You'll want to join us for sure this Sunday as we continue the Back to Basics series: The Fruit of the Spirit! This week's focus is JOY! What's the difference between joy and happiness? Is it really possible to have joy in ALL circumstances? Come and find out! We'll also celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper together. I hope you'll be there!
This past Sunday marked the start of our most recent "Back to Basics" series. This one's titled "The Fruit of the Spirit." The nine message series will focus on each of the aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit defined by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We got of to a good start with a focus on LOVE. The Scripture focus was John 15:5-14. The key point for the day is that LOVE is not a feeling but an action, and that LOVE=OBEDIENCE when it comes to God.
I want to make a quick point about that last "equation." LOVE=OBEDIENCE. When it comes to God who IS love, our love for Him is demonstrated by our willingness to do what He says. In the end the same is true of love in ALL relationships where there is mutual love. When a husband and wife love each other, or when parents love their children then LOVE=OBEDIENCE is a good maxim as well. HOWEVER, when one of the members of a relationship is ABUSIVE LOVE does NOT equal OBEDIENCE. I realize there are those who think that a Christian wife must ALWAYS obey her husband, or that Christian children must ALWAYS obey their parents. I am not one of them. In abusive relationships the one being abused must NOT always obey, and to do so is not loving. It can be dangerous and even life-threatening to do so.
As we go through the series, those of you who are attending are WELCOME to send me questions or thoughts through comments to blog entries I'll be posting!
If you check my blog regularly, you know that I haven't made any posts recently. The main reason for that is my account was SUSPENDED. Sounds ominous doesn't it? What happened was with the moving of our pastor of administration, a change of address was required for our church mailing address, so the monthly billing was declined, since the billing address no longer matched with TypePad's records. Anyway, after a series of e-mails back and forth over the past week or so, the situation hasn't been totally resolved, but they have "unsuspended" (I didn't know that was a word!) my account during the process of resolution. I'll be posting several items over the next couple of days to get caught up!
Our daughter, Abby, had her wisdom teeth out on Monday. When she came home and the medicaton wore off, she was in great pain for a while until the additional medication took effect. As a dad, watching her in that condition was hard. It hurts to see our children hurt, doesn't it? Whether the pain is physical, or emotional, or spiritual, we want to protect our children from it. Yet, we all know that some pain is necessary in life. In fact, sometimes unless we endure pain we can't grow or move forward in life. No one knows that better that our Heavenly Father. We can't even imagine the pain He must have felt in watching Jesus endure the pain of Good Friday. A long time ago, when Nancy was pregnant with our first child, the pregnancy ended with a miscarriage. I had never experienced pain like that. In my sorrow I shouted at God, "You have no idea what it's like to lose a child!" Nancy and I had been praying for God to give us our first child for years at this point, so the pain of that loss was immense. No sooner had I finished the challenge to God than I realized----Yes, He does. He has endured the loss of a perfect child. He had to watch as His Son was executed by those for whom He came as Savior. It didn't lessen my pain at the moment, but it helped me realize that God does understand the pain we experience when our children hurt, or at the extreme end of matters--die. While I don't understand the why behind some of the suffering our children face, Good Friday helps me remember that God has endured far more than any of us, and is always there to strengthen us in our times of hurting for the hurts of our children.
After a few day interlude from Palm Sunday, Holy Week activities pick up in earnest at New Life tomorrow evening! The "Christ in the Passover Seder" will be celebrated at the Saxonburg Firehall at 7:00 p.m. Covenanting disciple, Mitch Tepper, who grew up as a Jew and became a follower of Jesus as an adult will be the primary leader for this time of worship and fellowship together, as we gain a deeper understanding of how the "Last Supper" was a Passover meal during which Jesus showed us the full meaning of God's grace and love for us!
