Saturday, May 24, 2014

Sermon on Fellowship for 5/25/2014

Ephesians 4:1-16 
Revised Standard Version (RSV)

   4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
  8 Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”   9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
  11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.
  15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.


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A wedding is an amazing thing.  Most of them are planned for months, if not years, in advance.  Coordinated outfits are ordered, flowers are fretted over, and enormous quantities of food are ordered.  Everyone is excited, a few people get nervous, but almost everyone is optimistic on a wedding day.  No obstacle looms too large when it comes to the wedding day.
But then, once the wedding day is over, the marriage begins.  Somewhere, around 3 to 4 weeks into a marriage, a realization slowly dawns on both people—the other person isn’t leaving.  They’re here to stay.  And their stuff is everywhere.  And they have all these annoying habits which weren’t disclosed beforehand.  And I can’t believe he eats that.
Before the wedding, it all seems so easy.  But once the wedding ends and the marriage begins, we realize that it’s not so easy, and it takes a lot of work to figure it out.
The same is true of parenting.  When the kid is still inside the womb, you think about what kind of parent you’ll be, about how supportive and patient and loving you’ll be.  You plan out the developmental stages of your child and imagine them getting a scholarship to Harvard because of your great parenting.  You watch other parents struggle with unruly toddlers and you promise that won’t be you.  You see a parent dragging a screaming child across a parking lot and you assume they are inferior parents.  Then, the first night you bring the baby home from the hospital and you realize there is no nurse to take the baby to the nursery and you’re on your own, the rubber meets the road.  You toss all your plans out the window and realize that there is much hard work to be done, there is no manual, and you feel completely alone and isolated, held captive by an 8 pound bundle of energy that breaks your will after a week.  Soon, you are the bleary-eyed parent dragging the screaming child through the parking lot wondering what happened to all those plans.  It all seemed so simple…
Friends, life often seems easy from a distance.  When we’re a long way off, things can seem easy.  When things remain in the future, we can imagine how we’ll deal perfectly with a situation and how everything will turn out fine.
But life doesn’t remain at a distance.  It doesn’t dwell in the land of the hypothetical.  Life shows up on the front porch, barges in through the door after barely knocking, sits down on your couch and starts cleaning out your fridge, and you’ve got to figure out what to do with it.  You don’t get to live life from a distance.
The same is true of the religious life.  Let me suggest this—it’s easy to listen to a sermon.  It’s easy to attend Sunday School.  It’s easy to come to worship, to sit in a pew and to observe.  It’s easy to live the religious life from an emotional distance.
What’s hard, though, is wrestling with faith, the way Jacob wrestled with the angel in the midst of the desert.  What’s hard is trying to figure out what this means, to be a people of faith, to be a resurrection people in the midst of life’s biggest questions.  It’s easy to listen to a sermon—it’s a lot harder to figure out what faith means when you’re struggling at work or when a marriage is scuffling or when tragedy strikes us.  It’s easy to listen to a sermon—it’s hard to live out your faith.
This, friends, is when fellowship comes into play.  Because we need each other.  We need one another to help us figure out how we live out our faith.  We need other people to help us figure out what this means for us, here and now, today.  It doesn’t help if our faith remains something proclaimed in church on Sunday that doesn’t make any sense for Tuesday—we need people to come alongside us and help us interpret our faith for our everyday life.
Fellowship is more than just saying hello on Sunday morning.  It’s more than just knowing each other’s names, and I’d suggest it’s more than just hoping for the best for one another.   
I think fellowship is messy.  What I mean is this—true fellowship is a relationship in which the other person wanders into the mess of your life and is willing to help you sort it out, deal with it piece by piece, and to walk with you through the deepest valleys and highest mountains of your life.  True fellowship is noticing when you don’t feel quite right on Sunday morning and calling you on Monday afternoon to see how you are.  True fellowship notices when you are absent or just not yourself and being willing to engage, rather than just forgetting about you and going on with your life.  True fellowship requires work, and it requires sacrifice, and often we end up going farther with another person than we ever involved, because once we get involved with each other’s lives we realize how critical it is that we share this burden of sorting out the stuff of life through the lens of faith.  This is not something to do on our own.
So we’re called to share our lives with one another.  We’re called to share the joys, to let them lift up the entire community.  We’re called to share our sorrows, to let the community gather around us to mourn together.  We’re called to share our big questions, the things we’re wrestling with, so that we as a community can interpret what it means to live faithfully in light of what you’re dealing with.  If you hear a great sermon, go home and don’t think about it again for the rest of the week as you go about your business, what good is that?  If, however, you hear a great sermon and then discuss with a trusted friend how God is calling you to live as an employee, parent, friend and spouse, then you’re diving into the deep waters of a faithful life, rather than just dipping a toe into the curiosities of religion.  A faithful life takes work, and it takes a community willing to embrace one another, no matter the sacrifice.
And being a faithful community takes work and sacrifice.  So much of the New Testament is dedicated to helping communities live peacefully together.  We like to imagine them as idyllic communities, but the reality is that when you get a bunch of people together, we don’t always live well together.  Sometimes, we disagree.  And yet, isolating ourselves is not the answer.
This is why Paul is calling us, here in the words of Ephesians 4, to bear with one another in love, to be humble, gentle and patient with one another as we strive for unity and peace.  We are all in this together, but we have some rough edges on our personality, and we’re likely to injure one another as we bounce around in life.  The temptation is to withdraw, to save our skin from the wounds of others, to withdraw lest we be injured by the brokenness of another.
But that is not the answer.  That’s not how we live in community.  That’s not the way it’s done, because when we isolate ourselves, we’ll struggle with the big questions of faith, and we’ll do so alone, and it’s always easier to give up when we’re alone. 
Also, the community needs you.  It needs your voice.  There are people in this room that desperately need you to reach out to them, to help them along, and some day they will return the favor.  If we withdraw out of fear of damage, then we’ll miss out on that opportunity to serve one another.
Is it worth risking the hurt?
Jesus shows us that.  He spent 3 years with Judas as one of his closest friends, despite knowing all the time that Judas would betray him.  The other 11 disciples weren’t a whole lot better—they all ended up abandoning or denying him, sometimes both. 
But Jesus nurtured the community as a group, knowing they would need each other.  And when Jesus ascended to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, to ensure that we would never be alone.
We walk this life of faith together, for Christ has called us into a unity of faith, that we might encourage, support and love one another as we try and figure out what it means to be a resurrection people in a world surrounded by death.
May we remind one another of the new life in Christ Jesus.

