In Revelation 21:6, the Lord said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” This verse helps us to realize that God is the only one who completely knows all of history past, understands all of our present, and who has a clear view of the future. He is the one who is our God, our Rescuer, and our Father. To whom else shall we go?
Call to Prayer and Fasting:
Please continue to be in prayer for the sick, those who care for others, those without income, and those who are afraid. As a way to devote ourselves to prayer, we are asking for those who are able to join us each Wednesday of this crisis for a church-wide day of prayer and fasting. Our fasting may differ—some may have an all-day fast, a day-time fast, or be medically unable to fast—but we can all be devoted to prayer in a special way. Let’s join together as a church spiritually on Wednesdays as we fast and pray for the mercy of God.
In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, God said, “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Pray as well for people to turn to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. As we saw in Revelation 21:6, the Lord is open and willing to offer anyone who is thirsty a drink from the spring of the water of life. Pray that people around the world would be thirsty for God in their lives.
Resources for prayer and fasting can be found in the email that was sent out.
Services and Meetings:
At this point, church services will not be held in person until our status changes. We will certainly announce when we will begin to hold services in the church again. In the meantime, we plan to post messages each week on the website and on FaceBook that are hosted on our YouTube page. The message will be available on Sunday.
This week we are looking at Ezra 8 in a sermon entitled “Fresh Priorities.” I apologize that I mentioned having six points in a five point sermon. Ooops. We look at how God wants us to prioritize: 1)Family, 2)Teaching Others How to Honor God, 3)Prayer and Fasting, 4)Offerings for the Lord’s Work, and 5)Repentance. God’s priorities have eternal significance, but we can often get bogged down focusing on temporal and earthly matters. Especially now, information gathering can become a distraction and hindrance to faith and even become an idol. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus! We have been posting YouTube worship videos that we hope you may choose to utilize for worship. We are using videos with lyrics so that you can sing along at home. Remember that RightNow Media is available and instructions for how to join are on our website. You can also find past sermons on the website recorded as audio. We will not be sending out the church bulletins at this time, but we will try to make you aware of prayer needs through emails.
There will be a Zoom Meeting from 11:00AM-12PM on Sunday. Please refer to the email to access more information.
Giving and How to help:
Giving can be done online at buttervalleycc.org, or checks can be mailed to the church office. This message will be followed by ways that you can help during this time. If you would like us to send out other ways to help that you are familiar with, please send them to me. A number of people have been checking in to see if there is anyone in need from our church family. I have not heard of anyone in this situation, but please let us know if you have needs as there are others willing to help. If you have a need, physical or emotional, please call your deacon, deaconess, Pastor Mark, or the church office. We will be happy to see how we could help or pray with you. If anyone is afflicted with Covid-19, please let me know so that the church can be in prayer.
Announcements:
Please be in prayer for the Young Adults who had their retreat at The Loft cancelled, but are having a virtual retreat on their computers/phones at times throughout this weekend. The Youth Group will hold their first Zoom meeting this Sunday night at 6:30 pm. Parents, please encourage them to join us.
Frederick Living would greatly appreciate any and all donations listed below!
- Surgical Masks
- Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
- Lysol
- Paper Towels
If you sew and are able to make face masks we will take those too! Please drop off items at the main entrance. For questions about homemade masks, please call Trina Brady at 610-754-7878 Ext: 353.
You can drop items off there as stated, or contact Pastor Mark if you drop them off at church. Jill Hendricks is going to work, so she can take them with her.
Our Food Bags for the Material Resource Center:
After speaking with Tom at the Material Resource Center, I think our best bet is to take our bags to the Boyertown Multi-Service’s Food Bank. The MRC is not operating at this time, but the Food Bank is seeing an increase in need. Right now there are only four bags at the church. I plan to drop those off on Monday. If you already have one put together and would like to drop it off sometime this weekend, please put it on our porch at 526 Cherry St, Bally or drop it outside the church office. If you drop it at the office, be sure to contact Pastor Mark, so I am sure to move it inside. Thanks for helping others.
Let’s continue to be a church family. Pray for each other. Keep in contact with each other. Let’s help each other get through this time. We want to be as Christ to each other and to our neighbors.