Sunday Bulletin, Feb. 27, 2011

Message by Pastor Bill Connell

"Faith in the Midst of Overwhelming Trial"

Job 1:13-22

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"The fact is, Job was not meant to know the explanation of his trial; and on this simple fact everything hangs. If Job had known, there would have been no place for faith; and the man could never have come forth as gold purified in the fire.

"We are meant to understand that there are some things which God cannot reveal to us at present, inasmuch as the very revealing of them would thwart His purposes for our good.

"The Scriptures are as wise in their reservations as they are in their revelations. Enough is revealed to make faith intelligent. Enough is reserved to give faith scope for development.

"In this, we repeat, lies the message of the book - that there was an explanation, but that Job did not know it and was not meant to know it."

---J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book, III, page 27

"Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you." Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God."

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Welcome Visitors!

If you are a first time visitor today, looking for a new church home, we would be delighted to tell you more about our congregation. Please share your questions and comments with us. If there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable, please let us know. Thank you.

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Regular Services at Grace Bible Church

Every Sunday, 9:45 am:
Sunday School for children and adults in the Fellowship Hall and classrooms downstairs.

Every Sunday, 10:45 am:
Kids for the Lord Children's Church (through grade six) meets downstairs; Adult Worship Service is in the main auditorium; infant nursery upstairs for the little ones.

Every Wednesday for the Kids, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
TeamKIDz meets for crafts, singing, games, and Bible study.

Every Wednesday for the Adults, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
A theological and biblical study in the Signs of Life Room entitled, "The Doctrines of Grace" followed by Prayer Meeting.

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Special Activities at Grace

Tonight, Feb. 27, 6:00 pm: Gospel of John Bible Study Flock meeting in the Church Fellowship Hall with Tom Gabbert teaching.

Thursday, March 10, 7:00 pm: Elders Meeting

Fri. &  Sat., May 13 & 14:
"Fellowship in the Gospel" Men's Conference at Berean Baptist Church, Livonia. Visit http://www.FG11.org for more information.  Please notice that the deadline for reduced price is Friday, March 18! 

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Prayer Opportunities

Family of the Week

Dawn Smith

Missionary of the Month

The Christian Library

Joann Bowman

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Grace Bible Church On-Line

There are now four year's worth of sermons available at our church website, http://www.gracebiblesouthgate.org/. Also available on-line are our Wednesday evening Bible studies entitled "The Doctrines of Grace."

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Sunday Bulletin, Feb. 20, 2011

Message by Pastor Bill Connell

"The Nefarious Adversary"

Job 1:6-22

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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."  The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."  Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing?  Have you not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face."  Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him."  So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.
Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's  house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them.  They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."  While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."  While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."  While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you."  Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."  Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

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Welcome Visitors!

If you are a first time visitor today, looking for a new church home, we would be delighted to tell you more about our congregation. Please share your questions and comments with us. If there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable, please let us know. Thank you.

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Regular Services at Grace Bible Church

Every Sunday, 9:45 am:
Sunday School for children and adults in the Fellowship Hall and classrooms downstairs.

Every Sunday, 10:45 am:
Kids for the Lord Children's Church (through grade six) meets downstairs; Adult Worship Service is in the main auditorium; infant nursery upstairs for the little ones.

Every Wednesday for the Kids, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
TeamKIDz meets for crafts, singing, games, and Bible study.

Every Wednesday for the Adults, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
A theological and biblical study in the Signs of Life Room entitled, "The Doctrines of Grace" followed by Prayer Meeting.

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Special Activities at Grace

Sunday, Feb. 27, 6:00 pm: Gospel of John Bible Study Flock

Tuesday, March 8, 7:00 pm: Elders Meeting

Fri. & Sat., May 13 & 14:
"Fellowship in the Gospel" Men's Conference at Berean Baptist Church, Livonia. Visit http://www.FG11.org for more information.

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Prayer Opportunities

Family of the Week

Stanley & Harmony Solgot

Missionary of the Month

The Christian Library

Joann Bowman

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Grace Bible Church On-Line

There are now four year's worth of sermons available at our church website, http://www.gracebiblesouthgate.org/. Also available on-line are our Wednesday evening Bible studies entitled "The Doctrines of Grace."

