ALCC January Magazine 2012

Welcome! Welcome to Abundant Life! We are glad you are here. We trust that wherever you are on your spiritual journey, that you will find something for you and your family here at ALCC.

It is our hope that as you join us in your our journey of seeking and finding God, your purpose and His plan for your life, that you will be changed.

Those who call ALCC their church, their home, are everyday people just like you. We are all wanting to follow Christ and bring the message of hope to a hurting world.

REAL PEOPLE, REAL LIVES, BEING TRANSFORMED

A Monthly Insight into the Abundant January 2012

Where lives are being changed

640 Grosvenor St. London Ont N5Y 3T4 519-858-4123

[email protected]

Pastor Bill & Kathy

4 Week Study about being disciple of Jesus

Sundays @ 6:30 pm

January 8-29

As a part of this study, we are also

offering the MEMBERSHIP

CLASS Sundays @ 6:30 pm

“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” I’m writing this before

January and thinking about

my goals and expectations. I just can’t shrug off the lack of

snow outside which I have become concerned about.

Why, you may ask? Well when it does snow, I expect a

flurry. No worries, we have

tons planned for the inside. Youth – “Plan Be” is our se-

ries involving a study of the Beatitudes -- don’t know what

that is? Come out if you are

between 12-17 years of age on Tuesday from 6:30 pm to

9:00 pm. We love hanging out so if you like to get to

know the group come out earlier as our doors open at

5:30pm!

His Kids – There is so much

excitement stirring during Sun-day Morning Service on the

lower level. There are kids

singing, smiling, searching, and smothered in love. If you

have been pondering about bring a child of your own, a relatives’, or a neighbor, this is a great time to!

Young Adults – If you are a

young adult and want to connect with others your age, feel free to speak to Will Whyte or myself and

we’ll let you know when and where!

Missions – Thank you to all who

took part in this year’s Christmas Hamper. The idea was to bless a family in our community and we were able to bless two! We appreci-ate your generous hearts! The

Mission Committee has another way for you to tell someone “that we’re here & we care”. Listen to the Sun-day Morning Announcements for more!

Music – I hope you have enjoyed

the djembe played by our new member Mike Fairbanks. Yes, that thing we have been calling “bongos” is

actually not “bongos” but a djembe! Thanks for all the comments, they are

esteemed. Join us in prayer as God shapes our

sound and heart!

Once again, thank you for all

your prayers and encouragements. Please check out our website for up-to-date information in-cluding dates, our mis-sionaries’ blog/sites, and more!

In this together, Tony Mejia

Fast. For those who would like to participate, we will begin on Sunday January 8th. We look for-ward to special times of prayer during the Daniel Fast as we seek the Lord in the coming season of ministry. Listen more for details. Come and let us go before our Lord and seek him in this brand new year. Men’s Chili Cook off! On Monday January 30th, Mike Menard will defend his championship with our annual Chili Cook

off. Our special

guest will be Steve

Farrar. It promises to be a challenging night physically and spiritually. Come and be blessed Men! Generosity over 2011! I want to express my thanks for all your giving over the past year. Annette will have your tax receipt finished in early January and we would encourage you in your giving this coming year. We want to encourage you to pray for a heart of generosity as we consider what God would do through you in the coming year. May God bless!

From the desk of Tony

Brand New Year! Go and Make Disciples! The emphasis for the month of January is Disci-pleship! We are going to do a special series called, “Body or Audience”. On Sunday night starting Janu-ary 8th, a special Dust Video will be presented on the subject of what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Consider coming and being a part of our conversation groups Daniel Fast! We started last year with an ALCC 21 day Daniel

Thoughts from PB

Abundant Life Community Church


OVERCOMING DISAPPOINTMENTS

Spent wasted

time inquiring of man “How

do you handle disappoint-ments?” Why do we al-

ways go to man before God? My youngest daugh-

ter has had disappointments in her life

due to bad choices and suffers conse-quences. Thought I’d ask her! Her

answer was: “Fortitude.” Since that was a word I’ve never used in my vo-

cabulary I looked it up in my old Gage

Dictionary and got more than I bar-gained for! Here we go:

Fortitude: courage in facing pain, danger or trouble, firmness of spirit. It

then said “See footnote under Pa-tience!” It was titled PATIENCE +

FORBEARANCE + FORTITUDE = POWER TO ENDURE WITHOUT COM-PLAINING, SOMETHING UNPLEASANT OR PAINFUL!

PATIENCE: suggests calmness and self-

control in enduring suffering or trouble,

in waiting, or in doing something that requires steady effort.

FORBEARANCE: suggests un-

common patience and self-control in keeping oneself from

doing or saying something when greatly tried or provoked.

FORTITUDE: sometimes sug-gests patience but emphasizes

strength and firmness of character

and indicates calm courage in facing danger or enduring hardship.

