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For years now, Christ Fellowship has been my go-to place when I need almost anything. When I need encouragement, physical help, wise advice, fellowship, sympathy, or prayer partners, I turn to our church. Where else would I go? No church is perfect but y’all are my family and I love you.

I know a lot of people on this email list have moved over the years but for some of you, I wonder where you go when you need some of that kind of thing. So, if you are getting this email or if you see this online somewhere else, I want you to know that when I say that the church needs you and you need the church, it’s not some old slogan. If you have gotten out of the habit of making church a priority, I can say with certainty that your life is not better now. Your peace and joy are lacking and your God-given desire for worship that we all have is not being fulfilled.

This would be a great Sunday to come back and worship with your family. We are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Hall of Shame” where we study different biblical characters who have messed up big time. It’s something I can relate to and hopefully we can all be encouraged by this. This Sunday is Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5. 

Also, this coming Sunday, we will have a short business meeting right after church just to let everybody know where we stand financially. And June 8th we will have a potluck meal at the church after the service! Yay! 

Again, I love you and can’t wait to see you! If you need anything, please let me know. See ya Sunday! — Todd

Have you ever really messed up? I don’t mean something small. I’m not talking “oopsie” here. I mean have you ever messed up so big and so bad that it changed your life and changed your personality? Maybe it led to a divorce. Maybe it caused a bankruptcy. Maybe you got fired from your job. I’m not wanting you to dwell on the past. I want you to know that many times there are good things that come after our big mess ups.

You can always take comfort in knowing that Peter has you beat when it comes to mess ups. It’s painful to read. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. Peter’s denial is predicted by Jesus in John 13. It happens in chapter 18 and his restoration – his glorious, gracious restoration – is in chapter 21! We are continuing our series on the Hall of Shame of biblical characters this Sunday at Christ Fellowship and if you aren’t there, you will be so missed! Please join the family in worship Sunday morning and evening. You’ll be glad you did.

I love you all! — Todd

Like I said in yesterday’s post, we are going to help Victoria move tomorrow in Bridgeport, just from upstairs to downstairs. But I know several folks won’t be able to help tomorrow so if you possibly can, even for a little while, we would appreciate it. It really shouldn’t take very long.

Also, remember that May 17th is our Chico Spring Fling on the square. That starts at 10 and we will have our usual spot and our usual table with awning to give away some treats. But we could really use some other gift basket or something else fairly big to give away. It’s just one more way we can get people to stop so we can have a conversation with them. Let me know what you might be able to do because that is coming right up next weekend.

And this Sunday we are going to look at the wasted potential in the life of a fascinating character in the Old Testament. As a kid, I always wanted to be like Samson because of his strength. As an adult, I have come to realize I don’t want to be anything like him. (Okay, I’d like some of that hair but that’s all.) He is an interesting case study on what not to do and what happens when you do it. I recommend you read Judges chapters 13-16 this weekend to see Samson’s life. It is a fun read and an amazing story. We’ll study it in detail this Sunday morning at 10 and then again that evening at 6.

I love you all and can’t wait to see you! — Todd

This Saturday (5/10) Victoria is going to need help moving. But don’t worry. It will be much easier this time. She is just moving from upstairs to downstairs and she really just needs help moving furniture. She can get most of the rest of it by herself. So, we don’t need pickups or dollys or trailers. We just need muscle. We will get started about 8-9 that morning. And thank you, family, in advance for helping! — Todd

Ever top a hill or drive around a corner and see a police car sitting there? What’s the first thing you do? You check your speedometer, right? And some of you may know the wonderful, calm, relaxed feeling you have when you realize you aren’t speeding. Some of you may never know that feeling. 🙂 Some of you, like me, know the feeling of panic when the officer turns his lights on and pulls out behind you. 

Our sin – speeding or anything else – will catch up to us one day just like that police officer caught up to me. We may think we have concealed it. We can deny it, hide it, lie about it or worse but all unconfessed sin in the life of a Christian will catch up and pull us over, usually at the worst time and it will always affect the lives of the people closest to us.

