Church guide

***** UPDATE********* WE HAVE OUR NEW HOME. I REPEAT NO MORE MOVING AFTER THIS PRAISE GOD. NEW ADDRESS IS 2600 NEW HOPE RD GRANTS PASS OR. WE WILL BE HOLDING OUR SERVICES THERE NO MORE RCC. I REPEAT WE WILL BE AT NEW LOCATION SUN. 28th. @ 10:00 a.m. Also after church services please stay behind and learn our new name. Goals, Ideas.Yes we are changing our name. hope to see you all there Sun the 28th of July. Also pass the information on to friends an family. Stay tuned for more updates. Have a blessed week.

*****STAY TUNED TO AWESOME NEWS AND UPDATES IN THE COMMING DAYS****** GOD BLESS EVERYONE

KAMP KOINONIA.!!!!!!!!!!***Mark your calendars fun outdoors camping.*** KAMP KOINONIA!!!!!!!!!!!! TEEN CAMP JUNE 19-23. PRE TEENS JUNE 23-27

we had a great turn out for Easter Sunday. "HE HAS RISEN". Thank you all that came,helped out.

He has risen.

Come April 21st 10:00 a.m. Celebrate Easter with us at the Bridge. Fun & Safe children's classes

WHO EXCITED FOR OUR NEW HOME????? SUNDAY MARCH 17TH 10 a.m. PLEASE REMEMBER NO FOOD OR DRINKS INSIDE BUILDING. *****ONLY WATER****** THANK YOU SEE YOU ALL SUNDAY. FOLLOW THE BRIDGE SIGNS WHEN YOU GET TO EAST ENTRANCE.

****ALL MOST TIME ***** Sun MARCH 17th our new home at RCC AUDITORIUM. 3345 Redwood Hwy,Grants Pass,OR 97527 EAST ENTRANCE FOLLOW THE BRIDGE SIGNS WILL LEAD YOU TO OUR NEW HOME. SERVICE STARTS AT 10:00a.m. We have a nursery, junior/high school class. *****ALSO A REMINDER NO DRINKS OR FOOD IN THE AUDITORIUM ****WATER ONLY***** Thank you God Bless

*****T -4 days till our last service at our current location on vine st . Want to give a big thank you to the owners for letting us use their building for almost 2 yrs.

THE potluck that was to be after worship on Sunday MARCH 10th will be cancelled. We will have hot dogs for helpers on the move. Sorry for the inconvenience. We could use some help with the heavier equipment. Any and all help will be welcomed. Thank you God bless you all.

HI. The Bridge Family and Community, we are restarting up our face book page please bare with us on the new changes thank you god bless you all

The Pastor’s Pen In a 38-minute speech delivered recently by a well-known politician, this well-known politician referred to himself 92 times. This means that this speaker mentioned himself once every 25 seconds for nearly 40 minutes! Regardless of political affiliation, most of us would agree that such a presentation is exceptionally self-focused. In this modern-day era of mega-stars, over-indulgence, self-awareness, and endless pontification, such a demonstration of self is hardly noteworthy by current standards. Many Christians would say, “This is the world, and that is the way the world functions.” And yet, unfortunately, this self-focused, self-awareness, self-absorption is also rampant in today’s church. My wife recently attended a live video seminar featuring several of today’s most prominent female Christian speakers. One of these very well-known speakers referred to herself repeatedly, but not for 38 minutes, but for more than an hour. She used herself as an example of how women can follow their own desires to become what they believe God created them for, and how to experience the feelings of success that accompany such self-fulfillment. Her talk was enticing, if not intoxicating, for the majority of the ladies in attendance. At one point she asked, “How am I doing? Am I giving you good stuff?” The 5,000 in attendance roared back, “Yes!” May I humbly suggest that this attitude of arrogance does not represent the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? Listen to what Jesus said. “So, Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many’” (Mark 10:42-45). These words of Jesus were in response to a request made by James and John: they wanted to be the greatest in Christ’s future kingdom. In the kingdom of man, it is all about which men are the greatest; in the kingdom of heaven, it is all about Jesus, who is the greatest. This is why John the Baptizer declared about Jesus: “He must increase; I must decrease.” Pride is an ugly motivator, and it is never uglier that when we Christians vainly attempt to wrap it in a robe of self-righteousness. Each of us needs to examine our hearts routinely and honestly ask, “What motivates me in my Christian walk and service?” Is it my love for self? Is it my love for others? Is it my love for Jesus? All three of these will ultimately fail you. Peter said that his love for Jesus would never fail him, yet it did. I know of only one thing that will properly motivate me and you, even unto death, and this is Christ’s unfailing love for us! Paul said it like this: “Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them” (2 Corinthians 5:14,15). Do you want your service for Christ to honor God and bless others? Do you long to experience genuine transformation in your life as well as in the life of others? Then allow Christ’s love to control you. Like John, intentionally decrease so that Christ may increase, not only in your life, but within the circle of your influence as well. To God be the glory in the Church!