What a timely amazing lesson for me. I know the people who compiled the

old dictionaries were God-fearing

men. I almost felt like I was reading a Bible lesson until the Lord showed

me in His Word Psalm 119:50 “This is my comfort and consolation in my

affliction: that Your Word has revived me and given me strength.” Only His

Word can do that. This corresponds

to Paul’s prayer in Romans 15: 5-7 in my Amplified Bible: “Now may the

God Who gives the power of pa-tient endurance (steadfastness)

and Who supplies encouragement,

grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy

with each other, in accord with

Christ Jesus, that together you may (unanimously) with united hearts

and one voice, praise and glorify the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ (the Messiah). Wel-come and receive one another,

then, even as Christ has welcomed

and received you, for the Glory of God.”

Verse 13: May the God of your

hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing (through the experience of your faith) that by the Power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing

(bubbling over) with HOPE.

Thank you Beth, for inspiring me to do this word search. Thank you

Lord, for reviving me at this time. My prayer for ALCC in 2012 is

for a Spirit of God’s Hope to indwell

in each of us and remind us He has a

future and a hope for every

one of us in His plans. God Bless all.

From my Heart to Yours Annette

Wed Jan 11 LIFE Lunch 11:30 am

$10

An afternoon of music, inspirational message and

fellowship

STEP 5 INTEGRITY

We admit to God, to our-selves, and to another hu-man being the exact nature of our wrongs. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16 As we struggle with our ad-diction we are likely to avoid honest communica-tion with others about our problems. It is important, however, that we return to the relationships that will help us face the truth. Ephesians 4:25 “So put away all falsehood and tell your neighbor the truth, because we belong to each other.” NLT Accountability and honesty in our relationships are es-sential to successful recov-ery. When we make our-selves accountable to others the caring influence of godly friends can help keep us on

the right track. They can provide us with an objective perspective, helping us to admit the truth. We often become isolated as a result of our shame or fear that we will be rejected if we even reveal who we really are. Ad-mitting our wrongs to trustworthy peo-ple helps break down the isolation. Jesus even gave specific in-structions for dealing with people who have done wrong but persist in denying it. “If another believer sins against you, go pri-vately and point out the fault. If the other person

listens and confesses it, you have won that person

back. But if you are un-successful,

take one or two others with you and go back

again, so that everything you say may be con-firmed by two or three witnesses. If that person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. If the church de-cides you are right, but

the other person won’t accept it, treat that per-son as a pagan or a cor-rupt tax collector.” Mat-thew 18: 15-17 NLT In Step Five we set out to

stop this internal struggle and ad-mit that wrong is wrong. It is time

to be honest with God and ourselves about our cover-ups and exact nature of our wrongs. We need to admit the sins we have committed and the pain we have caused oth-ers. We may have spent years constructing alibis, coming up with excuses, and trying to plea-bargain. It is time to come clean. It is time to admit what we know deep down inside to be true. “Yes, I’m guilty as charged. There is no real freedom without confes-sion. What a relief it is to finally give up the weight of our lies and excuses. When we confess our sins, we will find the internal peace we lost so long ago. We will also be one step closer to recovery.


Marty & Blanche

Fisher CR Directors

2003– 2012

Accountability

and honesty

in our

relationships

are essential

to successful

recovery.

Join us

for our Monthly Dinner

Thursday January 19

6:15 pm

Sunday Mornings 10:45– noon Bible Stories

Games/Snacks Crafts

ment references to the draw-ing of the Spirit. An example

is – “…..Yea I

have loved thee with an

everlasting love: there-

fore with lov-ing kindness

have I drawn

thee.” Jeremiah 31:3b KJV. These words were spoken to

Israel but they have been pre-served for everyone’s assur-

ance of God’s love. Turning to

another prophet’s writing we encounter the same phraseol-

ogy -“I draw them, with gen-tle cords, with bands of love,

and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their

neck. I stooped and fed

them.” Hosea 11:4.

DRAWING BACK – There is a verse that tells of

the peril of drawing back from

God – “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw

back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Hebrews

10:38 KJV. There are many

examples recorded of those who drew back. One incident

is that of Nadab and Abihu, the two older sons of Aaron.

“They took either of them his censor, and put fire thereon,

and put incense thereon, and

offered strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded

not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured

them, and they died before

the Lord.” Leviticus 10:1&2 KJV.

LOOKING BACK - There is

an expression closely related to drawing back, and that is

looking back. The result is the

same as drawing back which can be seen in this account –

“….No man, having put his hand to the plough, and look-

ing back, is fit for the kingdom

THE DRAWING OF THE SPIRIT

“No one can come to Me

unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I

will raise him up at the last day.” John 1:44 NKJ

“How is a man drawn?

