Happenings Aug 13, 2023 – Aug 20, 2023

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Musings on God’s Word

Thanks to everyone who attended our 60th wedding celebration, and to all who sent good wishes. We had a great time and it was so wonderful to catch up with folks we hadn’t seen in quite a while. 

Did you ever face a project or situation where your patience reached the point of throwing up your hands and shouting “I Give Up”. I’m sure it has for most of us which gave me pause for thought. I also have this funny hat that was a kind of a joke gift for my 50th Birthday. On the brim are the words “I refuse to surrender”. I think it refers to old age or something like that. These two circumstances led me to some thoughts regarding our Christianity and, of course, a familiar hymn. 

All to Jesus I Surrender

Click to listen to the song

1	All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
	I surrender all,   I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior,     I surrender all.
2	All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow, Worldly pleasures all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.
3	All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine; Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.
4	All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
5	All to Jesus I surrender, Now I feel the sacred flame. Oh, the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory to His name!

This is another one of those hymns that provides a clear message. A sermon as it were.

Our Family is guided by Proverbs 3:5-6

5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall

This is clear advice to surrender, to give God control, to relinquish our control. So what does surrender mean? If I were a soldier it would mean turning myself over to the opposition. In this case it means giving myself up to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. By surrendering our lives to Him we then have a source of power and blessing that no one else can provide. We turn control of our lives over to the Living God. We trust Him to lead us when we make decisions, we trust Him to care for us in our trials and tribulations. We trust Him to bless us when He decides and our duty is to follow His guidance.

I’ve seen in our lives the open doors God wanted us to go through and the closed doors when He wanted to redirect us. When we truly believe that God is part of our lives we will allow Him to be the leader, guide, Savior and Friend. Salvation is surrender and certain surety for the future.

James 4:7

7. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you

We can see here that by surrendering to Jesus and God we will be able to resist temptation and the devil. Our path is clearly laid out if we follow our Leader. Biblical surrender means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas and deeds to the will and teachings of our Lord and Savior. 

Our challenge is to maintain communication with God in order to avoid the snares and temptation of the devil. Our prayer should be to that end. 

Surrender also refers to the influence in our lives.

Romans 12:2

2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Surrender and allow God to mold and make our lives the way He would have us to live and act.

Matthew 6:33

33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

Here we see that by surrendering our lives to Him we will be blessed beyond our imagination. That doesn’t mean we’ll escape some trials and tribulations, but even in those trials and tribulations if our lives are surrendered to Him we can get through them with God’s help. So surrendering doesn’t mean “Giving up” it means “Giving over”. God bless you all as you allow God to control your lives and surrender to Him. 

Sermon Title:  Distraction”

Bible Ref: Acts 6:1 to 7

Chapel Building

• The leadership team has decided to have air conditioning installed in the chapel building. Work should be complete in 2 weeks. 
• We are investigating ideas for redoing our front property into a maintenance free situation.

Future Events

Mens Fellowship Sept. 5^th and then every Tuesday

Mens Fellowship Breakfast Sep. 12^th 9:00 am

Jack & Barb are tentatively planning to be away from Sep 18^th for 2 weeks or so. No set return date.

Hymn Sings Monthly starting on Sunday night Sep 17^th at 6:30 pm 

Keenagers every two months starting Oct 19^th, 2023. I’m thinking of salmon as our hot meal menu item for Oct. December 21, for the 2^nd Keenagers, the menu will be a turkey dinner.

All events are flexible and are subject to change.

God’s richest blessing on you all

JACK PEAKE
250-510-4299
JBPEAKE174@GMAIL.COM