The Sunday after Thanksgiving we are calling “left-over Sunday.”  The Teacher’s Group is putting together a Sunday morning of worship, food, and story telling. 

Service will start at 10:30 and food will begin at 11:00.  Stay as long as you like, and we will be sharing your stories and stories about each other.

The “The Crooked Halos” are changing the day of their meeting this fall.  Keep an “ear to the ground” and/or talk to Billy and Vicki if you have a request/suggestion.  They have been, and want to continue to be, open for kids, fun, and food.

What is God’s will for our lives?  How do we find it?  Where do we begin?

We’re going to look at what is called the “Great Commission” the next few weeks!  The Great Commission is one of the final directives from Jesus!  How does it apply to us today?

Every other Sunday (starting Nov 16th) at 2pm a women’s small group is gathering to study Women of the Bible and how their lives can relate to ours and consider how we can learn from their lives and their faith.  Contact Amy (amyatheart ( at )gmail.com) if you are interested in participating or sharing. 

Why do we argue with each other?  Why do we fight? Why are there conflicts?  What do we do? 

The next two weeks we will be reading what Scripture says in James about conflict, arguing, and what to do about it. 

Last week we talked about how the tongue contributes to our problems, and the next two weeks we will see why we argue, what to do about it, and how to get through it. 

Saturday morning there is a men’s coffee group.  Visit and connect with Bill.  If you have any questions contact Bill at bill.thesojourn@gmail.com.

I recently re-read James 3, the passage on tongues, and it’s one of those times when I read it in a new light and with more experience from life (from successes and failures) that confirms the incredible wisdom in the Scriptures.

As a teacher I see the wisdom in not rushing to be a teacher, especially in light of speaking. Words are impossible to control. As soon as you speak them they can have a life and a power of their own. If it is a spoken word with the source and power of God and His love it will produce great things. If it is a spoken word with the source and power of me it will produce troubles of varying kinds!

I encourage anybody to read and absorb this passage of James along with the passage of I Corinthians 13. It’s probably passages I should read every morning before I do anything else! Because words are a critical part of loving. They have power! We need to patiently practice seeking that power to come from God through Christ Jesus!

1-2Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.
3-5A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of \your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
5-6It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
7-10This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!
10-12My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

*2pm - Women’s Group

*5:30pm YOUTH:

(Food Served)       

*7am SAT:

Men’s Group               

*7:30 THUR. STUDY

*7:00 FRI group   

Join us for the next 6-8 weeks for a frank and straight forward discussion on what it practically means to follow Jesus!

• How to handle trials
• Compassion Judgment and the Poor
• Faith and deeds
• Anger
• Wealthy and Planning for Tomorrow
• What do you do with doubt