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Written by admin on . Posted in Happy New Year. No Comments on

What a year! Looking back, God has been so good to carry us through another 12 months.

We have been on an adventure of faith, stepping out in obedience to God the Father. We started out looking at the life and example of Abraham, the founder of our faith. We studied through the book of Romans, which is the book of faith. We spent four weeks looking at different faiths and understanding why Christianity is the one true faith. Then we looked at the five greatest stories of faith in the Bible. Peter: Rahab, Job, Noah, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Then this past fall, we as a church stepped OUT in faith in our own Miracle in the Making campaign, where we are attempting to build a new worship facility.

Having looked back at our Passion Play and Easter service, our 4th of July celebration and our Beach Baptism day, our life groups and youth ministries, our monies and missionaries that went around the globe, we truly have so much to be thankful for.

For those of you that were with us for the entire year, you know that it was a year where God stretched us. He stretched us spiritually, emotionally and financially.

Whenever you walk in faith, it’s always a journey, it’s a life long commitment that requires diligence and perseverance, but for the person who walks down that road, God has His hand of blessing upon that individual that is beyond explanation. God truly blesses and honors those who honor him.

As I write this post, I am so ANXIOUS to share with you the theme and plans for 2011. I promise that it is the NEXT step. After one walks in faith, where you live and act in obedience not knowing what is around the corner, but if truly walking in faith, there is something that ALWAYS happens… something that God has in store for you.

I pray that you will join us the weekend of January 8th and 9th, as I will be laying out these plans.

I am looking forward to sharing with you the theme and direction for the next year that weekend. May God bless each and every one of you, and I wish each of you a MERRY and SACRED CHRISTMAS and a BLESSED NEW YEAR.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Written by admin on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Thankful for Thanksgiving

Remembering Thanksgiving:

Beginning in 1621 both Pilgrims and Indians began celebrating Thanksgiving together giving thanks to God Almighty for his miraculous provisions.

In 1789, a congressional resolution was delivered to President George Washington, who heartily concurred with the request and issued the first federal Thanksgiving proclamation, declaring in part: Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to
obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor. . . .

Now, therefore, I do appoint Thursday, the 26th day of November 1789 . . . that we may all unite to render unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.

In 1863 the Thanksgiving proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln was remarkable not only for its strong religious content but also for its timing, for it was delivered in the midst of the darkest days of the Civil War, with the Union having lost battle after battle throughout the first three years of that conflict.

Yet, despite those dark circumstances, Lincoln nevertheless called Americans to prayer with an air of positive optimism and
genuine thankfulness, noting that: The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful
fields and healthful skies.

To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever- watchful providence of Almighty God. . . .

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.

They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, Who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

That remarkable Thanksgiving Proclamation came at a pivotal point in Lincoln’s spiritual life. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives.

It had been while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he first committed his life to Jesus Christ.

As he later explained to a clergyman: When I left Springfield [Illinois, to assume the Presidency], I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers,
I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, remember to retain the original gratefulness to God that has always been the spirit of this – the oldest of all American holidays.

Let me share with you additional examples of Thanksgiving proclamations penned by various Founding Fathers.)

[Congress] recommended [a day of] . . . thanksgiving and praise [so] that “the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and join . . . their supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive [our sins] and . . . to enlarge [His] kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
Continental Congress, 1777 – written by SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION SAMUEL ADAMS AND RICHARD HENRY LEE

[I] appoint . . . a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God . . . to [ask] Him that He would . . . pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He would . . . spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remote corners of the earth; . . . and that He would establish these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue.
GOVERNOR THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1779

[I] appoint . . . a day of public thanksgiving and praise . . . to render to God the tribute of praise for His unmerited goodness towards us . . . [by giving to] us . . . the Holy Scriptures which are able to enlighten and make us wise to eternal salvation. And [to]present our supplications…that He would forgive our manifold sins and . . . cause the benign religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to be known, understood, and practiced among all the inhabitants of the earth. GOVERNOR JOHN HANCOCK, 1790

Brewline Bible Study

Written by admin on . Posted in Bible, Faith, fellowship, Men's bible study. No Comments on Brewline Bible Study

I was blown away today as I attended and spoke at the Brewline Bible study men’s fellowship in San Fernando. About three years ago, some guys from our church started a little Bible study group at Starbucks in San Fernando. Week after week, these men have been faithful to meet at 7:15 a.m. on Saturday mornings. They sing, read some scripture, worship and then have a guest speaker, followed by a time of prayer.

It’s lively, funny, serious, engaging and worshipful.

Today, this Bible study group had to meet in a larger room because they had about 250 in attendence. It was such a joy to preach for them and to experience first hand and see what God has done through a group of guys who SIMPLY have a desire to make a difference in San Fernando.

These guys LOVE the LORD. They are hardcore followers of Jesus. It’s amazing what God can do when you submit to Him and state, without hesitation, to USE ME LORD. And that is exactly what God is doing. He is using this men’s Bible study group to reach the East Valley. They all had their Bible’s and they were all hungry for God’s word.

I will be faithful to pray for them and if you get a chance, stop by some Saturday morning at 100 San Fernando Rd in San Fernando, CA and be prepared to have God change your heart and direction of your life.

Thank you Brewline for STANDING for Jesus. You blessed me, you humbled me, you taught me and you fed me. Can’t wait to do it again.

Be blessed….

Pastor Dudley C. Rutherford