Let us pray

Friday, May 23, 2014

Psalm 48:9-14

Psalm 48:9-14 
New International Version (NIV) 

  9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. 10 Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11 Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.
  12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, 13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

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  Will you learn everything about the majesty of God, that you may tell the next generation about it?  Will you seek God, deepening your own relationship so that others may benefit from your growth?  Will you engage in a lifelong process of growing in discipleship, so that the greater community may be enriched and drawn closer to Christ through your own devotion?

  It's not about us.  It's about God, and the more we grow in Christ, the more we recognize that our own call is to worship and praise him, as well as to spread the Good News to all the world.

May you be drawn deeper into Christ today

Thursday, May 22, 2014

New Hope E-News for May 22

Announcements

Due to the cake and ice cream celebration of confirmation last Sunday, as well as the Memorial Day holiday, there will be no potluck this coming Sunday.

Purpose-Driven Life!-- This Monday is Day 22!


Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.
Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons
Dinner Napkins
Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates
Dessert Plates


New Hope News

Sunday SchoolWe press forward in Matthew, focusing on Jesus' trial


Pray For:
Norma Capone

Give thanks for those willing to serve in the Armed Forces. May we honor those who have died serving their country.

Those individuals caught up in wars and strife.

Politicians, that the spirit of wisdom and compromise might rest in them

For Steve Hayner, the president of Columbia Seminary and one of the best men I know.


Links











Keith's Random Thoughts

Danielle is now crawling. Quickly. With every inch forward, my sanity slides a bit farther away.
Have you ever dropped something into that space between the driver's seat of your car and the center console? There is a black hole in there, and you know that whatever you dropped is in there, but you can't reach it for the life of you, no matter how you contort your arm and hand. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can just touch the end of the pen or whatever it was, but you can't quite wrap your hand around it. It teases you, and you give up, thinking your arm will break in at least 14 places if you continue to try and do this. Also, you're moving at 60 mph, making this all the more exciting. In order to reach it, you have to stop the car, open the back door, stick you hand, arm, shoulder and probably half your torso under the driver's seat in the hopes of somehow reaching it. I'm convinced that the space under my driver's seat is probably 71 times larger than it looks.
That's what it's like for me to think rationally about something at home. I can do it, but it's just so difficult, because so many things are racing through my mind most of the time. I'm trying to get dinner cooked while washing the dishes while making sure Caleb doesn't destroy anything while hoping Danielle doesn't put Caleb's toys in her mouth while getting ready for tomorrow, all while Rachel is doing the same thing. The fact that there are two of us means we get as much done as one normal person, giving us more and more respect for single parents each and every day.
Life has seasons like this. I know that every day of life will not be like this. There will be years when we miss this, and there will be years when we are more productive, when we'll be able to volunteer more and focus more thought and energy on what's happening beyond the walls of our house. That time will come.
Right now, though, there are things to enjoy. If all I ever think about is how things will be different, I'll miss a lot. I'll miss tiny blessings and precious moments. I'll miss what God is doing here while I'm busy trying to prepare for what God might do later. It's hard work to be present in the moment, and it can be very difficult to try and enjoy those moments when they are loud and chaotic.
But God has given me here and now, and there is no guarantee of later. It's all a gift, and I try to remember to give thanks to God for now, even if I'm not always sure what I'm thankful for. I may understand later, or I may not, but life is still a precious gift, and it all comes from God.



