THE PLACE OF PRAYER Colossians 4:2-4

Posted on March 28, 2009 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

Prayer is out of place in a multi-task world. I fear in our efforts to encourage ceaseless prayer we have trivialized prayer. Somewhere along the line we started believing quantity was better than quality. I struggle to see where prayer fits into one’s daily drive to work as they apply make-up, talk on the cell phone, eat breakfast and try to arrive at work in one piece. Granted the picture moves us to pray for safety on the road. But the point is made that prayer is not a multitask activity.

In Colossians 4 we are called to devote ourselves to prayer. It is an activity that demands our fullest attention. Textually speaking Paul makes a strong allusion to Daniel 2. Which should come as no surprise being the similarity between the situation of Paul with that of Daniel. Both are in hostile situations. Both seek an audience with the most powerful person on earth. Both want to proclaim the word of truth. Both bring it to God in prayer. Here is a text that calls us to pray like it really matters.

Such devotion to prayer will be characterized by a sense of expectation. Both Paul and Jesus called it “watching”. We should not only expect to be heard but we should expect to be answered. Jesus said, “could you not watch and pray with me one hour?” As if to suggest their prayers would be answered in that hour or at least addressed. That is God would speak. Now, if we would only listen. I’m not sure we have time to listen. Like so many of our conversations they are so one-sided. Some people are great talkers but lousy listeners. And listening is half of praying.

Paul’s urgency can be understood. He was in prison. It was his place of prayer. We are all praying from some place or circumstance. What is prayer without context? God isn’t interested in words we say over and over again. Prayer was never intended to be some program running in the back of our computer we hardly know is there. Prayer is the tool/program we work with every day. Without it, it wouldn’t be worth owning the computer. I think we get the point. Pray like it really matters.

Prayer really does matter. For it is about people, purposes and places. At least that is what Paul says. Perhaps the strength of the text  comes from the fact that Paul was speaking from the valley and not the mountaintop. Prison was his place of prayer and he was not driven by bitterness and rage. Sure he likely experienced them but he had prayed past them. We pray from our own prisons and we must learn with Paul that prayer can not be imprisoned.                            WHB

Weekly Bulletin – March 29, 2009

Posted on March 26, 2009 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY
March 29, 2009
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP
We focus daily on our bodies, loving God. Make us restless until we focus daily on the condition of our souls.

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

PRAISING GOD

GIVING TO GOD / SPECIAL MUSIC
“Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory & strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into His courts.”  Psalm 96:7-8

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

HEARING FROM GOD

WORSHIPING GOD

PLEASE STAY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT!

TONIGHT – 6:30 PM, Teens Involved Ministry Team
From So. New Milford Baptist Church.  15 young people will be bringing the message with music & drama.  They have traveled to many area churches performing this program. We will be taking up a love offering to help them with travel costs. Please join us & bring your friends & neighbors.

THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – March 25, 2009

Posted on March 25, 2009 
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KEEP IT REAL Matthew 28:16-20

Posted on March 14, 2009 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

“Some doubted.” Now that’s what I call keepin’ it real. At just about every post-resurrection appearance of Jesus doubt lingers. The biblical authors in no way sugarcoat the experiences and struggles of God’s people. The full text of verse 17 is “When they say him they worshipped him, but some doubted.” Such is the reality of our existance. In the midst of worship doubt lingers. I expect it is much the same for us as it was for the apostles then. Not that doubt should last or dominate us. But it is refresthing to just admit that it exists. Doubt comes and goes. Ands what one doubts changes with the march of time.

What doesn’t change is the advocacy of Christ. He’s always here, always acting, always present on our behalf. He, with whom all authority in heaven and on earth rests. He who holds the universe in his hands, holds our hand and stands by our side. Even in our doubts. He doesn’t know how to fail.

Then in the midst of our worship and in the face of our doubt he speaks; ‘Go make disciples.’ Jesus has got your back. He’s whispering in your ear. “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Go make disciples because the most powerful being in the universe has got your back.

Our task is to keep it real as followers of Jesus Christ. At the end of the day what separates us from the rest of the world is Christ in us. He’s all we’ve got going for us. Our task is to keep it real in our belief. Disciples are followers of a person not a cause. There are many causes, religions and beliefs but there is only one true God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. We can’t cut corners or soften that truth. Jesus is the crucified, risen Lord of all eternity. He alone can save us from our sin, from ourselves. We have to keep it real in our belonging. Such is the essence of baptism. To be engulfed, overwhemled if you will with Christ and his church. We are his and he is ours. We are one body, one faith, one baptism. We are one in the Holy Spirit. We are the worshipful body of Christ with doubt nipping at our heels. At the end of the day we not only belong to Christ but we belong with one another. Finally, our task to keep it real in our behavior. To be like Christ in attitude and action. We have a new identity in Jesus. We are to be like him. As Karl Barth once put it, “To follow Jesus means to go beyond oneself in a specific action and attitude, and therefore to turn one’s back upon oneself, to leave oneself behind.” The morality of the biblical Jesus and the ethics of Christ and his cross shapes our lives. We are not free to live as we please. In Christ we are free to live for him. To find eternal life in him.

