Weekly Bulletin – August 31, 2008

Posted on August 28, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
Aug 31, 2008
WELCOME!

As we open our hearts to God, may we extend our hands in friendship to one another. May all who have come to worship know that they’re sincerely welcomed  in this house of God.  If you are visiting us, please fill out a visitor card before you leave today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
   
PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

(There will be no Children’s Church during July & August)

HEARING FROM GOD

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

____________________

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

Soccer Camp Thanks: THANK YOU to all our volunteers and prayer partners! So many people worked and prayed so hard to make this year’s camp such a wonderful success! We had 97 different kids throughout the week and saw two dozen give their lives to Christ! Many families expressed their gratefulness to our church family for making such a difference in our community. Thanks for serving Christ and impacting hearts for eternity!!!

TONIGHT: No Evening Service – Enjoy your Labor Day holiday!

THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS

NURSERY REQUEST:  The nursery is in need of one new rocking chair. They will accept good condition used or brand new.  Something that swivels or glides would be nice.

Jr. Church Note:  If there are enough volunteers, Jr. Church will begin on Sept. 7. If you can help, see Charlotte Collins.

Directory Note: I’ll be printing new pages for your church directory this week, so if you have any changes or additions, please get them in to me ASAP.  Thank you, Terry Johnson, secretary.

Missionary Christmas in July:  $2,053.00 so far. This year’s goal is $2,580.00.  

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – August 27, 2008

Posted on August 27, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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LET YOUR LIFE SPEAK Colossians 1:24-29

Posted on August 21, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

“Let your life speak” is an old Quaker saying. It recognizes that who we are can be determined from the outside or the inside. By “outside” it means the forces, people, experiences and places around us. By “inside” it means one’s own sense self. Letting your life speak is listening to yourself from the inside. Figuring out who one is has always been a problem (at least in my own personal experience). So I am attracted to the idea of “letting my life speak.” But before we buy into this idea let us consider how one should consider it from God’s perspective.

We do not want to let the world at large define who we are. We are being pulled in various directions and it is not uncommon to wear a variety of masks. Working from the outside in is a horrible way to figure out who you are. Working from the inside out is also a dangerous game. Jesus said it is what comes out us that defiles us. We are marred, scarred people. And the scars run deep. We are sinners at heart. So, we need a third alternative who happens to be a person. That person is Christ. Most specifically Christ in us, saves us and transforms us.

So figuring out who we are in part requires we respond to an invitation. In the Bible it is calling. In the old days it was called “vocation.” Today vocation is a career but at its core vocation is an invitation. An invitation to be someone and participate in something. God called Paul to be an apostle and made him a part of a larger story. God’s invitation to each of us is to participate in a story larger than ourselves. Essential to knowing “who you are” or “letting your life speak” is the death of ego.

Letting your life speak is not the journey we expect it to be. In Colossians 1 Paul highlights the mechanics that shaped who he had become in Christ. They can be expressed in three words; sacrifice, stewardship and faithfulness. Ironically when it comes to “finding ourselves” it is popular to use language like fulfillment and self-awareness.

Perhaps we are looking from the wrong perspective and using the wrong mechanics when it comes to “discovering” who we are. Perhaps it is God who finds us and transforms us so our life speaks. Therefore finding ourselves is about listening to Him. Recognizing his call in our lives. A calling which involves sacrifice, stewardship and faithfulness.

In baseball we talk about hitting the ball on the sweet spot of the bat. On most bast the sweet spot may only be a few inches long. Only through proper hitting mechanics can you hit the ball consistently on the sweet spot. Too often we think in terms of the sweet spot as a place. I can be who I am supposed to be if I could just get the right job, have the right friends or access the right resources. If that is the case then people like Moses, Jeremiah and Johan are in trouble. I’m not convinced that Moses would say he was “fulfilled” wandering in the desert or that Jeremiah was living in the “sweet spot” while struggling to survive in besieged Jerusalem. Life throws a variety of pitches and only an application of the proper mechanics of living (sacrifice, stewardship and faithfulness) will enable you to hit the sweet spot of living. In that sense the sweet spot is not necessarily a place but an act borne out of living for Christ. In which case when we practice the mechanics of living and participate in God’s story you can learn to be a great hitter in any ball park. Let your life speak. WHB

Weekly Bulletin – August 24, 2008

Posted on August 21, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
Aug 24, 2008
WELCOME!

As we open our hearts to God, may we extend our hands in friendship to one another. May all who have come to worship know that they’re sincerely welcomed  in this house of God.  If you are visiting us, please fill out a visitor card before you leave today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

(There will be no Children’s Church during July & August)

HEARING FROM GOD

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

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

TONIGHT: 6:00 PM, Financial Peace University - Preview in the Chapel.

THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS

NURSERY REQUEST:  The nursery is in need of two new rocking chairs. They will accept good condition used or brand new.  Something that swivels or glides would be nice.

Jr. Church Note:  If there are enough volunteers, Jr. Church will begin on Sept. 7. If you can help, see Charlotte Collins.

E-Mail Note: New church e-mail address: fcc.kirkwood@yahoo.com

Directory Note: If you have a new address, please e-mail it to fcc.kirkwood@yahoo.com or write it down & give it to Terry Johnson. Thank you.

Missionary Christmas in July:  $1862.00 so far. We will continue to collect for our Missionary Christmas gifts thru the month of August. 

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – August 20, 2008

Posted on August 20, 2008 
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IMAGIO DEO Colossians 1:13-19

Posted on August 14, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

‘If humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot be unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most out of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one’s life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn).