Text for this Sunday (Click on Link below to read)





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Psalm 48:1-8

Psalm 48:1-8 
New International Version (NIV)

  1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 2 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.
  4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, 5 they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror. 6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. 7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. 8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.

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  It's somewhat laughable to think about someone being prideful and arrogant enough to attack the Lord.  His majesty and holiness are so much greater than anything humans can manage on our own, and those who stand opposed to God will discover that their powers are miniscule compared to the grandeur of God.
  This makes it all the more amazing that God chose to use this power FOR US!  God, who is powerful enough to do anything, chooses to come in the form of a servant, to wash the feet of the disciples and to die on a cross for us.  God longs for us to choose him, and to wrap us in an eternal embrace of love.
  God could have overwhelmed us with his might and power.  Instead, he chooses to do so with his love.

  May our lives be rich in gratitude.


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Psalm 47

Psalm 47 
  New International Version (NIV)

  1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. 2 For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. 3 He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. 4 He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
  5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.
  8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. 9 The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

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  When the best player in the Cincinnati Reds lineup comes to the plate, people cheer wildly before he takes a single swing, because his past actions have proved that he is worthy of admiration from those who love baseball.
  When the worst player comes to the plate, not many people cheer, because his actions aren't nearly as worthy of praise.  If I'm watching, my attention may drift when this player bats, because I expect disappointment.

  God has created the world out of nothing.  He has created us from nothing and breathed life into us.  When we turned from him with malice and selfishness in our hearts, he reached out to us in love and offered his most precious and only Son in the hopes of redeeming us from our sin.  When death threatened to destroy us, he shattered its power with his mighty fist and secured an eternal future with him in the throneroom of heaven for each and every one who believes.

  How shall you respond to the God who has acted in such magnificent ways and shall continue to do so forever?

  May we respond with grateful praise and shouts of worship!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Psalm 46

Psalm 46
  New International Version (NIV)

  1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
  4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
  8 Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

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  When the world is busy around you, it calls you to be busy, too.  When everything is moving at a hectic pace, we naturally begin to pick up our own pace, too.  This is why it's great to run with people who move faster than you--it's natural for you to begin to run faster with them.
  However, when we think about the pace of our lives, God calls us to slow down, no matter how quickly the world is moving around us.
 
  Be Still.

  When we are still, we are proclaiming our complete trust in Almighty God.  When we are still, we are proclaiming that our own actions and lives do not determine or control the fate of the universe.  We are proclaiming that God is in control, and that the most important thing in life is to live in God's hands.  Our actions serve God and join with him, but our actions don't secure our own future or the world's future.  Only God can do that, and he has, once and for all, in Jesus Christ.

  May you find stillness today

Monday, May 19, 2014

Psalm 45:10-17

Psalm 45:10-17 
New International Version (NIV)

  10 Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father’s house. 11 Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. 12 The city of Tyre will come with a gift, people of wealth will seek your favor.
  13 All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold. 14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions follow her— those brought to be with her. 15 Led in with joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king.
  16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land. 17 I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.

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  Here we have the continuation of the Psalm celebrating a royal marriage.  Now, coming from one who has yet to pay a single iota of attention to the royal couple and baby in England, I'm not too interested in celebrity happenings.
  But we are called to celebrate what is good in the world.
  Here, the Psalmist is celebrating the royal wedding.  And if that is something you believe is good in the world, celebrate it!  If you're interested in the beauty of the natural world or the wonder of children, celebrate that!  If you love building relationships with neighbors or practicing art so that you can share it, do that!  Celebrate the world God has made and the life God has placed within you!  Celebrate Life!

