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HP Quarterly April-Q2_2016

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2 0 1 7<br />

Chur h of Chrts C.rusad<br />

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"DOING THE KING'S BUSINESS<br />

IN THE QUEEN CITY!"<br />

HOSTED BY THE CHARLOTIE AREA<br />

CHURCHES OF CHRIST<br />

Learn more at:<br />

sugarcreekcoc.org/Crusade


Sis. Cox


Deja K. Dailey , DeJa Washington, Arie D. N. Glover,<br />

Sa'lora M. Johnson, Tatum Coleman, Logan Coleman,<br />

Robert J. (RJ) Dailey, Dathan Dailey, Ryan (RJ) Henry


JOIN US FOR A CELEBRATION OF<br />

COMMUNITY, FAMILY, EDUCATION, HEAL TH, ART, FOOD &<br />

MUSIC<br />

: <strong>2016</strong> Festival Sponsors:<br />

:0· ·<br />

. . '<br />

: .<br />

APRIL 30 TH• 11AM TO 3PM<br />

PUBLIC ADMISSION IS FREE!<br />

Last year guest appearances:<br />

Sir Purr & Chic-Fil-A Celebrity Mascots, from Tyler Perry's hit<br />

show "Love Thy Neighbor" Kendra Johnson<br />

: .<br />

:e c'oMMUNITIES<br />

• OING GOOD INC.<br />

: ·l!)IIW,O,,i.i,1('!0d


Text the amount you choose to give to (704) 626-2403. In a digital<br />

society, fewer people carry cash and checks. Text giving is one of many<br />

ways to partner with God’s mission at Sugar Creek.<br />

How Text Giving works?<br />

Text any amount to (704) 626-2403 (e.g. text “50”). After a one-time<br />

setup, you choose the gift amount to come from a credit card, debit<br />

card, or bank account (ACH).<br />

• You can update the card or bank account by texting “update.”<br />

• If there’s a typo in your message, you can quickly refund your gift<br />

by texting “refund.”<br />

• All donations go to the general offering. You can give to the Debt<br />

Retirement Fund by using the keyword “debt” (e.g. text “50 debt”<br />

to give to the debt retirement fund)<br />

A receipt is emailed to you after each gift.<br />

We hope this will be a great tool to help express your generosity to God<br />

in a whole new way.<br />

Sugar Creek Church of Christ<br />

"Growing Deeper in Discipleship"


