Weekly Bulletin – March 30, 2008

Posted on March 27, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
March 30, 2008
WELCOME!

If you have come as a visitor, we hope that you’ll leave as a friend who’s been blessed by worshiping in this house of God. We encourage you to join us again.  Please fill out a visitors card before you leave today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG  

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

Jr. Church children (ages 4 – 7) may be dismissed.

HEARING FROM GOD 
                  Today’s Sermon:    “MERCY ME”
                                                   Matthew 5:7
       

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

PLEASE JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL, NEXT!
There are classes for every age.

TONIGHT: No Evening Service
  
THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS:

MEN & WOMEN’S SOFTBALL SIGN-UP
Sign-Up sheets on the cabinet in the foyer.

Thanks for attending First Christian, please come again! 

Protected: Prayer Sheet – March 26, 2008

Posted on March 27, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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Weekly Bulletin – March 23, 2008

Posted on March 20, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY   
March 23, 2008
WELCOME!    

We WELCOME you, from wherever you come, to unite with us as we approach our loving Creator  in a spirit of worship. Your presence enhances our worship experience.  Please fill out a visitors card if you are visiting us today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

Jr. Church children (ages 4 – 7) may be dismissed.

HEARING FROM GOD 

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

PLEASE JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL, NEXT!
There are classes for every age.

TONIGHT: No Evening Service
  
THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS:

MEN’S SOFTBALL SIGN-UP: It’s that time already… check out the sign-up sheets on the cabinet in the foyer.  Maybe you can sign up on each sheet!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Pastor Justin and the Evangelism Team are helping out with this year’s Kirkwood Fair, and would like you to join us! We think this would be a neat way to serve our community and make a difference. Please mark your calendars for April 29th, 6:30pm @ the Kirkwood Fire Station on Main St., Kirkwood. We will find out more at this meeting how we can help. The fair will be Aug. 7-9th. See Pastor Justin if you would like more details.

LADIES BOOK CLUB:  Still lots of time to pick up a book & become part of our club.  The current book is about a “hero of faith” by the name of Sojourner Truth. 

LOST & FOUND DEPT. – Missing a coat, a dish or a book?  Check the lost & found.

Thanks for attending First Christian, please come again! 

NO SOLICITING ALLOWED ( John 2:13-22)

Posted on March 19, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

After 2000 years the  resurrection continues to defy commercialization. Granted, Easter has experienced exploitation. What would Easter be without the bunny and the eggs? Especially if they are chocolate? But the resurrection of Christ himself remains untouchable. Think about it. The birth of Jesus has become big money. And death well, it costs a lot to die these days. Have you looked at the cost of a casket lately? Birth and death are things we have come to exert some control over. We have found a way to manage and market them. Resurrection is strictly a God thing. The resurrection of Christ is wild, untamable and beyond our grasp. We have yet to find a way to duplicate that.

But you can participate in it (resurrection) by grace. “You hath he made alive in Christ.” You don’t take it. You receive it. You don’t control it. It controls you. The resurrection does not succumb to you. You succumb to it.  The resurrection of Jesus is the definitive act for the Church (body of Christ). Yet we have not done it. Rather God has done it. Had God not done it. There would be no Church, no eternal life, no forgiveness of sins, no “Lo I go to prepare a place for you.” What the world finds inconceiveable, God has done. Chris arose. At that, in the most audacious way possible. A literal physical resurrection that defies academia, science, philosophy, mysticism and even to some extent theology (which is sometimes our feeble attempt to explain God). It would seem what the disciples had was the text and it was enough. “Therefore, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” (John 2:22) He is risen.                             WHB

Weekly Bulletin – March 16, 2008

Posted on March 13, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

PALM SUNDAY
March 16, 2008
WELCOME!
We warmly welcome each worshiper here today, members & non members. May God’s love be in us and around us so no one feels like a stranger and all know that they are children of our Creator. If you are visiting, please fill out a visitors card.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG 

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

Jr. Church children (ages 4 – 7) may be dismissed.

HEARING FROM GOD 

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG 

PLEASE JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL, NEXT!
There are classes for every age.

TONIGHT: Institute of Biblical Studies, 6:00 PM / Chapel

THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS:

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Pastor Justin and the Evangelism Team are helping out with this year’s Kirkwood Fair, and would like you to join us! We think this would be a neat way to serve our community and make a difference. Please mark your calendars for April 29th, 6:30pm @ the Kirkwood Fire Station on Main St., Kirkwood. We will find out more at this meeting how we can help. The fair will be Aug. 7-9th. See Pastor Justin if you would like more details.

LADIES BOOK CLUB:  Still lots of time to pick up a book & become part of  the club.  Our current book is about a “hero of faith” by the name of Sojourner Truth. 

