Did you miss the Catholic Faith Study (CFS) Series? You can now check them out at the audio-links below!
Sin Redemption & the Meaning of Life
Christian Prayer & Spirituality
The Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell
The Catholic Faith Study (CFS) will begin Series #5 (in 2 parts) entitled “The Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell”
In this series, we will cover the Church’s teachings regarding the death, the second coming, the nature of heaven and hell, and if we have time, a short explanation of Purgatory.
We will use the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and The Early Church Fathers to help us understand the aspects of these 4 subjects.
Join us on 2 consecutive Thursdays beginning August 9, 2018 at 11:30am to 12:30PM on Skype or in conference room EMHC/E3.4B.361. Then on Thursday, August 16, 2018 in room EMHC/E2.4B.361 and Skype.
Contact Henry Avila to be placed on the CFS distribution list or to receive a calendar invitation.
People of all faiths are welcome!
Did you miss the first session? Check out the audio file below
Part 2
Hospitality is one of the best ways to live out the two greatest commandments: loving God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. But often we get caught up in perfecting our homes and conversations before we open our doors.
Over 7 sessions teach us how to look to Jesus as our model for hospitality. Discover how He lived a life full of interruptions, yet always welcomed people and invited them to follow Him.
Learn to replace cultural expectations with biblical hospitality to create a legacy of invitation and reflect Jesus through simple acts of service. Discover daily rhythms of kindness, generosity, and presence at home and on the go. Learn to view welcome as worship, and reflect Jesus through simple acts of service. Become a woman of influence through hidden hospitality. Create spaces of welcome in your heart, home, and beyond.
Location: EMHC and Skype – room will vary based on availability
Schedule: Wednesdays, September 5th through December 12 (not including November 21); 11:30-12:30
Contact Marilyn Devereaux-Ruffin to be added to the study!
Volunteers are needed for the L’Amor Village Shelter Back to School Party to be Thursday, August 23rd at 4:00 p.m. L’Mor Village Shelter is an orphanage for young kids of various ages which has been sponsored through ExxonMobil team grants based on volunteer hours for roughly more than 15 years led by Bianca Barbella currently.
We are expecting 20-30 Residents to be in attendance. The volunteer opportunities include the following:
Drinks – need a volunteer to purchase/ice down and deliver to party 80 canned soft drinks (some should be diet)
Baked Goods – need volunteers to bake desserts for the party as well as people to collect/deliver desserts to the party
Volunteers – to help out at the party.
Crafts – TBD – volunteers needed to assist kids with crafts
Gifts – should include various school supplies and back packs
If you would like to volunteer, donate or assist in any way and for more information please contact Bianca Barbella.
This 30 week studies will begin, separately for both men and women, during the lunch hour beginning in September.
Beginning with Israel’s entrance into Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, People of the Promised Land I and II chart the ups and downs of the nation of Israel. People of the Promised Land I covers the united kingdom of Israel, from Joshua to Solomon.
We will study the books of Joshua, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings 1-11 and overviews of Psalms and Proverbs.
Joshua: In the days after Moses, a new leader would guide God’s people faithfully and courageously into the land the Lord had promised.
Ruth: During the days of Judges, the people repeatedly turned their hearts away from the Lord. Yet amid the darkness, stories of grace, such as Ruth’s, resonate and foreshadow God’s great offer of mercy to the Gentiles.
The Last Judge and First King: Samuel was the last of Israel’s judges and God’s answer to a childless woman’s prayer. Amid the people’s rebellion, God called on Samuel to anoint Saul as Israel’s first king.
David: A great warrior as well as a beautiful poet, David became Israel’s anointed champion. More important, he would be the integral ancestor to the divine King to come, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Solomon: With God’s gift of wisdom, David’s son ruled a peaceful, prosperous nation. He had the great privilege of building the temple in Jerusalem. But Solomon’s wayward ways later in life would set the stage for the nation’s division to come. The subsequent divided kingdom will be covered in People of the Promised Land II.
Provision
By God’s design, Israel marched to conquer Canaan with no allies in battle. The Lord alone would give His people success.
Leadership
Whether conquering a new land or leading a diverse nation, God anoints leaders to guide His people in His will. The likes of Joshua and David show that great leadership requires faithfulness, prayer, courage and humility.
Holiness
God calls His people to be distinct from the ways and means of the world. God would show His people His desire for holiness for their good and His glory.
Faithfulness
Sin is infectious, and God’s people are not immune to rebellion as they turn to their own ways. Yet God remains faithful to His own. And through mercy and admonishment, He shepherds His people into a deeper relationship with Him.
“Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
Contact Stuart Holland to be added to the Men’s study and Sharon Snoddy to be added to the Women’s study
Learn more about BSF here -> https://resources.bsfinternational.org/
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(1 Corinthians 13: 1–7).
