Leave your baggage behind!

God wants to help you let go of sin, hurt, and bitterness. When we carry these things around they get heavy!

Please read the verses below and consider that God’s plan includes travelling light! It’s not His design for us to carry the weight of our mistakes or the pain caused up by others.

“Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” Galatians 5:1

“Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:13-16

“Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” Hebrews 12:15

“Remove the chains that bind people.” Isaiah 58:6

“You are a slave to whatever controls you.” 2 Pet 2:19

“You are healed of your sickness!” Luke 13:10-12

“Unwrap him and let him go!” John 11:43-44

“Be healed!” Mark 1:40-42

“Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:1-2

Thrilled with what we’re seeing in CBC Baltimore!

We’re thrilled to see people getting closer to Jesus and being changed for the better! When you see new life written all over someone’s face, you know they’re growing in their faith! There are now five small groups being led by our members. Our average attendance went from 32 in June to 44 in August.

What help does @CBCBaltimore offer online?

Today it occurred to me that you might not be aware of the online resources that we do have available to you. So here goes:

Our church web site: http://www.cbcbaltimore.com/

Most likely there is something that you don’t know about our church that you could learn here.

  (where you can listen to past sermons, if you don’t use iTunes.)  http://www.cbcbaltimore.com/audiosermons/

If you use iTunes, just search us in the audio podcast section of the “store” City Bible Church Baltimore.

  (iTunes is a great place to listen to sermons, free!)

  Also, emailing this to a friend or posting it on facebook/twitter etc may be a great way to help them feel comfortable with the church idea.

My blog:

www.benmalmin.com for quicker updates etc.

  (This may help you get to know Rebecca and I. It may also help your weekly Bible study etc.)

  You may find this post interesting: https://benmalmin.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/jesus-is-our-way-to-forgiveness-lecrae/

Our church facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/CBCBaltimore

  (of course you can find Rebecca and I on facebook using our names and email addresses.) This is a great way to share your church with your facebook addicted friends.

  Honestly, I would love it if we started to see occasional pictures, testimonies of answered prayer, and/or local happenings posted here by our church attenders!

  (We do also keep up a facebook “group” page for more than 600 people who pray for us and you! Please let me know if you would like to post to it.)

Twitter.com

@BenMalmin and @CBCBaltimore

  It seems that most of our current group doesn’t use twitter, which is fine. Rebecca, Joe, Anna, Nate, Steve, and I do.

  Please consider this: it is a great way for us to communicate with each other, learn more about Baltimore, share prayer requests, and you can get a daily encouragement from me and/or the church leadership team.

  Maybe, you should try it.

Youtube playlist of some of the songs we sing: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3D3761C659546772 or you can search for my channel “benmalmin”

  (Also, this may be a fun way for you to suggest songs that you’d like to sing.)

Our network of churches is: http://www.mfi-online.org/ They do offer a variety of resources that I would be happy to pass on to you (on a variety of topics). Please let me know if you’re interested.

  (The national fall conference October 1-4 is for their 25th anniversary and it’s going to be awesome!)

Our pastor from Portland is www.frankdamazio.com and the home church is http://www.citybiblechurch.org/ Our Bible College is http://www.portlandbiblecollege.org/ and their online school is awesome!

Our “regional rep” The House of Prayer Pastor Stephen & Sharon Stells: http://hop.org/

  (They will be hosting an amazing fall youth conference: November 8-10.) http://originsconference.com/

Online version of the “Pursue” book and devotional journal: http://www.pursuegod.com/

Also, there are a variety of updates that I get regularly from some of the missionaries that we support. Please feel free to let me know if you would like any of these.

There’s more, but I think this is good for now.

Please feel free to call, text, or email me whenever you like.

Ben Malmin, Pastor

    ben@cbcbaltimore.com,

City Bible Church

410.929.1619

Can we learn anything from a US President?

Well, yes of course you can learn something from anyone. I do believe that everyone who can vote – should vote…and that everyone who can vote should read (for themselves) as much as possible about the person and topic for which they are voting. Beyond that, any Christian should pray for all of their leaders!

On a lighter note, we recently had a vacation and visited Monticello (the house built by Thomas Jefferson) on a beautiful summer’s day.

Here’s his “Canons of Conduct” for your consideration:

• Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
• Never trouble another with what you can do yourself.
• Never spend your money before you have it.
• Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap.
• Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.
• We never repent of having eaten too little.
• Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
• How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.
• Take things always by their smooth handle.
• When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.

Who are you praying for?

We all need Jesus. Some realize and some do not. “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18 This is true and we have a responsibility from God. “Rescue those being lead away to death; hold back those staggering to slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay everyone according to what they have done?” Proverbs 24:11-12

I have been forgiven much and I love my Savior Jesus. I’m created in the image of God and I carry a purpose from God. We all do. Some are awake and some are asleep.

We’ve been talking about this at CBC in Baltimore. You can hear it at CBCBaltimore.com or iTunes.

This August our prayer focus is “Not-Yet-Christians”, people who do not know Jesus as their Savior.

Please consider making a list of people that you know, who fit this category. Daily ask God for mercy & grace.

Who are your Top Three?

You may need to ask God to forgive you for giving up on them, in the past. You may need to ask God to forgive you for not praying for them.

Ask God to help you forgive them for what they may have done to you or said about you. Ask God to help you see them in the way that He does.

He will help you.

Please consider reading these passages through your prayer. You may want to use these words to help you pray.

(Here’s the references and a few summaries of them)

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

1 Timothy 2:3-4 God, our Savior, desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

John 3:16-17 Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that through Him it might be saved.

Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13 Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Acts 15:11  Acts 16:31

Psalm 96:2

Romans 1:16

1 Corinthians 1:21

Acts 26:18-20

Isaiah 55:7

2 Timothy 2:24-26

CBCB Welcome