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From Pastor Dave
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SEE! I Am Doing Something New!
Enjoy the following devotion that I happened across the other day...It's time for some Spring Cleaning, God wants to move freely in your corner of the world, give Him the space...
When spring arrives, more sunlight brightens your home as the days grow longer, and fresh air blows in once the temperatures warm up enough to open your windows. But all the light and fresh air reveal what you may not have noticed during the dark, cold days of winter: Your house is a mess. It's not fun to see the clutter and dirt that needs to be cleaned up around your house, but the more light and air that flow in, the more motivated you are to do some spring cleaning.
Spring cleaning can be more than just a chore, however. It can actually be exciting if you use the time to start cleaning up something far greater than your house: your soul. The closer you get to Jesus - the Light of the world - and the more you invite the Holy Spirit to blow the fresh air of His love into your life, the more you become aware of how messy your soul has become. Thankfully, there's no sin too messy for God to clean up when you follow His divine cleaning plan of confession, repentance, and reconciliation.
So while you're spring cleaning your house, invite God to clean your soul. Here's how:
Eliminate clutter. Get rid of distractions that block your intimacy with God. Take an honest look at what might be interfering with making your relationship with God your top priority. Are you devoting more time and energy to working, watching TV, shopping, playing sports, socializing with friends, pursuing a hobby, or something else than you're devoting to time with God? How much time are you really spending doing activities that nurture your connection with God, such as praying; participating in church; and reading, studying, and meditating on the
Bible
? Are frazzled thoughts cluttering your inner life, or are you making time regularly for quiet reflection, and asking the Holy Spirit to renew your mind? Eliminate clutter in your schedule and your mind to create space to focus on what's truly important.
Scrub away dirt and disinfect
. Cleanse dirty attitudes and behaviors and purify your soul. What kinds of filthy attitudes are lurking in your soul? Are you harboring bitterness against people who have hurt you? Do you entertain judgmental thoughts about people you don't like? Are you infected with anger, fear, or selfishness? How do impure behaviors affect your life? Are you struggling with a bad habit or even an addiction that causes trouble whenever it rears its ugly head? Pray about each dirty attitude and behavior, asking God to help you clean up each specific one. Whenever negative thoughts enter your mind, purposefully replace them with positive ones that reflect biblical truth. Whenever you're tempted to slide back into a bad behavior, pray for God to empower you to resist and overcome temptation.
Vacuum.
Suck up everyday annoyances and persistent resentments that will stain your soul if you let them accumulate. Keep short accounts with people rather than letting issues between you pile up and spill over into dirty arguments. Ask God to help you learn how to deal well with difficult people and those whose personalities differ significantly from yours. Whenever people offend you in minor ways, be willing to let the issues go. Whenever people offend you in major ways, be willing to forgive them and reconcile if possible. Remember that God expects you to forgive others since He has forgiven you. Trust Him to empower you through each step in the forgiveness process. Do all you can to live at peace with others and resolve conflicts quickly and wisely.
Dust.
Wipe away vestiges of the past that are hindering you from moving into the future with confidence. Ask God to show you ways you need healing from past traumas and losses. Then patiently work through the healing process as God leads you, from
prayer
and journaling to support groups and counseling. Expect that each time you deal with one layer of dust from your past, you can see a bit more clearly as you move into the future.
Polish.
Make your relationships shine by serving others as God leads you. Be creative about figuring out how often you can bless others through your words and actions. Remember that even a brief encouraging comment or small act of kindness can make a significant, positive difference in someone's life. Every day, look for opportunities to encourage or help the people with whom you come into contact. Be willing to commit to longer-term service (such as volunteering for special projects) when you sense God calling you to do so.
Organize.
Rearrange your life so you can dream new dreams. Clear out your own agenda and invite God to show you His dreams for your life. Then build your decisions for how to use your resources (time, energy, talent, money, etc.) around pursuing those dreams, so you can focus on what's important without being sidetracked by what's urgent. Set specific and measurable goals to help you move closer to fulfilling God's dreams for you. Check your progress regularly and make whatever adjustments you need to make to keep your life organized well.
---AMEN
The second portion of
Isaiah 43:19
is this;
"I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
I am thankful today that our God always has a plan and a provision for each one of us and that He is truly the God that "goes before" and makes a way. As we "spring clean", let us, each one remember that as we clean the distractions and chaos from our life that God is making a way and that He wants to do something new in you life...To God be the glory, great things He has done...Blessings on each of you.
Loving You and Lifting You,
----PD
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Easter Sunday Services
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Celebrate our Risen Savior on Sunday April 1!
| 7:15 am |
Celebration Service in the garden area behind the church. |
| 8:15 am |
Breakfast served in the FCN Dining Room. Breakfast will be potluck. We ask that you bring your item already prepared. It will be placed in the warmer during the Celebration Service to be ready for breakfast afterward. |
| 10:.00 am |
Sunday Morning Worship Service |
There will be no Sunday School or Evening Activities.
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Online Giving
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New things can often seem overwhelming. When something isn't working, we don't like to change. But everything we bring into this building is here to help us collectively serve the Lord better, and this is no exception.
There are a few different ways we're able to give. First, you can give on Sunday morning during the service. Next, you can give through the church website. It's easy to sign up and doesn't take much time. We are also offering text giving. You will find the website address and text giving # at the bottom of this insert.
Benefits of Online Giving:
* The ease of being able to sign up for, and donate all in one place.
* Even when you are traveling or visiting family away from our four walls, our giving is with
you through our website or through text messaging to help you continue to faithfully give.
* We even have the ability to set up recurring giving, meaning you set the amount you want to donate to a certain fund, and it's automatic-you decide how often.
* You can login to your giving account and track your donations for the year. You can also print a report for your taxes.
