Church guide

Do you remember what it was like to graduate from high school? It was truly an exciting time in life. It was a milestone that you worked toward for many years of your life. It was a time filled with excitement and also filled with uncertainty as you looked ahead to the future. Tomorrow at Central Avenue, we will be honoring our high school graduates – Austin Day, Annie Eilders, Bryce Jackson, Kade Parsons, Nyanda Walker-Potts, and Ben Rainey. They are a fine group of young people who we have been able to get to know during their lives here at Central Avenue. During our morning worship, we will present them with their graduation Bibles, have one of our elders pray for them, and talk about how they can best face the uncertain future. At 6:00 p.m., we will learn more about each of our graduates, and then enjoy a wonderful time of fellowship in with our graduates and their families. We are asked to please bring finger foods with us for the dinner. We hope that you will be planning to be here tomorrow at Central Avenue to help encourage these graduates during this very important time in their lives.

Tomorrow is the date when we as country pay special tribute to "Mom." Tomorrow morning here at Central Avenue during our 10:30 worship, we will go back in God's Word to a time long before Christ, in order to see what God tells us about the importance of mothers in the lives of their children. Tomorrow morning is also the date when we have our special Mother's Day collection for Raintree Village. There are some very specific needs regarding transportation vans, upgrades to housing, and expansion of foster care services that will be addressed with your generous giving. Tomorrow night at 6:00, several of the young men from Faith Avenue will be speaking to us about the importance of Mom. We look forward to a wonderful day tomorrow at Central Avenue, and we look forward to seeing you in the morning!

What comes to your heart and mind when you reflect on the Lord’s Supper? Do you ever wonder what is the significance of this act of worship that we celebrate each Sunday? Is it tempting at times to partake of the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine without understanding exactly what is being celebrated? When we meet together each Sunday and partake of the Lord’s Supper, it is a very beautiful statement of our faith and belief in the Lord, and it is also a special time of recognizing the unity we celebrate with fellow Christians. It is a celebration of the fellowship we have with the Lord as well as the fellowship we have with each other. It is a time that takes us back almost 2,000 years in time to a place called Mount Calvary where God’s Son was hanging on a cross to die for the forgiveness of our sins. It was a demonstration of the greatest love ever shown in the history of the world. Tomorrow during our morning worship, we will be looking at this important feast that Jesus instituted on the night before His death. We will behold the great sacrifice that was made on that day when Jesus died so that we could be reconciled to God. We hope that everyone has a great Saturday, and that you will be with us tomorrow morning here at Central Avenue!

Tomorrow, we welcome Troy and Andrea Spradlin back to Central Avenue! All adult Bible classes will meet in the Large Auditorium at 9:30 for a Bible class taught by Troy, and then Troy will preaching at our 10:30 worship.Troy is a very gifted teacher, preacher, missionary, and evangelist, and he and Andrea are very dear friends of the members at Central Avenue. Tomorrow evening we have our Singing Service where we will be devoting the evening to worship of God in song. This is always a special time to enjoy many songs that we typically don't get to sing very often, and we will enjoy several of our men leading us in those songs. Enjoy the beautiful spring weather we are having today, get a goods night's sleep, and we look forward to seeing you here at Central Avenue in the morning!

Have you ever felt like someone was raising the bar to such an impossible height, that there was no way for you to clear it? There were probably many people that felt that way almost 2,000 years ago. But then Jesus came along and gave them a new hope for the future. In Matthew 5, Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount. He was talking about things that were very practical to them – salt and light. Then, Jesus began talking to them about how high the spiritual bar had been set for them, and just how much God was expecting of them. We would be honored to have you at Central Avenue in the morning as we study the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:17-20. We will be seeing what Jesus tells us are God’s expectations for us as we seek to live for Him each day -- we will see exactly how high the bar is set for each one of us. We hope that you have a great Saturday, and we look forward to seeing you in the morning at Central Avenue!

