Good Words from God’s Word
 
We are recognizing and congratulating our graduates today during worship. I am pleased that God has given our church 7 young lives who have reached this significant milestone in their lives either by graduating from High School or College.
 
Our High School graduates are:

Our College Graduates are:

Our church family extends to each one of these good members and committed believers our thanksgiving for your testimonies of faith and trust in Jesus, your strong witness, and loyal devotion to God’s word and service to the Lord. We thank for God you. We also wish to encourage you and challenge you to remain faithful and strong in your faith as you face the challenges ahead. Remember always that God will never leave and that He is abundantly rich in grace and mercy and will lead and sustain you through every “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
 
Robert Anthony said, “Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle.” 
 
Do not just gargle on the promises of God. Drink from the fountain of God’s word, feast on the nourishment of God’s truth, restore your energy from the power of prayer and God will abundantly bless you.
 
It was graduation day and Mom was trying to take a picture of their son in his cap and gown, posed with his father.
“Let’s try to make this look natural,” she said. “Junior, put your arm around you dad’s shoulder.”  The father answered, “If you want this to look natural, why don’t you tell him to put his hand in my pocket.”
 
There is nothing unnatural about you keeping your hand in God’s pocket. Stay close to Him and He will stay close to you. With God on your side, you can expect His best in everything you strive to accomplish.

Good Words from God’s Word
 
Today is a celebration of all God has done in our exceeding the first MILE MARKER goal of $25,000 which qualifies us for a matching donation from Mr. Jim Walters. Mr. Walters is not with us today due to knee surgery and rehabilitation. We miss having fellowship with him, but he has been faithful to make his contribution so that our One Mile for God’s Glory capital campaign now stands at $27,879 + $25,000 (matching donation) = $52,879. We are now one-sixth of the way toward completing the overall goal of $300,000 which includes $150,000 gifts from the members and friends of Grace plus $150,000 matching contributions from Mr. Walters.
 
We now know what the children of Israel must have felt like when they reached one-sixth of the way in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. We can celebrate with Nehemiah who led Israel to complete one-sixth of the wall around Jerusalem. Think about what it must have felt like to Peter and the disciples when they baptized one-sixth of the 3,000 souls that were saved on the day of Pentecost. Remember today the testimony of the apostle Paul when he and Barnabas returned to Jerusalem from their first missionary journey:
 
“When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27)
 
Today is a day to celebrate and give thanks for the OPEN DOOR God has given us.
 
When our One Mile for God’s Glory campaign began, we asked every church member to pray and ask God what He would have each member/family contribute to the $150,000 goal. On January 15 this year the pledges were received and, when the report was given, 54 pledges were received totaling a little over $86,000 to be given over the two-year period. The Stewardship Team wants to give every new member of Grace and all of the members that have not yet pledged to the Campaign an opportunity to do so. Simply ask God what He would have you do, and then be faithful to follow through.
 
George W. Truett tells how he was helping a small church raise $6,500 for a building campaign. During a fund raising dinner in which Truett was the main speaker, the pledges fell short of the goal by $3,500. Dr. Truett asked the guests, “Do you expect me to give the $3,500?  I’m just a guest speaker here tonight?”
 
At that, a woman stood up and in shaking voice asked her husband, who was on the platform recording pledges, “Charlie, should we give our small home? You know, we were offered exactly $3,500 for it yesterday.”
 
Charlie stood up, turned to face his wife, and said, “Jennie, I was thinking the same thing.”
 
Then, he turned to Dr. Truett and said, “Brother, if it’s needed, we’ll raise our pledge by $3,500.”
 
Tears began to fall all over the room because everybody there knew what this would mean to a retired couple on a fixed income. Hands went up all over the room. People began to make additional pledges adding to what they had originally put down. When the total was reported, the campaign goal was exceeded and the couple did not have to sell their home. Today we honor and celebrate all the sacrifices that are being made toward our One Mile for God’s Glory campaign.
 
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
​

Good Words from God’s Word
 
We will praise God today for our Godly mothers. Every ministry of our church is represented by the mothers of our church except for the Deacon Body and Men’s Ministry. Even in those ministries, the influence of our mothers influence happens as our Deacons care for the fellowship of our church family and our Men’s Ministry attends to its work to lead men to be growing in their relationship to God’s word and each other. Mother’s make a profound difference in the life of our church by their compassionate touch and caring example.
 
