FORT DES MOINES CHURCH OF CHRIST. Love God Love People Serve Everyone Fort Connections

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1 FORT DES MOINES CHURCH OF CHRIST Love God Love People Serve Everyone Office: Fort Connections Service Times: Sunday School 9 AM Worship 10 AM Mike Demastus February 2014 Don t let the spiders lower your flame! You might not know this but there is a particular spider that is attracted to the gas valves inside of a furnace. I saw it first-hand. I went and helped Nathan Shanks work on a furnace that wasn t working properly. It had a flame. But the flame wasn t as strong as it was supposed to be. After some time diagnosing and troubleshooting it was determined that the culprit was this little nest of spider webs inside the gas valve of the furnace. Once that was cleaned out, the flame burned bright and the home was warmed like it was supposed to be. I had never seen anything like that. The little spiders are apparently attracted to the natural gas and they come in through the crevices and cracks of the furnace during the months when a furnace is not in use and they set up their home. And this is a common problem. It made me realize that you and I struggle with the same issue in our spiritual life. Our flame for passion in Christ is diminished because we fail to properly maintain our lives and thus are susceptible to the little faith-killing spiders in our lives. When we go through a season of doubt, the spiders set up shop. When we go through a season of lack of prayer, the spiders set up shop. When we go through a season of not reading Scripture, the spiders set up shop. Our flame for the Spirit s work in our life isn t as bright as a result. Our lives are cooled to the things that matter to Christ and his Kingdom. We become apathetic. Let me give you some advice for keeping the flame burning bright for Christ. 1. Serve others. Being actively involved in ministry where you are helping meet the needs of someone else is a surefire way to keep your flame burning bright for Christ. There is no better way to be healed yourself than to focus on helping others. 2. Pray. Prayer is so incredibly important to your relationship with Christ. If all you ever do is speak to the Lord about what you want or simply dictate to Him about your life then that is a lopsided relationship and it won t last. Real prayer involves dialogue. You speak with the Lord regularly and listen for Him to speak to you as well through His Word. This will keep your love for God alive. 3. Read Scripture. Daily ingestion of God s Word is vital to the health of your soul. Our soul is a living thing. It needs nourishment just like your physical body does. You feed your body. So don t starve your soul. It is going to last much longer than your body! The way you feed your soul is by nourishment in God s Word. This will make your flame for Christ so incredibly bright! Doing these things will help keep the spiders from setting up a nest and diminishing your flame for Christ! To remove your name from our mailing list, please notify us by secretary@godsfort.org or call

2 Book Look By MargE DeRuyscher Pursue the Beloved is a compilation of insights, prayers, hymn lyrics, quotes, reminisces, and Scripture. It is an excellent Time-out, coffee break, mood changer, can t go to sleep, or just a change from the news of the day. Pursue the Beloved is the work of Nancy Hagerman, wife of Steve Hagerman, founder and Director of Turkish World Outreach. Many stories are very personal and joy in God s love shine through. A word of warning: it s like eating one peanut. Just one more page and then I ll get back to what I m doing or go to sleep. Missions Ministry Update By MargE DeRuyscher How do new churches come into being? Besides prayer and a need for fellowship there are many things to consider these days. CEM (Christian Evangelism Ministry) is a helpful tool to make new congregations grow and be fruitful for the Kingdom. CEM is our Mission of the Month for February. Mike Knight from CEM will be at The Fort on February 9th! You can visit their website at Hey CRAZY Ladies! We are going to be starting our Bible Study on Thursday, February am. Our Book is entitled Live Relationally: Lessons from the Women of Genesis. It is a 10 week study which will consist of 20 minutes each day of Bible Study and an hour each week with your fellow Crazies. The books are $15.00 each. Sign-Up on Sunday! If you have any questions please contact Shannon at secretary@godsfort.org. Debate Watch: The Fort 2

3 Fort Facts Total Income for December: $15, Total Expenses for December: $12, CIA Update Mike Demastus The CIA have been learning about what it means to be Radical for Jesus. REAL MEN is February 28th at The Rising Sun Church of Christ from 7:00-10:00 pm! Men, you won t want to miss this special event! The speaker this year is Bob Russell from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Sign-up today at realmeniowa.org. Ladies, the guys will need cookies that evening! Please sign-up to bring a few dozen of the 50 dozen that we will need! Children ages 4yrs-5th grade can BLAST OFF with a 2 day VBS this summer at The Fort! There will be an informational meeting Thursday, February 7:00pm. We will need people to lead games, prepare snacks, lead crafts, lead songs, lead the Bible Story area, lead a group of children around to the different areas, help decorate (space theme), help with advertising, help pick kids up in the Church Van...We need YOU! Please come to the meeting and find out more information! 3

4 February Highlights February 4th: Debate 6:00pm February 6th: Summer VBS 7:00pm February 9th: Mike Knight from CEM will be at The Fort and the money is due for Cross Talk February 19th: NO CIA! Red is giving a concert in De Moines. February 20th: The Crazies are starting back 10:00am February 28th: REAL MEN from 7:00-10:00pm Server Schedule 10 am Service 02/02/14 02/09/14 02/16/14 02/23/14 Greeters Doug/Sue Jack/Ramona Bev/Terry Bob/Linda Scripture Karl Jace Laura Ashley Praise Team DVD/ Demastus Abel's/ Hoodjer's Mary/Bob Nate/Demastus Offering Meditation Luther Richard Jim Lonnie Meditation Ramona George Mike Doren Server Doren Terry Natalie Karl Closing Prayer George Lonnie Richard Jim Stewardship Luther/Bruce Miles/George Doren/Jim Terry/Kirk Children's Helpers Nursery/ Toddlers Kirk/Ashley Bev/Celeste Nate/Melissa Lelanie/Rachel Junior Church Cleo Bob/Linda Jennifer/Charity Julie Other Ministries to Sick Lonnie/Jim Nate/Cameron George/Natalie Luther/Richard Prep Lonnie/Jennifer Lonnie/Jennifer Lonnie/Jennifer Lonnie/Jennifer 4

5 February 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Men s Bible am Debate Watch 6pm 6 VBS 7pm 7 8 Men s Bible 9 Mike Knight from CEM will be here! Board Meeting Miranda DeYoung Elders Meeting Men s Bible Deloris Eggers KK RED concert 20 The Dale McMillen Men s John McCuddin The Natalie Hoeppner 28 REAL MEN 7-10pm 5