Church Newsletter

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 Michael Worthington, Newsletter Author

Sunday School starts at 9:00am and Worship Service begins at 10:00am.

Message from Pastor Ken: Hello everyone! I would like to share this passage of Scripture with you this month. 1Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. I pray that we will welcome the Word of God into our hearts, so that it may work effectively in us, and get into our everyday life. In Jesus name! God Bless You All!

Contact Pastor Ken Littleton at 757-424-5504 or poetkcl@aol.com

Baptism Sunday on May 18th

National Day of Prayer on Thur May 1st; First Christian Church 8:00am; Breakfast from Panera Also 12 noon at City Road Methodist Church, and 7:00pm at Town South Church of Christ

Newland-Providence Ruritan Club BBQ & Fried Chicken Plate & baked goods fundraiser. Sat, May 3rd (4- 7 pm): Donation $12. For tickets see Doug and Linda Bright or Kaye Ventura

RGBC & Berea will provide lunch for teachers and staff of Pasquotank County High School on Wed, May 7 Bring desserts to church on Tue, May 6 at 7:00pm: cupcakes, cookies, or brownies

Youth (grades 6-12) meet 1st & 3rd Wednesdays (May 7th & 21st) at 7:00pm in Youth Room upstairs in gym. GAs (girls) & RAs (boys) (both GAs & RAs grades 1-5) and Mission Friends (age 3-K) meet on the 3rd Wednesday (5/21) at 7:00pm in Sunday School classrooms.

Altar Prayers on Wed. May 21st at 7:00pm in the sanctuary. Bring the kids and stay for prayer.

Babies will be dedicated on Mother’s Day, May 11th. New mothers should contact Elsie Walker.

Flower Committee will display pictures of church members’ mothers in the sanctuary on May 11 Mother’s Day. Leave photos in the Fellowship Hall, or see Carole Meads or Brenda White.

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missionaries totaled $1,200 (goal $1,000)

The church contributed $2,000 to Spruce Pine Baptist Church for Hurricane Helene relief.

Memorial Day is Monday, May 26th, so on Sunday the 25th the church will honor deceased veterans and will also remember members who had passed away since last Memorial Day.

Prayer Walk at Camp Cale on Tuesday, June 3rd at 6:30 pm. Come & pray for camp counselors.

Heart-4-Kids is going on a mission trip to Ecuador in October. Fundraiser: Texas Roadhouse frozen rolls and honey butter. $8 per dozen rolls and $3 per cup of butter. See Megan Clayton

Jon Jackson Scholarship applications accepted until May 11th; applications in library

Recognition of Graduates will occur during worship service on June 8th. Prospective high school graduates should contact Elsie Walker or Wannetta Strong. Need pictures for slideshow.

Choir meeting on May 6 will be the last practice until the fall

Vacation Bible School June 8-12, 5:30-8:30 with program on 13th at 7:00. Kickoff Children’s Day breakfast at 9:00am on Sunday, June 8th. Need volunteers! Contact Megan Clayton. Register kids at https://forms.gle/xSy9FpfM9qzyvSjD7   Spread the word to friends with children!

Please send cards to residents of retirement homes:

Hilda Sawyer and Glenda Crane are both at EC Health & Rehabilitation, 1075 US Hwy 17S, Elizabeth City, NC 27909

Sunday School at Home: (Jesus’s first miracle; recorded only in John 2:1-11)

John 2:1-11 A wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’s mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

This miracle marked the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, but it is only recorded in John. Cana was a small village about five miles north of Nazareth. Since Mary was somehow involved in the wedding, it may have been the marriage of one of Jesus’ sisters (Mark 6:3). Weddings were one of few opportunities for community merrymaking so the feasts often lasted all day and far into the night. Running out of wine would have been a humiliation for the bridegroom’s family who hosted the wedding, and Mary wanted to prevent their social embarrassment.

The jars represent us. Lamentations 4:2 “Zion’s precious children — once worth their weight in pure gold — how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!”

2 Corinthians 4:7 “Now we have this preparations treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.”

And the water represents the Spirit of God. John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Isaiah prophesized that salvation would be like a wedding: Isaiah 62:4-5 Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. 5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

John also wrote of a wedding in Revelation 19:7-9 “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”

Wine represents the blood of Jesus shed for forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

The jars filled with water represent those who become filled with the Holy Spirit; the very presence of God. In an instant, the water was transformed from one state to another, becoming wine. This is like baptism in water during which one is instantaneously reborn as a Christian.