Friday morning the men of the church have the opportunity to meet with men from around the area for the Good Friday breakfast at 6:00 a.m. at Saxonburg Memorial Church. The women also have a Good Friday Brunch at 10:00 a.m. at Zion Methodist Church. Then the Youth have their Good Friday "Pizza Breakfast" at 11:00 a.m. at the Buffalo Presbyterian Church. Our own Brad French will be speaking and New Life's worship band will provide the music. (For more details go to Live Relevant!) Then all of us will have the opportunity to worship with our brothers and sisters in Jesus at Crossway Church, when we join them for a Good Friday time of worship at 7:00 p.m. (Crossway is located on Davis Road in Valencia)
Easter morning we'll gather at 7:00 a.m. at 127 Knoch Road for our sunrise worship. Then we'll celebrate Jesus' resurrection with two worship services at the South Butler Primary Center at 8:15 & 10:00 a.m. We'll also enjoy food and fellowship at the Easter Brunch that starts at 9:15.
If you're looking for a place to worship during this Holy Week, please feel welcomed and encouraged to join us! If you have any additional questions about who we are, where we are or what we believe check out the New Life website at: www.newlifexn.org
Thanks to Lisa Johns for passing this on to me, and thanks to Ray Comfort and the Way of the Master for seeing the significance in this powerful segment from the television show ER.
Comfort notes that "fair use" allows us to pass this segment on, and he encourages all who see his message to pass it on throughout the internet. So here you are! The segment is a bit long, but it's well worth the 9:27
For this week’s next step we turn to Acts 8:12-17. The Apostle Philip had traveled to Samaria to present the Good News to the people. A sorcerer, named Simon, lived among them. Eventually, “the people” perhaps the whole village or town where Philip was BELIEVED Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Many of them were baptized. Interestingly, they were only baptized in the name of Jesus. Thus, they didn’t receive the Holy Spirit. Read the text below:
12But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. 13Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed. 14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. 15As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. 16The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:12-17 NLT
We may wonder why Philip would baptize the Samaritans only in the name of Jesus, when Jesus specifically told the apostles to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but whatever the reason, these early believers received the Holy Spirit as Peter and John laid their hands on them. They were already believers, but now they were Spirit-filled believers. As we know from other Scriptures, salvation comes ONCE through Jesus, while receiving the Holy Spirit also comes once, but being FILLED with the Holy Spirit is ongoing. I point this out simply to remind us that all believers need to receive the Holy Spirit in order to experience the fullness of God’s presence and work in our lives. The key is not to focus on the initial experience, but to LIVE OUT the Spirit’s presence in our lives day by day. As we’ll see next week in our second look at Acts 8, the Holy Spirit is not a “commodity” to be purchased, but the REALITY of God in us! May we live that reality 24/7 to God’s glory and honor.
Lee Strobel has done it again--he's taken a challenge faced by believers, gone to the scholars to get their input, and produced a READABLE apologetic response. This one is titled The Case for the Real Jesus. In it Strobel addresses six current attacks on the IDENTITY of CHRIST and reasonable and credible responses to them. In Strobel's typical fashion, he provides volumes of evidence, but in a manner that is almost "down home." The Case for the Real Jesus will give you helpful input for engaging friends who may have dismissed Jesus and adopted other "alternatives," AND it will deepen your own faith as you see time and again the reliablity of Jesus and the Bible!
Here's a great video passed on to me by Patti and Randy Gomola. Amazing what can be done with some white gloves, a black light and a powerful Christian song!
This week’s “Next Step” comes from Acts 7:54-60. I call it “The Holy Spirit’s Ultimate Witness.” By that I mean that as Stephen, the first Christian martyr faced his death, the Holy Spirit filled Him and showed him a vision of heaven. Stephen had been arrested for bearing witness to Jesus. Ultimately, Stephen was stoned to death for his faithfulness to Jesus. Read what happened just before his death:
54The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
57Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
Wow! What an amazing testimony! Just as Jesus had asked His Heavenly Father to forgive those who executed Him, Stephen prayed for Jesus to forgive his killers! When the Holy Spirit is truly in charge of our lives, we gain the power to forgive those who sin against us—even if that sin is our own murder. Stephen’s death may have been the first “spark” in igniting the “fire” of the Holy Spirit in the life of Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul. We never know what our willingness to give control of our lives to the Holy Spirit will do, and while it may not be as dramatic as what the Spirit did through Stephen, the Spirit WILL witness to and through us in our times of need.