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What Matters....J.I. Packer

"What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it - the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.


This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort - the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates - in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.

There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and I am glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and have given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. We cannot work these thoughts out here, but merely to mention them is enough to show how much it means to know not merely that we know God, but that He knows us."

Knowing God, by J.I. Packer, pages 41-42

He who thinks of God ... J.I. Packer

"He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe."

"The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul."

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pages 18 & 19

If our sin .... Dan Allender

“If our sin is mere failure to conform-simply a mistake to do what is right---forgiveness is really the granting of an opportunity to try again. In that light, it is like forgetting to finish one’s homework. We deserve a low grace, and grace becomes merely the privilege of doing it over to get a higher mark. Such a view of grace might generate appreciation, but it would never drive us to worship. If, in fact, sin is not only failure to hit the mark of God’s perfection, but also a deep, insidious energy that desires to eradicate from our existence an affronting God who demands perfection, then forgiveness becomes breathtaking, incredible, and wonderfully insulting.”

Dan Allender, “Bold Love”

Sunday Bulletin, Feb. 13, 2010

Message by Pastor Bill Connell

"There Was  A Man Sent From God

Whose Name was Job" - Part Two

Job 1:1-5

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Welcome Visitors!

If you are a first time visitor today, looking for a new church home, we would be delighted to tell you more about our congregation. Please share your questions and comments with us. If there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable, please let us know. Thank you.

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Regular Services at Grace Bible Church

Every Sunday, 9:45 am:
Sunday School for children and adults in the Fellowship Hall and classrooms downstairs.

Every Sunday, 10:45 am:
Kids for the Lord Children's Church (through grade six) meets downstairs; Adult Worship Service is in the main auditorium; infant nursery upstairs for the little ones.

Every Wednesday for the Kids, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
TeamKIDz meets for crafts, singing, games, and Bible study.

Every Wednesday for the Adults, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
A theological and biblical study in the Signs of Life Room entitled, "The Doctrines of Grace" followed by Prayer Meeting.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Special Activities at Grace

Sunday, Feb. 27, 6:00 pm:  Gospel of John Bible Study Flock

Tuesday, March 8, 7:00 pm: Elders Meeting

 Fri. & Sat., May 13 & 14:
"Fellowship in the Gospel" Men's Conference at Berean Baptist Church, Livonia. Visit http://www.FG11.org for more information.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Prayer Opportunities

Family of the Week

Wayne & Linda Sourbeck

Missionary of the Month

The Christian Library

Joann Bowman

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grace Bible Church On-Line

There are now four year's worth of sermons available at our church website, http://www.gracebiblesouthgate.org/.  Also available on-line are our Wednesday evening Bible studies entitled "The Doctrines of Grace." 

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God grant me the serenity to accept the things

I cannot change, courage to change the things

I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardship at the pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things

right if I surrender to His will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life,

and supremely happy with Him forever

in the next.

-Reinhold Niebuhr-

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Something to think about...

What are you afraid of?

Sunday Bulletin, Feb. 6, 2011

Communion Service with Everett Sollars

Message this morning by Elder Kevin Godin
"The Summing Up of All Things in Christ"

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Welcome Visitors!

If you are a first time visitor today, looking for a new church home, we would be delighted to tell you more about our congregation. Please share your questions and comments with us. If there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable, please let us know. Thank you.

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Annual Meeting - February 13

The Scriptures present the qualifications for elders, and the Constitution of Grace Bible Church stipulates the process for adding and rotating elders on our Board of Elders. As you know, Grace Bible Church currently has four lay elders serving, in addition to our pastor. Three of these elders - Craig McGlassion, Bob McKee, and Rob Roelofs - are required to rotate off at this time.

A minimum of two elders need to be added at this year's Annual Meeting. Experienced elders, Wayne Sourbeck and Everett Sollars, have both agreed to return for another term.

In keeping with the Church Constitution, an excerpt of the document has been posted at the top of the steps (by the entrance to the auditorium) and on the Bulletin Board outside the pastor's office. This document summarizes The Qualifications of an Elder, The Size and Term of the Board of Elders, and the Election of Elders. Nominations for elder are open for the next three weeks. Please review this information.

