PURSUED I A JOURNEY FOR 2022 I Part 4: Restoration
The beginning of a new year comes with great anticipation. We seek out new goals, new habits, new rhythms. We want to be new - we want to be different. As a church, we believe that different happens when we pursue the God who pursues us. Every part of Scripture reveals a loving God’s pursuit, and how it leads us into a new, different way of living. In this series, we’re going to explore the four major parts of God’s Story: a good creation, the pain of sin, the glory of redemption, and the hope of eternity. Join us Sunday as we journey back to the God who pursues His people.
WEEKLY GIVING STATISTICS
(Fiscal Year Began June 1, 2021)
Last Week Weekly Need YTD
$1,940 $3,558 ($3,571)
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP I TWO (identical) SERVICES
IN PERSON OR ONLINE:
2149 84th Street SW Byron Center MI 49315
SUNDAY, APRIL 10 AT 9 & 10:30AM
VISIT centergr.com/live OR centergr.online.church.
INFO, UPDATES & OPPORTUNITIES:
‘ZERO COLLECTIVE GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE’
Join us!
When: Good Friday 04.15.22
Location: Godwin Heights Auditorium
Time: 6:30pm
More info to follow. Check Calendar for directions.
‘EASTER SERVICES & BAPTISMS’
Come celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection with us!
Sunday, April 17 at 9 & 10:30AM
…Ready to ‘go public’ for Jesus?
Check out centergr.com/baptism to find out more.
‘WOMEN’S FITNESS CLASS AT THE CENTER’
Ladies, have you been thinking about trying a fitness class? Look no further-
Lori’s got you covered!
Join us Saturdays for
8:15am WERQ and/or 9:00am Weights, Cardio & Abs
at the church.
Questions? Contact office@centergr.com
Looking forward to see you!
‘CENTER GROUNDS- Coffee & Community’
Made you look? Join us for coffee and a chat at the church!
When: Thursday mornings 8:30am-10am
Where: The Center Church foyer
Please check for updates on The Center Church’s Online Calendar.
Ready to serve on a team? We need YOU!
No matter what your passions or gifts are, or where you are on your faith journey, we have plenty of
opportunities to connect you with others through our serving teams.
Check out centergr.com/serve for more info.
Small Groups:
Looking to get connected?
Additional groups have been forming!
Please check out our online resources and visit centergr.com/discipleship for updates.
Looking for resources to ‘dig deeper’?
Interested in leading a Bible study but not sure where to start, what to study?
We can help! Just contact office@centergr.com and we can introduce and connect you to RightNow Media.
Check it out- it’s well worth your time.
MINISTRIES:
CENTER STUDENTS MINISTRY
Join us for YOUTH GROUP on Wednesday evenings, 7-8:30pm!
Contact jon-michael@centergr.com for more details.
Interested in serving in our Center Students ministry?
Jon-Michael would love to hear from you!
CENTER KIDS MINISTRY
CENTER MOMS is meeting on the second Tuesday of each month from 6:30-8:00pm at
the church focusing on BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH LOCAL MOMS.
-Kids Care Provided-
Look for other important updates in your inbox, Dani loves to keep everyone up to date on what’s happening in our Center Kids Ministry :)
Questions for Dani? Ready to serve? She’d love to connect with you at dani@centergr.com .
JOHN GORVEATTE II LEAD PASTOR
Key Passages:
Revelation 21:9-27 NIV
The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Isaiah 6 NIV
Isaiah’s Commission
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”