Dear Worshipers,
That word is exciting. It conjures images of something that was static, staid and stale being overwhelmed with newness. When we think of our spiritual lives, there come visions of the sweeping work of the Holy Spirit taking away that which binds and hinders and invigorating with that which releases and encourages. This, “Breakthrough”, is the theme at our District Conference this week.
Please pray for Pastor David and myself as we head to Conference anticipating the breakthroughs that God has for our District, our church, and our lives. Know that I am praying that you will experience similar breakthroughs this week and beyond as you yield your life to Jesus. If you would like to read the thoughts of our District Superintendent, click this link, Advance, news from the central district c&ma. I know you will be encouraged with his words, and you will know better how to pray.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
This Changes Everything
Dear Worshipers,
“Behold, I Am Alive!” When Pastor David shared his sermon title with me last week during our meeting, it stirred my spirit. I was already thinking about Easter, after all there was a tomb in the choir loft. I already had on my mind the many details of the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services which would tell this amazing story again, but something really struck me when he said this. He is risen! Indeed!
The resurrection lies at the crux of everything we believe. I Corinthians 15 is probably the key passage in scripture about the resurrection. If anyone asks you about it this week, and people are asking, take them here. It is a clear and concise explanation of not only the fact of the resurrection, but the implications on our life and faith.
Paul makes some amazingly and appropriately strong comments in this chapter. In verse 14 he asserts, “ if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” All those Sunday mornings wasted, your faith in vain. How about this in verse 19, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” That is significant. We are indeed a pitiful bunch if Christ is not raised, for we have founded our lives on a lie, and our hopes for eternity on an untruth. But this is not the case at all.
Instead, Jesus is alive, eternally. And so shall we be also through our association with His death AND resurrection. Through His finished work He has the authority to give the life of God to me. I must allow it now to penetrate every bit of me, and be expressed in every way at all times through the power of the Holy Spirit. Oswald Chambers put it this way [April 11 – “Complete and Effective Divinity”]. “ The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room in the house—He invades all of it.”
Is this your experience? Do you feel like you have been invaded? Have you ever had unwelcome guests that just seemed to overwhelm your home? That may bring a bad connotation to your mind, but yet that visceral response is something akin to the feeling your old self will have regarding the “intrusion” of the Spirit. Let us welcome Him in the aftermath of Easter. As Jesus went into the tomb as a dead man and came out a living victor, let us do the same with our sin, dying to it and living for Christ.
After all, Jesus lives and so shall we!
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
“Behold, I Am Alive!” When Pastor David shared his sermon title with me last week during our meeting, it stirred my spirit. I was already thinking about Easter, after all there was a tomb in the choir loft. I already had on my mind the many details of the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services which would tell this amazing story again, but something really struck me when he said this. He is risen! Indeed!
The resurrection lies at the crux of everything we believe. I Corinthians 15 is probably the key passage in scripture about the resurrection. If anyone asks you about it this week, and people are asking, take them here. It is a clear and concise explanation of not only the fact of the resurrection, but the implications on our life and faith.
Paul makes some amazingly and appropriately strong comments in this chapter. In verse 14 he asserts, “ if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” All those Sunday mornings wasted, your faith in vain. How about this in verse 19, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” That is significant. We are indeed a pitiful bunch if Christ is not raised, for we have founded our lives on a lie, and our hopes for eternity on an untruth. But this is not the case at all.
Instead, Jesus is alive, eternally. And so shall we be also through our association with His death AND resurrection. Through His finished work He has the authority to give the life of God to me. I must allow it now to penetrate every bit of me, and be expressed in every way at all times through the power of the Holy Spirit. Oswald Chambers put it this way [April 11 – “Complete and Effective Divinity”]. “ The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room in the house—He invades all of it.”
Is this your experience? Do you feel like you have been invaded? Have you ever had unwelcome guests that just seemed to overwhelm your home? That may bring a bad connotation to your mind, but yet that visceral response is something akin to the feeling your old self will have regarding the “intrusion” of the Spirit. Let us welcome Him in the aftermath of Easter. As Jesus went into the tomb as a dead man and came out a living victor, let us do the same with our sin, dying to it and living for Christ.
