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Each month's newsletter is posted here. Previous month's issues can be found in the archives.
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Church of God Faith Fellowship
www.churchofgodfaithfellowship.com
May 2026 - Vol. 26, No. 5
Meeting place: Gray Summit United Methodist Church
Calendar Notes:
May 2nd - Downstairs. Week 4 of the count
May 9th - Downstairs. Keith has the study
Week 5 of the count
May 16th - Upstairs. Mark has the study.
Women’s Heart to Heart (Laughter)
Week 6 of the count
May 23rd - Downstairs. Week 7 of the count
Seminar @ 10 a.m. Diane Kleeschulte;
Speaker for study - Mark
Wedding of Tom and Lisa in the sanctuary.
May 24th - Pentecost - Downstairs.
NOTE time!! Seminar at 11 a.m. - Shirley Doss
Study by Ron at noon; potluck following
May 30th - Downstairs. Keith has the study
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” Epicurus, “Letters”
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
To Make Us Holy
by Cynthia Saladin
Y’all are going to think I’m slow. As I was pulling weeds yesterday afternoon, I was thinking about two different families specifically. One is suffering the effects of a divorce after years of marriage and two nearly grown children. The other is grieving a loss of life. Suddenly, I thought of Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage. His premise is “what if God gave us marriage, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.” Well, along the same lines: what if God gives us this life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy?
I know. Not exactly a unique thought, right? We know the scriptures:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34
In each of these verses is the realization that we are going to suffer and xhave trouble and be worried and anxious over the things we experience. We know this because we experience it all the time.
But there’s encouragement coming alongside each statement of trouble: God is with us. Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world. God cares for us. Don’t worry. And we know this too. We’ve read the verses about striving for the goal, being disciplined to reach the goal.
“ . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, . . .” Hebrews 12:1
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, . . .” Hebrews 12:6
And here’s the point: “ . . . but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10
Think for a minute about the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They were free! Praise God they were free! No more cruel bondage. No more murder of their sons. They were free. But freedom is not easy. And I really wonder if they considered just how much they were going to struggle and encounter difficulties. It seemed to take them by surprise. In the two years it took them to get to the Promised Land, they complained, murmured, grumbled against God ten times! Ten! They were stiff-necked and unbelieving and just plain difficult.
They didn’t believe that God was good all the time. They didn’t believe that He had their best interest at heart. They didn’t think they could trust Him with everything. Surely they didn’t think they were just going to get to lie under a palm tree and eat bonbons for the rest of their lives. Surely they realized they were going to have to work and struggle. They were going to have to fight. Yes, God was giving them the land, but they still had to fight the giants. God wasn’t in the business of making them happy; He was making them holy.
And they resisted. Big time. Because they didn’t trust Him.
The writer of Psalm 42 (some scholars think it was King David) experienced anxiety and discouragement because of his circumstances. In verse 5, he wrote, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?” It seems to be the default of the human condition: when things don’t go the way we want them to go, we get upset. We mourn. We cry. We are depressed. And sometimes, legitimately. The loss of a marriage is devastating. The loss of a life is heart-rending. We experience many hard things which cause us to be disturbed and even to despair.
But we can’t stay there. Mourning and grieving.
It is a normal, healthy reaction for a child to cry when she trips over a crack in the sidewalk and skins her knee. So Mom cleans the scrape, puts on a bandage, and hopes that her daughter won’t soon come back having skinned her other knee.
And I think God feels the same way about us. We’ve stubbed our toe. We’ve fallen off our bike. We’ve hit a brick wall. He’s still there to tell us that He loves us. He has overcome the world. He has a plan for our good. Trust Him. Pick yourself back up and praise Him for being the God who wants more for us than happiness right now. He wants us to be holy.
And here’s the remedy from the psalmist - the rest of Psalm 42:5, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (NAS). We are going to feel despair and discouragement. But don't stay there. Get back to praising God.
Because maybe God gave us life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
If you ever think English is not a weird language just remember that read and lead rhyme and read and lead rhyme, but read and lead don't rhyme, and neither do read and lead.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
My Child,
You may not know me, but I know everything about you - Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up - Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways - Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered - Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in my image - Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being - Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring - Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived - Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation - Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book – Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live – Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother's womb - Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born - Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me - John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love - 1 John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you - 1 John 3:1
Simply because you are my child and I am your father - 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could - Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father - Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand - James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs - Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope - Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore – Psalm 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing - Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you - Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession - Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul – Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things - Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me - Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart - Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires - Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine – Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you - Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart – Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes - Revelation 21:3-4
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth - Revelation 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus - John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed - John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being - Hebrews 1:3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you - Romans 8:31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you…1 John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love…Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me…1 John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again…Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen…Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father…Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is…Will you be my child?…John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you…Luke 15:11-32
Love, Your Dad, Almighty God (Collected from cybersalt.org)
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
"Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name."
- J. I. Packer
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
Sabbath School Memory Verses:
Sabbath, May 2nd - “ . . . for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”
2 Kings 4:43
Sabbath, May 9th - “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. . .” 2 Kings 22:1a
Sabbath, May 16th - “Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.” 1 Chronicles 16:29b
Sabbath, May 23rd - “Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.” 2 Chronicles 9:22
Pentecost, May 24th - “And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel . . .” 2 Chronicles 11:16a
Sabbath, May 30th - “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” 2 Chronicles 33:13b
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
Keeping tropical fish at home can have a calming effect on the brain due to all the indoor fins…
www.churchofgodfaithfellowship.com
May 2026 - Vol. 26, No. 5
Meeting place: Gray Summit United Methodist Church
Calendar Notes:
May 2nd - Downstairs. Week 4 of the count
May 9th - Downstairs. Keith has the study
Week 5 of the count
May 16th - Upstairs. Mark has the study.
