Calvary PSL Women

You may have seen our new Women’s Ministry t-shirts.  We are now ready to take orders!!!  You can pick up an order form and return it with your payment OR complete it and pay Sunday (check or EXACT amount. 

Collar shirts with embroidery emblem is $18, V-neck with black emblem and scripture verse on the back $15, and a tan/pink with pink emblem Tote $10. 

Don’t know size?  Just grab someone in the pink T who is your size and ask.  Want to know quality?  Check it out Sunday! 

Week 19

By now you may have noticed many different themes in the Psalms.  For every mood, need, or occasion, there is a Psalm for us to pray through.  Here are a few topics with the Psalm # as examples. (Some we may have read already or will read beyond this upcoming week)

Instructive - Psalm #101,   Confession - Psalm #143,   Supplication (our needs) - Psalm #86,   Historical - Psalm #105,  Thanksgiving - Psalm #16,  Messianic (prophesy of Jesus) - Psalm # 22,  Hallelujah - Psalm #106,  Nature - Psalm #8,  Pilgrim (ascent to the temple) - Psalm #120,  and Imprecatory (cursing) - Psalm #109.  No matter the theme, it is easy to see why David is called “a man after God’s own heart.”  He sought the Lord with his whole heart, mind, soul, and spirit.

We will complete the Psalms written by King David this week and move into those written by priests during the reign of David.  Early next week we will begin reading about Solomon in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles.  

Challenge:

See if you can identify the topics of the Psalms you read this week.  Perhaps you might mark them in such a way that you can refer back to them when you desire to pray topically.

Seek the Lord as David did…… become “a Woman after God’s own heart.”

Persevere!!!

Just wondering how everyone is doing with your reading. Are you right on target, a little behind, or even ahead? Let us know if you are still enjoying the blog. Simply leave a comment with your name to just let us know you are still here.

If you began the challenge with the columns as we read through Psalms, you quickly realized in one day’s reading you probably began page two with the attributes of God and what He does for us.  

This morning I found it easier to highlight directly in the Bible rather than rewrite.  I used 3 different colored markers.  God’s attributes - blue, God’s activies - yellow, and my activies - orange.   Then I could go back in prayer of praise and thanksgiving for who He is and what He does for me. 

Hope that helps.

David - a man after God’s own heart. We have spent the last few weeks reading about David’s reign. David accomplished what no other leader before him accomplished. 400 years have past since the Israelites first entered the Promised Land under Joshua. The nation struggled to unite and now under David’s leadership, Israel was finally at peace. David was a leader who was dedicated to God and to the well-being of the people. He was a man after God’s own heart. Yet, as we have read, David also sinned. However, despite his sins, he gives us such a great example. He recognized his sin, confessed it before God, and committed his life to God. He was loyal to Him throughout his lifetime. As we continue reading this week, we will see the love David had for God through the Psalms. We got a glimpse of that in 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 this past week. David knew God. He said this”The Lord is my…Rock, Fortress, Deliverer, Shield, Horn of Salvation, Stronghold, Refuge, Savior, Lamp. He is worthy of praise, hearing, angry against enemies, rescuing, rewarding, seeing, faithful, powerful, strong, perfect, pure, shielding, giving, gentle, merciful”.

Make sure you read Marcia’s post on the intro to Kings and Psalms. I love the challenge she left for us. Enjoy the Psalms and keep persevering! You are doing an amazing job! And like Marcia said, you are growing whether you realize it or not.

Week 18

So many of you have made comments on the Bible Challenge……”the chronological flow has helped me understand better the history of Israel”…….”it is amazing how the reading seems to hit me right where I am living”…..or, “the NLT has helped me with difficult passages.”

Because of the chronological flow of the Bible we are using, we will be in 1  & 2 Kings for quite a while.  In the next few weeks we will be heavily in Psalms; and then have them pop up again toward the end of Kings and Chronicles.  Through this method of reading the Bible we will be able to follow the nation Israel’s relationship with God and their role in history, how God responded by controlling even history, and we will meet and relate to some incredible and unforgetable people.

1 & 2 Kings was initially a single book of the Bible as was 1 & 2 Samuel.  Authorship is under question; however, many have attributed the writings of Kings to Jeremiah, the prophet.  We know that who ever wrote it was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and we can trust HIM!

Without elaborating on details, 1 & 2 King will take us through the heirs to the throne of Israel.  We will see a nation become divided between north and south and how their relationship with God diminishes with each generation.  The seed of decline and disobedience entwines itself in the rule and life of the nation until it ends in the nations captivity.

As with all our reading, we are to focus on God and His relationship with His people.  Learn from their mistakes, see our merciful Father who is slow to anger and forgiving of all kinds of sin and rebellion, and seek Him with your whole heart.

