December 2013 Newsletter

The Sermon that the Lord put on my heart to deliver was “Where Are the Nine” on this past first Sunday Scripture Text Luke 17:10-17

The Bible says, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed”. The Bible says that he saw he was healed. Now the others no doubt knew that they were healed, but there was something different here. The Greek word used is the word eido, and it means to know, see, or perceive. He took the time to note that he had been blessed. He realized that something wonderful had happened to him. He was sensitive to the power of Christ working in his life.

Do we really perceive the ways that God has blessed us? Not a one of us is hungry, not a one of us is naked, but most importantly, if you are a Christian, you have been given everything through Christ Jesus our Lord. The devil will do his best to keep your mind off the blessings of God. He will constantly tell you how bad you have it, of how everything is wrong in your life. You see, it’s when you begin to realize how much you have in the Lord, that you will truly begin to be thankful, and when you are thankful, your heart will abound with love for the Lord that has so graciously given all to you.

I told this story as part of the message: There is an old story that illustrates this point. There is a man who goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week." A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week." A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat -- only the nine of us." The situation was the same as at first, but now his perception had changed. He realized that he was blessed to begin with.

An unthankful Christian is a defeated Christian for he/she has lost their joy.When he saw that he was healed, he turned around. Now the Lord had given the command to all 10 to go to the priest but he delayed, he turned around and went back to the Lord. Why didn’t the Lord rebuke him for this? The reason is because this man realized the priority of gratitude and worship. I believe that this man fully intended to obey what the Lord had told him to do, but he realized that he had a higher calling that must come first. If you don’t give God thanks, it won’t be long until your obedience just becomes a job to do, you lose the meaning of what God is wanting you to do. You become unthankful. It is fitting and proper to give thanks and praise to the Lord for what He has done in your life. As he drew near to where the Lord was, he glorified God. The Greek means that he made the Lord glorious, he manifested the worth of the Lord. He came to Jesus and fell down before Him in perfect submission and gave Him thanks. The Lord asked the question, Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the Nine? Then note what He told this man, “Arise, go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole.” This was something that the others did not receive. He had faith, not just to be healed, but many commentaries state that he had the faith to follow Christ. All people are blessed of God, but not all follow Christ. This man’s thankful heart responded in faith and he was perfected as a disciple of the Lord.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

December 7th:

SICK AND SHUT IN VISITATION

A group of Holy Light ministers, deacons, deaconess and mothers will be going out on Saturday to visit in home a number of our members who are sick and shut in to fellowship and also serve communion.

December 14th:

HOLY LIGHT CONVALESCENT HOMES OUTREACH MINISTRY NEWS

Everyone is cordially invited to share the Gospel Message and true spirit of Christmas with the Convalescent Homes Outreach Ministry as we make our final visits with patients for this year. Additionally, we will visit a few of our home-bound members. Please feel free to meet us at any one or more facilities that you can attend. It will be deeply appreciated. Gifts will be distributed to patients at the following facilities.

December 15th:

ANNUAL CANDLE LIGHT SERVICE

Service will be at 4:30pm on Sunday December 15th. It will feature the Children’s Drama Department and the Music Ministry Departments.

January 25th:

HOLY LIGHT COMMUNITY BLOCK PARTY

Anyone interested in volunteering or providing donations or support please contact Sis. Stephanie Hicks.

#gospel

September 2013 Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS

September 14th

FUNDRAISER

Thanks to all for the support to the Totally Committed To Christ Praise Dancers [our youth] by purchasing tickets to attend the “red hot” First Place “LOS ANGELES DODGERS vs SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS” game Saturday, September 14th at 6:10 PM. Tickets at $20.00 each. WE ARE NOW SOLD OUT OF TICKETS. Bus Transportation to Dodger Stadium will be available. The bus will leave Holy Light at 4:00 PM. If you are not planning to attend, support donations are appreciated. All proceeds will support Totally Committed To Christ Praises Dancers’ travel expenses to minister at Shiloh Baptist Church - Trenton, NJ next year. Please see Associate Pastor Dandridge or Sis. Eva Thompson for ticket purchases.

September 15th

FELLOWSHIP at KING SOLOMON BAPTIST CHURCH

We will be fellowshipping with King Solomon Baptist Churchon September 15th at 3:30pm for their Annual Men’s Day Services. Associate Pastor Dandridge will bring the gospel message and the Male Chorus will be ministering in song. The address is 7407 S. Central Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90001.

September 22nd (Sun)

ANNUAL WOMEN’S DAY

Sunday, September 22nd the Annual Women’s Day - the Women will render services at 8 am [Minister Becky Watson, Gospel Messenger], 11 am [Evangelist Carolyn Garrett Gospel Messenger] and a special presentation featuring Women will take place at 3 pm.