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Regular Services at Grace Bible Church

Every Sunday, 9:45 am:
Sunday School for children and adults in the Fellowship Hall and classrooms downstairs.

Every Sunday, 10:45 am:
Kids for the Lord Children's Church (through grade six) meets downstairs; Adult Worship Service is in the main auditorium; infant nursery upstairs for the little ones.

Every Wednesday for the Kids, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
TeamKIDz meets for crafts, singing, games, and Bible study.

Every Wednesday for the Adults, 6:30 - 8:00 pm:
A theological and biblical study in the Signs of Life Room entitled, "The Doctrines of Grace" followed by Prayer Meeting.

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Special Activities at Grace

Thursday, February 10, 7:00 pm:
Elders Meeting (Rescheduled)

Sunday, Feb. 13:
Immediately following Worship Service: Annual Church Business Meeting & Multiple Choice Luncheon. All are welcome! See below for details.

Fri. & Sat., May 13 & 14:
"Fellowship in the Gospel" Men's Conference at Berean Baptist Church, Livonia. Visit http://www.FG11.org for more information.

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Annual Business Meeting & Dinner

This year our dinner will be a multiple choice/pot luck. We are asking families to bring one generous portion of meat or entree casserole and your choice of either a vegetable, salad or dessert. Single individuals are asked to bring only one dish of their choice of vegetable, salad, or dessert. Any questions? Please contact Everett & Jacque Sollars.

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Prayer Opportunities

Family of the Week

Wayne &  Linda Sourbeck

Missionary of the Month

The Christian Library
JoAnn Bowman

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Grace Bible Church On-Line

There are now four year's worth of sermons available at our church website: http://www.gracebiblesouthgate.org/. Also available on-line are our Wednesday evening Bible studies entitled "The Doctrines of Grace". If you've missed Sundays with us, please avail yourself of these sermons and teachings. You will be blessed!

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God didn't promise

days without pain, laughter without sorrow,

sun without rain; but He did promise strength

for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

If God brings you to it,

He will bring you through it.

Life as a journey ... Oz Guinness

"For those who live life as a journey and see faith as a journey, calling has an obvious implication. It reminds us that we are all at different stages on the way and none of us alive has yet arrived. Trouble comes when we forget this fact and pretend that life is static and settled, as if everything were a matter of sharp lines, clear boundaries, precise labels, and final assessments. So that some are in, some out; some have arrived, others not.

When mighty Rome was sacked in A.D. 410 by Alaric's barbarians, Augustine jotted down the observation that the seeming permanence of a city was sought by unfaithful Cain, not faithful Abel. "The true city of the saints is in heaven," he wrote in The City of God. Here on earth Christians travel "as on a pilgrimage through time looking for the Kingdom of Eternity."

"Certainly we who follow Christ know why we have lost our original home. We know the home to which we are going. And we know not only the One who awaits us there, who makes it home, but also the One who goes with us on our journey. But we are still on a journey, and we are truly travelers. We are not wanderers, but we are wayfarers. We have discovered that He is the way, but we are still on the road. Our faith is a pilgrim faith essentially at odds with place and settlement....

Calling reminds us that, recognizing all the different stages people are at, there are many more who are followers of Jesus and on the Way than we realize. To forget this and insist that everyone be as we, at the same stage and with the same stories as ours, is to be a Christian Pharisee...."

Taken from the book, The Call, by Os Guinness, pages 112, 113

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Birthdays this Month

Everett Sollars - Feb. 8

Clyde Moore - Feb. 20

Linda Gosline - Feb. 21

Anniversaries too...

Tom & Jan Royal - Feb. 7

Toddler Nursery Schedule

Feb. 6 - Rachel Norman

Feb. 13 - Harmony King

Feb. 20 - Karen Roelofs

Feb. 27 - Beth Godin

March 6 - Nancy Connell

March 13 - Kelly McKee

March 20 - Rachel Norman

March 27 - Harmony King

April 3 - Karen Roelofs

April 10 - Beth Godin

April 17 - Nancy Connell

April 24 - Kelly McKee