  May you celebrate the gifts God has given you today

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Sermon for May 18, 2014 on Worship

Romans 12:1-8 
English Standard Version (ESV) 

  12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

  3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
  6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.


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When Rachel and I got married, roughly 8 years ago, the pastor did not conclude with the encouragement to, if we wanted to build a long, lasting and strong relationship, check in with each other once a week.  That probably wouldn’t be a good recipe for a strong relationship.  So why would we think it’s ok to do the same with God?
Today, we’re celebrating a major step in the lives of 4 members of this congregation.  They’ve put the work into 8 weeks of confirmation class, they’ve been examined by the session, and they’re ready to make a public profession of their faith.  We, the church, are here to encourage them, to mentor them, to shepherd them, and to celebrate what God is doing in their lives.
Think, for a moment, about what you would like to see in their lives.  How would you like to see their faith lived out?
Is your hope for these kids that they somehow manage to squeeze in 60 minutes of worship once a week?  Do you hope that they’ll find their way to a church 52 times a year for the rest of their lives, figuring that will be enough to sustain a lasting relationship with God and give them the guidance they need to live a life of faith?
Or do you want more for them?
I think we all want more for them.  We’d like to encourage them to go out into the world and let their faith be a bedrock for everything they do.  We’d like to see them take their faith into their homes and their schools, to let the work of Jesus Christ transform everything they think and do.  We’d like to see Christ guide them in their relationships and in their studies, in their schoolwork and in their play.  We hope they will have lives rooted in prayer and in study.  We hope that they remember that everything they do can be done for the Lord.
That’s our hope for these children.
If we’re willing to challenge and encourage these children into that kind of life, are we willing to examine our own lives and see if we’re living up to that kind of standard?
Because when we talk about worship, that’s the kind of life we’re talking about. 
It’s easy to think worship happens once a week.  We call it worship, so it certainly makes sense that this is the first thing that we think of when we think of worship.  But worship is meant to be so much more than one hour on Sunday morning.  Worship is intended to be more than a moment—it’s intended to be a way of life.
See, our worship service isn’t intended to be a substitute for what you do in the rest of the week—it’s intended to set a pattern.  And what is that pattern?
First, we gather ourselves, hearing Scripture call us to worship.  Then, after we give thanks in prayer, we are called to confess our sins.  Then, having confessed our sin, we listen to the Word of God read and proclaimed.  We hear about the promises of God and learn about how God is calling us to live.  Then, having heard what God has to say, we respond in grateful prayer, in song and by offering our gifts.  Then, and only then, do we go out into in the world to live in a similar pattern!  Worship doesn’t end here.  The week ends here, and it begins anew.  We tie up the strings on the old week, and we have our vision guided out into the new week.  We die and are born anew, and this Sunday morning pattern should lead us out into a week that awaits.
And in this week, we’re called to listen for God’s voice, to repent of our sin, to read Scripture, and then respond by giving our lives.  It’s a pattern to be lived, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, year by year.  This is how we are to live.
And it’s all worship.  All of life can be a continual conversation with God, because every moment is an opportunity to be drawn closer to God by the power of the Holy Spirit, if we’re willing to be led by God, rather than pulled farther away by the distractions of the world.
Friends, every moment of your life is a pregnant opportunity to worship God.  If you are willing to choose to be aware of God’s presence, life can be worship.  If you’re willing to seek him in every moment, life can be worship.  If you’re willing to fight through the temptation to choose the easier path, the way of less resistance, life can be worship.
This is a hard thing, and we all fail.  We get distracted.  We get busy.  We forget, and then we find that it’s Tuesday and we haven’t thought of God since the benediction on Sunday.  It happens.
This is why it’s so important to have routines, to have habits, to set time aside intentionally that is offered to the Lord, because it brings us back to him.  It guides our hearts and minds back to the Lord, and we allow our attention to be recaptured by the Holy Spirit.
God is constantly with you.  He will never leave nor forsake you. 
The question before us is this:  What will you do today to make yourself more aware of God’s presence and his desire to be in constant relationship with you?
Let us pray


Friday, May 16, 2014

Psalm 45:1-9

Psalm 45:1-9 
New International Version (NIV)

  1 My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
  2 You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever. 3 Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.
  4 In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. 5 Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet.
  6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. 7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. 8 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad.
  9 Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

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  Here, a royal Psalm is composed, most likely on the occasion of a king's wedding.  The king is being celebrated, but he is also called to action--the Psalmist calls the king to ride forward for the sake of truth, humility and justice.  The king's gifts of power and privilege are intended to be used for the good of God's Kingdom.
  In the same way, the gifts you have been given are meant to be used for the glory of God and the spreading of God's kingdom.  They're not given for the cause of celebrating you.  They're given so that you can spread the love of God to every corner of this world, so that all may come to know Christ as King and Savior.

