Keys to the Kingdom - Justification

Now that Christmas time is past, we can prepare for the new year with hope and courage. Celebrating Christmas brings new grace by having had a fresh look at the manger in Bethlehem. The babe in the manger would be our breath of life and the honor of His righteous life and the sweet savor of His sacrifice on the cross is certain to give us a taste for God. Christmas treats and table settings, often filled with sweets, cannot sustain us through 2023; but God can! It’s time t

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DECEMBER NEWSLETTER NOTES

Merry Christmas! What a wonderful time of the year Christmas is! What makes it so great is Jesus. Happy holidays sounds too generic to greet the season which shows us what God is like. Merry is an awesome adjective which means cheerful and lively and it is characterized by festivity and rejoicing. The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest event in human history. Our appreciation for this gift of grace and love fro God should show from our head to our toes.

Probab

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NOVEMBER NEWLETTER NOTES

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM - INCREASE

Thank you church and friends for making October such a spiritual  fest!  Our Homecoming service was wonderful and once again the giving  was a “wow.”  Elder Sam Bennett was blessed to preach to us during our  fall meeting from the Psalms about revival, God our refuge, and he reminded us that our God reigns.  The hospitality and hope our fall meeting provided helped us prepare our hearts for the Thanksgiving celebration of November.  The Fall F

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SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER NOTES

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM - GRACE

Hello church! I hope everyone is well and at peace with God, others, and self. I realize that’s quite an opening statement mouthful especially in our world today, but remember there is a peace which passeth our understanding. And one of the gifts Jesus left us before He ascended to His Father was peace!

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afr...
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AUGUST NEWLETTER NOTES

KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM - FAITH

A Gracious greeting to you today! I hope you are well and counting your blessings. Counting our blessings will keep us from complaining. God doesn’t like to hear our complaints and neither do others. It’s impossible to be grateful and grumpy at the same time. The hymn “Count Your Blessings” was written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. and is a reflection of optimistic faith! The song is also a good prompter to keep us from taking our blessings for granted

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JULY NEWSLETTER NOTES

KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM -ETERNAL LIFE

I hope you are well today, feeling good and fighting the good fight of faith. Summer is a season of activity both in nature and in our lives. Can you believe it’s already July? Time really goes by in a flash so in this season of hurry and heat, let’s remember to take a break and sit a spell under the shade of our Saviour,  the Lord Jesus Christ.

Another great way to find shade from the summer heat is to visit one another. Whether that’s don

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JUNE NEWSLETTER NOTES

KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM - DEVOTION

Good morning! I hope things are well with all of you and that you are following Jesus real close these days. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to encourage and enhance your walk with Jesus. I must confess that COVID-19 has manifested some side effects of laziness regarding my visitation among the flock. Your request of such will be a sure prompter to getting me on the right path as well as clearing a guilty conscience.

You all c

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MAY NEWSLETTER NOTES

KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM - calling

Hello fellow believers, Christian comrades and friends of faith. I hope things are well with you and that you are enjoying God every day. We can and ought to do that you know because He loves us so and He is much greater and wiser than any challenge, hurt, or failure we have to deal with. Ironically, the more problems we have, our Lord just gets better and bigger. I think it’s because we depend on and trust Him more. Sometimes, when success

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APRIL NEWSLETTER NOTES

KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM - BOLDNESS

Good morning everyone! I hope you are well today and able to sense the presence of God and His many blessings in your daily lives. It’s surely hard to miss God this time of the year given the greening up and blooming all around us. The miracle of the resurrection is the power God provides us with so that we can do His will, and cultivate an eternal and intimate relationship with Him.

I think we all have been encouraged and strengthened as we’v

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MARCH NEWSLETTER NOTES

KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM - ALONE

Greetings to each of you! I hope you all are having and will have a wonderful March. You all mean a lot to me and you mean even more to lots of others. Knowing that God loves us most though ought to perk our spiritual ears to follow the cadence of our Saviour in the march of life on earth. No matter how high the wind blows, nor from which direction it comes, we can rest with peace and joy when we’re harnessed with Jesus, learning more about Him

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FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER NOTES

MAKE YOUR BED WITH WHAT JESUS SAID

When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Psalm 63:6

      The older I get the more I appreciate a good night’s sleep. Sleep is one of God’s greatest gifts and we should thank Him for it before we go to bed and when we rise out of bed in the morning. There are lots of advertisements promoting products promising pain relief, vibrant health and a good night’s sleep. While Relief Factor, Balance of Nature,

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JANUARY NEWSLETTER NOTES

 NEW THINGS

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19; 

Happy New Year! Rejoicing over the merriment and good news of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas ought to fill our cups so full that the overflow spills grace into the new year. Every new year salutation is saturated with good will, peace, and prosperity, but 2022 is especially exciting.

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December Newsletter Notes

“And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his Kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:33

Recently I was sitting at our kitchen table with two of my grandchildren, Jackson Wesley and Emory Grace, who are two and almost four respectively. I had a yellow legal pad and pen in hand to record the Christmas wish list which I was prompting. No matter what the suggested item was, a puppy, a skateboard or raspberry shoes, the answer from Jackson and Emory was an emp

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November Newsletter Notes

Thank-full-ness

“It is a good thing to give thanks un- to the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: to shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.” Psalm 92:1,2

The fall season is a most splendid time of the year. The crops are being harvested, the leaves are changing colors, and the temperature is cooler. The sky seems bluer in the fall and that should remind us of God’s faithfulness and also help us keep Him at the top

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OCTOBER NEWSLETTER NOTES

Peace at the pond

“And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.” Exodus 15:27

A few days ago two young men stopped their car on Railroad Bed Road adjacent to where I was mowing grass. Thinking they may be needing directions, I shut off my lawn mower beside the road near their vehicle. One of the guys had rolled a window down and was beckoning me with his hand. When I asked if I could help t

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