So lets keep it real. I know, I see those storm clouds too. I can smell rain upon the wind. As you wrap yourself in a blanket against the night and listen to doubt fall upon your window pane. The Son rises with the dawn. Did you just hear that? There it is again. Now I can make it out. “Behold I (Jesus) am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Weekly Bulletin – March 15, 2009

Posted on March 12, 2009 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY!
March 15, 2009
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP 
 May our faith be fully ignited in your presence, Lord, beginning now.

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

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: Annual Business Meeting Lunch right after Sunday School today. Please join us, you needn’t be a member to attend.

TONIGHT :  No Evening Service

THIS WEEK :Wed – W.O.L. Olympians/Gophers, 6:30 – Fell. Ctr.
                   Wed. Night Live, Teens – 6:30 – Chapel
                   Prayer Meeting – 7:00, Pastor Justin’s SS room.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS:

Internet Purity – this is a major problem for Christians. Help is available! We highly recommend Covenant Eyes for internet accountability. It is not a filter. It is an inexpensive accountability tool that allows others to see the sites you have viewed. Free brochures are on the back table. See Pastor Justin if you have any questions. 

Visitation Team: Members on call this week
If you or someone you know needs a home or hospital visit, please call: Ralph Jackson (570) 663-2414  or Steve Roe (570) 967-2750 

Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – March 11, 2009

Posted on March 11, 2009 
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LUKA Colossians 3:21

Posted on March 7, 2009 
Filed Under Pastor's Blog, Sermons

Ok, I have written this introduction three times and erased them all. Too many words for such an explicit statement; ‘Fathers, don’t provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” That’s it? That’s all you can say Paul? The man of many words is suddenly abrupt and to the point. The problem with too few words is that it denies you the freedom of being creative with the text.

Granted, this is not the only word on parenting. But it is an important one. I can imagine our excuses. What about discipline, obedience, respect? What if my kid is rebellious or unruly? Generally in parenting circles we think along two tracks. Track one is children obey their parents. Track two is if they don’t we discipline them. Wow, if life (and parenting) were only that simple. Paul backdoors us by addressing our ‘spiriit’ in parenting. You might call it an application of the fruit of the Spirit to parenting. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness…self-control.” Iin this text Paul plumbs the depths of our attitude, motives and identification toward our children.

God instructs us not to provoke (antagonize, irritate, pick a fight) with our children. The reason is that it has the potential to discourage our kids. That is they ‘lose heart’ or give up on life and relationships. From a therapeutic perspective you might say it breeds dysfunctionalism. Contentious relationships drive our children away. They don’t want to relate to us, they don’t want to relate to the world. You get the idea. Read the paper for a week and you will see what God is talking about. Or, just examine your life and relationship with your own children. You may not like what you find.

Something, to keep in mind in regard to this text and how it works. “Discouragement” has no referent. We know the object. It is our children who can become discouraged but Paul leaves the door open as to what they become discouraged with. It isn’t always going to look the same. They may give up on you and relating to you or they may just give up on life period. And ‘giving up’ can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Use your imagination (or read the paper, you’ll get the idea).

If you have a huge blind spot let me help you out. Here are some hints that you need to reconsider how you interact with your children. Do you show favoritism? Do you lecture a lot but never listen? Are you always changing the rules? Are you a control freak? Are your kids never good enough? Are you a yeller? Is it beginning to take shape for you? Who wants to grow up in that kind of a house? Who wants to put up with that for 20 years? No wonder kids just “check out.”

Here is your homework. Let your kids assess you. Ask them to point out the ways you are driving them away. Sure you can do your own assessment, but face it as parents we are biased (and somewhat blind and arrogant). So humble yourself, let them speak their heart, seek forgiveness and pursue repentance. Who knows, a whole new chapter could begin in your relationship with your children. Is this all there is to parenting? No, absolutely not. But it’s what God says in Colossians 3:21 about parenting. And my guess we need it more than we would ever like to admit.                          WHB

Weekly Bulletin – March 8, 2009

Posted on March 5, 2009 
Filed Under Weekly Bulletin

THE LORD’S DAY!
March 8, 2009
WELCOME!

PREPARE TO WORSHIP
Remind us again, O God, of your loving presence, from which nothing can separate us.

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

PRAISING GOD WITH SONG

GIVING TO GOD  Offering  /  SPECIAL MUSIC
“Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory & strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into His courts.”     Psalm 96:7-8

Jr. Church children, ages 4-7, may be dismissed.

HEARING FROM GOD

Theme:  Parenting/Relating to Our Children

WORSHIPING GOD IN SONG

PLEASE STAY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT!

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

THIS WEEK :

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Church Directory Note: New Address;Al Denny  365 Keowee School Rd, Seneca  SC  29672

Visitation Team: Members on call this week
If you or someone you know needs a home or hospital visit,
please call:     Sue Fisher (570) 879-4692 or  Brittany Wasson (607) 242-3676
____________________________
Thanks for attending FIRST CHRISTIAN, please come again!

Protected: Prayer Requests – March 4, 2009

Posted on March 4, 2009 
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