The Power of His Word 1 Peter 4-5

 The Message 4:12-13 Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.

 14-16 If you’re abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. It’s the Spirit of God and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others. If they’re on you because you broke the law or disturbed the peace, that’s a different matter. But if it’s because you’re a Christian, don’t give it a second thought. Be proud of the distinguished status reflected in that name!

The refining process is sometimes more difficult than we anticipate. But faith declares that  nothing gets by Him, God is always on the job . Experience knows that when the process is complete, it will work together for good. That is how we live today (in the midst of the process) with  joy, peace and, most of all, great hope.

Pastor

The Power of His Word 1 Peter 1-3

 The Message 2:18-20 You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.

 21-25 This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

   He never did one thing wrong,
   Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

It can be done. You can overcome. Whatever is before you today and any other day for that matter, He walked that path for us, to show step by step how to walk it in our own lives. We are healed by the wounds He received. We were lost but now we are kept by the Shepherd of our souls.

Pastor

Please help this Christmas be merry

Gateway will be giving out 300 Christmas cards this Saturday at Corinth’s Hometown Christmas celebration. The cards contain invitations to our Christmas church service and also list the church phone number and web address.

If you plan to attend the Corinth celebration, please let me know. I need people to help hand out cards. So far only two people have stepped forward to help. If you’re willing to distribute a couple dozen cards as you wander around town for the parade and festivities, that would be a huge help. Anyone willing to serve in this way, please email me at petteyshome@aol.com The cards are a great way to reach our community during a time when people’s hearts are receptive to the Christian message.

Also, if you would like to attend Gateway’s Christmas banquet, this Sunday is the last day to sign up. AND, all money for the banquet is due. The cost is $30 a couple, $15 per person.

The Power of His Word James 4 – 5

The Message 5:12 And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don’t add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don’t show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can’t be used against you.

13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

 16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

 19-20 My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

Whatever we say or do ought to be to God’s glory. If we’re hurt, pray. If we feel great, sing. If we’re sick, call on the body of Christ. What a promise, not only healing for our bodies but forgiveness.

Pastor

The Power of His Word James 1 – 3

The Message 2:14-17 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department."

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21-24 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God’s friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

 25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

James is my favorite epistle. I hope you will take the time to read all 3 chapters today. So much food for the soul. Don’t cut faith and works in two. What you’ll end up with will stink.

Pastor

The Power of His Word Hebrews 12 – 13

 The Message 12:4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

   My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
      but don’t be crushed by it either.
   It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
      the child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

The school of hard knocks is not my preferred choice of learning, but it seems to be the way God chooses from time to time. He is not irresponsible. It is always to build us up not to destroy us. I believe He is always doing what’s BEST for us, even when it hurts.

Pastor

The Power of the Cross

Sunday Service November 25th, 2007.

Speaker: Wade Petteys

Date: November 25, 2007

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The Hope of Heaven

Sunday School November 25th, 2007.

Speaker: Wade Petteys

Date: November 25, 2007

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Thankfulness, the Key to Praise and Salvation

Every holiday season gives us time to reflect on God’s goodness and to be thankful for His many blessings.  But we should take time to examine what it means to be thankful. God’s Word tells us that being thankful is a prerequisite to true praise and ultimately true Salvation (wholeness).

Sunday Service November 18th, 2007.

Speaker: Wade Petteys

Date: November 18, 2007

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Live Your Life and Not Someone Else’s

Most of us don’t have a problem with 9 of the 10 commandments, but what about "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Do we think that this one doesn’t apply?  Our modern culture says that we probably can’t or won’t set an entire day of the week aside but what about us giving of our time to Him in general?  There are so many seducing things that would beg of, and require our attention learning to give of our time is becoming increasingly more difficult to do.

The enemy is not always a roaring tiger but rather anything that would distract us from us giving of our time to Him.

Sunday School November 18th, 2007

Speaker: Dewaine Parker

Date: November 18, 2007

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