Weekly Bulletin – November 30, 2008

Posted on November 26, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
November 30, 2008
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP 
Open our spiritual eyes, Lord, that we may catch a glimpse of you holiness.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
 If you are visiting us today, please fill out a visitors card & drop it in the offering plate as your contribution. Thank you.

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC

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

HEARING FROM GOD

COMMUNION / DEACON FUND OFFERING

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

PLEASE STAY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT!

TONIGHT :  Financial Peace University, 6:00 – 8:00 P.M.

THIS WEEK :

UPCOMING EVENTS:

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:
 We could use more church cleaners.  If you have an hour or two once a month that you could help serve the Lord, please let Terry Johnson know. 

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

DID YOU JUST CALL ME LOT? Genesis 19:1-36

Posted on November 20, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

It’s a slow fade. I seriously doubt that Lot had thought all that far ahead about what his life would look like in light of the micro decisions he was making that would add up to the sum total of his life. A large part of Genesis is the story of God’s dealing with Abraham. Our attention is drawn to a story within the story. The larger story of Abraham wraps around the short story of Lot. The scholars would call it a “foil.” In this way Moses can illustrate the choice that lay before them. Follow God in anticipation of land, promise and redemption or strike off on your own (a slow fade).

Lot’s story is a tragic one. He is a man caught between two worlds. Doing all he can to protect the innocent victims but at the same time being willing to sacrifice his daughters. Willing to flee Sodom but unwilling to go the distance. Bartering for a nearer locale seemed easier. What started out as a selfish endeavor (Lot lifted his eyes….chose the land for himself 13:10-11) ends in the utter moral collapse of his family. A price Lot, make that we rarely anticipate paying. So much for counting the cost.

Abraham offers us an alternative route. The text tells us that Abraham “walked in the land…..and built an altar to the Lord” (13:14-18). As Abraham wandered the land I expect he built a lot of altars. He dedicated himself to the hard work of worshipping God. Abraham was far from perfect. He struggled, failed and repented along the way. But he never stopped building altars and his life never became a slow fade.   WHB

Weekly Bulletin – November 23, 2008

Posted on November 20, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
November 23, 2008
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP 
On this Lord’s Day before we celebrate Thanksgiving, dear God, help us be totally sincere in our every expression of gratitude for Your innumerable blessings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
If you are visiting us today, we extend a hardy welcome to you.  Please fill out a visitors card found on the pew pocket, and drop it in the offering plate as your contribution to our service today.  Again, we say WELCOME!

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 STAY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT!

TONIGHT :  Financial Peace University, 6:00 – 8:00 P.M.

THIS WEEK :

UPCOMING EVENTS:

PIE DISHES: There are a couple dishes left from the Harvest Dinner.

GIVE AWAYS: In the process of fall cleaning we have come upon many goods that were not used for their original purpose & some things that have been used & are headed to the landfill unless you or someone you know has a use for them.  Please help yourself to the freebies in the front foyer.  Also there is a file cabinet in the back foyer outside Terry’s office full of old music & Christmas programs. You are welcome to recycle that also.

An offertory prayer for Thanksgiving
  Merciful and generous Lord, you open Your loving hands and bless us abundantly every day of our lives. Even when we go through dark times, You assure us that Your loving, everlasting arms will not let us go. How generous are all your benefits, how supportive, how comforting to experience. Today we join with “the great cloud of witnesses” who once praised You on Earth and now glorify You in heaven, offering our deepest gratitude for all the gifts You so generously give.  Accept then our thanksgiving for Your love, Your grace and all the blessings You bestow on us daily. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – November 19, 2008

Posted on November 19, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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Weekly Bulletin – November 16, 2008

Posted on November 13, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
November 16, 2008
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP 
 May we properly invite You, dear Lord, to enter our hearts so we may know we’ve been in Your presence.  Amen

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
If you are visiting us today, we extend a hardy welcome to you.  Please fill out a visitors card found on the pew pocket, and drop it in the offering plate as your contribution to our service today.  Again, we say WELCOME!

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 STAY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT!

TODAY: New Membership Class begins.

TONIGHT :  Financial Peace University, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

THIS WEEK :

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Ladies Book Club:  Currently reading “The Patchwork of My Life”, by Jeanne Wilbur.  A woman of faith from right here in NYS whose husband was a POW for 5 years during the Vietnam war.  Ladies, our next meeting  will be on Dec. 13 at Judy Peterson’s. 

PIE DISHES: Dishes are on the coat rack, please pick them up.

When we look at what we want, and then compare that with what we have, we shall be unhappy.
When we think about what we really deserve, and then compare that with what we actually have, we shall thank God.