May you follow God's calling today

Thursday, May 15, 2014

May 15 E-News

Announcements

Confirmation!-- The session approved Jade, Chase, Ashley and Jackson to be confirmed on May 18! This is great news for the kids, for this congregation and for the Kingdom of God! Please join us on the 18th to celebrate what God is doing in their lives.

Purpose-Driven Life!-- This Monday is Day 15!


Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.
Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons
Dinner Napkins
Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates
Dessert Plates


New Hope News

Sunday SchoolWe press forward in Matthew, focusing on the Lord's Supper this Sunday.


Pray For:
Norma Capone

The medical research community, that a cure for cancer may be discovered

The displaced people from Syria, and all those who live in refugee camps

For Steve Hayner, the president of Columbia Seminary and one of the best men I know.


Links






Keith's Random Thoughts

My mother has approximately 14 million books. They are everywhere in her house, and she is constantly on the lookout for more. I have acquired this trait, for we have too many books in our own household. I long since stopped trying to acquire enough bookshelves to house all of our books. Now I just look for creative ways to store them. (I haven't found any... they just end up in piles on the floor.)
So it makes perfect sense that when I ask her to borrow a particular book, that one isn't available. It's been lent out to someone else. Fortunately, I have enough of my own books to distract me until it returns. I can't read the book if it's not available, right?
I was listening to a sermon the other day on availability, and it's the same principle. God wants to use us for his glory and for his kingdom. I believe that when God is using us for his purposes, our lives are as fulfilling as possible, because we were created in the image of God and are most fulfilled when we are living into our created purpose, which is for God's Kingdom. So God wants our live to be rich with his presence and glory.
But what happens is we loan ourselves out and become unavailable to God. We get so wrapped up in our pursuit of our own goals that we aren't available for God to use us. God wants to use us, and he can use anyone, but only if we make ourselves available to him.
So we need to check ourselves back in to God, and to make sure that we are paying attention to him above all else. When we go out to work or play or serve, we need to do so with a mind focused on paying attention to God in the midst of what we are doing, to make sure we are available to him while we are doing the things of life. When we are available during work and school and such, God will work in and through us, that our lives might find their ultimate purpose in God alone.



Text for this Sunday (Click on Link below to read)

Romans 12:1-8 (NIRV)


12 Brothers and sisters, God has shown you his mercy. So I am asking you to offer up your bodies to him while you are still alive. Your bodies are a holy sacrifice that is pleasing to God. When you offer your bodies to God, you are worshiping him. 2 Don’t live any longer the way this world lives. Let your way of thinking be completely changed. Then you will be able to test what God wants for you. And you will agree that what he wants is right. His plan is good and pleasing and perfect.

3 God’s grace has been given to me. So here is what I say to every one of you. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Be reasonable when you think about yourself. Keep in mind the amount of faith God has given you.

4 Each of us has one body with many parts. And the parts do not all have the same purpose. 5 So also we are many persons. But in Christ we are one body. And each part of the body belongs to all the other parts.

6 We all have gifts. They differ in keeping with the grace that God has given each of us. Do you have the gift of prophecy? Then use it in keeping with the faith you have. 7 Is it your gift to serve? Then serve. Is it teaching? Then teach. 8 Is it telling others how they should live? Then tell them. Is it giving to those who are in need? Then give freely. Is it being a leader? Then work hard at it. Is it showing mercy? Then do it cheerfully.




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Psalm 44:17-26

Psalm 44:17-26
  New International Version (NIV)
 
  17 All this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant. 18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. 19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals; you covered us over with deep darkness.
   20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? 22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
  23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. 24 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? 25 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. 26 Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.

