Our church elects two deacons today to serve according to the directions stated in the church’s by-laws,

• The Church shall select godly men to serve in the capacity of New Testament Deacons (Philippians 1:1, 1 Timothy 3:8-13). The Deacons are to be servants of the Church and its members (Acts 6:1-3). The task of the Deacon is primarily to protect and buildup the unity and health of the Church. The Deacon’s ministry of care includes looking after the spiritual well-being of the members, visiting the sick, and caring for the needy and home bound; encouraging the members and supporting them in prayer; helping in the benevolence ministries of the Church; and promoting the proclamation of the gospel to believers and unbelievers.

 
You may choose two names from the list of men included in your bulletin this morning. These men have agreed to serve in the office of Deacon should they be elected. Give prayerful consideration to the names you choose and trust that God will enable them to accomplish what He wants them to do here at Grace.
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Our church family unanimously approved the DEFINITION portion of this Manual on July 14th, with the direction to approve the Operations and Procedures portion at a later time. The Operations and Procedures portion of the Manual is now complete and has been reviewed by the Deacon Body of the church as well as 22 church members who have unanimously approved its content for submission to the full church for final approval. The Manual in its entirety has been reviewed by Chief Tim Hatch of the Oakwood City Police Department in order to communicate the overall plan to local law enforcement.
 
Our church will also approve today the Resolution on Security that will guide our members concerning House Bill 60. House Bill 60 informs congregations about the state’s Right to Carry legislation within places of worship. Our church is not proposing to be a “Non-Carry” church. We are asking anyone who feels the need to carry a firearm or knife on campus here at Grace to conceal it at all times for the sake of our children and young people. The preference is that all weapons be secured either at home or within automobiles, but when someone chooses to carry on campus, it should be concealed out of sight.
 
In addition, a number of our members (16) have agreed to serve as Greeters according to the directions set forth in the Manual:

• Chris and Christy Bruce
• Ken and Susan Grindle
• Matthew and Brenda Knuckles
• Dwayne Shope
• David and Sandy Jordan
• Edward Grant
• Regina Grant
• Aaron McLawhorn
• Richard McLawhorn
• Chuck Whitehead

 
Support Volunteers

• Earl Pirkle
• Phil Peters

 
More volunteers will be added to this roster as the ministry progresses. Pray for all of these people who have stepped forward and volunteered to contribute their efforts to improve the hospitality ministry of our church making Grace a welcoming and safe place to worship and serve Jesus Christ.
 
You will be given a copy of the Greeters/Security Manual to take with you today to review and prepare for its approval next Sunday morning. Read through it and ask God to give you wisdom about your decision. This process has taken months to complete. Guidance has been secured from the

• Georgia Bureau of Investigation,
• various Hall County Churches,
• The Georgia Baptist Mission Board Attorney’s Office,
• and The Oakwood City Police Department.

Approving this Manual will advance our church in its ministry of hospitality and ongoing security interests. It will be a great blessing to get our team in place and the process underway.
 
Pastor Mike 

The number 50 is a great number.
That’s 5 decades long.
It encompasses 600 months.
The number 50 combines 18,250 days.
In includes 438,000 hours,
26,280,000 minutes and
1 billion, 576 million, 800 thousand (1,576,800,000) seconds.
 
It does not matter whether you’re 50 years old, worked in your profession for 50 years, lived in the same town for 50 years, celebrating your 50th anniversary, 50 years is something worthy of celebrating.
 
This past Friday, Robbie and I quietly celebrated our 1 billionth, 576 millionth, 800 thousandth seconds together as husband and wife. There has not been one second over these 50 years that I have not wanted and looked forward to the next second. I praise God for giving me 1 billion, 576 million, 800 thousands seconds with Robbie by my side.
 
An aged farmer and his wife were leaning against the fence next to the pig pen. The wife remembered that the next week marked their 50th wedding anniversary. She said wistfully, “Honey, next week we will have been married for 50 years. Let’s have a party. Let’s barbeque a pig.”

The husband replied, “I don’t see why the pig should take the blame for something that happened fifty years ago.”
 
If anybody is to take the blame for our 50 years together, it would have to be God. He’s the one that started it all. He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18)
 
There’s no doubt in my mind, after 50 years together, that God made Robbie for me. That’s why Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…” (Genesis 2:23) Robbie is God’s special gift to me. We were meant to be together for a lifetime from the day we both were born.
 
On Wednesday night this week, I reminisced a bit by saying, “Robbie and I will celebrate our 50th anniversary this Friday.” Then I said, “We’ve not had a single argument…,” then I paused for a moment to let that assertion sink into everybody’s mind. During the pause, people rolled their eyes and made comments like, “…a single argument that you won.” One person said, “Don’t lie in church.” Then I added the second part of the statement, “…a single argument that we did not get over.”
 
Now that I think about it,

• there has not been a single problem that we have not solved together.
• Not one challenge that we have not met together.
• Not one bill that we have not paid together.  Not one heartache that we have not felt together.
• Not one thrill that we have not shared together.
• Not one victory that we have not celebrated together.

