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CBCGL EM News 10/16/2020
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Dear EM family,
I pray that this email finds you well.
2020 is an election year, with the election only 18 days away. Have you got one of those in the mail yet?
If you are a US citizen and eligible to vote and plan to cast your vote by mail but have not yet requested online, you only have a few days left to do so. For Massachusetts residents, the deadline to vote-by-mail request is October 20.
Massachusetts has two ballot questions requesting your vote. You may find the details of these two questions here (a pdf version).
And next, how should we vote, you may ask. It is an excellent question that our congregation asks every time there is an election. I have dug out a message that Pastor MacDonald wrote on “How should we vote” back in 2012 and share it with you at the end of this email and in the attachment. One thing Pastor Mac said in the message is that “you are only answerable to God for your choice or lack of choice,” so vote your conscience!
Announcement:
- Friday Night’s Bible Study will start a new book from Lifeway. You may dial in or login via your phone or personal computer:
https://zoom.us/j/685376249?pwd=cWtyUk1pckJiRHJxZVZCSGdJZWw2UT09
Dial-in from your phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 685 376 249
- EM Sunday School
Topic: CBCGL EM Sunday Class “52 Major Stories of the Bible” (9:45 am – 11:00 am):
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/491248585?pwd=RnpLcnpjQ01nTGZLSmhaZ3l4L3dKQT09
Dial-in from your phone: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 491 248 585
YAs Sunday School (via Microsoft Teams)
YAs Sunday School signup sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H0oSS1kpU8JUZAv0JcmivEIzR-tvDtihkrEtBLE8tJo/edit?usp=sharing
- This Sunday, Pastor Steven Chin will be sharing God’s word with us:
- Live stream Youtube: http://cbcgl.org/resources/live-stream/
- Title: Living in the End Times
- Text: 2 Timothy 3:1-17
- Coworker reminder:
- Ladies Fellowship gathering this Sunday from 4:30 pm to 6 pm.
“Ten (well-tested) Ways to bring God’s JOY into Your Life.”
This is a dynamic learning and self-reflective ENJOYABLE workshop.
You will be discovering: God’s desire for JOY in our lives; 3 key obstacles to JOY; our JOY quotient; and HOW to actively tap into God’s unstoppable JOY.
Please get online earlier at 4:15, so that the workshop can start on time. If you have not yet received the Zoom Link for Today’s Ladies Fellowship, please contact:
· Grace Ren: (978) 929-9886
· Vivien Gillis: (978) 799-3198
· Patricia Fung: (978) 645-1674 (They will forward the Zoom Link to you ASAP)
- A new health waiver form has been posted online at
http://bit.ly/cbcgl-covid19-waiver
You are required to fill out the latest form if you plan to participate in any church activities.
- CBCGL quarterly survey is going on now. You can find the survey at the following link.
https://bit.ly/cbcgl-2020-survey
- CBCGL annual congregational meeting will be held on 10/25 afternoon. Details will follow. Please reserve the time to attend if you are a member.
- All other announcement items can be found here.
Prayer Request:
- Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life! Please consider joining our Wednesday night prayer meeting (7:45 pm – 9:15 pm) even if you can’t participate the whole time.
Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/758587937?pwd=aS9sZUdxcm1janNNM2I2aXJ6Smx2QT09
Meeting ID: 758 587 937
Password: 030086
Join by phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
Young Adults:
Wednesday night EM prayer meeting @ 7:45 – 9:30 pm – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86893982884?pwd=Q2RIWEtVMGtmdGJ2ZHNJdDJ3Rng4dz09
Meeting ID: 868 9398 2884
Password: 197791
- As many of you know, Pastor Steven Bowman’s wife, Angie Bowman, recently went through a surgery. Please pray for her speedy recovery.
- Here is our list of prayer and service requests. The service request tab is for brothers and sisters to ask for assistance or announce any give-away items. It is a new attempt from EM to reach out and take care of those in need among us. You may also enter yours:
Blessings,
Jeremy
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Consider the following criteria as you prayerfully make your decision.
1. Choose the person whose positions are most Biblical. Biblically speaking, the role of government is to protect its citizens by defending them and carrying out justice. This includes using the military, the police, and the courts. It also provides intervention in disasters. Beyond this, the government may not contradict the universal moral absolutes of God, such as marriage, life, liberty of a person's conscience. Some will ask: what about feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, widows, orphans? The Bible commands these things to the people of God (Israel in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament). In a theocracy such as Israel, the King saw such things because he ruled God's people. Such commands are repeated in the New Testament, not to governments, but the church.
2. Choose the person who shows the best moral character. We must be able to trust our leaders with our lives and wellbeing. We need to trust them to fulfill their promises. We need to have confidence that the power and temptations of their office will not corrupt them.
3. Choose the person who has the most wisdom. Moral uprightness and Biblical character are qualities we all should have. Still, a leader will not be able to do a must with his Biblical positions and moral character without wisdom. He needs to know the best way to get things done. He needs to understand how to bring people together for the purpose of governing well.
4. Choose the person with the best leadership skills. He must be a man who is responsible and takes responsibility. He needs to be a man who initiates and steps into work problems, nor shying away from difficulties. He must inspire others to follow his lead.
All the above criteria are very important, and all should be true of the person we vote for. However, in reality we might not find them all true of anyone person we have to choose from. Then we must prioritize. I have tried to list these in order of priority, but, this is a very difficult choice.
One final thought. Some fear that voting for someone is an endorsement of that person and his beliefs. This is not so. Voting for a candidate is merely choosing the best possibility from the limited choices you have. The person you vote for might not even represent your beliefs well at all, maybe even very poorly, yet a vote for him maybe better than the alternative. So, vote! You are only answerable to God for your choice or lack of choice. You are responsible to Him, but only to him. Vote your conscience!
You may want to consider the following passages among many others that you could:
Romans 13:1-7; Isaiah 9:7; Proverbs 12:15; Proverbs 29:2; Proverbs 16:32; Proverbs 12:24; Proverbs 17:2 and others
In Christ,
Pastor MacDonald
November 3, 2012