HP Quarterly April-Q2_2016
HP Quarterly April-Q2_2016
HP Quarterly April-Q2_2016
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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 />
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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 />
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:e c'oMMUNITIES<br />
• OING GOOD INC.<br />
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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 />
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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