After all, Jesus lives and so shall we!
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The Holy Week Chronicles
Dear Worshipers,
The Holy Week Chronicles
For the last few months at church we have been examining what is involved in the process of becoming like Jesus. We have worked our way through this outline: 1.Preconditions to holy living: Separation and Submission, Consistent evidences of a disciplined life: Supplication, Sacrifice, Simplicity, and Sincerity, and The maintenance of a disciplined life: Solitude, Secrecy, Song and Service. If we have been paying attention through this series as Pastor David has chronicled the scriptural evidence behind each of these assertions, we know even better what will be required of us “To Be Like Jesus”.
But now comes the rub. Has this merely been an intellectual exercise, or a spiritual discipline. This short series that Pastor David is taking us through this week will highlight which it is for each of us because there is truly no way to discover how serious you are about becoming like Christ until you consider His passion, His journey to and through the cross. I hope you will walk the Jesus road with us this week as we consider where we are in our conformity to the Son of God.
One way to allow yourself to walk the road is to look this week at the Scriptures which tell us of Jesus’ reactions to a number of different situations throughout that week. Pastor David gave us this list on Sunday with the instruction to consider what your response would be in each of these situations. I encourage you again to take this path to Easter.
Reading List
Sunday-Mark 11.1-10 (A clamoring crowd)
Monday-John 13.1-5,12-17 (Washing feet)
Tuesday-Matthew 26.36-46 (Prayer partners)
Wednesday-Matthew 26.47-56 (Kiss and run)
Thursday-Luke 2254-62 (Peter's denial)
Friday-Mark 15.21-32 (Saving others)
Saturday-John 19.38-42 (Borrowed tomb)
Sunday-Luke 24.1-12 (Faithful women)
How will you chronicle this Holy Week for yourself? Will there be an evident pursuit of the Lord and His glory? Will the love and life of the Savior be obvious? Will you die to your will and give yourself up for the Father’s? Will you serve when no one else seems to want to? Will you watch and pray? Will you stand up for the Lord, or run away?
If a reporter were following you around this week with the intent on creating an exposé of your life, would it be obvious you were about the Father’s business or your own? Or would it expose the fact that you are about your own? Let us be found guilty of walking the Jesus road. This week and every week.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
The Holy Week Chronicles
For the last few months at church we have been examining what is involved in the process of becoming like Jesus. We have worked our way through this outline: 1.Preconditions to holy living: Separation and Submission, Consistent evidences of a disciplined life: Supplication, Sacrifice, Simplicity, and Sincerity, and The maintenance of a disciplined life: Solitude, Secrecy, Song and Service. If we have been paying attention through this series as Pastor David has chronicled the scriptural evidence behind each of these assertions, we know even better what will be required of us “To Be Like Jesus”.
But now comes the rub. Has this merely been an intellectual exercise, or a spiritual discipline. This short series that Pastor David is taking us through this week will highlight which it is for each of us because there is truly no way to discover how serious you are about becoming like Christ until you consider His passion, His journey to and through the cross. I hope you will walk the Jesus road with us this week as we consider where we are in our conformity to the Son of God.
One way to allow yourself to walk the road is to look this week at the Scriptures which tell us of Jesus’ reactions to a number of different situations throughout that week. Pastor David gave us this list on Sunday with the instruction to consider what your response would be in each of these situations. I encourage you again to take this path to Easter.
Reading List
Sunday-Mark 11.1-10 (A clamoring crowd)
Monday-John 13.1-5,12-17 (Washing feet)
Tuesday-Matthew 26.36-46 (Prayer partners)
Wednesday-Matthew 26.47-56 (Kiss and run)
Thursday-Luke 2254-62 (Peter's denial)
Friday-Mark 15.21-32 (Saving others)
Saturday-John 19.38-42 (Borrowed tomb)
Sunday-Luke 24.1-12 (Faithful women)
How will you chronicle this Holy Week for yourself? Will there be an evident pursuit of the Lord and His glory? Will the love and life of the Savior be obvious? Will you die to your will and give yourself up for the Father’s? Will you serve when no one else seems to want to? Will you watch and pray? Will you stand up for the Lord, or run away?
