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February 25th

COMMUNITYFREE CHURCH WEEKLY

This weekend Community Evangelical Free Church of Mahomet supported missionary, Brent Ressler, will be coming to share a ministry update and a message out of 1 Samuel 2:1-11 at the 10:45am service.Come and be blessed by Brent’s heart to see all churches work together for the sake of the Gospel!

This weekend Pastor Jason and Tasha are traveling to a conference on discipleship in Louisville, KY and using the opportunity to get away together for a few extra days. Please pray for this trip.

Prayer request from Amir (Syria):"Peace to you in Jesus' name, In the last 4 days, 16 Christian young girls were kidnapped in Homs city, please pray for them and for their parents, it is a difficult time for us all, they kidnapped just because they are Christian. God be with you!"

Lord God, It's been 7 days now since the world first saw The 21, since their sacrifice stirred us to live like they kneeled, to withstand like they stood fast,to be bold like they believed, to love like they died- Christ-like.It's been Sunday to Sunday, 7 days to let their martyrdom fan into flame a wildfire of Gospel-love in the Kingdom, to let the way they turned to You in the end, cause us to return to our First Love now, to let the way they actually died for their faith - fuel us to actually live for ours. Lord, it's been 7 days since The 21 died for being People of the Cross. Cause us to wake and live like People of the Cross now, as they did not recant of their love of Christ let us repent of our lukewarm love for Christ.As they kneeled on those shores and sacrificed their lives to You, let waves of revival make our lives living sacrifices to You. And let the blood of the martyrs be the seed of a revived Church. In the name of Jesus-- the only one who has ever loved us to death, and back to the real and forever life. Amen.

Pray for the

© 8Thirty8

Prayer Training Reminder: “Praying Like the Jew Jesus” study meets March 7th at 9:00am in the foyer!

The next meeting to discuss the book will be Saturday, March 7th at 9:00am at the church.

We will be looking at chapters 7-10.There will be coffee, treats, and lots of great conversation to drive us towards God confidently in prayer!

If you haven’t been able to attend come out and be blessed. We still have a few books left and would love to have you pray with us as we pray for one another!

Thursday 2/26 Congregational Prayer 6-7:00pm

Worship Practice 7:30pm

Saturday 2/28“Act Like Men” Breakfast at the Church. Continuing the Act Like Men Discussion!

Basketball 8:30am

Sunday 3/1Christian Education 9:30amChildren’s Sunday School 9:30am Children’s Church 10:45am

Worship Gathering 10:45am Special Guest: Brent Ressler

AWANA 6:00pm.

Tuesday 2/24Ladies Bible Study 9:30am at CEFCMFinding Hope in the book of Revelation.See Deb Henrikson for more information!

Women’s Bible Study Fellowship 9:10am at First Christian ChurchThe Life of Moses. See Michelle Shafer!

Community Groups 6:00pm Schifo HomeMore information email:tschifo@gmail.com’

Community Groups 7:00pm Wright HomeMore information email: bhenrikson@parkland.edu

Wednesday 2/25 Youth Group 6:00pm Pastor Jake Barrett

Community Groups Piasecki Home 6:15pmMore information email: mikejanp@msn.com

What’s Happening This Week at Your Church?

Thanks to Bob Tompkins and Jeremy Barrett for sharing their gifts and talents at AWANA!

This past Sunday our family left the church at the usual time, around 1:00pm, and decided to head out to lunch rather than do our usual leftovers at home. As we were getting off the ramp onto Prospect Avenue to go to Chipotle (one of our favorite places), I said to Tasha at the last minute: “Wait, what about chicken from Popeye’s?”“But, you don’t even like chicken,” Tasha said. “But, it sounds good,” I replied. So we drove over to Popeye’s.

As I entered and ordered, I noticed a nicely dressed older African-American couple waiting in line. The husband and I looked at each other, smiled, and shared a fun exchange about needing a side order of chicken after filling up on Jesus at church.

They asked where I went to church, and I told them that I pastored at CEFCM, and he shared that he is an associate lay pastor at at a predominately African-American Church in Champaign. We shared some small talk about a kid’s program they were attending that afternoon before I looked at him and said very plainly, “Isn’t it silly, that you are worshipping Jesus over here, and we are worshipping Jesus over there, and we look nothing like the gospel, and everything like the picture the media paints of us?”

Then I shared the passage we talked about at CEFCM that morning out of Isaiah 2:

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” Isaiah 2:2-3

Isaiah says that in the latter days the Lord, on a day of His choosing, shall manifest His glory and call all people to Himself. The passage tells us that this will be a migration of people that is greater than any one race, color, creed, ethnicity, tradition, or nation. This is what the presence of God does. It destroys division and reconciles all people to His vision of them.

“a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9)

I believe that as the big “C” church we need to be a strong voice over anything that creates division both in the church and out into culture.

Thomas Brook, in his book “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices,” says: “Be the first to seek peace and reconciliation. You are a Christian today only because God was the first to seek peace with you. You are now called and equipped to be the first to seek after peace and to attempt to pursue and maintain unity. As you do this you have the high honor of acting as an imitator of God.”

As they called my order number my new friend and I shared contact information, and as he shook my hand he looked me in the eye and said, “I don’t think we met here on accident.” I smiled and said to him, “I agree, I don’t even like chicken that much, and should be eating a burrito right now.”

God is good and is calling us towards truth and unity for His glory ~ Let’s go.

Current Sermon Series:

“ACT LIKE MEN” Study Group - Now Meeting at the Church each week!

1st and 3rd Saturday - Coffee2nd and Last Saturday - Full Breakfast

Have you missed gathering with us? No worries just come out and jump right in. We will have books and copies of the weekly questions available for anyone who didn’t get them yet. Let’s have an ongoing honest conversation about leading and loving as men.

The Act Like Men Conference Date Changed - Added Speaker!The Act Like Men Conference in Chicago, June 12-13th will be held at the historic Moody Church in Downtown Chicago, with the addition of Erwin Lutzer as a speaker! Tickets are $115, which includes a shared hotel room.

The exciting addition of being at Moody with Erwin Lutzer is a huge blessing. We would love for you to join Pastor Jason as we learn, listen, and wrestle together what it means to be men.

This year we will spend time together reflecting and discussing what we learn each day. There will be a group meal at Carson’s Ribs in Chicago (Bring a bib!) to close out the conference before we head home.

Ladies Bible Study: Find hope in Jesus Christ through the Book of Revelation!

This will be an 8-10 week study: Tuesday 9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. (There will be no babysitting provided.)

Some of the topics will be: Hope when you are depressed, Hope when you are deluded, Hope when you are discouraged, Hope when you are distressed, Hope when you are defeated, and Hope that ignites your heart.

The first class will be an orientation class and the last class will be an overview of the book of Revelation using a time line. We will plan a fellowship get-together for in May.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact Deb Henrikson at (217) 586-2918. Please let Deb know if you are interested so that she can order you a book.