Cathy and I are leaving Wednesday for Canton to help my dad move some of his furniture into his new room and get his house ready to sell.  I also have a search team meeting for interviewing candidates for the Executive Director position.  Thank you for remembering us in your prayers for safe travels & wisdom for decisions.  We return Wednesday the 22^nd.

The story I shared with you Sunday about the 26 angels may be fake (at least according to Snopes.)  I’ve had that story, and many like it, in my files for years.  I do believe people have seen angels acting as guards providing protection for God’s people. I apologize for not researching that more thoroughly.

I want to encourage you to keep reading the Bible for 21 days each day.  If you aren’t having a regular “quiet time,” do so in the Gospel of John.  The reading should be John 9 today.

Men & boys, I encourage you to stay after church next Sunday for a chili lunch, watch some football, play cornhole and enjoy talking with some other men.  You’ll deepen existing relationships or make a new friend!  Any questions, talk to John Schmutte.

Betty Hudgins is in Memorial Regional Hospital today for tests.  She is in room 143.

Barna and other researchers show that Christianity is waning in America, declining in numbers and influence.  That is the reality we must deal with.

The Church in America has worked hard to be “relevant” to an unbelieving culture, and in my opinion, compromised.  Or we have excluded ourselves into our own “Christian ghettos.”  We have our publishing houses, colleges, schools, music, movies, conferences, etc.  It worked well for a time.  I believe the Christian bubble is bursting.  

The world then attacks Christianity as “not relevant” and we fire back with conspiracy theories and political hatred.  We have hoped too much in politicians, political parties and greed theology that would take us to the Promised Land.

We don’t need to fear a godless future or yearn for our long idealized Christian past.  We have Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is in our midst!  The Church is at its best and most appealing self when it is pouring itself out for others, both within its walls and outside.

The Church is for Christians, not unbelievers.  We gather to worship, to equip, to empower, to direct our people to go into the world and be the hands & feet of Jesus.  Then, when outsiders come into the Church, they are welcomed, loved, and inspired by our godly lives of love. This is the Church we want and strive for, full of love and service. The Church becomes contagious and the old way of Church unnecessary.

We don’t save America by being angrier or by isolating, but serving in love.

I hope you are in the Word as the new year begins. 21 days to form new habits! There is also a year-round Bible plan in the foyer.

Men and boys – join us in the gym Sunday, January 15th for chili and football. Let’s build friendships!

Temple Litton was a regular attender before Covid. She hasn’t returned, but misses everyone and is doing well.

We are making improvements in our facility. You’ll notice them in the upcoming weeks!

Pastor Ed

Please pray for Betty Hudgins, who is at St. Mary’s with a possible stroke.

Beginning on January 1^st, we are offering you a 21-day challenge.  Psychologists say it takes 21 days to break a habit and establish a new one.  Part of the challenge is for those who do not have a consistent daily quiet time.  You’ll be asked to read a chapter in John’s gospel per day for 21 days.  Don’t just quickly read the chapter, read it slowly.  Meditate on it.  Ask the Holy Spirit to bring a fresh word from it to you.  Abide in Him.

Those who have a regular quiet time can still do the reading, but you may want to refrain from something you’d like to eliminate in your life.  Or, refrain from a good thing for 21 days for the purpose of focused prayer.  There is much to pray about.

Another possibility is to view a RightNow Media video series by Dallas Willard called Hearing God.  I’ve found this to be helpful.  If you are not on RightNow Media, contact Linda in the church office and she will help you set it up.  HERE is the link for the Willard series.

We want you to have solid spiritual growth habits in 2023.  We hope you will participate in these exercises.

Cathy & I enjoyed watching a 6-part (about 25 minutes each) teaching/dramatization by Kyle Idelman called “The Christmas Experience.”  I think you’ll enjoy it.  You can view it on RightNow Media by clicking HERE.

Beginning on January 1^st, we are offering you a 21 day challenge.  Psychologists say it takes 21 days to break a habit and establish a new one.  Part of the challenge is for those who do not have a consistent daily quiet time.  You’ll be asked to read a chapter in John’s gospel per day for 21 days.  Don’t just quickly read the chapter, read it slowly.  Meditate on it.  Ask the Holy Spirit to bring a fresh word from it to you.  Abide in Him.

