(Every third Saturday of the month at 930AM at Miramar Church) Men's Breakfast 2012 theme: "How to study the Bible for all its worth" (Title borrowed from book: "How to Read the Bible for all its Worth," Authors Gordon Fee and Douglass Stuart)The Bible as Prose* Story/Narrative (January 21, 2012)The Bible as Proverbs/Poetry (February 18, 2012)The Bible as Psalms/Personal (April 21, 2012)The Bible as Prophecy/Preparation (May 19, 2012)The Bible as Prescription/Praxis* (June 16, 2012)The Bible as Proscription*/Anti-Praxis (July 21, 2012) March no breakfast (out of town)   *Prose (the ordinary form of spoken or written language) *Praxis (practice) *Proscription (prohibition or forbidden) For the first six to seven months of our breakfast fellowships, we will look at the different genres (types, styles of writing) of Scripture for each one must be approached somewhat differently in order to gain or maximize our interpretation skills. In other words, not each book or section of the Bible can be read like the gospels or prophecy. We must consider that each one of these bring with it a set of different challenges to understanding what you are reading. Moreover, when you are reading from the book of Matthew as opposed to Proverbs, you will find that in order to accomplish interpretation, and subsequently application, you must know the structure and literary style (genre) so that accomplishing interpretation does not become a foggy and haphazard event. This of course is important to reading the Bible devotionally. Ultimately, the key to your reading is accurate meaning for accurate manner of life. To this end, we endeavor to learn as much as we can.   Therefore, mark your calendars so that you can prepare for these fellowship times. We look forward to God's Word "invading" your "whole" life. As we become more skillful in handling God's Word, we become more skillful to distinguish between good and evil, hence we mature (not the least, that our worldview and values solidify). We are looking forward to a great year. Be praying for these meetings and the door open to men and their needs. As we teach men to be lovers of God and His Word, we help in making godly men leaders of their spheres of influence: home, work, neighbors, friends, etc. You cannot substitute edification in God's Word for mere entertainment; nonetheless, the purpose of these meetings is to achieve genuine edification, fellowship, fun (we play basketball or soccer), and sanctifying activities (discussions and reflection).    Hope to see many men come.  "For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth" (2 Corin.13:8)   Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramarchurch.org or Caterluvmy@aol.com www.miramarchurch.org

Dear Gentlemen,   I would love to let you know that we are planning another men's breakfast that will include the representation of several churches. Once again, plan ahead. Either the second or third Saturday of August tentatively we will be shooting for as a date to come together and fellowship and learn. I've asked pastor Darin from Westgate Baptist church to do us the honor and follow up on the teaching from last time together. He will follow up on some of the questions that arose from our discussion time. The topic had to do with sanctification (the process of becoming more and more holy).   I hope you can plan ahead and try and be there. Last time together we had lots of food and a great time getting to know many of the men from each respective church. In fact, we had a total of seven churches represented and 38 men attended. Let's do it again! "For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth" (2 Corin.13:8)   Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

Dear Church family,   I want to announce that Nic Schrieber, Youth Pastor from la Vina Community church will be our guest preacher this Sunday. Please welcome him. He serves as youth pastor, director of Kid's place, public sponsored program for kids, and he is son of Glenn Schrieber, Superintendent of the SE region for EFCA. He is also a graduate of TEDS with a Master of Divinity. He also served in the biannual Challenge youth conferences (huge conferences sponsored by EFCA that over 5000 students attend). He serves currently under Rollo Caspile, Senior Pastor of La Vina, sister church to ours.   Please welcome him, his message will be a message on a revival of discipleship. "For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth" (2 Corin.13:8)   Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

Dear Gentlemen,   I wanted to thank you for attending our monthly men's breakfast. Thank you for the fellowship, camaraderie, and the building up of each other. The time we had together in getting to know each other's ministries and lives is worth an eternity. We were blessed to have so many men in one place--the final count was 38!! I personally enjoyed getting to know many of the different members from each one of your churches (there were 7 churches represented in whole group). It was truly a delight.   Thank you David for challenging us with such a challenging passage of Scripture--Romans 7:13-25. We hope we can continue to meditate on the truths you presented. Thank you for your diligence in study. The time in the passage was well spent.   Thank you all for the food--lots of it!!! Below are some pictures of the event... "For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth" (2 Corin.13:8)   Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org 

Dear Gentlemen,   This is just a reminder that we will be having our monthly men's breakfast on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at Miramar church at 9:30 AM. You don't want to miss this one!! We will be having two other churches joining us. Pastor David Diez from Miami Bible church will be providing for us our Bible focus on Romans 7. And, as always, we will be having some recreation after, for those who would like to get competitive with some basketball. If you plan on attending and would like to assist with the food arrangements, please let us know via email or phone call so that we can prepare before hand our needs.   See ya there!! Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

Dear Women of the Word, At the end of the year is a wonderful time to set spiritual goals for the following year. We are all so prone to set financial goals, homemaking goals, homeschooling goals, all kinds of goals, but we often neglect setting spiritual goals. This January, we will be restarting our Women of the Word Bible studies on Friday evenings, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. We will be starting out the year with Genesis part 3, Abraham: Faithful Friend of God. If your children are already doing Genesis in homeschool, then this is a time for you to fill up your tank on the same material that they are learning, but allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you directly through His Word. If you aren't doing this study with your childen, then be prepared to be blessed!!! We will have our orientation meeting January 28th, at 7:30pm. For orientation, you'll need your books and your Bibles, preferably New American Standard translation. In order to obtain your books, please go to Precept Ministries International (www.precept.org), and buy the Precept Upon Precept Genesis part 3 workbook. They take about 7 days to arrive. After part 3, we will go on to part 4, and to part 5 (God willing); summertime, we'll go back to Psalm 119 for 6 weeks; THEN..... we'll be so ready and eager to return to Romans, part 3, Romans 9 through 11, because we will have the wonderful backdrop of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph plus the WONDERFULNESS of God's Word--all of which will help us tremendously as we study the Sovereignty of God in Romans!!! What an awesome year of Bible study our Lord has for us this coming year!!!! I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful New Year's. I look forward to your joining us for the tremendous blessings that await us as we dig into God's Word!!! In Him and for His sake, Idania Resources Link to website to buy book Directions to the Church Contact Information Idania Cater 954-651-2605 luv2bmami@yahoo.com