Light is one of those things that we probably take for granted and do not appreciate until it is missing in life – suddenly, we understand how much we really need and enjoy light! Jesus spoke of the importance of light in Matthew 5 when He said: 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Jesus is saying that you are the light of the world – what a great and powerful statement! Have you ever wondered exactly how you serve as a light to the world? Tomorrow morning, we will be looking at these words of Jesus, and how we can be used by God to be the light of the world. We would love to have you with us tomorrow morning at Central Avenue. Our Bible classes begin at 9:30, and our worship service begins at 10:30. Have a great Saturday and we look forward to seeing you in the morning!

This weekend is the one that many of us dread – we lose an hour of sleep! In some ways, this is a lesson on management – do we go to bed early tonight, do we lose an hour of sleep tonight, or do we sleep in late in the morning? We want you to be with us in the morning at Central Avenue! Our children, teens, and adults have Bible class at 9:30 tomorrow morning. At our 10:30 worship, we will conclude our study of the Beatitudes as we listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:10-12 as He tells us “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Also, tomorrow morning, we will have the opportunity to write out prayer requests for our evening worship service. At 6:00 tomorrow night, we will have several of our men who will be leading us in prayer, as we lift before the Father the requests that you submit tomorrow morning. Get a good night’s sleep, and we look forward to having you with us tomorrow morning at Central Avenue!

We live in a world that is filled with great aspirations for Peace. Many people are advocates for peace – they talk about peace, they campaign for peace, and they promote peace. While the world has its views on peace, Jesus talked about the importance of peace, as well as the need for His followers to make peace. In Matthew 5:9, Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Tomorrow morning, we will be looking at the importance of this beatitude, what Jesus wants us to learn from this teaching, and what we can do to be better peacemakers. We have a large selection of Bible classes that start at 9:30 in the morning, and our worship service starts at 10:30. We would love for you to be with us tomorrow morning at Central Avenue!

Some people may remember this packaging from many years ago -- 99.44% pure (and some people may have also wondered about the remaining 56/100%)! Purity is an important matter to many people today -- they want it in their water, in their food, in their medicine, in the air they breath, and in other areas of their life. Jesus talked about purity in Matthew 5:8 when he said "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." What did Jesus mean by those words, and what does He want us to know about being pure and about seeing God? Tomorrow morning, we will be looking at the teachings of Jesus as recorded in this beautiful beatitude. We are continuing to grow and learn more from the beatitudes, and we would love for you to be with us. Our Bible classes start at 9:30, and worship begins at 10:30. We hope you have a great Saturday, and we hope to see you in the morning at Central Avenue!

There are times when life can be very brutal. There are times when other people may be equally brutal in how they treat us, and unfortunately, there are also times in life when we are not very kind in how we treat other people. Jesus knew the importance of us learning how to treat other people, and He focuses on that in the second four Beatitudes in Matthew 5 when He said "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Tomorrow, we will look at how we can understand what mercy is, and how we can extend mercy to those around us. We would be honored to have to with us tomorrow morning here at Central Avenue. Our Bible classes begin at 9:30, and worship begins at 10:30.

When we read these words today, we are probably filled with many questions: What is Jesus talking about? What does it mean to be meek? What type of inheritance is Jesus referring to here in Matthew 5:5? Tomorrow morning, we will look at the third Beatitude, and seek to better understand what God is wanting us to know from this verse. If you are not a member, we would like to invite you to come visit with us tomorrow at Central Avenue -- our Bible classes begin at 9:30 and our worship begins at 10:30. We are looking forward to great day of worship to God tomorrow, and we look forward to seeing you in the morning here at Central Avenue!

Life is filled with many unfortunate times, and those can often cause us much sorrow. It is much like what Tolstoy said about families: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” – Anna Karenina. The times of mourning are different for each individual, and we seldom welcome these “down” times in our lives. It is with this in mind that we prepare for the second of the beatitudes from Jesus in Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” What does it mean to “mourn,” why do we have to mourn in order to be comforted, and how can we be comforted? Those are some of the questions we will look to answer tomorrow during our morning worship. Whether you are currently in a period of being comforted, or in a period of mourning, we would love for you to be with us tomorrow here at Central Avenue!