Those who have a regular quiet time can still do the reading, but you may want to refrain from something you’d like to eliminate in your life.  Or, refrain from a good thing for 21 days for the purpose of focused prayer.  There is much to pray about.

Another possibility is to view a RightNow Media video series by Dallas Willard called Hearing God.  I’ve found this to be helpful.  If you are not on RightNow Media, contact Linda in the church office and she will help you set it up.  HERE is the link for the Willard series.

We want you to have solid spiritual growth habits in 2023.  We hope you will participate in these exercises.

Pastor Ed

               I’m really looking forward to celebrating the burning of our mortgage this Sunday during the worship service.  I’ve invited three community leaders who were instrumental in helping us achieve that goal.  We’re having our monthly covered dish dinner following and then the congregational business meeting.  I hope you will attend!

               Be sure to check the “Christmas mailbox” this holiday season.  More than likely there will be a card in there for you.  Cathy & I have written a message on each of our cards for you.  We love you all!

Pastor Ed

We had a nice group of about 25 people praying for the election and for revival in America.  Keep praying!

I also want to encourage you to vote.  Chuck Colson, former special assistant to the President, reminded us: “It is our duty, as citizens of the society we live in.  To do that, we must vote.  Christians are citizens of two kingdoms:  The kingdom of this world and the eternal Kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13-14; Hebrews 12:28.)

Vote for character, morals, values like life, marriage between a biological male and female and religious liberty.  Be informed!  Consider being involved at the local level.

I have more I want to say to you about maintaining unity in the church.  These thoughts are spurred on by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together.”

It can be easy to become discouraged by the gap between the ideal in your mind on what church “should be” and the real.  You must love Christ’s Church in spite of its imperfections.  Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is immaturity.  On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency.  Maturity is living with the tension.

Believers are going to disappoint & let you down, but that’s no reason to stop fellowshipping with them.  They’re family, even when they don’t act like it.  You don’t walk out on family.

People become disillusioned with the church for many reasons:  conflict, hurt, hypocrisy, neglect, pettiness, gossip, legalism and more.  Rather than being shocked & surprised, remember the church is made up of real sinners, including ourselves.  Because we’re sinners, we hurt each other, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally.  But instead of leaving the church, we stay and work it out if at all possible.  Reconciliation, not running away, builds strong character & deepens fellowship.

Divorcing the church at the first signs of disappointment is a mark of immaturity.  God has things He wants to teach you & others.  Besides, there is no “perfect” church to go to.  Every church has weaknesses and problems.  You’ll soon be disappointed again.

Groucho Marx was famous for saying he wouldn’t belong to a church that would let him join!  If a church must be perfect to satisfy you, that church’s perfection would exclude you because you’re not perfect either!

Every church could put out a sign saying “No perfect people need apply.”  The Church is only for those who admit they are sinners, need grace, and want to grow.

To quote Bonhoeffer:  “He who loves his dream of community more than the community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter…  If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness in faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we keep complaining that everything is paltry and petty, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow.”

We had a touching Celebration of Life for Penny Huizinga’s homecoming on Saturday.  Here are Maureen’s words about her daughter.

