Noah is a sharer, not always of toys or stuff he is playing with, but he is a sharer of experiences. Whatever he is doing he wants you to experience it with him. Noah is my 5 year-old, stubborn, adorable (don’t call him cute), precocious*, whiney, only eats bacon and bread, snuggly, fun loving, strangely quiet at school little boy. To say that he won’t try new foods is a bit of an understatement. But when it comes to experiencing new things he is a daredevil. There is no jump too high, no ride too scary (unless it is his brother pulling him on his go kart). Anyway, enough waxing poetically about my son, I was going to make a spiritual point. Noah is a sharer. Anything he eats he wants you to try. Anything he does, he wants you to do to. Yesterday we were in the backyard enjoying the cool weather and a deer went walking through the bushes behind our house. We live in the city, so this was sort of a shock, but I was able to round Noah up and show him the deer**. He looked at it for a moment and then said, “I have to go get Nathan,” and instead of watching the deer ran off to find his brother. For him the experience wasn’t complete until he shared it with someone. The same is true of what he is eating, (unfortunately for those of us in his family who don’t live off of chips, bacon, and corn dog crust) what he is reading, or what he is playing. Noah wants you to experience it with him. This can be a bit draining when you have spent the day with him and just want to relax away from crayons and Lego blocks for a moment, but buried in that desire for me to do things with him is an image of God that I believe is in all of us, even if it is buried a little deeper in most of us. We were made to share. There is a piece of the image of God in us that wants to share with others. We are not made to experience things alone. We were not made to keep things we enjoy to ourselves. That is why we pull out pictures of our kids and grandkids.*** That is why we talk about TV shows on twitter or football games at work on Monday. We were made to share. So the question for me and you today is do you share not the mundane, not even the extraordinary. Do you share the one thing that matters above all else. Do you share Jesus with your friends? If you don’t, if you find excuses to keep quiet or reasons not to share then maybe it is time to figure out why. What has you so afraid to do what you were created to do? Spend some time this week with that question and ask God to give you the boldness to share. If you are really brave you can ask God to help you share Jesus as much as Noah shares food. *I don’t know if precocious is considered a positive or a negative so I wasn’t sure where to stick it on the list. **I guess I am a bit of a sharer too ***That is also why I wrote a paragraph about how cool Noah is. **** ****Seminary life has me reading lots of footnotes sorry. Shane The LINK Phone: 270.534.1900 www.friendshiponthenet.org www.facebook.com/friendshiponthenet Dr. Jason Browning, Pastor Rev. Shane Yancey, Minister to Students & Children Rev. Chad Davidson, Minister of Music & Worship Weekly Activities October 12 1. Kelly Hudspeth 2. Lakin Hardison, Danielle Barnes 3. Tim Barnes, Gage Hobbs TUESDAY Men’s Prayer - 6:30 am Operation Andrew - 6:00 pm October 19 1. Amanda O’Brian 2. Debbie Alvey, Heather Reid 3. Hutch & Kay Hutcheson SATURDAY Men’s Bible Study - 6:30 am 1. Budget Receipts Required To Date: $ 279,870 Budget Receipts Received: To Date: $ 283,757 Volume 14 OCTOBER 2014 Number 10 2. October 5 Rachel Hawkins Todd & Melissa Noles 3. Billie Stuber October 26 1. Henrietta Mitchell 2. Colleen Pennebaker, Gloria Graves 3. Meredith Yancey, Taylor Hobbs Cookie Brigade 5 — Sheri Wright 19 — Jeanette King Budget Receipts 146 S. Friendship Rd. Paducah KY 42003 Nursery Volunteers SUNDAY Prayer - 8:15 a.m. Sunday School - 9:00 am Morning Worship - 10:15 am Celebration Choir - 5:00 pm Small Group Studies - 6:00 pm Children’s Bible Study - 6:00 pm Youth Bible Study - 6:00 pm WEDNESDAY Children’s Choir - 6:30 pm Youth Bible Study - 6:30 pm Prayer Service - 6:30 pm Friendship Baptist Church Children’s Worship Workers 4 yr. - Kindergarten: Tim & Danielle Barnes 1st & 2nd Grade: Oscar Bickerstaff Friday, October 31 6:00-8:00 It is Trunk or Treat time again! On one night in October we will have a chance to interact with hundreds of people from our community, and we need YOU to be there to welcome them and minister to them. Check out the sign-up lists on the bulletin board by the elevator to indicate how you will help. The first thing that we need are people willing to bring their cars and set up a small CARnival game. Even if you have never participated before we would like for you to be a part of this event. We will also need people who are willing to cook chili (we will have an informal contest to see who is the best) and people who are willing to help with clean up. We