 
I think that is what God wants for all of us, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (TOGETHER).” (Genesis 2:24)
 
Robbie and I have had 50 years of God’s TOGETHER.
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Young people and children went back to school this week.
 
Did you hear about little Jack who returned to school after summer vacation? Two days after school had started, Jack’s teacher called to inform his mother that little Jack was misbehaving. “Wait a minute,” the mother said, “I have had Jack for the last six weeks and I never called you once to complain about how he was behaving.”
 
Our kids are now in somebody else’s care. The circle of our influence has been extended to bus drivers, schoolteachers, administrators and staff personnel. Don’t forget about the influence of their friends, the school environment, sports teams and even hallway conduct. A school is a reflection of the culture, neighborhoods and community around it. Schools mirror the image of the beliefs, lifestyles and relationships which surround them. You could say that a school is a picture of us all.
 
That is why I explained why the number 10 in the Bible is so important. Remember that the number 10 comes from the fact that the words, “And God Said…” in Genesis, chapters one and two were repeated 10 times. The authority of God’s word goes with us wherever we are. Our children and young people are under the influence and authority of the might word of God.
 
Second, Exodus 20 records the 10 Commandments of God not as recommendations for living, but as laws to live by. These laws are immutable and eternal. They apply to the way our children act at school and every other place in which they live.
 
Here’s a few other things you should know about the number 10:

• The Passover Lamb was selected on the 10th day of the first month of the year.
• The Day of Atonement was observed on the 10th day of the seventh month of the year.
• There were 10 plagues which God performed in Egypt.
• There 10 generations that lived before Noah.
• Noah was the 10th Patriarch to live before God destroyed the earth by flood.
• Jesus identified Himself as the great “I Am” 10 times in the gospel of John.
• The tithe is one 10th of your income which is required by God.

 
The number 10 is used 242 times in scripture with an additional 76 times when you add 10th or the tithe.
The number 10 is significant because it represents the complete sufficiency of God. It means that God is totally present, totally in control and totally at work in the lives of His People. 
 
Use the number 10 when you think about your children at school this year. Claim this number over their school, their teachers and their environment at school. Pray 10 times for them every day. Give them 10 cents, or 10 kisses, or 10 pencils to carry with them. Make or buy 10 cookies for them to eat when they get home after school. The number 10 is not superstition, it is Biblical truth. Trust God to the 10th power when it comes to our kids and their welfare at school this year.

This afternoon at 6:30, between 15 and 20 of our people will meet to pray and learn more about the Greeters/Security Handbook approved unanimously by our church family on July 14, 2019. Everyone participating today will be asked to pray about and consider participating as a Volunteer Greeter in the ministry of our church. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A GREETER? Greeters serve in obedience to biblical direction:
 
“Blessed are those servants whom the master, when He comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Mark 13:33-37)
 
Greeters are to be faithful in what the scripture says about being ready:

1. Watch – Greeters should serve with their eyes wide open. Greeters will be attentive to needs and ready to assist people attending our church. Greeters will observe and be ready to address problems as they are detected. Greeters will be proficient in the use of two-way radios by which they will communicate with each other about what they are observing during the services of the church.
2. Fellowship – Greeters will offer a sincere and warm welcome to people who attend every service. Handshaking, appropriate hugs, smiles and backslapping is required. The way Greeters welcome people to Grace will serve like the Master “…sitting down to eat with and serve” his servants (Mark 13:34).
3. Safety – Greeters will serve with and compliment the presence of an off-duty uniformed police officer of the Oakwood Police Department who will be on campus to ensure that our church is protected from potential disruption. The Greeters’ Purpose Statement says, “This manual will outline the measures to be taken to provide hospitality to members and guests attending services while reducing risks and providing a secure environment for our people.”
   

Five words define our safety concerns:
   Hospitality – Risk Reduction – Secure Environment.

Becoming a Greeter here at Grace is not a complicated thing. It is not about who carries and who does not. You do not have to carry a weapon to serve as a Greeter. But you will need to carry a two-way radio and be ready to talk on it. Think about it this way.
 
When you invite someone to come to your house for dinner or fellowship, what do you do?

• You cook a good meal that they will appreciate and enjoy.
• You meet them at the door and with a broad smile you invite them inside.
• If its cold, you take their coats.
• If it is warm, you say something about the weather.
• You look into their faces to see if they are happy, or sad.
• You ask them about their day or week.
• You talk about their kids, and how things are going at work.

 
In short, you pleasantly communicate and discover how you can make them feel at home in your house and how happy you are that they are there.

• You do not pat them down or make them feel uneasy.
  
• You do not ask them what they may have in the purse of in their back pocket.
  
• You do not look into their eyes to see what their motives are pure or what agenda they may want to sell.
  

Friends do not act toward friends the way suspects act toward other suspects.
 
A Greeter at Grace is simply a FRIEND who is ready and watching for the opportunity to make more FRIENDS.