A Word from the Pastor
Here we are another new
year! Happy 2008 to you and your family
from my family. I hope and pray that
you had a wonderful Christmas this year.
With each New Year comes a new chance and a new beginning. It is the time of year when we can forget
the mistakes of the previous year and use our success as a platform to propel
us into the New Year. That is what I
would encourage all of us to do. We
have all made mistakes and there is nothing we can do to correct them now. But what we can do is thank God for the
opportunity to get things right this time and remember what God has
accomplished through us. I know 2007
was the most challenging of my life but also the most rewarding and I want to
thank God for that and I look with eager anticipation towards 2008. Maybe you feel this way, or maybe you can’t
find too many things that went right in 2007.
You can still rejoice, because God has again according to His mercy
given you a new chance. Therefore lets
as individuals and a church family begin anew and afresh in 2008. Let’s turn our hearts and minds to God and
ask Him what He wants to do with us and through us this year. I believe that East End Baptist is going to
be the most exciting place to be in the Roanoke Valley in 2008! So forget the past mistakes, confess our sins,
and let’s get excited about what is to come.
This is a new day and a new year, let’s get on fire for God. With that said here is a nice cheesy slogan
to think of, “It’s never too late in ’08!”
January 2008
Prayer Concerns
Be a Prayer Warrior….
“Lord teach us to pray” Luke 11:1
Shut-Ins: Frances Beard
Hospital: Don Mountcastle, Bryan
Young,
Fred St.Clair, Jimmy Craig
In Care Facilities: Tommy Patsel,
Gerald Lamb, Connie Newman,
Helen Moore
Home Recovering from
Surgery or
Hospital stay: Ruth Martin, Jimmy Collins.
David & Terry Bishop, Melissa Carper, Harold Chambers, Matt Ferris, Billy
Altman, Bobby Dillon, Jewel Booth, Virginia Wray, Tilton Meador
Birthdays
and Anniversaries…
Happy Birthday to…
Norma
Croote-01/12
Morgan
Elkins-01/07
Debbie
Painter-01/18
Ashley
Palmer-01/19
Jacob
Perdue-01/11
WMU
Quarterly Meeting
January
17th at 7:00P.M. at the home of Annette Harper. Please come join us as we pray
for our missionaries and make plans for new mission projects.
Ask
The Pastor……….
Question: Which is worse: To not know what God said about sin
or to know and think that it does not apply to you?
Answer: WOW!! There
is a loaded question if I have ever seen one.
But it is a very serious question because many people find themselves in
this exact spot. For lack of better
terminology it comes down to being ignorant or being dumb. Or put another way it is the difference
between knowledge and wisdom. To not
know what God has said about sin makes you dumb. I am not saying that you are
not intellectual; you are just dumb in the truths of God. Many people want to hide behind being “dumb”
but as Paul says in Romans 1, your conscience and creation point to God
therefore you are without excuse. Any
logical person can look around them when they are outside and see that the
beauty of earth didn’t just happen by chance.
Something so spectacular as the earth and universe require a
Creator. We are also born with a
conscience. While it takes a while for
us to understand, we do reach a point in which we know what is right and what
is wrong. If our conscience tells us
this is wrong and we still do it, do we truly not know what is right and
wrong? Of course not! What is sin? A simple definition of sin is missing the mark, or doing
something that you know is wrong. A
sense you know the difference between right and wrong, therefore you understand
the concept of sin.
Now the person who knows
better but doesn’t think it applies to them is in a simple term, ignorant. Paul would use that word multiple times, “I
would have you not be ignorant brethren…”
This was a call from Paul to Christians to understand a particular truth
he was telling us. James would take it
a step further when he writes, “Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does
not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
The difference between knowledge and wisdom is approximately 18
inches. That is the distance from your
head to your heart. Knowledge is
knowing something in your head. Having
wisdom is applying the knowledge you have to your life. Your conscience and creation cries out there
is a God, that is knowledge. But
acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior and the sacrifice for sin is wisdom.
Therefore which is
worse? In a short answer, they are both
equally as bad because they lead to death (Romans 6:23). But for the purpose of answering this
question I will say that not knowing what God says about sin is worse. Why would I say that? Simply, because if you don’t know what God
has said about sin, in all likelihood you do not know Him as Lord and Savior
and therefore you do not have eternal life.
While deliberately sinning against God is a horrible thing, there is
nothing worse than not knowing Him as Lord and Savior. At least the person that knowingly sins has
the opportunity to ask for forgiveness.
The person who doesn’t what God has said about sin doesn’t have the
chance to be forgiven of their sins until they turn their life over to God and
receive salvation.