We began a new sermon series. It was exciting to begin a new series on a very important topic: Christian Liberty. The liberty of conscience is another angle to look at it from. This next Sunday we will do part 2 of the introduction. Don't miss it!! This series is important for Christian living and holiness. Carefully read passages like: 1 Corin 8-10, Romans 14-15, 1 Corin 6:12, Col 2:16-23, Mark 7:1-23, Mt 5:21, John 8:32. These passages relate to this topic. Also, read if you can the book of Galatians. All these passages will help you achieve a certain level of understanding of this topic.    Be faithful and pursue holiness. Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

“Scripture makes both doctrine and experience essential elements in healthy Christianity. An authentic experience of God’s truth always issues from the fountainhead of His revealed Word.” (Richard Mayhue, “Divine Healing Today,” [Moody Press: Chicago, 1983] p.12) Doctrine and experience are not mutually exclusive. In other words, the head or the intellect is not inimical to the heart or practice. Both are intertwined, indivisible and inextricably bound together. You cannot have one without the other. Dr Mayhue’s words above are correct in expressing this great and neglected truth. Christendom is divided today because of these opposite poles: one faction considers and emphasizes experience over and above teaching; however, the other group considers and emphasizes teaching over and above experience. Both exhibit an unhealthy de-emphasis of one over the other. In other words, the intellect, academic, or teaching should not be stressed over and above the experience, neither should feelings, experience, or emotions be stressed over and above the teaching. There should be a balanced view. However, one thing is for certain: the teachings and doctrines should form the pillar on which the feelings, the emotions, the subjective, or the experience is based upon. A reversal of this would be detrimental and sheer folly, notwithstanding unbiblical. How can we cultivate a balanced and biblical view? How can we verify that we are indeed balanced? Answering these two questions is crucial in the developing of equilibrium. Whenever we are evaluating a practice or a method for the church, for example, our barometer or standard should be the Word of God. In other words, before validating its merits, its value; sift it through Scripture and ensure that Scripture warrants or verifies it. Putting it another way, see if Scripture gives doctrinal examples of what you will be implementing. On another note, if someone comes to you with something he feels, or something he has experienced, before authenticating the experience, see if Scripture teaches it or gives solid examples of the truth they are personally relating by their experience. I believe these are safe principles to follow. Next time you are facing a claim of some sort that is subjective place it under the microscope of the Word of God and discover if there are amoebas  swimming in the murky waters of experientialism.

“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather, it is the difference between right and almost right”  (from Charles Spurgeon, as quoted from Tim Challies’ book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment)  I believe that it is doubtless true that discernment, spiritual discernment that is, is very difficult to acquire, much less to cultivate. When we read and observe all the various and sundry books, pamphlets, literature, etc., that is pumped out for the Christian populace, we are confronted with an immense amount of discerning to exercise. This is indeed a reason perhaps for the vast majority’s lack of desire to engage. However, we need to remember that the Bible is replete with commands to discern and to be discerning children. This truth we cannot escape! Therefore, how can we overcome the dearth of discernment in the church? How can we become discerning sons and daughters? May I suggest a few principles that will help you acknowledge, and then maybe, put you on the right path:   1). Acknowledge humbly, submissively, wholeheartedly, and fully the saturated passages that command us to be discerning: 1 Thes. 5:21-22, 1 John 4:1-6, 2 Tim 1:14, 1 Kings 3:9. 2). Acknowledge that as a Christian, you have a built-in lie detector that prods and enables you to separate between good and evil, and therefore expose evil: 1 John 2:20, 27. 3). Acknowledge that discernment is a skill and that it needs to be cultivated: Hebrews 5:11-14. 4). Acknowledge that practicing discernment helps you preserve the truth: 1 Thes 5:21-22. 5). Lastly, acknowledge that the more discerning you are gives you a better understanding of the Doctrine of God and avoids falsity and false doctrine that leads to aberrant applications and practice: 1 Timothy 4:16. These principles should get you started. However, the truth is that the more you read and study God’s Word, the more the knowledge gleaned will help you to spot a counterfeit. The statement above from Charles Spurgeon only accentuates or underscores the difficulty associated with being discerning. For this reason, a solid grasp of biblical doctrines and theology cannot be relegated to the field of academics. God has called every Christian, and the church as a whole, to be discerning. Let us be stimulated to preserve truth and be reminded of the great truth of 1 Timothy 3:15, which says that the church is “the pillar and support of the truth.”

Once again it is time for our next men's breakfast. This time we will be having it on the third Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 9:00 am at Miramar Church. Last time together we had ten and we had a great time playing basketball and soccer. We also had a great time with breakfast, fellowship, and Bible study. Please don't miss this one. We invite you to join us if you haven't already. There is a free gift to those who come for the first time. Any questions please feel free and contact me at the end of this email. This will be encouraging and strengthening. For more information contact: Pastor Jim Cater Miramar Evangelical Free Church 6390 SW 32 Street Miramar, Fl 33023 Phone: 954 981-4677 Fax: 954 981-2491 home tele: 954 981-7948 e-mail: caterluvmy4@aol.com or PastorJim@miramarchurch.org www.miramarchurch.org