need everyone to be involved in this outreach so sign up today. We will also need lots and lots of candy so you can start bringing your bags of individually wrapped candy and leaving them in the box beside Shane’s office. OCTOBER CALENDAR OF EVENTS “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope.” Hebrews 10:23 Some of the people around you today are living without hope. Look at them – they smile, but their eyes are dead. They talk, but the music has left their voice. They are like mannequins: all dressed up and going nowhere because they feel hopeless. But as a follower of Christ, you don’t have to live that way. The writer of Hebrews reminds us “let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.” Our hope isn’t luck like winning the lottery. No, it’s confidence – confidence that God will do what He said. No one knew this truth better than David. He had every reason to lose hope. After Samuel anointed him to be Israel’s next king, David had to wait seven years while a paranoid ruler occupied the throne. He had to flee for his life and hide in caves surrounded by enemies. He saw Israel devastated, his friends killed, and his family taken captive – but he never wavered or threw in the towel. Faced with circumstances that would wipe many of us out, the psalmist said in Psalm 29:7, “My hope is in You.” In Psalm 30:5, he said, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” In other words, David testified: “It’s going to get better!” We understand that you cannot lose with an attitude like that. David became king because he never lost confidence in the promises of God. God’s promises kept him focused - they kept him on top of the circumstances they kept him going! What has God promised you? Peace? Joy? Forgiveness? Freedom? 1 5 7 12 14 15 18 19 21 28 31 5:00 p.m. — Family Night Supper 2:00 p.m. — Jackson Oaks 6:00 p.m. — Operation Andrew, Team 1 Budget/Calendar Event Requests Due 7:00 p.m. — Deacon’s Mtg. 11:30 a.m. — JOY Club 6:00 p.m. — Ladies Night Out 6:00 p.m. — Operation Andrew, Team 2 5:30 p.m. — Finance Team 6:30 p.m. — Business Mtg. 7:00 p.m. — Family Movie Night Dedication of New Building 1:30 p.m. — Parkview 6:00 p.m. — Operation Andrew, Team 3 6:00 p.m. — Operation Andrew, Team 1 6:00 p.m. — Trunk or Treat Weekly Events: Sunday @ 5:00 — Facilities Team Monday @ 6:30 p.m. — Ladies Bible Study Tuesday @ 6:30 a.m. — Men’s Prayer Group Saturday @ 6:30 a.m. — Men’s Bible Study October 19 Dedication Of New Facility May we stand together on God’s Word and declare: “If God promised it, I believe it, and that settles it!” God is good! All the time!! Jason 10:15 am Join us as we commit the building and ourselves to reaching others in our community. Awana Classes: Rubber Mulch on Playground — Parents of young children and other volunteers are needed to add mulch to the playground area on Saturday, October 25, at 8:00 a.m. Bring leaf rakes and gloves. Sunday, October 19 6:00 p.m. Meet in the fellowship hall PUGGLES: 2 years old CUBBIES: 3 years old - K SPARKS: 1st & 2nd grade Truth & Training: 3rd - 5th grade AWANA helps churches and parents partner together to develop spiritually strong children who faithfully follow Jesus Christ October brings fall colors to mind as we move into the autumn season. What a great time of year it is to gather friends, Sunday School members, prospects for the church, and family for a campfire fellowship including chili and the most excellent part s’mores! Make an effort to plan a time when your Sunday School class can get together this month! The Celebration Choir will begin work on the Christmas program in October. If you would like to be a part of the Christmas choir now is the time to join. We have rehearsal on Sunday evenings at 5:00pm. We have room left in the loft just for you! Children’s choir has had a blast working on their musical for Christmas. As we look toward October and November, the choir WILL meet fall break week for those children who will be in town. On November 9 the choir will stay after church to have a rehearsal to begin to use the worship center as their staging area for the program. Be watching for more information. Under the Master’s Baton, Bro. Chad FAMILY NIGHT SUPPER — Wednesday, October 1, 5:00 p.m. The menu is: Pizza, Salad Bar, & Dessert. Sign up in the sanctuary or call the church office by noon on Tuesday, September 30. The cost is $5 for adults; $3 for children 12 & under; $20 maximum family cost. Please remember that the food is purchased according to the number who signed up, so you will need to pay for your meal if you sign up and do not attend. The JOY Club will go to Rafferty’s on Tuesday, October 14 at 11:30 a.m.. All senior adults are invited to attend. Ladies Night Out Tuesday, October 14 Meet at the church at 5:45 p.m. We’re going to Hope Unlimited to tour their facility and learn of opportunities to serve in this ministry. Come and join us!