1 Corinthians 13 maybe one of the better known passages in the Bible. Undoubtably you have heard this passage read at a wedding or maybe even seen it on a Hallmark card. When you read it, you may think about a relationship with a significant other and how to apply the wisdom in these words to that relationship. Thats because this passage provides such a beautiful picture of what the definition of love is, it is completely justified (and encouraged) to be used and studied in the context of a relationship with a significant other. However, would you be surprised if I told you that when Paul wrote these words, the context had nothing to do with a romantic relationship?
Paul is writing this letter to the church at Corinth in response to troubling circumstances the church was facing. There was division in the Corinthian church and one area of debate centered on which spiritual gifts were the most valuable. Paul corrects them and explains that love is the most important aspect and without it, their spiritual gifts cannot produce fruit for the Kingdom.
Whats even more interesting is the word Paul uses for the term love. In Greek, there are several words which could be translated love. Philia is a word that would normally be used to express a friendship/brotherly type of love (i.e. Philadelphia). However this is not the word that Paul uses; he use the word agapē. Agapē is used 116 times in the New Testament and the majority of those references are tied to the love of God for us. The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible notes that, “Agapē means to love the undeserving, despite disappointment and rejection.”[1] That is a powerful type of love, and a powerful instruction from Paul.
Applying the message Paul had for the Corinthians, we as Christians need to have an agapē type of love for people. A love that transcends a conventional understanding of what it means to love. Furthermore, this love of people should not end at the church. We need to love all people the same way that God loves us. Jesus tells us to love our enemies in Matthew 5:44 using the same root word (agapaō).
So the next time you get angry, or upset, or feel as though you are being unfairly treated, remember our call to love in an agapē way. That does not mean as Christians we are to be pushovers, but that does mean that our actions and reactions should be seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6) because apart from love, nothing we can say or do, no matter how great our spiritual gifts, will bring maximum glory to God; we are nothing without love (1 Cor. 13:2).
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have [agapē] for one another.” (John 13:35)
[1] R.E.O. White, “Love,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1357.
Join us for our 4th annual Bring Your Bible to Work Day! Lunch and fun to be provided!
Friday, July 20 @11:30, EMHC/ S1.1A.425-455
Summer Bible Study in the Gospel of Luke
Contact Brandon James for more info and a calendar invitation
Join us this summer for a 5-week study in the book of Luke. We’ll watch Luke videos from The Bible Project, then discuss the life of Jesus from epiphany and birth through his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. We’ll also pray – so bring your requests and make ready to lift up your brothers and sisters!
Ekklesia is a community at Hughes Landing gathered around faith in Jesus. In addition to studying scripture together, we also pray for each other and for our workplace.
Oilfield Christian Fellowship (OCF) is an international organization that began in 1991 and promotes Christian fellowship in the oil industry. They hold monthly luncheons in 17 different cities, offer help with Bible studies, mentoring, and prayer and provide Oil Patch Testimony Bibles in various languages for distribution to oil patches around the world.
OCF has a Bible App that can be found on your smart phone, tablet or Amazon TV by searching “Oilfield Bible”. The App has testimonies in 4 languages, a Bible in over 1,200 languages and links to their website, twitter and Facebook accounts.
OCF has a Chapter that meets monthly in the Woodlands about 5 minutes from the Houston Campus. They meet on the third Thursday of each month just up the road from the Campus at the “Church Project”, 295 Sawdust Rd. This is the old Kroger at the SW corner of Sawdust and I-45 S. The meeting starts at 11:30 and is over by 12:45. They meet each month except July and December.
Each month they have a guest speaker and a meal. If the attendee doesn’t eat, the meeting is free. Otherwise a RSVP gets the person in for $16.00 . Paying at the door is $25.00.
They also have a meeting at Houston First Baptist Church on I-10 at 610 on the first Wednesday of each month (no meeting in July or December).
Learn more at www.oilfieldchristianfellowship.com
To sign up for the Woodlands luncheon click this link https://give.cornerstone.cc/oilfieldchristianfellowship+ocfwoodlandluncheon
The Catholic Faith Study (CFS) will begin Series #3 (in 3 parts) entitled “Sin, Redemption and the Meaning of Life.”
In this series, we will cover God’s original plan of life and love for the human person. We will examine the questions that reside in the depths of the human heart . . . “Do I have a purpose?”, “Why do I have to suffer?”, “What is the meaning of life?”
In our class, we will learn that there are consequences to sin, but that God loved us so much that He did not want us to perish as a result of our darkened hearts. It is the hope of the resurrection that we await through Jesus Christ, our savior.
We will use the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other Church documents to help us understand the answer to these questions.
Join us on 3 consecutive Thursdays beginning June 14, 2018 at 11:30am to 12:30PM on Skype or a conference room that is TBD.
Contact Henry Avila to be place on a distribution list or for the conference room number.
People of all faiths are welcome!
Check out these audio files if you missed it!