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  Had someone edited the Bible to make sure it was neat, clean and polite, this Psalm would have been but down.  Instead, we have the Holy Spirit-inspired words that call God to action on our behalf.  God is teaching us how to cry out in despair--because crying out to God when we need God is much better than ignoring God altogether.  We know that God is all-powerful, and often we don't understand exactly why God doesn't choose to intervene for us.
  I love the Christian faith because it's real.  The Bible is written for a people immersed in the mess and chaos of life.  Everything isn't perfect in our little worlds--we have raw pain and deep hurt and tough emotions.  We have big questions for God--we want to know why God hasn't intervened.  The Bible doesn't just pretend this isn't real.  The Bible confronts the brokenness of humanity head on, and it doesn't give us easy answers.  God treats us like mature adults and calls us to wrestle with the biggest questions we face, because God is big enough for our anger and our questions.  Don't be afraid to confront God--just be prepared for God to be bigger and grander than we might ever begin to expect.
  God is majestic and perfect, and we shall see this clearly someday.  In the meantime, we'll wrestle with the reality of evil and the existence of his perfect grace.

May you be willing to endure today

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Psalm 44:9-16

Psalm 44:9-16 
New International Version (NIV)

  9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies. 10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. 11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
  13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. 15 I live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered with shame 16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

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  I think most of us know this feeling--the pure and abject depression of unanswered prayers.  We know what it feels like to think God has abandoned us, to believe that God has turned his back on us and no longer hears our prayers.  We think there is no hope, and we stop turning to God, thinking that we deserve whatever humiliation we receive.
  This is why I think the cross is such a place of consolation for us.  In these moments of rejection, God knows exactly what it feels like.  Jesus Christ cried out from the cross, and in our deepest moments of despair, we don't have to turn from God--we can turn to God, because God will walk with us through these dark valleys, promising not that we shall escape the tomb, but instead that we shall emerge from the other side.
  When Christ was raised, his scars remained.
  One day, your wounds shall be healed.  God promises that.  But the scars may remain, for we live in a sinful and broken world, and perhaps we shall praise God all the more for triumphing over the reality of pain, brokenness and death.

May you see the light at the end of the valley today

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Psalm 44:1-8

Psalm 44:1-8
New International Version (NIV) 

  1 We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. 2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors; you crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish. 3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.
  4 You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. 5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. 6 I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; 7 but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. 8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.

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  When things are going well, it's pretty easy for me to take credit.  I could get carried away with a brilliant solution to a problem or how my determination helped me get through an obstacle.  If I did this often enough, I might even start to believe that I don't need God.  But, sooner or later, we all run into obstacles we can't overcome, hurdles we can't leap over, walls that will not move by our own accord.  If I have spent my life depending on my own strength, to whom do I turn in such moments?
  This is why it is so important to recognize that it it God's strength that enables us to achieve anything we do, no matter how big or small.  It is God's power that enables us to overcome.  It is God's wisdom that guides us through triumph.  If we trust in ourselves, we will eventually be disappointed.  If we trust in God, his strength will not find an opponent too great.  If we trust in God, we will still meet obstacles, and they may seem to overwhelm at times, but God will lead us through them, and we shall endure.

May you feel God's strength today

Monday, May 12, 2014

Psalm 43

Psalm 43
New Living Translation (NLT)

  1 Declare me innocent, O God! Defend me against these ungodly people. Rescue me from these unjust liars. 2 For you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?
  3 Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. 4 There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!
  5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!

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  Have you ever eaten an entire pizza?  I'm not talking about those personal ones, either.  I mean, have you ever eaten an entire pizza that was intended to be shared among several people?
  I have, and this will surprise you--I didn't feel that great about it afterwards.

  When I read verse 5, I come away with the impression that the Psalmist's heart is sad because he has started to put his hope elsewhere, and those things disappointed.  Whether it was in other people, in worldly goods or some other place, the Psalmist's hopes were dashed when people or situations let him down.

  But the Psalmist knows that God never disappoints, and so he re-orients his hope to God.  I, too, need to reorient my hope, to place all of it in God, because God alone will never disappoint.  I will be discouraged if I expect something or someone else to take God's place, but God will always be faithful, and so my hope will rest in him and him alone.