CHILDREN & YOUTH HOLIDAY EVENT

There will be a Harvest event at Holy Light for our children and youth in late October or early November. Information and the finalized will be forthcoming. See Minister Stacy Johnson for details.

October 5th (Sat)

MEN’S CONFERENCE

As part of our Men’s Ministry Fellowship, we are informing the men of the Men’s conference at Atherton Baptist Church, 2627 West 116th St. Hawthorne CA on Saturday October 5th from 8:00 am to 4:00pm.

Theme is “Living The Mandate”. Those men that attended last year were enormously blessed with the great speakers as well as the fellowship of Christian men. Speakers this year include Pastor Xavier Thompson, President of the Southern California Baptist Ministers Conference and Dr. Lamonte King of Friendly Friendship Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

The cost is $40.00 to register prior to September 22nd and then it goes up to $55.00. Please see Deacon Kevin Sanders for registration information.

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NEW MEMBERS

We were blessed with four new additions to the Holy Light Church family. Sister Patricia Teague and her three sons united with the church on this past Sunday (9/8).

CLASSES: The New Members Class sessions resume this week with Class Session # 1 being taught on Salvation. The Class meets in the Inez Berry Fellowship Hall at 9:45 am.

September 8th

YOUTH DAY AT HOLY LIGHT

We had a wonderful day of services and and fellowship at our Annual Youth Day services at 8:00am, 11:00am and 3:00pm. Rev. James Flint Jr, Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois brought the gospel message at the 8:00am and 11:00am services.

CHURCH SOFTBALL RUNNER UP

The Holy Light Softball Team was the runner up in the Softball playoffs losing the championship game to Brentwood Presbyterian 10-5.

August 24th

MEN'S FELLOWSHIP

At our Men’s Fellowship Meeting on the 24th Deacon Sanders brought the word and then after that and the breaking of bread we had our first Domino Tournament. Brother Tommy Saxon came away with the championship defeating Deacon Rodney Weber! I know the men are looking forward to take the crown away from Brother Saxon. I am looking to redeem myself as well after a first round elimination.

CHURCH FELLOWSHIP

Thanks to all of those who came out Friday, August 30th for the services at Greater Hopewell Full Gospel Baptist Church for the anniversary services for Rev. Kenneth Pitchford.

54th Annual Church Anniversary Newsletter

Our celebration of our 54th annual anniversary will begin on two nights of revival on Thursday July 11th and Friday July 12th at 7:30pm.

Our dynamic speaker will be Rev. Darrell Armstrong, Pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, New Jersey

The Rev. Darrell L. Armstrong is a native of South (Central) Los Angeles, California where he was born and raised. He is married to the former Melanie L. Pinkney, Esq., who is the Executive Director of the Division of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action for the NJ-Department of Transportation. They are the proud parents of Amaris Kayla (7-years) and Daniel LaRue (5-years).

The Rev. Armstrong is in his 12th year of service as the pastor of the historic Shiloh Baptist Church of Trenton, NJ. Shiloh is a thriving community of faith rooted in a worship tradition which represents the richness of the African diaspora. He is only the church's third pastor in the last 108 years!!! Under his leadership, Shiloh has more than tripled its budget to $1.7M and nearly tripled its membership to 2,200+ (approximately 500+families).

His policy training at Stanford University (BA in Public Policy), theological training at Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and therapeutic/clinical training at The College of New Jersey (Ed.S. in marriage & family therapy) have uniquely prepared the Rev. Armstrong to be a respected voice in the national and international child welfare/family strengthening communities.

In May of 2010, he was chosen to be the 1st non-Presbyterian member of the Princeton Seminary Board of Trustees in its 200-year history (1812-2012).

Most recently, in January, 2012, he was chosen by Black Village Magazine as one of NJ's "50 Most Powerful Blacks!"

Our anniversary will culminate with a full day of services of Sunday July 14th with dynamic speakers and our culmination service at 3:30pm

Sunday, July 14, 2012

8:00am: Our speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Gentre Adkins, Pastor of the Faithful St. Mark Baptist Church in Los Angeles

11:00am: Rev. Darrell Armstrong, Pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, New Jersey will be the messenger

3:30pm: Bishop Henry W. Hearns, Pastor of the Living Stone Cathedral of Worship in Little Rock, California will bring the gospel message.

3:30pm: The gospel singing group the Men of Vision will be here to minister in music.

Please come join us as we celebrate what God has done in this part of the vineyard

We Have Come this Far By Faith