Who am I? A question that haunts us all. The answer may be unsettling. As someone once said, “truth is seldom pleasant.” We are exploring God’s answers to life’s biggest questions. And “Who am I?” is one of them. How we answer this question and subsequently believe about ourselves shapes humanity and the course it takes. In simplistic terms one way is up while the other is down.

Take into consideration two systems of thought; Humanism and Christianity. Humanism says we (humanity) is a random chance born out of an evolutionary process. Humanity is at the center of the universe. We answer to no one but ourselves. We are “masters of the universe.” Humanity has good intentions for the universe but they always seem to go awry. Despite our best efforts we always seem to slip into narcissistic ways. It’s not about us but it becomes about me. We are not the center of the universe. I am the center of the universe.

Then there is the Christian perspective. We are created by a personal, holy God. In his image at that. We are free but accountable to him. He (Jesus Christ) is at the center of the universe. He is God and we are his creation. God determines the meaning of life and dictates the value of existence. The details are such that we are composed of body and soul. And they need each other. They are interwoven together to such an extent that in the Bible the resurrection of the dead is an essential element of the eschaton.

We spend most of our lives thinking about how the world relates to us. When we ought to be thinking about how we relate to Christ. One of the more narcissistic evidences we have seen recently was perpetrated by the media. First, Tim Russert died. And it was nonstop coverage of him for the next week. Then Tony Snow died and it was nonstop coverage of him for an entire weekend. These men were journalists and spent much of their lives reporting the news. The media decided they were the news (an entire weeks worth). Recently Alexander Solzhenitsyn died. The famous Russian dissident who survived the gulags and lived to write about them and then had the insight to criticize the West for our lack of a soul. Solzhenitsyn was one of the most significant voices on the state of the human race over the last fifty years. He garnered about 10 minutes on cable news.

The whole point of the text in Colossians is to demonstrate that the God who created us cared enough to become one of us in order to save us from sin and ourselves. The cross of Christ is a witness to the dignity of man. You are not insignificant but significant in Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” This year the Olympics are being held in China, which has a dismal record on human rights and Russia is rolling through Georgia. The smell of tyranny rises with the smoke of the wreckage. The cross demands that we make it our business to uphold the dignity of man. For we are all created in the image of God. WHB

Weekly Bulletin – August 17, 2008

Posted on August 14, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
Aug 17, 2008
WELCOME!

As we open our hearts to God, may we extend our hands in friendship to one another. May all who have come to worship know that they’re sincerely welcomed  in this house of God.  If you are visiting us, please fill out a visitor card before you leave today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

(There will be no Children’s Church during July & August)

HEARING FROM GOD

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

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

TODAY:  Soccer Camp Meeting after Sunday School in the Chapel. We’ll be putting together the final details.  Please don’t miss this meeting if you are a part of this program.

TONIGHT: No Evening Service

THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS

New Young Adult Class coming soon! You need to purchase a copy of John Piper’s “Don’t Waste your Life” if you want to participate. Start up date to be announced.

Please Note: New church e-mail address: fcc.kirkwood@yahoo.com

Directory Note: If you have a new address, please e-mail it to fcc.kirkwood@yahoo.com or write it down & give it to Terry Johnson. Thank you.

Missionary Christmas in July:  $1862.00 so far. We will continue to collect for our Missionary Christmas gifts thru the month of August. Our desire is to collect at least $718.00 more.   

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Iowa Testimonies – Volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse

Posted on August 13, 2008 
Filed Under Photos & Videos

Weekly Bulletin – August 10, 2008

Posted on August 7, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
Aug 10, 2008
WELCOME!

As we open our hearts to God, may we extend our hands in friendship to one another. May all who have come to worship know that they’re sincerely welcomed  in this house of God.  If you are visiting us, please fill out a visitor card before you leave today.
   
PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC    

(There will be no Children’s Church during July & August)

HEARING FROM GOD

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS

TODAY:  Soccer Camp Meeting after Sunday School in the Chapel. We’ll be putting together the final details.  Please don’t miss this meeting if you are a part of this program.

TONIGHT: Olympian/Gopher Meeting, 6:30 at Mike Reed’s house. These programs will begin on Sept. 10.  Please join us tonight to prepare for a great  new season.

THIS WEEK:

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Directory Note: If you have a new address, please e-mail it to fcckirkwood@juno.com or write it down & give it to Terry Johnson. Thank you. 

ONE-ON-ONE SPIRITUAL MENTORING:
We are committed to taking interested people and purposefully guiding them through a systematic study of the basic foundations of the faith. This is a personalized approach to bible study, and is geared to fit your time schedule as well as your learning style.  Please contact Mike Reed for more information – reeddad@aol.com

NEW YOUNG ADULT CLASS COMING SOON!  All young adults (from seniors in high school on up) are welcome to join Will Reichel downstairs during Sunday School beginning sometime in August. Make sure to buy a copy of John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life” for the class, if you haven’t already. You won’t want to miss it!!!

MISSIONARY CHRISTMAS IN JULY:  $1800.00 so far. We will continue to collect for our Missionary Christmas gifts thru the month of August. Our desire is to collect at least $780.00 more. That would give each of six missionary families a $430.00 gift.  If just 30 people could contribute $26.00 this month we would reach our goal. 

Help Wanted: Davis College is looking for full time & part time workers in the kitchen & café.  If you are interested, please call Shelly Joy Wilcox, 607-729-1581 ext. 403.

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – August 6, 2008

Posted on August 6, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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