Join us this Sunday at Christ Fellowship as we continue our sermon series on failure called Hall of Shame. We will look at the sin of Achan in Joshua 7, not just to shame him but to learn from it what not to do, how to keep from it and what to do when we fail. I can’t wait to see you! I love you all! — Todd

Good morning, Christ Fellowship family! Coupla things: please remember David Hart in your prayers, especially today. He is having open heart surgery today at noon at Presbyterian Hospital in Denton. He’s in good hands there but we are praying for the doctors to have great skill and wisdom and for David to have a quick and complete recovery. He is in room 2308 right now.

We are starting a new sermon series this Sunday. We will be looking at the “Hall of Shame” of biblical characters who have failed. And there are plenty of them. Maybe you know what it’s like to know what you should do but, for whatever reason, you failed to do it. We will start with a doozie this Sunday from Exodus 32. Aaron didn’t just fail. He failed and then failed again and then doubled down with more and more failure. It was ugly. I’m sure he’s the only one to ever do that. 😉

I can’t wait to see you Sunday morning and evening! I love you all! — Todd

I woke up a little earlier than I normally do this morning thinking about how on this day so many years ago, Jesus had gotten no sleep that previous night. He was hauled into a sham court and given a mock trial all the while being mentally and physically abused. I don’t like thinking about what they did to Him much less write about it, but you know.

At about 9am they finally nailed Him to a cross where He died later that afternoon. He didn’t faint. He didn’t swoon. He died. Almighty God in the flesh allowed Himself to be tortured by the men He created and then died. We know that by God’s great mercy and grace that was not the end. We know He rose again in three days. But for just a few minutes this morning let’s all meditate on the fact that Jesus died on a cruel cross to pay for the sins we have chosen to commit.

We will meet again this Sunday to absolutely celebrate His resurrection and to acknowledge why this day can ever be called “Good.” But for now, this is a John 19 kind of day. Read that with me today and if you get emotional, you are in my company.

I love you all! — Todd

Hello Christ Fellowship! Just a reminder here of our Easter Sunday lunch plans. It’s gonna be a ham-themed lunch and all we have to do is bring sides and desserts and drinks. Trina will be cooking the ham. (Yay!) If you want another meat, it’s fine to bring anything. This will be right after the service this coming Sunday the 20th. As usual, crockpots work best to keep things hot. No stove or microwave on the premises. And no evening service that night. As always, you don’t have to bring a thing. Nobody is keeping track of who brings what and there is always plenty so just come on! I can’t wait! Love y’all! — Todd

Well, not this Sunday but the next is Easter and I am very excited! Most of you know that makes this Sunday Palm Sunday. So, should we all wear palm leaf hats and wave palm leaves when we go to Christ Fellowship? Eh, you can. I guess that’s appropriate. But honestly, I want to worship like we always do. In fact, some of you may wonder why we don’t make a bigger deal about Palm Sunday and even Easter. I know some churches pull out all the stops and have a weekend-long festival around Easter. And I’m not saying that’s wrong.

What I am saying is that if you want helicopter egg drops and the Easter Bunny and an Elvis impersonator singing Gospel hymns, well, I can recommend a few places. If you think the Spirit isn’t there unless somebody gets healed, I know of some churches. But if you want to truly worship God in spirit and in truth like it says in John 4 – if you want to lay down your burdens at the feet of Jesus and rear back and worship our Savior who died but rose again – you can do that at Christ Fellowship.

Let’s meet there this Sunday and do just that at 10 and 6. You will be missed if you can’t be there. I love you all! — Todd

Let’s say I invited you over to my house for dinner. I’m not a very good cook but I can make a mean grilled cheese sandwich. So, you come over to my house for a nice dinner and I break out my finest Chinet paper plates and give you one half of a grilled cheese sandwich. That’s it. Only half and no chips or sides. Not even a glass of water. Can you survive the evening on that? Sure. The grilled cheese will be tasty but…you just need more, don’t you?

That’s how a lot of you are doing spiritually when you miss Sunday evening and Wednesday evening Bible studies. Sunday mornings are good. In fact, here lately they have been really good, really worshipful. But you need more. In fact, you really only get about half of what you need to really flourish if you miss out on the other nights. Are you struggling spiritually? Check out our Bible studies at 6 pm Sunday and 7 pm Wednesday.

Also, Melinda Messier had her knee replacement surgery this morning and it went better than expected and she should be home tomorrow – just like we prayed!

I love you all and can’t wait to see you! — Todd