God shows him his wants. He

shows the Savior whom He has provided for him….Unless

God thus draw, no man will ever come to Christ because

none could, without this draw-

ing, ever feel the need of a Savior. God draws men by his

love, and by showing them what his love has done for

them.” The next verse shows us to what extent God is will-

ing to draw men to Himself -

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that

God has sent his only begot-ten Son into the world, that

we might live through Him.”

1 John 4:9 NKJ.

IS THERE ANOTHER WAY FOR GOD TO DRAW MEN?

One might ask – “Is there any other way to “live through

Him?” Many verses give a definite answer. One is – “I

am the way, the truth, and

the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:6 NKJ. Another verse that bears the same

truth is – “Therefore I said to

you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe

that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 NKJ.

Mark puts this truth in these

words – “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but

he who does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:16

NKJ. There are also Old Testa-

of heaven.” Luke 9:62. KJV. A person who looked back to

the good old life in

Sodom was Lot’s wife. This is what

happened to her – “But his wife looked

back behind him, and she became a

pillar of salt.”

Genesis 19:26. NKJ. GRIEVING AND QUENCHING

THE SPIRIT -

Here is another means of drawing back – “Do not grieve

the Holy Spirit of God, by

whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephe-

sians 4:30. NKJ. One way to grieve the Holy Spirit is to not

seek God’s will before pro-

ceeding with an action. An illustration of this sin took

place during the time of Joshua’s leadership when Is-

rael dealt with the Gibeonites, who deceived Israel into

agreeing to a peace treaty

because - “They did not ask counsel of the Lord.” Joshua

9:14. NKJ. This oversight became a continual source of

trouble for Israel for many

years.

THE WISDOM OF HEEDING GOD’S DRAWING POWER

There are reminders of the wisdom of being faithful to the

drawing of the Holy Spirit. One of them is found here –

“Moreover it is required in

stewards, that a man be found faithful.” 1 Corinthians

4:2. NKJ. Another verse de-livers the same message –

“Draw near to God and He will

draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and

purify your hearts, you double

minded….Humble

yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He

will lift you up.”

by Dorothy McKeen


James 4:8&10. NKJ.

The reward of obey-ing the drawing of

the Spirit is written in the message to the

church in Smyrna

that is intended of all generations to fol-

low. – “……Be faithful unto death and I will

give you the crown of life.” Revelation

2:10b. NKJ.

This hymn illus-trates the importance

of obeying the draw-ing of the Spirit.

DRAW ME NEARER I am Thine, O Lord; I

have heard Thy voice,

And it told Thy love for me;

But I long to rise in the arms of faith, And to be closer drawn to thee.

There are depths of love that I cannot

know Till I cross the nar-

row sea; There are heights of joy that I may not

reach, Till I rest in peace

with Thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord.

To the cross where Thou hast died,

Draw me nearer, nearer nearer, blessed Lord,

To Thy precious bleeding side.

Frances Jane Crosby.

1823-1915


The Oath By: Frank Peretti

This incredible novel took me by surprise. It was written over fifteen years ago by a talented, under-rated author. It takes place in the remote town of Hyde River. Steve Benson, a wildlife professor, whose expertise lies in bears, arrives to investi-gate his brother’s “murder”. The only witness is his sister-in-law, Evelyn, who has literally been scared out of her mind. Steve finds himself sucked into Hyde River and its secrets. One of which is the possible motives for Steve’s brother Cliff’s murder. The only people willing to help Steve in his endeavor for the truth are Tracy Ellis, a police deputy and Levi Cobb, the eccentric mechanic of the town. As Steve finds more pieces of the puzzle, the less everything seems to make sense.

Harold Bly, the unspoken leader of the town, does everything he can to dis-tract Steve from the truth, even bribe the police chief Les Collins into threaten Tracy or attack Evelyn with one of his lackeys. Steve becomes frus-trated because in Hyde River there are different set of rules that even al-though the truth cannot be denied, it is. A real twist to the story is the culprit of the murder; it is a dragon. Yes, you

read correctly, a dragon. This book is not based in the middle ages but in

the mid-nineties, and this is not your typical Gronkle or Nadderhead. This is an intelligent, invisible beast as old as time. Cliff Benson was not the first victim of this fire-breathing nemesis, in fact he is just one of many over the past century; since being summoned by the town’s founder, Benjamin Hyde. The only people the dragon seems to fear is ironically, Levi, whom eve-ryone has deemed crazy because he goes against the grain and talks to Steve about the town’s sordid past; and Evelyn, Cliff’s wife. The strangest part of this allegorical tale is how the entire town denies and ignores the fact that this evil creature that lures people to “Old Town” and eats them, even exists! Although since Steve’s arrival, more people are disappearing by the same manner that his brother did, and all the townspeople blindly accept the lame excuses that Harold Bly dishes out. No one in the town acknowledges the dragon’s existence, those who do, pay a serious price. Overall, this is a very intriguing suspenseful novel. There were times when my heart leapt in my chest and my hand to my throat. Frank Peretti does a fantastic job of using the spiritual concept of sin and giving it a physical form. He is able to show that sooner or later, our sin will devour us, unless we give our hearts to Jesus, as Steve soon enough finds out. The question is: will he be willing to do that before it is too late?