Women’s Heart to Heart (Laughter)
Week 6 of the count
May 23rd - Downstairs. Week 7 of the count
Seminar @ 10 a.m. Diane Kleeschulte;
Speaker for study - Mark
Wedding of Tom and Lisa in the sanctuary.
May 24th - Pentecost - Downstairs.
NOTE time!! Seminar at 11 a.m. - Shirley Doss
Study by Ron at noon; potluck following
May 30th - Downstairs. Keith has the study
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” Epicurus, “Letters”
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
To Make Us Holy
by Cynthia Saladin
Y’all are going to think I’m slow. As I was pulling weeds yesterday afternoon, I was thinking about two different families specifically. One is suffering the effects of a divorce after years of marriage and two nearly grown children. The other is grieving a loss of life. Suddenly, I thought of Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage. His premise is “what if God gave us marriage, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.” Well, along the same lines: what if God gives us this life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy?
I know. Not exactly a unique thought, right? We know the scriptures:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34
In each of these verses is the realization that we are going to suffer and xhave trouble and be worried and anxious over the things we experience. We know this because we experience it all the time.
But there’s encouragement coming alongside each statement of trouble: God is with us. Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world. God cares for us. Don’t worry. And we know this too. We’ve read the verses about striving for the goal, being disciplined to reach the goal.
“ . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, . . .” Hebrews 12:1
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, . . .” Hebrews 12:6
And here’s the point: “ . . . but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10
Think for a minute about the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They were free! Praise God they were free! No more cruel bondage. No more murder of their sons. They were free. But freedom is not easy. And I really wonder if they considered just how much they were going to struggle and encounter difficulties. It seemed to take them by surprise. In the two years it took them to get to the Promised Land, they complained, murmured, grumbled against God ten times! Ten! They were stiff-necked and unbelieving and just plain difficult.
They didn’t believe that God was good all the time. They didn’t believe that He had their best interest at heart. They didn’t think they could trust Him with everything. Surely they didn’t think they were just going to get to lie under a palm tree and eat bonbons for the rest of their lives. Surely they realized they were going to have to work and struggle. They were going to have to fight. Yes, God was giving them the land, but they still had to fight the giants. God wasn’t in the business of making them happy; He was making them holy.
And they resisted. Big time. Because they didn’t trust Him.
The writer of Psalm 42 (some scholars think it was King David) experienced anxiety and discouragement because of his circumstances. In verse 5, he wrote, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?” It seems to be the default of the human condition: when things don’t go the way we want them to go, we get upset. We mourn. We cry. We are depressed. And sometimes, legitimately. The loss of a marriage is devastating. The loss of a life is heart-rending. We experience many hard things which cause us to be disturbed and even to despair.
But we can’t stay there. Mourning and grieving.
It is a normal, healthy reaction for a child to cry when she trips over a crack in the sidewalk and skins her knee. So Mom cleans the scrape, puts on a bandage, and hopes that her daughter won’t soon come back having skinned her other knee.
And I think God feels the same way about us. We’ve stubbed our toe. We’ve fallen off our bike. We’ve hit a brick wall. He’s still there to tell us that He loves us. He has overcome the world. He has a plan for our good. Trust Him. Pick yourself back up and praise Him for being the God who wants more for us than happiness right now. He wants us to be holy.
And here’s the remedy from the psalmist - the rest of Psalm 42:5, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (NAS). We are going to feel despair and discouragement. But don't stay there. Get back to praising God.
Because maybe God gave us life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
If you ever think English is not a weird language just remember that read and lead rhyme and read and lead rhyme, but read and lead don't rhyme, and neither do read and lead.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
My Child,
You may not know me, but I know everything about you - Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up - Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways - Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered - Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in my image - Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being - Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring - Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived - Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation - Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book – Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live – Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother's womb - Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born - Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me - John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love - 1 John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you - 1 John 3:1
Simply because you are my child and I am your father - 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could - Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father - Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand - James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs - Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope - Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore – Psalm 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing - Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you - Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession - Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul – Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things - Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me - Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart - Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires - Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine – Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you - Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart – Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes - Revelation 21:3-4
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth - Revelation 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus - John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed - John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being - Hebrews 1:3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you - Romans 8:31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you…1 John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love…Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me…1 John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again…Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen…Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father…Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is…Will you be my child?…John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you…Luke 15:11-32
Love, Your Dad, Almighty God (Collected from cybersalt.org)
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
"Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name."
- J. I. Packer
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
Sabbath School Memory Verses:
Sabbath, May 2nd - “ . . . for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”
2 Kings 4:43
Sabbath, May 9th - “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. . .” 2 Kings 22:1a
Sabbath, May 16th - “Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.” 1 Chronicles 16:29b
Sabbath, May 23rd - “Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.” 2 Chronicles 9:22
Pentecost, May 24th - “And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel . . .” 2 Chronicles 11:16a
Sabbath, May 30th - “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” 2 Chronicles 33:13b
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
Keeping tropical fish at home can have a calming effect on the brain due to all the indoor fins…
