Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, ²¹ testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained b^y the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. ²⁵ And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷ for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. ²⁸ Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. ²⁹ I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. ³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, ³⁸ being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Everyone, please make sure and come this Sunday night to hear the Christian testimonies of one of our newly ordained deacons, Ben Hurt and his wife, Tara.

Most of you know them as they are multi-generational members of Woodland, have four beautiful children, involved Grandparents, and personally connected to the greater community.  Ben owns his own computer technology business, HurtTech, and Tara is a professor at East Mississippi Community College.

Please come and be encouraged as you hear from two very normal people that were changed into extraordinary servants of God.

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.   Pew Notes John 1, 14-18, The Word Became Flesh, Part 2

Everyone, please be in prayer for our AWANA Games group that will be heading to Southaven next Saturday morning, which will include your pastor and his family.  We participated last year and it was a wonderful blessing.

Here is a schedule of what remains:

• This Friday, March 15, 5:30pm – 8:00pm – FINAL AWANA PRACTICE

It will be very important to be at this last practice.  Parents, we will go over details of when/where/how Saturday, March 23rd will work.  We also need a signed release form for each child and parent volunteer.  We could use a few more sprakies, even if you missed the first practices, we could work you in.  We need 10 and only have 9.

• Next Saturday, March 23rd – Travel to Southaven for AWANA GAMES – return later that day around 7pm – Church Van will be going if you want to ride, but you need to let us know ASAP.

**The Kids have been working hard and are ready to go!  It will be an exciting event.  Please call Brian or Sarah (662-570-1119) if you have any questions/problems.

New Personhood Amendment:

Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Mississippi:

Article 14 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 is hereby amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION to read:

“Section 269A.The right to life beginning at conception.  All human beings, at every stage of development, are unique, created in God’s image and shall have equal rights as persons under the law.

http://www.personhoodmississippi.com/

We will need over 100,000 signatures to get this amendment on the ballot.  Please be in prayer for this endeavor.  All of the issues voiced about language, birth control and Invitro fertilization have been addressed through focus group interviews and countless other sources of consulting.

http://www.personhoodmississippi.com/

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Pew Notes John 1, 14-18, The Word Became Flesh