The Pastor’s Pen For the past three weeks we have all been held captive with the question, “Did he, or didn’t he?” Did Brett Kavanaugh commit the acts of sexual assault that have been leveled against him? With 24/7 news coverage, the whole matter has been blown up into a modern-day, “Who shot J.R. melodrama.” There are three, and thus far, only three, beings in the entire universe who know the true answer to this question: Professor Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and Almighty God, whom both the professor and the judge will meet face-to-face on that great and notable Day of the Lord. Media talking heads and political pendants from both sides of the aisle have whipped the debate into a vicious, emotional frenzy. Both the professor and the judge have had to take measures to protect the safety of their families due to multiple death threats. Senator’s homes are surrounded by protestors, and angry mobs scream obscenities as they crowd the Senate chambers. How is a Christ follower to respond? What does the Bible have to say about such things? God gave Moses the following command: "The testimony of one person alone is not to suffice to convict anyone of any iniquity, sin, or guilt. But the matter will stand on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15). The Old Testament Law was clear. At least two, and preferably three, witnesses were required to convict a person of anything. Otherwise, it requires only one person’s creative imagination (or misguided memory) combined with brazen gall to accuse and convict another person of anything! This is the precept that Jesus employed when the woman taken in adultery was brought before Him. The accusers claimed that they caught her in the act of sex. What a sham! How did they catch her in the act? How long did they watch to satisfy their own vile hearts? Where was the man? Last time that I checked, it takes two to Tango! When Jesus bent over and began writing in the dust, the crowd quieted. Then He said, “Let him without sin cast the first stone.” I think He may have been listing the accusers’ sins. As the sovereign Lord, He knew each of them! One at a time, from the oldest to the youngest, all of the mob dropped their stones and left. Jesus was the only witness left; there were no others. It would require at least one more to convict her. So, what did Jesus do? “neither do I condemn you,” He told her. “Go and sin no more.” “But that’s Old Testament,” you might be thinking. Yes, it is. However, in 2 Corinthians 13:1, we read, “This will be the third time I am coming to you. Every accusation must be verified by two or three witnesses." The Old Testament principle is restated both here and in two other New Testament passages. The terms used to describe unsubstantiated (by at least two witnesses, never anonymous) accusations is gossip and slander. And what does the New Testament have to say about these? Ephesians 4:29-31 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” God’s Word is clear. When an accusation is made, we must confirm the accusation with at least two or three witnesses. If no such witnesses exist, we must cease and desist from pursuing the allegation. If I spread the accusation, if I accept the unsubstantiated allegation, I am guilty of slander and gossip. It requires discipline to walk away from the spurious claims of others. Holy Spirit discipline. This is why Christ followers are called “disciples.”

The Pastor’s Pen In today’s American political dialogue, immigration is the centerpiece of the greatest, most heated debate. And, included in any controversy involving immigration, is the infamous “wall.” Many Americans are for the wall; many Americans are against the wall. Hence, the great debate. Without getting bogged down in political mud-slinging, I do find it interesting, if not amusing, that many of the politicos and celebrities most opposed to the wall, live in mansions surrounded by huge walls and personal security details. Curious, indeed. Throughout the history of man, populations of people have erected walls to secure the safety of those within and prevent entry to those who are not part of the community. This is true in ancient, medieval, and modern history. In today’s American culture, many middle-class and upper-middle class people live in gated communities. I live in an extremely rural setting with a drive way more than a third of a mile long. Guess what? I have a locked gate at the bottom of the hill. In fact, this may surprise you, but God has erected a wall, and the wall has one purpose. It is to keep those who do not belong in His Kingdom out. Before you get upset with me, think back to the garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned, God clothed them and then drove them out of the garden, away from His presence. In the moment of Adam and Eve’s willful sin, all of mankind became unfit for the Kingdom of God. Our own sin became a wall of separation between God and man. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Paul declared adamantly in Romans 3:23. Jew, Gentile, male, female, young, old, black, white, brown. Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Independent, Libertarian: ALL have sinned! Our Holy God cannot fellowship with sin and will not tolerate it in His presence. In fact, while Jesus hung on the cross as our substitute to pay the debt for our sin against God (”But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8), God turned His holy back on Jesus. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?” cried out our Savior. Each and every one of us are born into the kingdom of mankind. Regardless of our status or ethnicity, we all came into this world the same way. Yet, according to God’s Word, all of us were born as foreigners to God’s glorious kingdom. We were born on the wrong side of the wall of separation. In Ephesians 2:12, the Apostle Paul states it this way, “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.” The wall that separates us from God’s Kingdom is too high and too thick for us men to climb over or penetrate. But, there is good news. God has placed a door in His wall. It is the only way into His kingdom. The door is Jesus. This is why He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). In John 10:9, Jesus said it this way, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” Unfortunately, most people try to scale the wall via their own good works, church attendance, religious affiliations, etc. These feeble, worthless, man-made attempts will not work. “It’s not by works of righteousness which I have done, but according to God’s mercy that He saved me” (Titus 3:15). Jesus made this statement: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13,14). Personally, I am not concerned about your opinions regarding the border wall, but I am very concerned about your opinion regarding the “Gate Debate.” To summarize, you and I were born separated from God. Our own sin walled us off from His presence. Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood to pay our sin debt in full. Anyone who places his or her faith in Christ’s redemptive sacrifice is cleansed of all of their sin and made fit for God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the only gate that allows us access to God. Which side of the wall are you on?