LOST & FOUND DEPT.  can be found in the basement (follow the signs). Looking for something you left behind… good chance to check out the new carpet in the basement.

Thanks for attending First Christian, please come again! 

Protected: Prayer Sheet – March 12, 2008

Posted on March 13, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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INCONSOLABLE (Matthew 5:6)

Posted on March 13, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

The state of New York has been rocked in the past week by the Spitzer affair. His resignation will not bring an end to the feeding frenzy of the media. They will have their cake and feed it to the general public. I find the whole thing disturbing.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For they shall be filled.” The developing Spitzer saga reveals the sinful appetites of humanity. From Spitzer’s own sinful desires to the public’s craving for a juicy story. We could not have a more fitting text before us. What is it we long for says a lot about the condition of our hearts. The call to crave righteousness is an indication that we have no righteousness of our own. We are in need of God’s righteousness. And notice we are called to desire righteousness, not simply God. There is a subtle danger here. Many would say they “long for God.” But that is often the god of one’s own making, fabricated in the depths of their imagination. It is altogether another thing to crave the righteousness of God. For it expresses our profound neediness. We are hopelessly lost apart from the righteousness of Christ. Our desire must be to know him and his righteousness. To be like him. Which brings us back to the text. Craving righteousness has to look like something. This text gives us two views. One is that of perspective. Note the the prior references are to the poor in spirit, those who mourn and the meek. All negative connotations according to the world’s standards but highly valued by God. Without this perspective we will never crave the righteousness of God. To crave God’s righteousness is to acknowledge our desperate need. What follows the craving of righteousness is the practice of those who crave. Notice the giving nature of the activities. Being pure in heart, showing mercy and being a peacemaker. Ironically it is those who crave righteousness who are eventually persecuted for righteousness’s sake (see v. 10).

Perhaps this is one of our greatest weaknesses. Our appetite is for all the wrong things. Before you can hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God you have to have first tasted him and seen that he is good. WHB

Weekly Bulletin – March 9, 2008

Posted on March 6, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
March 9, 2008
WELCOME!
We extend a kind welcome to all who are present.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG
 

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

Jr. Church children (ages 4 – 7) may be dismissed.

HEARING FROM GOD 

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

   ____________________
  
PLEASE JOIN US FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL, NEXT!
There are classes for every age.

TODAY: ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING DINNER
 Following Sunday School @ the Fellowship Hall
 Pick up your financial report from the cabinet in the foyer.

TONIGHT: NO Evening Service
  
THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS:

LADIES BOOK CLUB:  Still lots of time to pick up a book & become part of  the club.  Our current book is about a “hero of faith” by the name of Sojourner Truth. 

LOST & FOUND DEPT.  can be found in the basement.  Looking for something you left behind… good chance to check out the new carpet in the basement.

Thanks for attending First Christian, please come again! 

“YOU HAVE A LITTLE STRENGTH” (Rev. 3:8)

Posted on March 6, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

What if God wrote you a letter, addressed directly to you? What might He say? What would its tone be? What would you hope to hear? Jesus has specific messages to the seven churches of Asia addressed in Revelation. For the most part the words of our Lord are words of disappointment. At times downright scathing. Condemnation is more the word for the day rather than commendation. The church in Philadelphia is the exception of course. But she is largely forgotten in today’s fast-food Christianity where bigger is deemed best. In the world of marketing church this text is not one that seems to be of any use. God forbid there be any association with the words; “successful” and “little”. That would not fit in the world of big budgets, big buildings and big baptisms.

Yet in many ways we here at FCC characterize the church in Philadelphia. The emphasis not being so much on the small (in reality we are an averaged sized church by national standards). But in regards to influence or do I dare say success. Of course it helps to understand how God measures success. Without a doubt there is a world of confusion surrounding this out there because so many Christians have the wrong expectations of Christ, his church and success in a biblical sense. “Above all things God requires that a steward be found faithful.” That is success in God’s eyes. For God success is a matter of faithfulness and obedience. Which is what Christ echoes in his words to the church in Philadelphia.

We are on the edge of a new fiscal year. The annual meeting is before us and a new budget is about to be approved (or rejected?). The challenges are not about to get smaller. But we have been faithful in the past year and God has provided. There is nothing greater than seeing people’s lives drastically changed by the working of the Holy Spirit. For us, progress lies in the transformation of people’s lives. Ours is a ministry of investment in people’s lives that reaps eternal dividends. “Hold fast to what you have, so that on one may take your crown” (Rev. 3:11). May God’s mercy be upon us and his light shine before us as we take roads less traveled and narrow roads that lead to eternal life. WHB

“WNL” March 16th- White Light Cafe

Posted on March 6, 2008 
Filed Under Teen Happenings

The White Light Cafe will be open on Sunday night after the “Institute of Biblical Studies”  It will be a great time of fun and fellowship! Please be sure to come.

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