May you be confidant in God's strength today

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Sermon for 5-11-14



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What is a phone designed to do?
Now, that seems like a fairly simple question, and had you asked it 15 years ago, the answer would have been exactly what you would have expected.
But, as of last June, Pew Research reported that 61% of Americans now owned smartphones. And, when you look at a smartphone, does talking on it seem like the primary purpose? Yet, we should remind ourselves what we call it—a phone. But anyone who believes that the primary usage of it is talking isn’t paying a whole lot of attention. Maybe they’re busy texting.
Americans are constantly on their phones, even while driving, and not many are using these devices to talk. Verizon’s newest plans include unlimited minutes, because there’s no profit to be made in charging people on how much they talk. I’ve seen reports that 25% of smartphone usage is actual talking on the phone. Basically, we have little computers that can make a phone call if we really need them to.
What is fairly safe to say is that available options have changed the way we use our phones. We no longer have to use them just for talking, and so we choose to use them in many different ways. Some of these are very good—for example, a simple text message can now donate money to countless causes, and distant relatives can see loved ones through technology. Some are maybe not so good. Just ask Anthony Weiner or other individuals who have sent inappropriate pictures to the watching world. The basic fact is that phones are no longer used just as phones.
Now, the question that sits before us today is one of purpose. Simply put, what is our purpose? As Rick Warren asks, what are we here for? Why have we been made, and how are we to live in light of that? What do we need to know in order to fulfill our purpose?
First of all, consider this Genesis truth—you were made in the image of God. That’s language we use quite a bit, and often, when we use it, we’re encouraging one another to treat each and every person as the unique and well-loved child of God that they are. It’s easy to forget that someone is made in the image of God, especially as they’re weaving down the freeway with a sandwich in one hand and a phone in the other, or when they’re espousing hateful views in downtown Chattanooga. Regardless of how much someone may aggravate us or how deeply we may oppose them, the fact of the matter is that we are to treat them with love and respect.
It also, I believe, tells us something about our purpose, because we know quite a bit about God, and what we know about God can teach us how someone made in his image should live.
First of all, God is relational. This is the basis of the Trinity—God is, and has been, and forever will be, involved in a deep relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is an ongoing and constant relationship. We have not been made to live in isolation—we don’t work at our best that way. So we’re made for relationship.
Secondly, that relationship is rooted in love. We know that God is love, and that everything God does is loving. We don’t always understand that, but we trust in God’s love. Therefore we, too, are called to root ourselves in love and to let our relationships be defined by love.
Finally, we are called to be selfless. This is difficult for us, since we’re besieged by constant encouragements to place ourselves first, but God showed us the way in Jesus Christ, a man who consistently dealt patiently and kindly with others, even when they were intruding on him or demanding more from him. God shows us the depth of his love by sending Christ to die on a cross for us, to assumed with selflessness the punishment of others and to give freely the reward of glory that he alone deserved. God pours himself out in selflessness.
So if we are to live in the image of God, we need to let these three big notions frame our purpose—we’re to relate to one another, to be loving and to be selfless.
Now, how do we seek that out? What exactly does that look like in modern life?
Here’s where I want to stop and readthe 139thPsalm.
To read this Psalm is to be introduced to a God who loves each and every one of us as the unique creations that we are. To read this Psalm is to be astounded by the way God loves us. To read this Psalm is to be amazed at how God cares for us all. We know that God is love in a big way, and we know that Christ died for all, and yet we don’t always remember to believe that God loves each and every one of us as though there were only one to love, as Augustine says. God has made you as an individual, and he has given you unique and individual gifts and talents.
So my goal today isn’t to prescribe your individual purpose today, because each and every one of you has a different purpose, because God has made you separately, crafted you with a unique combination of talents and abilities and relationships, and God expects something different from each of us.
Often, we pressure ourselves because of what and who we are not. We believe that we are inferior in the church because we don’t do big or grand mission projects, because we haven’t adopted 27 orphans or because we haven’t given every dime away. We wonder if we’re living up to God’s standards, or if we’re dumbing down God’s call to fit into our life. We wonder if we’re living in to our purpose.
I’d like to counter that argument. The Kingdom of God is richer and better for those who adopt and for those who travel to do evangelism. We are better for this, but there is no hierarchy in the Kingdom of God. There is one level, and that is made up of sinners who have been saved by the grace of God, and we’re all trying to figure out how to live in light of that. Some recognize that their gifts lead them to travel or to give up what they have, while others recognize that raising their children in Godly homes or doing their work with integrity and supporting the work of others is their gift and ability. These are vital roles in God’s kingdom, just as important as any others. Do not for a moment believe that your discipleship is inferior to someone else’s because they have more stamps in their passport. Use what you have to glorify God.
This takes us to the Westminster Catechism, where the first question is to ask what our purpose is. The answer is simple: To glorify and enjoy God forever.
This is our purpose. This is what we were made for. We can do this in many and varied ways, and the different ways we do this brings glory in its diversity to the Kingdom of God.
But to do otherwise, to seek with selfishness our own glory or to turn our backs deliberately on the Kingdom of God, is to reject God’s call. It’s drifting away from our purpose. To live with no spiritual community, believing that a community cannot enrich your life and help you grow, is to drift from our purpose. To fail to love others and love God above all else is to drift away, to use your life less and less for the purpose God made it. How you love selflessly, who you love selflessly, and the spiritual community you form will be different for each of us, but it is critically important that we recognize the call of God upon us and use our time well to bring glory to God and to love one another here on earth.
Let us pray


Friday, May 9, 2014

Psalm 42

Psalm 42 
New Living Translation (NLT)

  1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? 3 Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”
  4 My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! 5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and 6 my God!
  Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you— even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. 7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
  8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. 9 “O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” 10 Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
   11 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!