Using Online Giving, you can donate to multiple accounts. Log in to the giving link/create an account. Navigate to the box for adding additional funds. Click the dropdown menu and choose the fund to which you wish to give.
Online Giving Guides and Text Giving Guides are located on the Welcome Center table or on our website.
FCN Website: fcnabilene.org/online-giving
Text Giving: 325-221-0299
If you have questions, please feel free to contact the office at 325-677-9429.
Online Giving Security statement from Clover Giving:
Everything you enter is encrypted so it can't be spied on by anyone else. It's encrypted with 256-bit SSL (also known as HTTPS). Sensitive credit card information is stored only when necessary - for example, when a donor sets up a recurring transaction. When we do store information like this, it's also encrypted (essentially scrambled) using an algorithm called AES-256 in "cypher-block-chaining mode".
Our servers are behind hardware and software firewalls, which serve to protect your data and our code from hackers and intruders. We're also PCI Compliant as service provider, which means we've been certified to follow a comprehensive set of rules created by the credit card companies to ensure that security precautions are held to the highest standard. There are many other specific measures we've put in place to ensure safe and secure transactions.
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Nazarene Missions International
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Thank you for your support for Missions. We are praising the Lord that we paid our World Evangelism Fund budget in full for the 2017-2018 church year. Looking forward to this new year and what God has planned for us!!
We had an amazing Mission Emphasis night in March learning about ways we can help minister to over 1300 homeless students in AISD. You will be hearing more about projects soon.
Our next Mission Emphasis night is Sunday, April 8, at 6:00 pm in the dining room. Come join us!! Bring finger foods for a time of fellowship together.
Thanks, again, for your support for Missions AROUND THE WORLD AND ACROSS THE STREET!
Gayla Hastings
NMI President
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Men's Basketball
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Are you ready for some basketball? The men of the church will meet on Saturday, April 7, at
6:00 p.m. in the FCN gym for some fun and fellowship. Bring a friend! Participants must be at least 14 years of age. Please contact Robert Hehn for more information.
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Disc Golf
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Saturday, April 7, at 9:00 a.m.-- Meet at ACU Wildcat Disc Golf Course located at 1402 Cedar Crest Drive, between East North 16th and East North 10th Street.
Everyone is welcome. Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a parent.
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FCN Book Club
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The next FCN Book Club
meeting will be Monday, April 2, at Mad Coffee
and More located at 8049 Hwy 83/84 (the corner of FM 707 & Hwy 83/84) at 6:30 p.m
.
Our next read is "The Devil's Triangle" by Catherine Coulter. It is available on Google Play books for $1.99.
Contact Carol Hehn for more information.
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Prime Timers (Senior Adult Ministry)
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There will be no Prime Timer Fellowship in April due to District Assembly. We will resume in May.
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WYBT1 Youth
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It is hard to believe that in about 9 weeks all our kids will be out for the summer. We don't have any big plans for the month of April, but we are looking at changing the meals that we deliver around a little.
God has blessed the youth with the ability to pass out 50 meals one Wednesday evening a month, the only problem is being so late getting started it is dark and a school night. We are going to try and move the meals to Sunday evening and we would like to take a grill and set up in a park and give out hot dogs one time, just as a different way of reaching out to the community.
There is one event that we do have planned for the summer, that is youth camp (Crave). Camp will be June 18 - 22. I will give out more information as it becomes available. I do know that this is a time of friendships to be strengthened and developed. I know to some it might seem like all they do is play games and swim, but the lessons that are provided at camp are truly amazing.
Please be in prayer for our 3 seniors as they start making plans for graduation. I am so proud of these 3, they have worked hard. Our youth graduating High school this year are Ashton, Norman, and Hannah. Keep them in your prayers as they have all ready started making plans for their future.
Your Sister in Christ,
Sherry
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College and Career Life Group Summer Retreat
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Hello!
My name is Courtney Glidden and I am the Young Adult Ministry leader at Fort Worth First. I wanted to let you know about the
WTD Young Adult Retreat!! This will be an awesome opportunity, not only for us to come together and have fun, but to dive deeper into our spiritual journeys.
Here are the details:
Who: 18-30 year olds
When: August 10-12, 2018
Where: Camp Arrowhead
Speaker: Jeremiah Bolich
Cost: $140
The cost includes:
meals (dinner Friday, breakfast/lunch/dinner Saturday, and breakfast Sunday)
lodging
activities (tubing the river may cost extra)
We are working to have registration up soon, but I wanted to let everyone know ahead of time - that way you can get your church excited, as well as fund-raise.
When registration is up, we are asking that you
register as a church
- not individually.
If individuals are not going as a church or do not have a leader, then registering individually is fine. I will let you know when registration begins!
We hope that you will join us! If you have any question, please don't hesitate to contact me. You can email me or text/call:
817.899.5412
Courtney Glidden
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| Online Sunday Morning Services |
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Our Sunday morning Worship Services can be found online! Go to: http://www.fcnabilene.org/sermons and click on "First Church of the Nazarene on Livestream"
You can view on a computer or any device through the Livestream app found at the App Store, Google Play, or Roku. Click on the appropriate link to download your app. |
| April Birthdays & Anniversaries |
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Birthdays
1 Richard O'Neal
3 Carla Aston
Willa Brooks
Ganpat Ganesh
5 Landon Hehn
Sue Peters
6 Ben McAnally
7 Charlene Wooldridge
12 Christopher Brooks
Neal King
13 Beth Shelton
14 Bessie Wilson
16 Malisa Creager
17 Brittany Burks
Nicholas Hasel
20 Vestal Richey
22 Jazer Bullock
29 Carol Hehn
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Anniversaries
13 Dwight & Carla Aston
24 Thomas & Sue Peters
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