“It seems reasonable to start at the beginning of Pen’s story.  Before she was our daughter, she was God’s gift to another couple in another country.  Her mom and I both waddled our ways into December of 2000, full of baby belly and dreams for our little girls.  Would she arrive before Christmas?  Who would she look like?  Would her name fit her?  Who would she grow to be?  A thousand dreams and prayers were probably had.  While I would continue to waddle along right through the holidays, Pen’s first mother brought her baby girl into the world on the 20th day of December and exited it herself the same day.  It was likely apparent that the tragedy that took her mother didn’t spare Pen, and her father placed her into the care of the state who promised to meet all of her needs.  Nearly 13 years went by.  Her orphanage provided less than even the absolute bare minimum, but defying the evil of this world, our girl survived.  Hidden away, nothing should have changed, ever, until her tiny body caved to the intolerable conditions.  But God.  In a series of events that only He could orchestrate, our hidden treasure and so many others were discovered and covered by prayers, found families who would cross an ocean to bring them home and shower them with love.  We knew, collectively and individually, that we’d never love that place away nor could we fully undo the harm that was done.  But we were resolved to love our girl without placing expectations on her.  Only the confidence that He who began a good work in her would faithfully continue it.  So, with prayer and arguably a certain amount of blissful ignorance on board, we brought a 20 lb. virtual twin daughter home, and began the hardest, most beautiful journey.  Our journey as a family was as inexplicable by earthly standard as those first 13 hidden years.  We watched a tiny girl bloom into a curious little girl, then a sassy teen, and into a tender young lady who loved her pets, her music, babies, and her family with a devotion I could only dream of having.  We watched her develop communication skills and charm every nurse, tech, physician, and therapist she ever met.  She fought back against multiple conditions that threatened her life and inspired others to support the care and hospital that helped her live WELL.  Most of all, she radiated the light of Christ, beautiful, grace-filled, and miraculous.  A good work completed indeed.  And then, God in His perfect way, called our baby girl home. Our beautiful girl’s life was never without challenges, and even with the miracles we saw manifested, her body bore the brunt of Cerebral Palsy, epilepsy, and chronic lung damage.  Numbered days are the truth of all our lives, but no amount of knowledge, right doctrine, nor understanding keeps your heart from shattering when you must say goodbye.  Her greatest day, entering into glory, to praise the Lord whole and healed, was the hardest day of my life.  Praise God-the God who understands the pain of saying goodbye to His child, for His peace.  There isn’t a neat & pretty ending I have to offer.  The loss of a child is beyond comprehension.  Grief floods in and over you like a tidal wave.  Existing hurts.  Explaining hurts.  Beating back against the enemy’s whispers that if I had done more, done it better, prayed more, or tried harder this wouldn’t have happened exhausts you-body, mind, and soul.  God’s goodness doesn’t negate the pain of her absence, the soul crushing grief of seeing the empty space where her bed was, where her chair should be, where SHE should be.  The pain is real; the mercy of Christ is in the hope; the ability to withstand this knowing that I will see her again.  The hope is real, and it is what I cling to.  Trust.  Believe.  And what I pray for you.  Trust the Savior who will make all things new.  Then love–love with unfiltered joy.  Pet kittens.  Get puppy kisses and play the music louder than you should.  Cross oceans and take big risks that don’t make sense to the world.  It won’t be safe; it will probably break your heart.  But remember:”

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.   But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.. James 1:2-4

Please be in prayer for Paul Rodgers, son of Richard and Dimetra, as he is having hernia surgery Tuesday morning.

Cathy and I will be heading up to Canton this weekend for the Leadership Development Team meetings.  Thank you for your prayers & we’ll be praying for you.

In Sunday’s sermon, I mentioned the belief system of many American teenagers.  I’d say it’s not just that age group, but many Americans of all ages.  Read that quote again to make sure you haven’t slipped into that kind of thinking.

Researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina interviewed more than 3,000 teenagers about their religious beliefs and have released findings in a new book.  The social scientists concluded that American teenagers believe:

– A god exists who created the world and watches over human life.

– God wants people to be nice to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

– The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.

– God does not need to be involved in one’s life except when needed to resolve a problem.

– Good people go to heaven when they die.

Commenting on the research, Gene Edward Veith writes, “Even these secular researchers recognized that this creed is a far cry from Christianity, with no place for sin, judgment, salvation, or Christ.  Instead, most teenagers believe in a combination of works righteousness, religion as a psychological well-being, and a distant, non-interfering god.  Or, to use a technical term, ‘Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.’”

Men and older children, you’re welcome to come to the shoot/eat/fish event this Saturday from 10-5 at David Vaughan’s house, 2198 Old Church Road in Old Church.  If you’d like to go from the church, meet there by 9:45.  Bring some cash to donate for lunch & ammo costs.