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Dover Assembly of God

6.3.2018 | Acts - Week 9

Locations & Times

4790 Carlisle Rd, Dover, PA 17315, USA

Sunday 10:30 AM

Welcome!

Welcome to Dover Assembly of God! We're glad that you've joined us this morning. If you're on Facebook, we encourage you to take a moment to check in at Dover Assembly.

http://facebook.com/doverassembly

This Week's Bulletin

June 3, 2018 Welcome to Dover Assembly! We are so glad you have chosen to attend Dover Assembly this morning. It is not by accident that you are here. We believe that God has allowed you to be here so that you might receive all that He has for you. We pray you are blessed as you allow the Lord to work in your life. THIS WEEK Today 9:00 am ~ Coffee & Donut Fellowship 9:30 am ~ Sunday School 10:30 am ~ R.O.C.K. Children’s Ministries 1:00 pm ~ Spanish Service Monday 7:00 pm ~ Deacon Board Meeting Wednesday 6:30 pm ~ FAMILY NIGHT MINISTRIES UPCOMING EVENTS VBS We have scheduled our VBS for July 8-11 from 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. Dustin Wible has volunteered to lead this tremendous outreach to our community. However, VBS requires all hands on deck to be successful. There is a sign up sheet in the lower foyer. Please add your name to the team! Begin praying now for God to use this to reach the children in our neighborhoods. Men's Dinner The guys will be meeting at Mission BBQ on Thursday June 7 at 6:30. If you would like to join us, please sign up in the lower foyer. Clean Out Days The roll off dumpster has arrived and we are in the process of cleaning out! If you are able to stop in during the week to lend a hand, it would be appreciated. If there are things in storage that are meaningful to you, please let Pastor Jeff know before they find their way into the dumpster. BODY NEWS Mandated Clearances for Child Care Workers It is time to revisit every children’s ministry worker’s need for update clearances. If you work or deal in ANY capacity with children at Dover Assembly and are over 18, you are required by law to have current State Police and ChildLine clearances and Mandated reporter training. Pastor Jeff will be approaching those who need such clearances. If your clearances are out of date (older than 5 years) or we do not have them in our files, you will need to apply for them ASAP. No one will be permitted to work with children until all clearances have been obtained. Special Thanks! To Michelle & Sheila for planting flowers along side of the church. Thank you for helping to make our church beautiful! Never Miss A Service! Can't join us in person? We stream our services live online every Sunday morning at 10:30 am. This is also a great way to invite others to check out our church. To watch online, visit doverassembly.com/liveor visit the Watch Live tab in our app. You can also watch via Facebook Live by visiting our Facebook page at facebook.com/doverassembly In addition to streaming live, each sermon is posted to Vimeo early in the week. Check out those you may have missed or would like to hear again at vimeo.com/doverassembly New Entrance Doors Into the Lower Level In our desire to heighten the security for our children, we have installed new doors that lead into the lower part of our church where the children’s ministries take place. In a week or so, we will be adding a security lock which will require anyone seeking entrance, to buzz and wait to be let in. The doors will be locked from 9:30-10:15 and again from 10:30-noon. Faith Pledges So far we have raised $7,142.50 towards our matching goal of $10,000 towards our debt of $50,000. Thank you for your faithfulness! Help us to meet that challenge. Copier Room Access Due to the counting team using the copier room during the morning church service, access to the copier and supplies will need to be made prior to the start of church. The room will be locked at approximately 10:45 am. PRAYER NEEDS Please take time to review and pray for those on this list. Drop them a card or call to set up a time to visit. They will be blessed! Shut-In ~ Helen S. Prayer Needs ~ Robin H. ~ Rose K. ~ Phil & Murina S. ~ Marian T.

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Last week we talked about the account of Ananias & Sapphira.

The church was just beginning. The apostles were traveling about establishing churches in various towns and the people were responding to the gospel.

Many lives were transformed and the church was beginning to take shape.

However in the midst of this new establishment, we had a couple who tried to infiltrate it for their own benefit.

God had to make sure that the enemy did not get a foothold and negatively affect the young believers.

When we allow the enemy to get a foothold in our lives or in our church, we are giving him the opportunity to have just that one time.

That is why God was so severe with Ananias & Sapphira...

The last line we read was great fear gripped the church.

