Opening Our Eyes

I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His

power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right

hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

~Ephesians 1:18-21 (BSB)

As most of you know, every year, I seek God for a theme for the year. This year is: 2020 The Year of Vision. There is no way that I could have imagined what we have gone through in this year when I began to teach about us, as Christians, having clear vision. In this year we have looked at how God sees things. The church in America had been blinded by a false reli-gion called Moral Therapeutic Deism. The first person to coin this term was Christian Smith in his book On Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. On pages 1-2 he outlines this worldview in five statements. They are:

1) God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. 2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. 3) The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 4) God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem. 5) Good people go to heaven when they die.

I want to make Ephesians 1:18-21 our prayer for all of us here at NMMC. I am convinced that God is behind the culture war that our country is in. I believe that God is weeding Moral Therapeutic Deism from His church. The emphasis of our faith has got to be Jesus Christ and not what we get out of a generic belief in God. We begin our faith when we first receive Christ as our Lord and Savior and become born again. The Holy Spirit permanently enters our life and we are changed. I am also convinced that every church has some good moral people who have not been born again. I am seeing God at work to purify His church. May we turn our emphasis back to Jesus Christ and to sharing our story of how we became born again.

In Christ, Pastor Ken

Missionary Messenger North Manchester Missionary Church

806 State Road 114 East North Manchester, IN 46962

Phone: 260 982-6012 manchestermissionary@gmail.com

www.nmmc1.com

What is prayer?

Prayer is a conversation with God. Talk to Him as you would your best friend. Be honest about what concerns you. Question things, ask for His help in understanding, making decisions, forgiving those who have hurt you. Ask Him to show you ways to love others, especially those you are having trouble loving. Give Him thanks for who He is! Praise Him for all things, in all things. Name your blessings and thank Him. Trust Him! Take your burdens and fears to Him and leave them with Him. Nothing is impossible with God. He loves you and knows everything about you. So take everything to God in prayer.

He is in control, not you. Trust Him only.

Read God’s Word and get to know Him. If we have time for TV, and FB and other things to read, we have time to read from the Bible, God’s

Holy Word.

I need to work on this, too. I use the Bible YouVersion app. https://www.bible.com. It has Bible studies, prayers, and audible Bible reading if you want that. Check it out. You can even do

Bible studies with friends and family on it.

2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Matthew 17:20-21 HCSB “Because of your little faith,” He told them. “For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. ”

Luke 9:23 KJV And he said to them all, If any man will

PRAYER FOCUS come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We need you now in our country. We are at a crossroads, we can turn to you or away from you. Help us to seek you and to turn from our evil ways. I believe we are experiencing your judge-ment in this country. The pandemic, the econom-ic crisis and the racial divisions. Our country is in turmoil and much of it is being manufactured for evil ends. This is a spiritual battle and the battle belongs to the Lord. Father we ask you to bind the forces of evil against us and help us to be

about your business.

Raise up bold pastors and leaders to speak your truth to lead us into a new awaking of your Holy Spirit in your churches here and around the world. Give us the courage to take up our cross and follow you no matter what. Forgive us Lord for our complacency and teach us your ways. Revive us Lord. Cleanse us from all unrighteous-ness and create in us a clean heart. Have mercy on us as your church and your country. Save us,

your church, Lord, and save the USA.

Be with Pastor Ken and the local pastors to work together for your purposes. Protect them and their families in these evil times. People need the Lord and we, your Church need the Lord. Help us to be sincere Christians seeking and serving you

only.

In Jesus name, Amen. Next prayer meeting is July 14 at 7 pm, in the fellowship hall. Join us as we intercede for others and for our country and leaders.

2 Corinthians 5:7

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Dianne Fox, Prayer coordinator

CONNECTION NOTES:

We are going to take a look back and cele-brate our Outreach and Connection efforts this month. So far 2020 has been an unusual year and we need to be encouraged. Please join us for lunch on Sunday, July 19th. as we celebrate by looking back and by thinking forward.

Over the last few years we have done several things to build connection with others. Some of the things we have done are: free garage "sale", Purple Sunday and cancer survivor awareness, Easter basket "drops", Ladies Christmas in July, Sunday Picnic in the Park, Community Garden, Birthday Celebrations at Timbercrest. Not all of these ideas have accomplished as much "connectivity " as others. We have enjoyed getting to know our college age friends through "Gather @ the Table" and was very sad when it was cut short last year by Covid impact. Our commu-nity teachers love the "Care for Teachers" breakfast each year. The attendance is inspir-ing for those who help. The Safety Workers Christmas meal has been so appreciated each year. So much so, that they asked us to pro-vide smaller amounts of food; they were overwhelmed! And last year we had our first ever Chili Cookoff!

These are just some of the things that we, collectively, have done. We do these things to provide opportunities for us to reach out to others, in order to build connections and build relationships. We try to mimic Jesus, who went out of his way to make those con-nections. I want to thank you for all that has been accomplished. Thank you for your do-nations, assistance, participation and willingness to step in and step up.

As the Outreach director, I want to continue to lead and encourage us to build connec-tions. I desire to be open to new ideas, to consider different areas of concern, to en-courage and incorporate more people in our journey to making relationships, to be avail-able in anyway to help with this ministry. I also want to be sure that we not only pro-vide opportunities but that we provide any training or assistance needed to do this.

The ultimate goal for outreach is just not building connections or reaching out. The real goal was given to us by Jesus Christ. He told his disciples, and us, to go and make disciples. So let's consider this month, what can we do, both collectively and individual-ly, to go and to make disciples. There is a task to be done and to who needs us!

Thanks for all you do! Sue

July 13, 2020 6:00 pm: Bridal shower for Brooklyn Walker

July 19, 2020 following Sunday service : Outreach and Connection Involvement Cele-bration Meal

Memory Verse of the Month!

Matthew 18:15 If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen

to you, you have won them over.

Pastor Ken encouraged us in a recent sermon that every Christian should memorize the Matthew 18 verses on dealing with conflict. It is actually 3 verses, but we will do the first one this month. It talks about keeping a straight line of communication. It is not until several attempts of one on one with the person should you bring anyone else into the conflict. If you get this one memorized, start on the next 2 verses.