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  I am always astounded at this Psalm.  The Psalmist says that he has only tears for food as his enemies taunt him continually, and yet here, in the midst of darkness and sorrow and what can best be described as depression, we have a declaration of faith and a confidence that God is pouring his unfailing love upon the Psalmist.  Here, the Psalmist is praising God each night in song in response to the gift of life itself, no matter how difficult that life may be.  The Psalmist cries out to God in grief, and yet remembers to place his hope in God.

  I know that life is difficult.  Each of us could gather up more than a lifetime's worth of sorrow.  Our own arms and hearts are overloaded with the burdens we carry, and as if those were not enough, others often pile their loads upon us, or we voluntarily pick up another's burden and carry it for them.
  In the midst of this, we sometimes wonder where God is.  Here, the Bible tells us that this is ok.  There is a prayer for that.  There is a faithful cry that teaches us how to lament the grief in life.  God is not deaf to our cries.
  In the valley of the shadow of death, however, God abides.  He has neither abandoned nor forsaken you.  You shall again praise him, even if there are only tears for food.  Do not abandon hope--the sun shall rise again, and when the light shines forth, I am confidant that we will recognize that God has been with us throughout the dark night and into the dawn.

May you know God's light today

Thursday, May 8, 2014

May 8 E-News

Announcements

Confirmation!-- The session approved Jade, Chase, Ashley and Jackson to be confirmed on May 18! This is great news for the kids, for this congregation and for the Kingdom of God! Please join us on the 18th to celebrate what God is doing in their lives.

Purpose-Driven Life!-- This Monday is Day 8! We have a few books left in the office if you're interested in joining in and catching up!


Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.
Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons
Dinner Napkins
Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates
Dessert Plates


Pray For:
Norma Capone

Those kidnapped girls, their families, their captors, the country of Nigeria, and the human brokenness that allows such travesties to occur

For Steve Hayner, the president of Columbia Seminary and one of the best men I know.


Links


How Heaven is for Real portrays American religion




Keith's Random Thoughts

I am not a farmer. I have never lived on a farm, though we did have a garden growing up. (Technically, the garden is still there. If you want anything other than poison ivy, however, I'd recommend gleaning elsewhere.) I suspect that most of America shares this in common with me, although I know many folks who have grown up on farms.
The point is this—many of Jesus' agrarian metaphors are lost on us. I was thinking about this yesterday while listening to Albert Mohler's interview with Stan Hauerwas. (You can listen to it here)
Jesus constantly talked in agrarian language, and partly this was because he was in the midst of an agrarian world. If he walked and talked among us today, I imagine many of his parables would be different. (I'm not entirely sure that the 'pearl of great value' would be replaced by 'an expensive smartphone')
But maybe they wouldn't be.
See, farming is hard work. It's also slow, patient work. It's work that doesn't pay a lot of immediate dividends. No one plants a seed and then plans a harvest party for the next day. Well, no smart person does that. Instead, the diligent farmer plants a seed and then spends months weeding, pruning, watering, watching and waiting. It's a long, slow process that depends on a lot of things beyond our control. Farming requires faith that a seed will germinate, burst forth from its tomb. It requires rain and sunshine. It requires a miracle to transform a seed into eventual bounty. It takes time. While there are many small celebrations throughout the season, when it rains or when a plant flowers, the truest and best celebration is reserved for the final harvest.
In the same way, the faithful life isn't necessarily a triumphant one of continual celebration. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of unglamorous labor, a lot of non-triumphant work. It's a lot of weedy and watering, neither of which are particularly sexy. But they are necessary, and they pay enormous dividends at the end of the season, when the God of the universe invites us in to an enormous harvest party, thrown by him.
So discipleship is a way of life, one that calls for patient endurance and small acts of selfless love. It's not necessarily triumphant. It's not always glamorous.
But it's faithful, day in and day out, to the call, and it's trusting in the God who will one day throw a party larger and more generous than we can imagine.
So let's keep working, day after day, and trust in the God who calls you deeper into life.



Text for this Sunday (Click on Link below to read)





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