This was a holy fear. A desire to get rid of things that are detrimental to our relationship with Christ.

Now you would think that this type of response would hurt the church, would hurt the ministry of the apostles.

You may even think that God doesn’t love people...that He is just out to crush us at our first mistake.

But just opposite happened.

Acts of the Apostles 5:12

People were still coming out to hear their message and God was still confirming his word with the miraculous.

God was meeting the needs of the people and giving the apostles the opportunity to preach to the crowds.

Acts of the Apostles 5:12

Even before they had a building in which to meet, they knew that they needed to gather together for teaching and encouragement. This was a true home-missions church just starting out.

Every church for the most part begins this way! A group of believers meet together for prayer, teaching and fellowship.

Then they realize they need a bit more structure and form a church. That is how this church started in 1940.

But look at what was happening in the community.

Acts of the Apostles 5:13

Why was that? They liked them but didn’t want to be with them.

Word had gotten out to everyone about Ananias & Sapphira, and people were now fearful of this holy God.

When people lose that holy fear of God, then anything goes. In our society today, as a whole, people have no fear doing right or wrong. Everyone does “what is right in their own eyes.”

Another reason that God has to judge sin.

But it says the believers had gained a respect from even the outsiders.

People will respect you when you stand for your convictions. They may not join you or even like what you believe, but they will have a respect for you, as opposed to one who changes your position or beliefs based on what others may say or do.

Why do we hold politicians in such low regard? Because they seem to change their convictions as the polls change.

Acts of the Apostles 5:14

So in spite of God judging sin and making sure that His church remains holy, people were still getting saved.

Sometimes we may feel that if we go easy on sin, then it will make the gospel more appealing to those who need Christ, but just the opposite is true.

People want something different and accountable. They want to know that God loves them, and that He loves them enough to help them stop doing what they know to be wrong.

Notice that this is the first time that women are mentioned in terms of salvation.

In fact, women are mentioned at least a dozen times in Acts and their key role in this new church.

And in a time when women were not valued or represented.

Galatians 3:28

Many people think that Christianity has a low opinion of women and some feel it discriminates against women, but the truth is that Christianity is the one faith that elevates women and gives them prominence.

Now women were seen as equal to men in God’s eyes.

Acts of the Apostles 5:15

When you research it, you’ll find that the idea that shadows had magical powers both good and bad was prevalent in these days. Since the people hadn’t been taught yet, they still assumed that this was real and so they tried it.

The verse however doesn’t say that they were in fact healed, it just says they tried.

The reason this is in there is to convey to us the fact that the whole town had heard about the miraculous and especially Peter. He had a reputation as having healing powers and so everyone was coming out.

When we are able to experience the power of God, word gets around and people get curious.

Acts of the Apostles 5:16

We had mentioned this a week or so ago...all the healing that took place then as compared to now.

Medicines and medical science that we have today and take for granted would have been considered a miracle and a healing in those days.

We can look back to the 40’s and 50’s.

What was the biggest sickness around for which many prayed? Polio

~ In 1953 the highest year on record, just short of 60,000 cases were reported.

~ In 1955, the vaccine was introduced and that number dropped to just under 14,000

~ By 1965 there were 100 cases, by 1970’s there were 10 and by 1994, it was declared eradicated in the Americas.

Do we believe that is a miracle of God? In 1953, people would have been praising God for this outcome.

But today, we take it for granted. We don’t give God the glory or credit for something he is clearly responsible for.

But it is a miracle.

Do we assume that the only healing that happens is the miraculous in a church setting?

Those do happen! But God also heals in hospitals and doctors offices.

Just because these things are commonplace, does not mean that God is not involved.

Many believe these miraculous gifts have ceased to happen--the healing services, the delivering from demons, the words of knowledge, tongues etc.

They believe that since we have the completed Bible, we have no need for them, but at that time, they had the completed Old Testament. The prophecies of the Messiah, the prophecies of the church age, the end times in Daniel.

Why did they need them if they had all that? Wasn’t that enough to convince people about Jesus?

We believe that the reason they needed them then is the same reason we need them today...to meet the needs of the people and to give us an opportunity to share the gospel and allow God to confirm His truth in a miraculous way.

Thank you for joining us!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our website and follow us on social media @doverassembly! Have a great week!

http://doverassembly.com