ASK THE PASTOR??…Many times we all have questions that we don’t
have the time or opportunity to ask the Pastor about directly. Each month we will select a question at
random and pose it to the Pastor. Please e-mail your questions to sdewwjd@yahoo.com;
you don’t need to include your name. There is a box on the back table if you
would rather place your questions there.
Got a question?
E-mail the Pastor or send it to me at sdewwjd@yahoo.com
Church Christmas Dinner
Well the votes are in and once again everyone had a
wonderful time at the Church Christmas Dinner.
Again a special thank you to Oscar Fix for taking the time to make the
arrangements at Friendship Manor. Over
sixty people attened (at last unofficial count). There was as always plenty of wonderful food and a special
presentation by the choir of what they like to refer to as their (Happy
Song). Thanks to all who made this
again a wonderful time of fellowship and praise. We look foreward to next year already.
Congratulations……
The newest arrival here at East End Baptist came at
12/07/07 weighing 7lbs 13.05oz. And 19
¾ inches long in the form of Noah Riley Likens. Justin beemed of course as proud Father and Diana did great and
has remarkably not slowed down yet.
God Bless your family, Justin and Diana.
From Your East End Church Family .
Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
Praise once again, the goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas
offering was set for $500.00 this past December. As of last Sunday December 30th the church had
surpassed this goal in the form of $852.00.
Praise God!
Getting
to know you …… 
Something a bit different
this month in getting to know you. I
thought that we would take a moment to speak about the youth and their most
recent retreat they had.
Ridgecrest, A LifeWay Conference Center is owned and operated by LifeWay Christian Resources, an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In the early
1900's, the land which is now the home of LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference
Center was a wilderness area with a few deserted cabins, a railroad track,
and, a dirt trail leading west. Beginning with the vision of Bernard Hardee, it
has become today "the Mountain of Faith."
The youth of East
End Baptist had the opportunity to go Ridgecrest Retreat this past
December. They departed on December 27th
and stayed until the 29th.
Youth attending were, Ashley, Brittany, Shannon, Morgan, Jacob, Marcus
and Bobby. Adults who were brave enough
to go along as youth leaders were,
Pastor Justin, Linda Wolfe and Bonnie Karnes. According to all reports back to your editor, here all seemed to
enjoy themselves greatly.
Speakers were in
part, Greg Tackett, and a Gentleman by the name of (at the time of publication)
only known as Robbie. Comedy was
provided by Tommy. Music was by the
Jonathan Project Band. In asking some of
the youth of their experience there and what they felt they had gotten from it
I received some of the following quotes….
Shannon..” I
learned you must lay everything you have down for God. That He is and will always be there for
you.”
Ashley..”I really
liked the music and God spoke to me in the worship service and I grew so much
closer to him at the conference. I want
to devote so much more of my time to my Bible study and the word as well as
other things.”
Brittany..”I
learned that if you lay down everything then you can be a signet ring. The music was great and the comedian Tommy
was so funny, he made the stories he told seem as if you were actually
there. Overall everything there for me
was great.”
Morgan..”I learned
that salvation is not the end, it is only the beginning of my spiritual
life.”
The Youth of East
End would like to take the time and thank their church family for all their
prayers, support and for the chance to go to this retreat. Take a moment Sundays to say hello to our
youth, to ask them how their week was and how they enjoyed the retreat. Let’s face it, we were all youths at one
time or another and if we wait for them to openly just walk to us and chat
about how they are doing we will all be waiting for a long time. So is youth as I remember it.
Last but not least
and major thank you to Justin, Linda and Bonnie for taking the time from their
schedules and personal lives to volunteer and go with the youth. I know that it was as rewarding for them as
it was for the youth.
PRAY FOR REVIVAL
Monday-Pray for yourself
Tuesday-Pray for the Church
Wednesday-Pray for the Roanoke Valley
Thursday-Pray for our Country
Friday-Pray for the Nation
Saturday-Pray for the Government
Sunday-Pray for all Pastors
Notes
from the Editor
Got News???
Have anything to share,
please send it to sdewwjd@yahoo.com,
or phone966-4210, or better yet bring it with you to church, and give it to
Steven or Kathy Elkins.
Pastor
Justin Likens
Cell-
(540)312-4280
www.eastendchurch.com
Secretary: Kathy
Elkins
(540)966-4210
Choir Director &
Pianist: Cheri Williams
Deacons: Steven
Elkins, Ronnie Harper, Gerald St. Clair, Bob Flora, Kersey Harper, Oscar Fix,
Nolan Cassell
Editor: Steven
Elkins (540)966-4210
E-mail sdewwjd@yahoo.com
Sunday -
9:45a.m. Sunday
School
11:00a.m. Morning Worship
Wednesday - 6:30p.m.Prayer & Bible
Study
7:15p.m. Adult Choir Practice
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!