OGBC Cohort Weekly Update: 4-3-23

Scripture: John 11:17-21 - Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. (18) Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: (19) And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. (20) Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. (21) Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Thought – Have you ever been late? Have you ever had someone, or something arrive late? I wish I could say that this cohort update is late for illustration purposes, but I can’t. It is just late. I can say that thinking about the tardiness of the update brought my thoughts to the passage above. The fact is that Jesus may appear to be late, but He never is. He is always on time. When we run late we get frustrated, out of sorts, our tempers begin to show, our hearts begin to pound, we get short with people because they are holding us up – I say us with the assumption I’m not the only one this happens to – our blood pressure begins to rise with every passing second, and life just goes from good to bad to worse, in a matter of a short time. When we are waiting for someone and they are late, we get irritated at the person and again our day gets bad in a hurry. I can’t imagine the emotions Martha must have had when Jesus showed up four DAYS late. She had given him plenty of warning of Lazarus’ sickness. She had sent for Jesus because she know He could heal. When Jesus was finally seen walking down the road, I can only imagine the rush of emotions she felt. She was tired of waiting on Jesus, she ran to Him. She was going to give her a piece of her mind. She was taught a very important lesson later, as Jesus raised her brother from the dead. The lesson was that because Jesus was not on her time schedule, she was able to witness Him doing something that far surpassed the healing Lazarus would have received while alive. She was able to witness first hand the mighty power of God, “…to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think…” So, maybe when we feel like God is not moving fast enough for us, we should thank God in advance for His kindness to allow us to experience His mighty power.

Announcements to remember:

If you are interested in learning how you can help with Three Days clubs this summer, please let me know.

Sunday April 9th – Resurrection Sunday! –

8:30 AM – Donuts and coffee

9:00ish AM – Sunday school

10:00 AM – Morning service

NO EVENING SERVICES

Saturday April 22nd – OGBC Men’s Fellowship 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Tuesday April 25th – Ladies Senior Social: Lunch and Visit

Tuesday April 25th – Ladies Meeting: Castles in the Air

May 21st – MARK YOUR CALENDAR! – The Agee family will be ministering in song and testimony.

Prayer Requests:

Pray for brother Rick as he preaches at Faith Bible Church in Burkesville Kentucky.

Pray for the visitors we have had the past few weeks.

Pray that we will be able to effectively start reaching out to those who have visited.

Praises:

Jesus is alive!

We have started to have some productive meetings with people in the church about the church and improvements that can be made to be more effective.

We have seen some great movement in ministries of the church.

It is a blessing to have Charlotte leading our OGBC Prayer Chain! – Let her know if you want on the chain.

What we’re working on this week:

We are looking for teams of three, one adult in each team to supervise some of the younger helpers. Training will include, ballooning, sharing the gospel with children, passing out flyers for the clubs, teaching a lesson, games, and other aspects of the clubs we will be having.

We have seen an uptick in our online responses, including Facebook, Instagram, and our website. WE are working on updating these platforms.

We are working on something special for the church the end of this month.

We are working on meeting with more people in the church. The plan is to meet with every person, either personally or in smaller groups to get valuable feedback on what we are currently doing and what can be done in and through the church.

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As always, your valuable feedback is greatly appreciated. May we have a God filled, God honoring week!