Can you imagine what it must have been like almost 2,000 years ago, to walk up a mountain, to have seen Jesus sitting down, and as He began teaching, the first words out of His mouth were "Blessed are the the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?" We begin a new series on "The Beatitudes" here at Central Avenue, and tomorrow morning we will look at what Jesus meant when He said these simple, powerful, and to us, maybe confusing words "Blessed are the the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Tomorrow will be the first Sunday of the New Year, and we would love for you to start the new year off right by being with us at Central Avenue!

There is so much that is conveyed by the term "NEW" -- it is the opportunity to leave the past behind and to start over. This is that time of the year when many people begin focusing off of the "old" and looking ahead to the "new." Tomorrow at our morning worship service, we will be looking at what God says we can do to have a new life. We hope you can be with us us we look ahead to the wonderful opportunity God provides in that simple word "NEW!"

This is a time of the year that is often filled with references to "joy" -- by way of songs, movies, and greeting cards that seem to inundate us as soon as Thanksgiving is over. If you will be with us tomorrow morning for our 10:30 worship service at Central Avenue, we will be seeing what God tells us is the reason for true joy in life and what you can do to enjoy a joy-filled life. Tomorrow promises to be one of the first Sundays in several weeks where rain is not in the forecast! Our Bible classes start at 9:30, and then worship begins at 10:30. We would love to have you with us tomorrow at Central Avenue!

Tomorrow will be our "Legacy of Faith Sunday" here at Central Avenue! The names of 147 loved ones will be read aloud, and we will reflect upon the legacy of faith that these individuals have passed on to us. This will be a special time as we each reflect upon the importance that particular people have had upon our lives, and how we can carry on the legacies that have been handed to us. I hope you can be with us tomorrow for what will be a very beautiful morning at Central Avenue!

Tomorrow morning at 10:30, we will be looking at one of the most profound statements ever made: "The Word became flesh." We will be seeing what that meant to people 2,000 years ago, and what it means to us today as we seek to grow in our walk with the Lord. The weather man is forecasting the possibility of rain in the morning, but it is not supposed to be nearly as much rain as last Sunday. We are blessed to have men of the congregation who offer "valet parking" at the drive under on the east parking lot in case it is raining tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we have our yearly Holiday Party after evening services. Several of our 4th & 5th young men will be leading us in the devotional service prior to the party, and I am very much looking forward to hearing these young men encourage us from God's Word. We would love to have you be with us tomorrow at Central Avenue!

Tomorrow is the deadline for submitting names to be honored in our "Legacy of Faith Sunday" on December 16th. Envelopes will be on the attendance clipboards and in the foyers if you have not already completed this process. Also, tomorrow afternoon, we will host the annual "Area-Wide, Old-Fashioned, Thanksgiving Gospel Sing." This is always a special time of beautiful singing and great fellowship. Plan to be here at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. We are looking forward to great day of worship to the Lord tomorrow, and we hope you can be with us!

Tomorrow morning, we will start a new series on "Becoming a Man of God." Men, we are going to have a good and growing month as we look at ways to grow in our life with God. We hope that you can be with us tomorrow morning at Central Avenue!

Tomorrow morning, we will be seeking answers to this question. Often times, we may use the word “church” very casually, without really understanding what church is. Tomorrow, we will have a very enjoyable time seeing what God tells us about church, what church is supposed to do, and even how a person becomes a member of the church. Tomorrow night, we will finish our study of the gospel of Mark as we look at the conclusion of chapter 16! You have been very gracious as we have worked our way through this delightful book of the New Testament, and tomorrow we will look at some of the debates that have been associated with Mark 16. We would love to see you tomorrow here at Central Avenue!