May 2021

Inside

From the Pastor (cont.) 2

Church Notes/News 2

Library News 3

Encore Events 4 & 5

Birthdays & Anniversaries 6

Ministry Calendar 7

May is a busy month. Everybody celebrates Mother’s day in their own way. Many people are excited to get out into the nice spring weather. Spring sports bring an added layer of fun and busyness. Garden work comes into focus as it becomes safer to plant all those flowers. Star Wars fans celebrate the 4th and of course there is Cinco De Mayo. Over the years Christians have lost track of a once beloved and important holiday which is May 23rd this year. This Christian holiday is Pentecost. Christians celebrate Pentecost as the birth of the Church. We find its roots in Acts 2. When you have time read Acts 2:1-41 as context to this article. It is on this day that God brings the Holy Spirit to his people in force. It is not to say that the Holy Spirit cannot be found before this time throughout scripture but the Holy Spirit was not indwelling every believer until this point. We understand today that when someone accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit comes into their heart. This theology can be found in 1 Corinthians 6:19 and Romans 8:9-11. The Holy Spirit comes on Pentecost and scripture says there is a sound of a rushing wind and that tongues of fire come down upon the Disciples. Then these same Disciples begin to speak in different “tongues” which means languages to each other. This scene causes so much commotion and confusion that some of the surrounding people thought that the Disciples were drunk (verse 13). One of the many miracles that God did that day was to give the Disciples the ability to speak to everyone present in their native tongue (verse 8). This of course should spring up two immediate questions. First, why did all these Jews speak so many foreign languages? There were Jews from the Arabian East, Egypt, Rome, Greece, and many more. The answer to this question can be found in Biblical history. Over the better part of a 1000 years Jews had been dispersed throughout Asia, Northern Africa, and Europe through a series of events. In 722BC the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria and many of the wealthy and elite Jews were deported to regions throughout the Assyrian Empire. This was a way to assure that their conquered people could not rise up and revolt against Assyria. In 586BC Babylon came and conquered the southern kingdom of Judah. Like the Assyrians before them many of the Jews were taken into Exile and brought back to Babylon in the East. Shortly before this happened many Jews expected this outcome and fled to Alexandra in North Africa. Years later many of these same Jews would come back to Israel. Yet many stayed and assimilated into the culture of the region. In this way many religious and ethnic Jews spread throughout the known world and adopted the languages of whatever culture they were in. This concept is generically called diaspora. The second question that might come to mind is why were all these Jews from the diaspora in Jerusalem? The answer is quite simple. Pentecost is also celebrated by Jews as the Feast of Weeks. Mentioned in Exodus 34:22, the Feast of Weeks is the beginning of the wheat harvest in ancient Israel. It was also designated for the celebration of the giving of the Law of God to Israel. All these foreign Jews were back in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. The scripture continues in Acts chapter 2 and Peter begins talking to a large crowd of people about what they are witnessing. He cites a prophecy from Joel chapter 2:28-32. God told of the coming of the Holy Spirit to his people about 500 years before. This day of the church being born through the power of the Holy Spirit was planned by God. The Holy Spirit is now with everyone who believes. Everyone who calls on God’s name will be saved. God spoke of this day in another passage in Ezekiel 36:26-27. This prophecy was almost 600 years old at the time it was fulfilled. God promises to give a new heart and new Spirit to his people. This heart and Spirit gives us the ability to seek after God and follow his commands. When we accept Jesus Christ he changes our heart and gives us the Holy Spirit so we can begin life anew following after God and becoming more like Jesus. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he calls believers a new creation. We are no longer under the power of sin and death but have new life in Jesus Christ. cont. on page 2

