Posts by courtnut02 (Page 21)
Freedom
As a citizen of the United States, I enjoy my freedom. As a veteran, I really appreciate what freedom costs us. My recent trip to Latvia reinforced my appreciation for freedom. The Latvian people have only enjoyed freedom for some 50 years of their existence. Most of the time they have lived under the oppression or rule of another nation. As Christians we enjoy freedom in Jesus. John 8:36 says, “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall…
Mission 2 for our Youth ministry
To fulfill our mission of MAKING DISCIPLES through Battle Training we strive to teach Youth the TRUTH of scripture, how it applies to their lives and challenge them to practice it in daily practice. We strive to make every youth feel welcomed, loved and appreciated regardless of where they are in their faith journey while they grow in their knowledge of Christ, their Faith in Christ and their application of the Word daily. MATTHEW 28:19-20 (ESV) Therefore go and make…
Vacation Bible School
VBS has started and God has blessed us! We have over 155 enrolled at this point children and workers! I am so thankful for the support EBC is giving to VBS! While I am saying thank you a big thank you goes to our Children’s Ministry Team for the job they did with our VBS Pool Party Kickoff. Thank you Robyn Antwine, our VBS Director for her hard work in getting everything together and keeping it going! I am so…
Victory
I enjoy rooting for my favorite sports teams to win. We all enjoy sharing in victories. As believers in Jesus Christ, we share in His victory. 1 John 5:4 says, “Everyone born of God overcomes the world, this is the victory that has overcome the world.” This is a great promise. As we look at this crazy world we live in…we need assurance. The book of Revelation emphasizes assurance, gives us hope and tells us God will be victorious. It…
Say Yes to the BEST and No to okay
Within any ministry and ministry leader the thing that comes up more than most anything is what do we say yes to and what do we say no too. Not in a sinful or bad way but more from the standpoint of how do we choose to try to be focused on the best? When you are focused on wanting the best it means you will have to say no to the okay. The next few weeks I want to…
Coasting
Sometimes churches coast. They rest on what they have accomplished and fail to continue to move forward. Each of us has an opinion as to whether Emmanuel has coasted or not since we completed the new building. I recently read an article by Chris Hefner for Lifeway with a plea to pastors. He commented that “some churches are not growing or reaching the community that surrounds them. And some churches are working diligently to fulfill their disciple-making mission. As a…
The End of the Season is only the Beginning
Every sport has different season, there is off-season, preseason, regular season and then postseason. Ministry has those same things they just get jumbled together at different times. The off-season overlaps with regular season of ministry of a different kind. Next week we begin to kickoff this Summer Season with our Youth Ministry headed to Super Summer @OBU in Shawnee, OK. The week after we will call our youth into service as they help lead in Vacation Bible School. Our Youth…
All things are lawful…
All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Paul writes these words of encouragement in I Corinthians 10:23-24. Paul is talking about the freedom we have in Christ. We have to be careful because this freedom should be used with compassion and common sense. Just because our conscience is free to do something does not…
Hope
We all need hope. Hope changes everything. Hope is an essential of life. I remember reading once about some researchers who performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened,…
EBC Missionaries: Disaster Relief
With the severe weather that we experience last week and the damage in Elk City I was compelled to add 1 more Missionary topic to this series that wasn’t originally planned. As we discussed our churches desire and obedience to fulfill Acts 1:8 part of that mandate is to be the Hands and Feet of Christ (Matthew 10:42) in times of need. Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief is the 2nd largest volunteer relief organization is the world. Currently the Oklahoma Disaster…