skills, and have felt compelled to follow<br />

them.<br />

In Acts 7: 22 the Bible said, "Moses<br />

was learned in all the wisdom of the<br />

Egyptians, and was mighty in words and<br />

deeds" Yes, Moses was willing to risk<br />

losing all of what he had. He wanted to<br />

help his fellow Hebrews (current slaves).<br />

He went from privilege to poverty. Moses<br />

went through the breaking and remaking<br />

process that was required to be used by<br />

God. I say this and you will agree, leadership<br />

always has it's costs. To be an effective<br />

leader, you may not be asked to leave<br />

your family, your country, or give up all<br />

your possessions as Moses did. However,<br />

you can be sure that leading others will<br />

have a price filled with painful sacrifices.<br />

Personally, I pray for God's wisdom to<br />

use my natural influence in my day-today<br />

life at Sugar Creek and beyond. To<br />

nurture others, listen to others, connect<br />

with others and produce other influencers.<br />

Prayerfully by maintaining a good<br />

character of love, I will be respected by<br />

my family, friends, co-worker and brotherhood.<br />

f understand a good character<br />

is not given to me, I must build it pieceby-piece<br />

through my thoughts, choices,<br />

actions, courage and my determination<br />

to make a change for growth moving<br />

forward.<br />

I recognize that I'm maturing in Christ.<br />

I don't need more ability or greater opportunity,<br />

I simply need to use the gifts<br />

God has giving me and share it for His<br />

glory. Leadership is more than a position,<br />

it is a continual growth in loving God and<br />

people more.<br />

BOOK REVIEW BY RONNY REDDIG:<br />

CHOOSING TO CHEAT<br />

BY ANDY STANLEY<br />

Cheating is choosing to give up one thing<br />

in hopes of gaining something else of<br />

greater value. It usually involves giving up<br />

an intangible virtue for a tangible reward.<br />

On a daily basis, we make decisions to<br />

give up one thing in order to gain<br />

some­thing else. One area of our lives<br />

where this happens is in the collision of<br />

our families and our careers.<br />

Unfortunately,<br />

T<br />

FD<br />

EWORD by JOHN MAXWELL<br />

WHO I S when FAMILY and WOii COLLIDE<br />

this collision can lead to catastrophe for<br />

Christian families when a spouse cheats<br />

his or her family for their career. This is<br />

obviously not what God intended for a<br />

husband, wife, mother, or father to do.<br />

Choosing to cheat is about establishing<br />

priorities. A priority is something<br />

you put ahead of something else. In order<br />

to say "yes" to one thing, you must say<br />

"no" to another. Time is usually at the<br />

forefront of the cheating issue. We do not<br />

have enough time in a day to meet all of<br />

our priorities. As a result, we often end<br />

up giving our time and attention to the<br />

"squeakiest wheel". Whoever makes the<br />

most noise or creates the biggest mess<br />

usually gets the lion's share of our time.<br />

When it comes to our families, sometimes<br />

they only become the squeaky wheel<br />

once times have become desperate. The<br />

author of this book points out that there<br />

is almost always an event or wake-up call<br />

that draws our attention to our career vs.<br />

family priority problem. Oftentimes, the<br />

wake-up call comes when it is too late.<br />

The story of Adam and Eve<br />

explains how the nature of work and marriage<br />

was designed by God. The important<br />

lesson for us to glean is that God is<br />

pleased by our work and our relationships<br />

with our spouse when our attitude and<br />

actions are aligned with His. The author<br />

uses the story of Daniel to prove his message.<br />

He points out that Daniel would<br />

not "cheat" his body and his values by<br />

consuming the poor nutrients served by<br />

the Babylonians. As a result, Daniel and<br />

his friends were healthier than those who<br />

ate the meats from the King's table. The<br />

author makes an interesting note about<br />

the story of Daniel. We easily see how<br />

Daniel chose the right thing to do. We see<br />

his courageous, and we want our kids to<br />

be like Daniel, but then when we look at<br />

our own circumstances, we justify that we<br />

have a "different" situation when it comes<br />

to whether we should cheat home or<br />

work. The author points out that regardless<br />

of which Bible story you read, God<br />

always comes through on behalf of the<br />

man who cheated man rather than God.<br />

When you choose to cheat in accordance<br />

with God's priorities for your life, it is an<br />

invitation for Him to bless you in ways<br />

you never dared to imagine.<br />

The author discusses the problems<br />

associated with a spouse or parent<br />

that cheats their family for their career at<br />

length. He helps the reader understand<br />

how and why this may happen, as well as<br />

the unfortunate outcomes. The solution<br />

he offers toward the end of the book is<br />

to "COMMIT" with conviction. If you<br />

are cheating your family for your career,<br />

you need to stop talking about what you<br />

"wish" you could do, what you "intend"<br />

to do, or what you will "promise" to do.<br />

Good intentions simply add up to failure.<br />

Your heart must control your actions. In<br />

choosing to put your family first, you are<br />

bring your priorities in line with those of<br />

your heavenly Father. Heed the warning<br />

signs that your spouse and children are<br />

giving before you exhaust them to the<br />

point of giving up.<br />

When you discover it is time to stop<br />

cheating your family, the next decision<br />

is to decide on how you are going to deal<br />

with work. Remember, not cheating your<br />

family means cheating your work. When<br />

making that decision, which you must<br />

do, be sure you do it the way God would<br />

be pleased. Use wisdom, tact, and prayer<br />

so that God's principles are not violated.<br />

The author proposes that cheating at work<br />

isn't really cheating. It is testing to see<br />

APRIL<strong>2016</strong> 29 HIG<strong>HP</strong>RAISE


The Characteristics of<br />

Healthy Life Groups<br />

In order for all the saints to do the work of the ministry<br />

as the New Testament teaches (Ephesians 4:11?12; Hebrews<br />

3:12?14; 10:24?25; Galatians 6:2; James 5:16), you need to<br />

gather regularly in smaller forms of togetherness. Here is what<br />

should characterize all these various forms:<br />

1) They should be small: More than 6?8 people will require<br />

very long meetings or either someone will stay quiet.<br />

2) They should be regular and frequent: Once a week is<br />

natural; less than once every two weeks may not build<br />

closeness.<br />

3) The series should be of limited duration: Set a time when<br />

the group will dissolve, at least for awhile. For example, say<br />

?Let?s meet once a week through the end of the year, or<br />

through May.? Otherwise, groups peter out and you feel guilty.<br />

(Hebrews 10:24). No group should view fellowship as an end<br />

in itself (though it is precious!). The aim is the transformation<br />

of our lives for the sake of winning others to Christ and<br />

bringing honor to his name.<br />

7) Every group, whether it involves direct Bible study or not,<br />

should be penetrated by biblical consolations and exhortations.<br />

It is the Word of God that begets faith. So we must convey it to<br />

each other from the heart.<br />

8) Every meeting should include prayer. It would be a<br />

contradiction to gather in God?s name and not invoke His<br />

presence, plead His help, and thank Him for His goodness. Brief<br />

sentence prayers are better than long, all-inclusive prayers.<br />

9) There should always be opportunity for everyone to talk to<br />

others about their concerns. It should not be a lecture time.<br />

You can always start again.<br />

4) There must be commitment to attend except in emergency.<br />

Don?t enter a life group until you have counted the cost.<br />

5) There should be accountability to each other: We ought not<br />

to feel put out when a group asks if we have followed through<br />

on a resolution.<br />

Learn more about Sugar Creek Life Groups at<br />

MyJourney.sugarcreekcoc.org Article adopted from<br />

DesiringGod.org by John Piper, SEPTEMBER 22, 1981<br />

6) The aim of every group should be, in general, the<br />

?advancement and joy? of each other?s faith (Philippians<br />

1:25) and the ?stirring up? of each other?s love

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