September 15, 2017

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ!

Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today.  Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ's first advent, so both testaments are filled with references to the second coming of Christ.  One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ's second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence.  In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second advent of Christ an amazing 1 out of every 30 verses.  Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event.  For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ's first advent, there are 8 which look forward to His second! ("Today in the Word," April, 1989, p. 27)

Sunday is coming!  We will gather together to worship Almighty God!  I'll be preaching the 6th sermon of the sermon series on Jude!  There are two sermons to go after Sunday.  These last 3 sermons are way more positive than the last three have been so get ready to get charged up!  This sermon is entitled, "Jesus Is Coming Back!"  Read the whole book of Jude, but we'll be focusing on verses 14 & 15 for Sunday.  

Thank you to those who came and helped get the Flood Buckets ready for delivery!  Thank you, Mary Bearden, for getting everything ready to be packed!  Thank you to all who donated $$, buckets, and bucket guts to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey!!  

To say that "Wednesday was great," would be a major understatement?  Wednesday was great!....But it was so much more!  Looking forward to the future!

To find out all that’s going on the next week, #1 – BE IN WORSHIP AND SUNDAY SCHOOL ON SUNDAY!  #2 – go to www.vernonfumc.org and explore all that’s on our webpage.  #3 – Invite someone to Worship and Sunday School so that they’ll also know what all’s going on! 

Sunday’s Bulletin and the Advance Newsletter are on the website! 

Mary Bearden is needing to line up groups and people who will take care of the meals yet to be sponsored on Wednesday nights!  Each group is responsible for set-up, food/drinks, and clean-up.  Please talk this over in your Sunday School classes and groups and let Mary know what date or dates you can take care of this!  Thank you, Salvation Army Board, for Wednesday's Meal on 9/13!  It was wonderful!  

The new Bible Study on Hebrews continues this Wednesday.  If you're fretting because you missed the first session, DON'T!  Come join us!  No time is too late to join us!  Well........unless you don't come until the week of Christmas......that'll be too late.  But we start another Bible study in the spring!  

A pastor tells of the time he was at the checkout table at the library at Princeton Seminary when a friend of his, a pastoral counselor, approached staggering under the weight of a stack of books.  The pastor teased him a little, asking what a pastoral counselor was doing with all those books.  And the counselor replied he was doing some research on forgiveness. The pastor was surprised and puzzled. "Research on forgiveness?  What are you trying to find out?"  The counselor thought for a moment and replied, "I guess I’m trying to find out if forgiveness really exists or not.  You know, I see so little evidence of it in my work." (Scott H. Bowerman)

May God abundantly bless you and yours!

Peace like a river,

Rusty Dickerson

Encountering Christ
Growing in Christ
Sharing Christ