“#FOR PEOPLE” I WEEK 7
Who are you for? Throughout Scripture, God’s people wrestled with this puzzling question. Our world is full of examples, news reels, memes, and blogs about who we should be against. However, Jesus actually challenges His people to love a different way. A path to reach out without compromise. A path to reconcile but not forget. A path to invest in others without neglecting your soul. This is the call to the Church in our day - to be for people again??? Join us as we journey to love people like Jesus. This Sunday 10 AM.
WEEKLY GIVING STATISTICS
(Fiscal Year Began June 1, 2020)
Last Week Weekly Need YTD
$3,861 $2,661 $30,060
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP IN PERSON OR ONLINE
AT OUR NEW LOCATION:
2149 84th Street SW Byron Center MI 49315
SUNDAY, MAY 23 AT 10AM
VISIT centergr.com/live OR centergr.online.church.
INFO & OPPORTUNITIES:
Introducing ‘CENTER GROUNDS- Coffee & Community’
Made you look? Join us for coffee and a chat at the church!
When: Thursday mornings 8:30am-10am (starting June 3rd)
Where: The Center Church foyer
‘NEVER THE SAME’ CAMP ‘21:
Students and Parents- registration is now open!
Contact jon-michael@centergr.com for details.
He’s got them!
HOPE UNEXPECTED:
* 1st Annual Hope Unexpected Golf Outing*
Fundraiser for one of our favorite ministries!
Join us Saturday, June 19 2021 at Briarwood Golf Club, 9am.
Need more info? Please contact hopeunexpected.org/golf-outing,
or chat with Charlie at church.
CENTER STUDENTS MINISTRY:
Join us for YOUTH GROUP at our NEW LOCATION on Wednesday evenings, 6-7pm!
Contact jon-michael@centergr.com for more details.
Interested in serving in our Center Students ministry?
Jon-Michael would love to hear from you!
CENTER KIDS MINISTRY:
Look for important updates in your inbox, Dani loves to keep everyone up to date on what’s happening in our Center Kids ministry :)
Questions for Dani? Ready to serve? She’d love to connect with you at dani@centergr.com .
SMALL GROUPS:
Looking to get connected? We will have more groups forming this Fall!
Please check out our online resources; some of the Small Groups may be meeting digitally due to COVID-19.
Visit thecentergroups.churchcenter.com for more info.
Looking for resources to ‘dig deeper’?
Interested in leading a Bible study but not sure where to start, what to study ?
We can help! Just contact office@centergr.com and we can introduce and connect you to RightNow Media.
Check it out- it’s well worth your time.
JOHN GORVEATTE II LEAD PASTOR
“#For People” WEEK 7 I
KEY PASSAGES:
Acts 8 NIV
8 And Saul approved of their killing him.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Sorcerer
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
Philip and the Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Deuteronomy 23:1 NIV
Exclusion From the Assembly
23 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.