Frank Peretti’s Web: http://frankperetti.com/

Teletha Giffin is a faithful member of ALCC since 2004. She is

homemaker and is raising 2 lively little boys with her husband Dustin.

She is a avid reader, loves to paint, write, enjoys Italian cooking and hopes to visit Italy one day...soon!

Rating: PG, as there is vivid description

of some of the victims’ ends

C:/Users/Kathy/Documents/NEWSLETTERS 2011/Newsletter Insert template.pub

http://frankperetti.com/


“day.” The calling is a way of informing the reader that God

is in control and stands au-

thoritatively above the as-pects of creation which he

calls. Now what worldview should

we develop based on this? The first thing the Bible tells humanity is not that Jesus saves – rather it is that God made the world, He loves the world, and it is HIS WORLD. I ask myself why then have

I always thought of this world

as junk, as sinful, corrupt gar-bage, that God puts up with

until he gets rid of it? More impor-

tantly, how has that type of thinking af-

fected how I live in

and treat the world? Is our world cursed

and affected by the continual conse-

quences of sin? YES! But we

must never forget that it is still God’s world and he is still

in control of it! ALSO – He has committed himself to fix-

ing it – Ro. 8:18-25; Jn.

Where To Begin? (Genesis 1-2)

For as long as I can remember whenever anyone mentioned any-thing about God or the Bible my mind immediately thought “Jesus.” Now this isn’t a bad

thing, but in terms of learn-ing to develop a good Biblical understanding, a worldview of which to look through…we don’t begin with Je-sus. Read Genesis 1-2! Put down this article and read Gen. 1-2. Now that you have – what do think? what beginning thoughts should shape our worldview – our Biblical understanding? Here are a couple thoughts that we must get

and that I think, clearly JUMP out of the pages. God is the creator of a good world which he loves!

The creation account is in-

tended for one purpose – to inform us that God made eve-rything we see and experience in the universe. The phrase

“heavens and the earth” (Gen.

1:1) means exactly that – eve-rything. Everything that is up,

down, light, dark, land, sea, human, animal, food – every-

thing! God is creator, and there

is no aspect of creation that is out of his control. No storm, no

famine, no natural disaster is ever out of God’s control

– He stands above and in control of every aspect of

the created world we live

in. The creation account de-

scribes God as using 3 days to form what was formless

and 3 days to fill what was

empty (Gen 1:2; 1:3-9; 1:11-24). Each creative day of cre-

ating and calling is deemed

“good” (Gen. 1:4; 1:10; 1:12; 1:18;

1:21; 1:25), except

day 2 (Monday) so apparently God

shares the worldwide distain for Monday

mornings…Kidding! His creative

acts are described as acts of “identification” and “calling” –

thus Gen. 1:3-5 describes God as “seeing” (saw) that the light

was good, and “calling” the light

Each creative day of creating and calling is

deemed “good” except day 2 (Monday) so

apparently God shares the worldwide distain for Monday mornings

Exegetical Tidbits by: Will Whyte

YOUNG ADULTS 18-29 years

Saturday nights @ 6:30 pm

Our purpose is to develop and

grow in our faith, discuss the issues on the minds of our

generation and fellowship.

Tuesdays @ 7 pm ages 11-19 years


Happy Anniversary:

Happy Birthday

Tuesday Morning Bible Study 10 Prayer

BREAK 11 Study

Sunday Mornings 10-10:25 am

Will Whyte 3rd

Jayleen Holloway 8th

Ali Macaulay 10th

Teletha Giffin 13th

Deb Goodwin 23rd

Tony Mejia 5th

Tony Thomas 24th

Annette Leahy 25th

Kelly Anderson 26th

Theo Batten 28th

Shy Taggert 24th

Greg & Shelly Chilvers

January 7th


What’s Happening in February 2012

Feb 5 Founding Pastor Duane McLean Feb. 8 LIFE Ministry Seniors Lunch

Feb 10-11 LAUGH Your Way to a Better Marriage

Feb 18 Celebrate Recovery Training Feb 19 Baptism AM

Feb 26 AM Membership Sunday Feb 26 PM Business Meeting/Pie Social

Monday January 30 7 pm

Reigning Champ: Mike Menard

NO BOYS ALLOWED

Dorchester Community Church

Tuesday

January 24 7-8:30 pm

London Section

See Kathy for details

ALCC January Magazine 2012

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Transcript of ALCC January Magazine 2012