If a reporter were following you around this week with the intent on creating an exposé of your life, would it be obvious you were about the Father’s business or your own? Or would it expose the fact that you are about your own? Let us be found guilty of walking the Jesus road. This week and every week.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Happy Birthday to ME?!?
Dear Worshipers,
Last week I celebrated my 14th birthday. Now before any of you start trying to do the math, or begin wondering if ministry has finally taken it’s toll and I have lost my mind, let me clarify. I was born again on March 29, 1992, so for the last fourteen years I have had the pleasure of being truly alive in Christ.
Now I should actually clarify a little further. Though I said celebrated I actually failed to do that. Early in the week it crossed my mind, but on the day I was so busy it slipped by without proper recognition. I was not expecting a party or any other recognition by anyone else. I am referring to the recognition in the form of thankfulness to Jesus for calling me from darkness into His marvelous light. I was so sad when Sarah mentioned it the next day. I took a little time last Thursday to thank Jesus, recognizing my new life in Him once again.
While I was thinking of that, the thought crossed my mind to ask you, “When was the last time you celebrated the life you have in Christ?” Maybe you do not know or remember the date when the precious grace of God first appeared to you or the hour that you first believed, but you can make a point of thanking Him just the same. Let that exercise of thankfulness pour out from you into the life of another.
There are many people that you know who have not yet trusted Christ as their Savior. Many who have never been born again. Never having turned from their life of sin to surrender entirely to Jesus Christ. Won’t you give them an opportunity to experience the life of Jesus Christ this Easter season? You do not necessarily have to share the gospel with them, although you are allowed, but simply invite them to our Easter Sunday service and let them hear it for themselves as presented in word and song that morning.
What a delight it would be to the heart of God to oversee multiple deliveries right in our sanctuary on Easter Sunday morning! What a delight it would be for you to witness that miracle! What a delight to our church family to be expanded into another soul!
Let’s invite some folks to church this Easter Sunday. You never know, April 16, 2007 there could be a number of them celebrating there first birthday. How exciting!
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Last week I celebrated my 14th birthday. Now before any of you start trying to do the math, or begin wondering if ministry has finally taken it’s toll and I have lost my mind, let me clarify. I was born again on March 29, 1992, so for the last fourteen years I have had the pleasure of being truly alive in Christ.
Now I should actually clarify a little further. Though I said celebrated I actually failed to do that. Early in the week it crossed my mind, but on the day I was so busy it slipped by without proper recognition. I was not expecting a party or any other recognition by anyone else. I am referring to the recognition in the form of thankfulness to Jesus for calling me from darkness into His marvelous light. I was so sad when Sarah mentioned it the next day. I took a little time last Thursday to thank Jesus, recognizing my new life in Him once again.
While I was thinking of that, the thought crossed my mind to ask you, “When was the last time you celebrated the life you have in Christ?” Maybe you do not know or remember the date when the precious grace of God first appeared to you or the hour that you first believed, but you can make a point of thanking Him just the same. Let that exercise of thankfulness pour out from you into the life of another.
There are many people that you know who have not yet trusted Christ as their Savior. Many who have never been born again. Never having turned from their life of sin to surrender entirely to Jesus Christ. Won’t you give them an opportunity to experience the life of Jesus Christ this Easter season? You do not necessarily have to share the gospel with them, although you are allowed, but simply invite them to our Easter Sunday service and let them hear it for themselves as presented in word and song that morning.
What a delight it would be to the heart of God to oversee multiple deliveries right in our sanctuary on Easter Sunday morning! What a delight it would be for you to witness that miracle! What a delight to our church family to be expanded into another soul!
Let’s invite some folks to church this Easter Sunday. You never know, April 16, 2007 there could be a number of them celebrating there first birthday. How exciting!
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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