The Bible teaches us to, “My Son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.  Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.” (Proverbs 6:20-21)
 
A four year old boy was about to have his fifth birthday. On the night before he was to turn five, his mother asked him, “Tonight when you go to sleep you’ll be four. Do you know how old you will be in the morning?”
 
The boy had spent the entire year holding up four fingers every time someone asked how old he was. He was excited to add his thumb to the equation saying, “Mom, tonight I have four years old and tomorrow I will be a handful.” What kind of handful would we be without the love and nurture of our wonderful mothers? 
 
Someone has said about the influence of Godly mothers, “Their children are inseparably tied to them by a ‘BIBLICAL’ cord.”
 
My mother put her love of the Bible and her devotion to making it a daily part of her life into my heart. She helped me memorize important passages of scripture. She would reward me with ice cream or some small treasure when I would memorize and recite a passage for her.
 
I heard about a child that attended his first wedding. After the ceremony, the mother asked the child, “Do you know how many wives you can marry according to the Bible?”
 
The child said, “Sure mom, the Bible says you can marry sixteen.”
 
Mother gasped saying, “Where do you get that?”
 
Her little one said, “Mom, it’s easy, all you have to do is add it up. Like the preacher said, “4 Better, 4 Worse, 4 Richer, and 4 Poorer. That adds up to 16.”
 
Today, as we honor the mothers of our church and give thanks to God for all the good they do, let’s pledge ourselves to help them make God’s word come alive in the hearts of their children. Let’s help carry the burden of teaching children and training them to become followers of Jesus. Let’s pray and ask God to help us increase their appetite for the scriptures. In order to do that, you have to increase your own hunger for God’s word. You can’t teach it, if you don’t read it. You cannot lead someone to love the Bible when you neglect your own devotion to study it. Make the Bible a priority today so our children will give it first place in their lives tomorrow.

​Good Words from God’s Word
 
Last night during our Wednesday Night Prayer Service, Grace church met its 1st Mile Marker Goal in the “One Mile for God’s Glory” capital campaign. We needed $412.40 to meet the goal and before the prayer service was over, a check in that amount was given. In fact, God has again worked a great miracle in our church because before church last Sunday morning, $2,788.40 was needed to reach the $25,000 mark. A gift in the amount of $2,376.00 was placed in the offering plate Sunday morning designated for the “One Mile” campaign. Then, between Sunday morning and the end of Prayer Service Wednesday night, God again did a mighty work by leading someone to give sacrificially for the future ministry of our church. 
 
Now, here is the second blessing. We now qualify to receive our first donation from the generous offer made by Mr. Jim Walters to match our giving dollar for dollar up to $150,000. Rather than having received $25,000 toward the renovations and construction of our new place, the faithfulness of our congregation will double because of the love this kind man has for our church family and God’s kingdom work. Mr. Walters is truly a gracious steward of God’s resources because his example inspires us also to be generous and give according to the way God has blessed us. I praise God today for every gift that has made it possible to reach our first $25,000 mile marker and for the anticipated matching donation which moves our relocation work forward.
 
Here is a third blessing that you need to understand. The “One Mile for God’s Glory” campaign actually began on January 15th of this year when our church family brought their pledge cards to the altar and prayed that God would bless every pledge made for His glory. On that day, 54 pledges were received which amounted to a total commitment of $86,870.40 pledged over a two year period. On the following week, January 22nd it was reported that a total of $11,088 had been received and deposited toward the campaign. Since the third Sunday in January, faithful and steady giving to the campaign has resulted in our reaching the first mile marker of $25,000 by May the 3rd. The campaign has been active for 15 weeks and 3 days, which amounts to almost 4 months.
 
Here’s the blessing: based on our first $25,000 performance accomplished in the first four months of the campaign, our church is on pace right now to not only exceed the overall goal of $150,000 by the end of March 2018, but our giving performance is actually far ahead of what was pledged at the beginning. Our giving performance is almost double what we pledged at the beginning. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
 
Not one of us really knew how God would work to provide the resources necessary for our relocation. We did the best we could to pray, prepare and challenge people to give as the Lord would lead them. At this first stage of the “One Mile” journey, we need to thank God again for His amazing work and blessing. God has done what we have trusted Him to do, but has far exceeded what we committed ourselves to do when we started. God is bigger than this campaign. He is greater than our planning, our expectations, and even our sacrifice. God takes our efforts and expands them, multiplies them and returns them to us, as the Bible says: 30 fold—60 fold—and even 100 fold more than what we could possibly do by ourselves (Matthew 13:8). We really do not serve a PUNY GOD. He is greater and bigger than all of us put together. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!