RCC Newsletter September 2022

September 2022

A NOTE FROM THE PREACHER

Our Wednesday night gathering resumes this month. Praise the Lord! And that means Kids

Rock will be back! Yes! Kids, I can’t wait to see you on Wednesday nights! We will be

learning about the battle we are in as Christians, and how God helps us and strengthens us to

fight the battle.

Here’s an excerpt from the preface of the book we will be using for our study at Kids Rock

(God’s Battle by Sally Michael):

Everyone is in a battle. Either you are fighting against God as an unbeliever, or you are a believer and God is helping you fight the fight of faith. Joining the fight of faith is a work of grace. Completing the fight of faith is also a work of grace, for it is God Himself who works in us so that we persevere in faith.

God’s Battle is about persevering to the end. To persevere, one must fight. In a battle

there is no room for passivity. There is no room for compromise. There is no vacation

from the battle. You must fight… and you must keep on fighting. And you must never

give up, because in Jesus there is the wonderful promise of victory and an eternal home.

Dear church family, we are together in this battle. I’m so thankful to be in the fight with you.

May we help our kids to fight the good fight of faith, as we fight it ourselves, for the glory of

God. In his article “Dear Christian, Stop Being Winsome,” ( https://g3min.org/dear-christian-stop-being-winsome/ ), Josh Buice offers these words of exhortation:

What I am communicating in this article is that Christians aim higher than winsomeness.

The fact is, we will not win the world through winsomeness. If your goal is to be so

balanced that you’re attractive to the world, your balance is imbalanced. The church

should be kind enough to speak the truth in love. The church should not be muzzled by a

God-hating society. In order to be a light in a dark world, we must burn bright with truth.

In order to speak the truth in love, we must speak up.

While Christians are to seek to be persuasive, that goal must not be seen as mutually

exclusive with a commitment to the truth. As Christians, we are to be faithful and seek to

persevere in the faith while speaking the truth and persuading people to flee from the

judgment to come. While the Christian life is war, it’s likewise joyful. We press onward

with confidence that the King is coming, and every knee will bow and every tongue will

confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil 2:8-9).

Beloved, may we all trust in Jesus, speak the truth in love, and stand firm until that final day, so that when we see Him face to face, we will be able to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Pressing on with you, with our eyes fixed on Jesus,

Pastor Butch

Memory Verse for September

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

(Psalm 27:1)

Book of the Month

Stand Firm by John Macarthur

As the believer’s understanding of spiritual truth deepens and he develops godly affections, the attraction for the former, sinful life fades.

The Christian life is a war for holiness. Our calling to be set apart lands us in the crosshairs of a culture that opposes God’s truth. Even as the world around us is changing, our battle remains the same. To withstand the temptation to compromise in sin or retreat from suffering, Christians must hold fast to God’s Word. Only then can we live well for the Lord.

In Stand Firm: Living in a Post-Christian Culture, Dr. John MacArthur drafts biblical battle plans for maintaining a life of Christian faithfulness. God has revealed what kind of people we are to be in a hostile world, and by His Word and Spirit, He supplies us with everything we need to persevere in holiness, humility, and love.

Click on the book image for more information and to order your copy today!

ELDERS MEETING SUMMARY

The elders met on August 2. The highlights of that meeting are as follows:

· Pastor Mark opened the meeting in prayer.

· We met with the following new member candidates to hear their testimony and answer

any final questions that they may have about RCC; Keith Silver,

Clayton and Matthew

Gilchrist, Jenn Huff, and Celeste Stringer. (Since this meeting, they have all joined.

Thank You, Lord!)

· We met with McLaine Burkholder to discuss her desire to pursue certification with

ACBC. We are thankful that she wants to join Cheryl in providing additional

Biblical counseling for women in our church and community. May God bless

her in this endeavor.

· Will Dunn gave us a report on the youth ministry and the plans for the upcoming

education year in Sunday School and on Wednesday nights. He also gave us a

positive report on the recent Youth Retreat and that he wants to budget for that

event again next year.

· We will host an open house for Ryan & Emily Currie on Sunday night, September 18,

so they can have a Q & A session with those interested in their ministry in Liberia.

· We set the date for Covenant Sunday as September 25.

· Other items discussed:

o The budget (thank You, Lord, for Your generous provision)!

o Potential future elders

· We closed the meeting in prayer.

Pressing on with you, with our eyes fixed on Jesus,

The Elders of RCC

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MEN'S MINISTRY

Band of Brothers will be observing who the Puritans were as well as how the Word of God affected their lives- paving the way through and from the Reformation as we know it! It is a great reminder, in times like these, how the truth of the Word of God practically fleshes itself out in men who submit to the Lordship of Christ.

Come and learn about the Puritans with us while we behold the truths of God’s Word which produces a daily, living, and enduring faith.