearts that they WILL DIE AND GO TO HELL.  I am going to do the very best I can to live the word of God and not just try to reason with it, and I hope you do the same.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

The first of the February Fridays

The time is here, for the revival services to begin.  Bro. David Mckenzie Sr. will be joining us tonight to bring the message of the Lord.  I hope that you have already called his name out several times leading up to now.  However if you haven't as of yet I encourage you to do so as fervently as you can.  I truly believe that God will shower down blessings upon the whole church if we only ask in faith.


Tonight after the service we will be having dinner on the grounds with a mexican menu.  I hope you will stay and join us in fellowship.  I also hope that you are equipped with Pepto-Bismol, Tums, Rolaids or anything else that will help you digest in peace.

Keeping you all in my prayers,
Cainan

New Things Going on in the Bible Study

We just finished the book of Philippians and are going to move on.  It is amazing how God is blessing through this ministry.  We have grown from 6 to 8 to 11.  This is awesome. We are about to begin the book of Hebrews and I want to encourage you all to pray for each meeting and everyone there even more than you did before.  God has blessed because we have asked for it so now I would like to see if we have the faith to ask for a double portion while we study this book.

I don't just want to grow in numbers but to grow in actual interest.  I pray that everyone of us would grow in there interest of the things of God.  I know that just coming to this Bible Study is a way to show interest but is that enough for you.  Why don't we go the second mile.  What is the second mile you ask?  Well honestly in this context I don't know.  But I know that there is one and I fully intend on figuring out what it is and going the distance, and I hope that I am not alone.  

Please pray for guidance from God for the future of our Bible Study.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

VBS News

I want to remind everyone that we will be having a VBS meeting on Sunday the 13th.  We will be going over what we all still need to do to be ready for it. We will also go over one of the lessons to keep us all on the same page.

I want to get everyone on board with this, so I am going to leave nothing to surprise.  Candice, Heather, and I made a schedule of the entire week to see how many volunteers we will need that week and at what time we will need them.  However we still haven't been able to figure out the details about our field trips.  We are planning a trip to White Oak Park on either Tuesday or Thursday and hopefully another trip somewhere else on the other day.  In the Schedule that we have made, we haven't accounted for who will go on the trips as chaperons so we will need more help than what we have listed out.

I need commitments from people, a lot of people.  While I was looking at the schedule I realized that it would take many people to pull this off but it wouldn't take many people to give up much time.  I only need a few people to commit to the whole 60 hours.  My wife and I are already committed to it.  There are only about 5 other positions that need to be full time.  So that leaves a lot of people to commit just some time.  Anyone can be used for any amount of time at any time that week.  So don't think that just because there will be some big commitments made that you will have to commit wholly to this week.  

Also, other than people to be there to work, I need help with ideas about games and crafts and hopefully a solution to my drawing a blank on the second field trip idea.  I also need help gathering materials for the games and crafts.  We are also going to need help with getting together some food for the snacks and for the meals. W will be discussing this further at the meeting on the 13th as well.

The last thing I would like to mention is the financial concerns.  We need to realize that everything costs and that we do not have a deep money pocket.  We need to figure a way to gain donations or to have fundraisers.  We need to pray that we go about this in a winsome way.  We also need to be careful  that we do not get so caught up in the work of raising funds or gathering supplies, or even just working that we lose sight of the the real prize.  We need to stay focused on the goal of spreading the gospel and sharing the good news that God Saves lost souls.  

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

WoW What a message We heard on Wednesday night

Pastor Jeff amazed again as he opened the word of God and let God use him to give us the message.  I can't even come close to describing how good the message was.  If you were able to be there then you know what I am talking about, but if not you really missed out. 

The Wednesday night services are getting better and better. We are learning in great detail about what God has to say about "Building the Church" by going through the book of Ezra.  Pastor Jeff isn't just reading the book to see what it says but he is pulling other scriptures in to explain the History/Chronology of the story so that we can understand the word of God in the correct context.  Pastor Jeff is giving us the background and then shows how it ties in to the message that God has sent him.

Continue to pray for Pastor Jeff as he continues this series on Building the Church, and for the people that make up the Church, and maybe most importantly the people that don't.  

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

Sunday School Update

The Sunday School attendance is still a bit low.  However we are improving, and even if it is just by one every week we will keep adding it to the 61 that we had last week.  If we can keep up this pace we will have 108 on the last Sunday of the year.  That is something to look forward to.

Although this would add up pretty quick, I still want to encourage you to come to Sunday School every week and to continue to invite others to come as well.  It would be a blessing to the church to have a good regular attendance to Sunday School, and it would do each of us good to know that we had a part in the strengthening of someones relationship with God.

Let's also not forget that if we fill up Sunday School it is a big step to building the Real Church.  However, if you tell everyone the gospel when you are inviting them to Church and to Sunday School then you don't have to worry about them not hearing it.  So then you can rest assured that you have done the work of the Lord even if it falls on deaf ears.  Of course I want to encourage you to not stop trying after your first attempt even if the person seems unwilling to hear what you are saying.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan

Is It Really in the Bible

There are many things attributed to the Bible that aren't in there.  In our daily lives we here sayings that are said to have come from the Bible but didn't.  

So I am pleading with you now to search the scriptures before you come to a conclusion about what is or isn't in the Bible.  Also while you are at it make sure that what is in the Bible isn't taken out of context to fit what you might need it to say.  This is something that the Devil would do.  Of course I don't expect you now to just take my word for it; check it out to see if I write the truth.

In Matthew chapter 4 Satan is quoting scripture out of context to tempt Jesus.  Then Jesus basically calls him out as taking the scripture out of context to fit his own purpose and he tells Satan that he is not going to do what Satan is asking and he uses scripture to defend his position.

If Jesus, the only man who doesn't need scripture, uses scripture to battle Satan then I think that we all would be right in doing the same.  

So now that we are not going to make any preconceived thoughts a part of what we call scripture, I want to encourage us all to study out the scripture before we set out to do something for the Lord to make sure that we stay biblical, and before we judge what someone else is doing.  We also should search the scripture ourselves to make sure that what we do isn't contrary to scripture.   

If someone is doing a work, and they are doing it for God, it would be a wise thing for us to not interfere with that work unless we know for sure that it is not right according to the Bible instead of not being right according to baptist tradition or even Gateway tradition.  But, if they are doing a work and doing it for God and it is wrong according to the scripture we need to help them to change what they are doing to where that they are doing it in accordance with the word of God.

I pray that we can all work toward the bettering of our church for all and not just to the likings of one or two.  Because God extends his love toward all and not to just those who I agree with or to just those who you agree with either.  Again, I want to say that prayer does a lot of good and studying the word is also very important.  I hope that we can all agree that if something at our church isn't the way that it should be we should soak the issue in prayer and that we should consult the Bible before taking any action even before we tell the pastor something is wrong, which is the next step.

Keeping you all in my prayers,

Cainan