First Church of Christ

1166 Kauffman Avenue

Fairborn, Ohio 45324 Elders:

Mike Hargett Doyle Petry

Deacons:

James Bergfield

Don Luke

Jim Tinsley Larry Weis

Chad Wynkoop

Senior Minister, Steve Sisco

Secretary: Patti Tinsley

Office Hours:

9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Mon.

Wed. Thur. Fri. 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Tue.

Service Times

Sunday

Bible School: 9:15 a.m. Worship Hour: 10:30 a.m.

Phone - 937-878-1562 Email - office@first-church-of-christ.org

Web - www.first-church-of-christ.org

Located in the Skyway Plaza

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FOCUS A publication of First Church of Christ, Fairborn

Our Vision Statement:

“That every household within the influence of our congregation is introduced to Jesus Christ,

where lives are transformed by Him into fully devoted

followers—(based on) Romans 12:1-2”

Our Mission Statement:

First Church of Christ exists to produce fully devoted

followers of Jesus Christ— (based on) Matthew 28:18-20

July 2017

Weekly Worship Offerings

...God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

Because God Is

Pause for a moment in your busy life right now and ponder in your heart the title to this devo-

tion, Because God Is. What are your first thoughts to this title? What images do you see in the eye of

your imagination? Do you think, because God is – I can face tomorrow? Do you think, because God

is – life is beautiful; full of hope, joy and love? Because God is – creation is good? What about the

images you are thinking right now? Rolling fields of green touched with a beautiful dew glistening in

the rays of the perfect morning sun – because God is? Maybe you have an image of a beautiful

lake? A new glistening snow fall? The beauty of a wild flower, a butterfly or the smile of that little

child? Because God Is, these and so much more are given to us as a gift from a wonderful Creator

who loves each one of us to the very depths of His being . . . Because God Is.

Psalm 33 was written by an unknown author but made its way into the Holy Scriptures by the

message it conveys – because God is. The Psalm conveys He is Creator, Lord, Savior and Deliver-

er. The Psalm reminds God’s people that He is worthy of our trust and praise; that He is faithful and

every word from His mouth is completely dependable. Because God is, Psalm 33: 1 says we are to;

“1 Sing for joy in the Lord . . .” (NASB, Psalm 33: 1). God’s people everywhere must be free to sing for

joy! His people must be free to lift holy hands to His praise (1 Timothy 2: 8)! They must be free to

share all the beauty, wonder and blessings of our God! Because God is . . .

This month we celebrate the 241st birthday of our country and as we pause to remember the

roots of who we are, where we have been and where we will be as a nation; I challenge each of you

to remember and to celebrate under the thought of Because God Is. Because God is, we are free to

gather and worship though sinful man strives to take that away. Because God is, Christians of our

nation have touched the hearts and minds of people worldwide with the gospel message of Jesus

Christ. Because God is, we have been blessed to be the light of freedom shining bright into an ever-

darkening world. But, to continue in this blessing we must be One Nation Under God! The writer of

Psalm knew this all too well when he wrote in Psalm 33: 12; “12

Blessed is the nation whose God is

the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance” (NASB, Psalm 33: 12). May we be

the joyful, chosen people to carry His message to every corner of our world. May we lift holy hands

and proclaim as one Christian nation; “20

Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. 21

For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name” (NASB, Psalm 33: 20-21) and may

our prayer echo Psalm 33: 22; “22

Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, According as we

have hoped in You” (NASB, Psalm 33: 22).

Remember, this is possible Because God Is! It all starts in each individual home; may it be in

yours today. Take care, keep looking up because God is, and He cares for YOU!

Steve Sisco

May 28 June 4 June 11 June 18 Date

50 48 52 42 Bible School

14 22 15 14 Children Worship

61 74 79 76 Worship

Total Worship 75 96 94 90

Attendance

Date May 28 June 4 June 11 June 18

Offering $$2,923.69 $4,756.00 $2,578.00 $3,100.79

Offering to Date $69,271.48 $74,036.48 $76,614.48 $79,715.27

Weekly Budget $3,402.00 $3,402.00 $3,402.00 $3,402.00

Budget to Date $74,844.00 $78,246.00 $81,648.00 $85,050.00

Weekly Future

Fund

$277.00 $617.00 $222.00 $127.00

Future Fund

Running Balance

$11,459.00 $12,076.00 $12,298.00 $12,425.00

Tithes and Offerings

Give as was given unto you

HAPPY HEARTS Gazette July 2017 (Anyone 50 years and older are welcome to join the group. We meet each

month at a location determined at each meeting. Our goal is to provide fel-

lowship and friendship to seniors of our church family. )

News: Do you watch the news on TV each day or read the newspaper or

IPod’s? I do most nights and can’t understand why they only show the bad. Is

there no HAPPY news? I know it is their job but they seem to enjoy digging all

the negative things about the people they are talking about without thinking of

their feelings or the feelings of their families. Do we the public need to know all

this information? NO!! Some did wrong but the news condemns them before they

know all the facts, but by then the damage is done. The newspapers are the

worst and mostly all ads. If they shortened them, it would be about ten pages

less.