Page 2 The Cornerstone

(from the Pastor) You might be asking so what? why does your history lesson matter to me today? The answer comes in a variety of ways. First, as the passage in Acts continues Peter proclaims to the crowd that Jesus died for their sins and provides a way to forgiveness and reconciliation to God. Once they accept God they receive the Holy Spirit (verse 38). Do you know God? Have you accepted Christ in your heart and received the Holy Spirit? If not take the time now to pray and ask Jesus into your heart while also asking him to forgive all the sins or bad things you have done. Then let us know you did this! Second, If you do know Christ are you living into the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you becoming more like Christ each day? The Apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans 8:1-17 that we have the power and the duty to keep growing and becoming more like Jesus who is perfect. That power does not come from our own ability or will power. Instead it comes from the Holy Spirit who works in our lives and regenerates our hearts. Yet there are certain things we can do to make ourselves ready for the God to move. Paul speaks of one way in Romans 8:5-7. We can set our mind on the things of God. Meaning we can spend time pursuing God through what are called the Spiritual Disciplines. Scripture reading, prayer, scripture memorization, fasting, meditation, and scripture study to name a few. Many of our church opportunities offer at least one of these disciplines if not multiple. Are you setting your mind on the things of God? If not how can you begin to do so? What is one step you can make today to begin to set your mind on the things of God? Third, it is clear from Acts 2 that God is in control. Often called divine sovereignty. God had 3000 people come to Christ that day and it literally begins the church with a huge splash. Those 3000 people went back to their homes, native languages, and countries and took the Holy Spirit with them and started prayer groups, people were transformed, and ultimately local churches were birthed. This is one way the extreme growth of the church in the first century happened. God coordinated history in a way to have all these people together at this time. He also predicted this day hundreds of years before. It is a grand exam-ple of God’s sovereignty, but God is also sovereign in your life. He will always be with us and care for us (Deuteronomy 31:8). He has created opportunities for us to do good (Ephesians 2:10). He gives us strength and provides what we need to succeed (Psalm 73:26). We have the peace that only comes from knowing the eternal God (John 14:27). We can trust him in whatever we our struggling with today. Whether that is sin, sickness, fear or anything else. Between now and Pentecost please reflect on Acts 2 and how God has moved in this world. Which application strikes you the most? Is there another application beyond the three I gave that speaks to you? Finally what are you going to do about it? What will be an action step you can take based on Acts 2 and Pentecost? Then who are you going to tell this action step to so you can have accountability to do it? -Pastor Bob

The Cornerstone Page 3

Thank you to those who have found and are using our CCPL Library! We have now included books that have been suggested by Pastor Mike in some of his studies. I

am searching for Christian fiction!! Hoping to have some new selections by Summer

- Diana

Page 4 The Cornerstone

Contact Dave Schroyer (330.644.6121) if you have any questions about the Encore Ministry.

I WAS GLAD WHEN THEY SAID UNTO ME, ‘LET US GO TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD!”

Psalm 122:1

I am finding that the older I get the songs I’ve sung all my life seem to mean more and more to me. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to me, since I’ve heard that said many times over by my great grandma and from folks that are a bit ahead of me on their journey through life. It is also reinforced regularly as I look out over those that are have assembled each week on Sunday mornings in our worship center and watch them sing. The expressions of joy and gratitude on their faces seem to say it all. They seem to know what they are singing about when they sing the words, “Jesus paid it ALL. All to Him I owe!” Or, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through”.

I just love to hear how our congregations sings for all they are worth on that old gospel songs that remind us that, “Some glad morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away!” And that the assurance which they sing…“Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done…and the roll is called up yonder, I’LL BE THERE!” What joy it is to proclaim with confidence after all these years the great truths based on God’s word. I don’t know why, but when I hear our folks sing about a time “When we all get to Heaven”…we’ll sing and rejoice and shout praises to God, it just blesses my heart.

I guess for me the more I try to understand God’s unconditional love for me, the more over-whelmed I am that He continues to care about me even through all my failures. I believe that the lyric of this great song, written in 1917 by Frederick Lehman who most of us have never even heard of, is tucked in my top 10 favorite songs. Read it aloud with me and get ready to be overwhelmed like I get!

Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made.

Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade.

To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky!

You cannot control the length of your life…

But you can control the width and depth

- Pastor Dave

Page 5 The Cornerstone

Page 6 The Cornerstone

Keith & Debbie Virden 05/02/

Jack & Lisa Williams 05/03/1980

Jim & Susan Ratliff 05/07/1983

Christopher & Michelle Berry 05/08/1999

Bob & Marilyn Henry 05/09/1959

Danny & Cheyenne Mitchell 05/28/2016

Paul & Cindy Wright 05/28/1966

David & Michelle Wright 05/29/2004

Ben & Michelle Gerard 05/30/1996

Melissa Francis 1

Debbie Allen 3

Kevin Nash 4

Chase Rankin 4

Terry Reynolds 4

Mary Krege 5

Joshua Wright 6

Michele Gonser 8

Dennis Baston 9

Sara Ryan 9

Terry Smith 9

Janene Eplin 10

Selah Rector 10

Danielle Marris 11

Harry Warner 12

Bekah Flower 13

Robbie White 13

Calvin Kubiak 14

Terri Pfaff 14

Bob Young 15

Tom Hutchison 16

Wanda Page 16

Ellen Holvey 17

Grant Grunwald 18

Dave Schroyer 18

Brian Twiddy 19

James Geonis 20

Ruth Geonis 21

Rita Graber 21

Cody Martter 22

McKenna Brunty 25

Gary Meeks 26

Nick Robeson 27

Hunter Grunwald 28

Diane Hendrix 28

Joy Manda 28

Heather Rankin 28

Chip Sellers 30

Mark Brunty 31

Anniversaries

Birthdays

The Cornerstone Community Church of Portage Lakes 3260 Cormany Rd. Akron, OH 44319-1440 330-644-6121

Two service format

First Service-9:15 am

Second Service—11:00 am

Children’s classes and Adult Bible Fellowships

during both service times

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

www.CCPL.life