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – November 12, 2008

Posted on November 12, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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Weekly Bulletin – November 9, 2008

Posted on November 6, 2008 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
November 9, 2008
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP 
Loving Creator, help us gather our thoughts and focus on Your will for our lives.  May this time of worship be pleasing to You and a time of spiritual growth for us.   Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
If you are visiting us today, we extend a hardy welcome to you.  Please fill out a visitors card found on the pew pocket, and drop it in the offering plate as your contribution to our service today.  Again, we say WELCOME!

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 STAY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT!

TODAY:  

TONIGHT :  Financial Peace University, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

THIS WEEK :

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Ladies Book Club:  Currently reading “The Patchwork of My Life”, by Jeanne Wilbur.  A woman of faith from right here in NYS whose husband was a POW for 5 years during the Vietnam war.  Ladies, our next meeting  will be on Dec. 13 at Judy Peterson’s. 

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – November 5, 2008

Posted on November 6, 2008 
Filed Under Prayer Requests

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PRESIDENTIAL PRAYER

Posted on November 5, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Prayer Requests

They say the first sentence is the most important sentence. It’s what keeps you reading the next one. The only problem is that most of the sentences I have been composing over the last 14 hours would not be appropriate. Some thoughs are better left unsaid. I have always found it difficult to live between the pastoral and the politcal. Nor would I suggest that I have been overly successful at being whatever I am supposed to be in light of politics. I relentlessly struggle to the very hour. I am not without perspective though. I know God raises kings and removes them. I know I have a responsibility to pray for those over me with the hope that we might live peaceably.

Some words have to be written in order to become real. If they are merely mumbled or psuedo-formed in one’s head they barely escape the mind, let alone flow from the heart. So I offer up the following prayer…

Dear God, I rest in your mercy. I have little faith in men and even less in politicians. Please accept my humble petition in light of the cross. See the blood that is the transfusion of my spiritual life. Christ in me. I ask your blessing upon Barack Obama and his family. Please preserve his wife and children as their husband and father is now the most powerful man on earth. May there be some of him left for them. Grace him with wisdom from above as he chooses his cabinet and trusted advisors. May he surround himself with people of honesty and integrity. Deliver him from evil, for I fear Satan seeks to manipulate the most powerful. May he be drawn to peace and not war. May he be drawn to morality and not immorality. May he faithfully represent the downtrodden and disenfranchised, including the unborn who can not represent themselves. May he expeience the convicting power of the Holy Spirit who will not let him sleep at night if he rejects Truth and blurs the lines between right and wrong. Grant him the wisdom of Soloman, the courage of Joshua and the moral fibre of Samuel. May goodness and mercy follow him all the days of his life. Amen.      WHB

ALL IN Acts 9:1-19

Posted on November 1, 2008 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

For so many life is coincidental or incidential. But one of the undercurrents of the Bible is that life is purposeful. That purposefulness flows from a purposeful God. The God of the Bible is engaging, personal and intentional about his plan. Aahh, there it is. God has a plan (not exactly something many of us are used to). We are so used to living by the seat fo our pants, rolling with the punches and taking it as it comes that it is easy to forget that God already has the beginning to the end already figured out. Not a great way to watch a movie or read a book but very helpful when it comes to making sense of life and getting the most out of it.

Take Paul for example in Acts 9. This is the story of his conversion. It is God’s call upon his life. You might say it is a package deal. That is it is salvific and vocational all rolled into one. From the outset Paul understands he was saved to serve God. Most specifically Jesus Christ the one true God. This is an important point of clarificaiton being as Saul (Paul) was a dedicated follower of Judaism (in his mind he already believed and obeyed God). Up to the point of Acts 9 Paul had rejected Jesus as Messiah. So apparently not just any old god will do. There is only one name under heaven by which we can be saved and that name is Jesus.

The unsettling part of this whole narrative is it seems so costly to follow Jesus. God does not hide this from us (though it would seem popular evangelicalism is doing a god job of it). Jesus said, “if anyone would follow me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” It is popular today to talk about living a purposeful life (the purpose-driven life). This text certainly says that but even more so it says that God saved you on purpose. God’s work in your life is not coincidntial. Your life matters. Probably more than we will ever know this side of heaven. More hangs in the balance than we could ever imagine in light of who we live for (or don’t live for). Which begs we answer several questions: Who is in control of your life (v. 17)? Who are you living for (v. 15-16)? Who are you hurting (v. 4)?

The answer to those questions will say a lot about the course of your life and just how “in” you are to God and his Church. Paul of course was “all in.” He was an all or nothing kind of guy. I know a lot of religious voices are suggesting you can do a little bit of Jesus or a lot. He’s just one more entre on the buffet table of life. But the Bible says he is the buffet table. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”

God’s work in your life is not an accident. When your teenager calls up and says they wrecked the car. That was an accident. When you were a kid and you wet the bed. That was an accident. God’s work in your life is on purpose and he wants all of you to accomplish his purpose.                        WHB