HAPPY: Yes, we had a happy time at this months meeting. We had a private

room and were able to sing, pray, laugh, talk, and eat in peace. We went to Colli-

ers in Springfield located on a hill overlooking the beautiful Upper Valley Mall,

which is not so happy now days. There were 15 of us, but we missed our happy

leader, Patty, who is still under the weather. Hope she is better next month.

If you have never been there it is a family restaurant and has good home cook-

ing, almost as good as moms or grandma’s. The best thing was the coffee which

is only 50 cents a cup. I don’t drink coffee but that seems like a very good price

to me. Some restaurants charge $2.00.

If you don’t come out this month you are missing a good time. Our next meeting

will be at Young’s Dairy, July 20, at 9:30 a.m. Check us out in person because we

are not on Facebook, google or any other device. That makes the only way to

check us out, is to come in person.

I love hearing old hymns. They are like memories you can always go back to. I

leave you with this: Sometime angels singing to you is the wind. All you have to

do is listen.

Till next month, be kind to one another. . . . . . . Doris

Lydia’s Ladies: Greetings to all the women of First Church of Christ.

We did not have a meeting in June due to vacations, I hope everyone has had a

wonderful month. We will be having a meeting on July 8th at 10:00 at the Family

Diner for a special outing! We welcome all the ladies of our church family to

come out and join us for a late breakfast or early lunch.

We also have our 2nd annual men’s breakfast coming up on July 15th at 9:00 AM.

So men mark your calendars to come and allow us to serve you as

you enjoy fellowship and partake of GOOD FOOD!

In Christian Love, Bonnie Brenner

The Heart of Missions

(Supported by First Church of Christ)

AWESOME

How do I praise a literally totally out-of-this-world God? A God of Wrath and

Grace as portrayed in both the old and New Testaments? A God who knows EVE-

RYTHING about me and yet gave His only Son’s life for me? A God who created by

His Word everything that exists – from the universe to the Atom?

But in reality I’m finite and will never fully understand the infinite. But God only

asks for my faith and that with my total devotion to Him, I can realize more than

I’ll ever understand or had hoped for. And that means praying with expectations

but only after we’ve accepted what God wants in our life. Then we pray with hope

and assurance for what He desires for us to be and do.

Our devotion is measured by the same metric I’ve used in mentoring men – love is

spelled T I M E. Recently I heard an even better definition – love is time with qual-

ity moments included.

My life is filled with time on YouTube, on-line karaoke, twitter, and Facebook

(basically my computer screen). It’s also filled with forgetfulness, laziness, and

clutter. And the result is I fret over all my undone tasks and then use my distrac-

tions for comfort rather than finishing something, just anything, and eliminate and

not add to my clutter.

So how will God look upon my expression of His Awesome Being and my self-

inflicted mess? I can’t imagine with pleasure. I tell others to expect God to do the

impossible. I’m not following my own rhetoric. It’s easier to talk about others ra-

ther than to discipline myself. I’ve been attending Celebrate Recovery (CR) for

more than a year and I’ve made no headway on my issues. And that’s on me –

the testimonies I hear at CR should inspire anybody – should even inspire me.

Rex Rouis @ faithhopeprayer.com states “Faith is the road to God & Faith is God’s

sovereign stamp of approval upon the things you are hoping for; His presence

graced upon your seeking, and His witness placed upon your request.” Did you

ever talk to someone whose words are empty because they only want to sound

nice but in their actions they’re not genuine? Prayers expressed without faith are

empty. I would say “faith” is trust and confidence in the person that you trust

your life to. And that trust means that you’re willing to follow God’s plan (which

may be far outside your desires or your comfort zone). It may even be about giv-

ing up your comforts – which is obviously my major stumbling block.

The following verse states a definition of faith and the rest of the chapter points

out the victories won by faith and also those who were martyred for their faith be-

ing commended and receiving their rewards in Heaven. (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Striving to be wholly dependent on God through prayer JW

PRAYER NEEDS:

Praise: Weldon, Freda “Thank you Jesus for this place to renew our joy in You. I

praise you and love you always.”

Spiritual Needs: Anderson Family as they mourn the death of John/ Brenner,

Kristina-Come back to the Lord and her family/ Carpenter, Carl-Child care and

Home trouble/ DuChesne Family-Return to the Lord/ Dirton, Honey– spiritual

needs/Johnson, Stephanie-Spiritual needs/ Slatzer, Sharon– physical and spiritual

healing.

Short Term Medical Needs: Opalsry, Stacey– Health/ Marshall, Miranda-Healing

of broken leg/ Mary, cousin of Ruth Nixon-Heart problems/ Nixon, Terry-Heart

problems/ Nixon, Ruth-Surgery to move pacemaker to enable radiation treatment

Long Term Medical Needs: Brenner, Bonnie, Health/ Corrie, Susi Health/ Miller,

Debbie-Healing from pain/

Physical Needs: Conn, Benjamin– job/Denny, Jason– Receiving custody of nieces/

Gale, Amanda-safe travel to Scotland and safety of Forest while in Afghanistan/

Harrison, Chuck-Job / London and all the terror/Marshall, Sydney-moving to Califor-

nia, Safety as she goes/ Military Troops everywhere/ Wynkoop, Heather and Jerry–

Come to Christ.

God’s Phone Number/Call it Often