Psalms will be an open door for you to use as prayers.  We can give the words of the Psalms back to God when we read the praise and worship, the confession of sin, the cry out for help and protection, the request for deliverance and, yes, even revenge.   Pour your heart back to God as we travel through the Psalms.

 Bible Challenge:

Please, share what God is showing you.  It is amazing how He gives each of us insight into His Word based on where we are in our lives.  Sharing opens doors for others to see something new and also how God uses His Word intimately as if it is just for us!

As you go through the Psalms, grab a piece of paper and pen.  Make 3 columns on your paper.  First column: GOD’S ATTRIBUTES OR GOD’S CHARACTER.  Second column: WHAT GOD DOES FOR ME.  Third column: WHAT I DO FOR GOD.  Now as you read, write what you see about God, about His relationship with us, and how we can serve, worship, walk with Him.

Enjoy!

Since we weren’t able to physically have our coffee fellowship today, why not do it anyway??  Go grab a cup of coffee, come back and leave a comment on what God is doing in your life with this Bible Challenge.  Last coffee fellowship we had close to 40 or so women… wouldn’t it be great if 40 women posted today??

Whenever something negative happens….like our church building being overflowed with raw sewage because a lift station wasn’t tended to…and like everything in the building being contaminated…and like damage in the thousands and thousands… the natural tendency is to ask WHY? So, I asked the pastor (who happens to be my husband). WHY do you think all this has happened? His response to me was something like this…. I don’t know.

Beyond that, he had some wise words to say. He told me that in all this, he is looking for the blessings. When you focus on the why and all the negatives, you lose sight of God’s sovereignty and become discouraged. He is so wise! But that is because you PRAY for him. Please keep praying for him and all the staff and leadership as they make many decisions over the next few days and even weeks. Pray for one another as well as we all adjust to our new home away from home for the next few weeks.

Here are some of the blessings we have already found:

The disaster didn’t happen on Saturday night - we would have walked into that on Sunday morning

There was no one in the building when it did happen!

There has been time to make a plan for Sunday.

Manatee Academy has opened their doors to us.

We get to replace the ugly blue carpet in the church building!!

The babies get all new toys and equipment

Our church body is being strengthened as a family as we walk through this time together

We get to meet all together in one service for a few weeks - wow! you will get to meet people you never even knew came to our church

Here is a challenge to you: Find the Blessing and share it here…..

Week 17

This past week we saw David and his family will live by the sword because of his sin against God in taking Uriah’s (one of his mighty warriors) wife to be his own.  That sword continues as we see Absalom’s rebellion and his fate as well as God’s wrath against David for taking a census of his people.

Additionally, you will see how David took quite seriously the covenant agreement Joshua made with the Gibeonites - even though they decieved Joshua.  Remember how they came in old clothes and wineskins and moldy bread saying they came from far away in order to deceive Joshua into making a covenant with them. This covenant meant complete safety and protection for the people from generation to generation.  David also took seriously the covenant relationship he had with Jonathan by taking in his son Mephibosheth.  How much more so does God take His covenant relationship with us!

We will also see how David prepares for the temple making ready all the materials and Levite duties so that Solomon can begin construction when he becomes king.  David gives his son advise that we would be wise to heed. “And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately.  Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind.  For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought.  If you seek Him, you will find Him.”    1 Chronicles 28:9.  Amen?!

As for our reading chronologically,  you will say good-bye to 2 Samuel this week and 1 Chronicles.  That means we will have concluded 12 books of the Bible!  Awesome!

Bible Challenge

Because we will not have the Bible Fellowship Coffee this Saturday, we would love for you to let us all know in the last 4 months of reading, what you have learned:  It could be about God.  Perhaps there is a character you have related to.  Maybe a situation that happened that struck you as something you could apply to your life.  Have you seen any changes in yourself as a result of your Quiet Time and reading the Word daily.   Have you had a greater understanding of events or scriptures you have heard before and now understand them more fully?

God’s Word is meant to change us.  It Never returns to Him void. What has been accomplished so far in your life because of His Word? 

With great disappointment……..we have to cancel the Fellowship Coffee for this upcoming Saturday. The church has sustained some water and other damage and clean up/repairs are frantically underway. It is impossible to know if all will be complete by Saturday. Rather than be put on hold and scurry around later in the week, we decided to cancel the coffee.

The next scheduled coffee with be November 1. In the meantime, please put on your calendar the Pot Luck Crochet luncheon June 7 and the Beth Moore simulcast August 1 & 2. Watch for news of women’s service projects here, in the bulletin, and through flyers at the church doors on Sundays.