Weekly Bulletin - January 24, 2021
Order of Service
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Welcome
Announcements/Prayer
Family Prayer: Elder-led prayer which includes things that the Bible commands local churches to pray for (Eph. 6:18, Col. 4:2-4, 1 Tim. 2:1-2):
CVBC Family: Abbey Ristow, Jeff & Sarah Ritger, Bill & Ann Romanowski
Missionaries: Phil & Valeree Poulson
National Leaders: U.S. President and Vice President
Message: Troy Solava
Songs: Be Thou My Vision, Man of Sorrows, This is Amazing Grace
Songs Used by Permission - CCLI License #356753
What’s Happening at CVBC
Welcome/Prayer cards: If you consider CVBC your church home and you’ve never filled out a card with your information, please do so! The white Welcome cards found in the pew backs and under chairs are to help us with communication — which is only possible if we’ve heard from you. Prayer requests can be written on the other side. We pray for these on Mondays at noon and send them out to our email prayer group. Confidentiality is an option.
Tuesday Morning Moms (TMM) will be restarting January 26th from 9:30-11:00am continuing our marriage study. Join other mothers for fellowship and encouragement from God’s Word. All moms welcome! Nursery is provided.
Today is the last day to sign up for the Women’s Bible Study, “Truthfilled.” Join Ruth Chou Simons (author) in this 7-session study of the Book of Colossians as she leads us through a practice of preaching gospel truth to ourselves by studying Paul’s example. In every changing season of life, we can rest in God’s character, rehearse our identity in Christ, respond in faith, and remember God’s provision for us. In today’s culture, there’s no shortage of self help, easy fixes, and worldly advice, but only the truth of God’s Word was meant to fill you up and satisfy you fully. Meets Monday nights from 6:30-8pm starting February 1.
FREEDOM Recovery meets 3x weekly: Tues.-1pm, Thurs.-7pm, and Sat.-8am. We use the Life Recovery Bible 12-Step Program. Join us! Contact Jerry at (715) 379-0200 or email gsolfest@gmail.com.
SERMON: Seeing Christ Clearly
Mark 8:22-9:1
Main Point: Christ died that you may have life. For you to have that life, you must die to yourself and live for Christ.
The Necessity of Christ’s Death
The Necessity of My Death
Small Group Questions:
What is something that stood out to you from this passage or sermon?
How does the miracle in verses 22-26 relate to the rest of the passage? And why is it necessary for Christ to die?
What is Jesus calling all of his followers to do in verse 34? What does that practically look like in your life?
Back of Bulletin Missionary Highlight:
Phil & Valeree Poulson
phil_poulson@ntm.org, valeree_poulson@ntm.org
Ethnos360 (Formerly New Tribes Mission)
FROM PHIL’S EMAIL UPDATE (JANUARY 20, 2021):
For us the year of 2020 was not all that different from the rest of the world. COVID hit Brazil hard early on ... especially here in the city of Manaus where we live. We lost dear friends as the healthcare system collapsed in our city. In that first explosion few of our missionaries got sick. We moved quickly and evacuated everyone from the tribal villages where our teams were serving. The concern was that the indigenous peoples would be significantly more vulnerable to COVID and the government wanted them as isolated as possible. That turned out to be wrong on both counts. In the many villages across the Amazon where we have direct knowledge, the death rates were low and nearly always among the elderly and those with a significant comorbidity. Also the idea that people could be isolated in their upriver villages was hopelessly wrong. This pandemic has swept its way across the length and breath of the Amazon basin.
By fall we were starting to ease our missionary teams back to their places of service in the interior. It has been a long process with a need to treat each location on a case-by-case basis. In a few places the doors are still closed. In one situation a couple of weeks ago it took a hunting accident and death among the indigenous people with the threat of revenge killing to get the authorities to allow our people back in. God has been at work in spite of the past year’s chaos.
In late 2020 the COVID cases in Manaus began to rise at an alarming rate. December 26th found the authorities locking everything down once again. Our health care system has completely collapsed. Part of this is due to the fact that Manaus is the capitol city for the enormous state of Amazonas and the only city with decent healthcare. Late last week one of our larger missionary families contracted the virus. The older members of the family were sicker but the worst was the father...Our missionaries who have already caught COVID and recovered are taking turns staying with him in the hospital along with his older children who have recovered. Most hospital care in Brazil requires that patients have someone with them at all times for basic needs.
Valeree and I are doing fine. As a part of our leadership team our days (and nights at times) are spent giving guidance, keeping the communication flowing, encouraging our missionaries, providing meals and other needs. The list is endless. Our Lord's command to go and make disciples of all nations has not changed just because of COVID and the ensuing chaos. Pray for wisdom as we seek creative ways to be about our Father's business by making use of every opportunity that comes our way. We are here for the purpose of seeing the Bride of Christ represented from among all the peoples of the Amazon basin. It is a privilege to be involved in this amazing task together with the dear servants God has sent to serve with us. Thank you for the critical part CVBC has played in this task all these long years.