Sunday’s Video
Posted by calebnei - 19/11/09 at 11:11:00 pmOn Sunday Pastor Mike was sick so we showed a video by David Barton on the faith of America’s Founding Fathers. It’s a great time to watch this given the topic of our annual drama.
For those of you who didn’t get to watch it or want to see it again here it is:
http://www.intouch.org/site/c.cnKBIPNuEoG/b.5301095/
Testimony
Posted by calebnei - 22/10/09 at 08:10:35 pmA few weeks back we had an open-mic service. No sermon, just a microphone and a bunch of people taking turns talking about what God has done for them. Angela wrote this poem:
Testimony
by
Angela Royse Pelleman
Dear God, I heard your voice this week.
You said it’s time for me to speak.
You said, “You shall not be afraid.
Think of the new life I’ve made.
Tell what my son’s done for you.
Tell them what you know is true,
That you’ve been changed from the inside;
It’s something that you shouldn’t hide.
I’ve saved you from your sinful past.
The pain and suffering doesn’t last.
I gave my son to set you free.
I’ve given you the best of me.
In the past there was abuse,
But I was always your good news.
You tried to cope another way,
And get through yet another day.
The choices that you made were wrong,
And in the end you still weren’t strong.
That’s why my Son did carry you.
The ‘Footprints in the Sand’, is true.
Satan pulled you down so deep,
That all you wanted was to sleep.
Then there was nothing left to do,
So you said, ‘God, I’ll follow you.’
You let me pull you from the pit,
And you got better bit by bit.
I gave you strength, so you could fight,
And you began to see my light.
The road was long, the going rough.
It seemed that life was just too tough.
My wisdom often went unheeded,
But I gave you the man you needed.
When you were sad, I gave you joys,
Not one, but two, amazing boys.
They kept you going through your pain,
And now I show you love again.
I’ve given you a baby girl,
A sweet surprise to light your world.
So give me praise, and wipe your tears.
I’ve just restored your wasted years.”
Light
Posted by calebnei - 01/09/09 at 10:09:30 amI watched a YouTube video of the first successful hydrogen bomb test in Britain.[1] On a scale of “bright things” I suppose you have things like the sun, welding torches, bald heads. But exploding bombs would be right up there.
On the video the soldiers talked about being there. This experimental bomb was detonated 8000 feet in the air 20 miles away. They were instructed to wear sunglasses and cover their eyes with their hands.
And then the explosion. It happened.
A flash of light so bright even covering your eyes with your hands couldn’t keep it out. The soldiers said they could see the bones in their hands as the light came right through the flesh.
That’s bright!
We know that the stuff of this earth is just a reflection of the glory of the God who created it all. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised then, that some of the angels in God’s presence have wings to cover their faces.[2]
Remember Moses on the mountain? He would talk with God, and his face would glow for days. Just a residual glow from being in the presence of such glory.[3]
Can you imagine? A light so bright it shows right through your hands?
The most amazing experiences of this earth should just remind us of a God who is even more great, more glorious, brighter and more brilliant.
[1] The First British Hydrogen Bomb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLFRIiflSgU
[2] Isaiah 6:1-3
[3] Exodus 34:29-35.
Devotional: He is Alive!
Posted by kenneth - 12/04/09 at 01:04:34 pmOn the Road to Calvary
This week we will explore a few of the many events that took place during the week prior to Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, the day we call Easter. Let us walk with Jesus as he walked those last steps of his life on the road to Calvary.
EASTER SUNDAY, April 12
Reading: John 20:1-9
The Empty Tomb
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Can you imagine hiding in fear for your very life? Grieving over the loss of the only hope you have ever known? Gone. How can you go on? What will you do? His love, truth, authority, power, protection, hope. All gone. This was Christ’s disciples. A shadow had fallen on their lives. Yet, we are no different than they. Our condition is dark. Despair, our master. The disciples did not know Jesus was alive. And even though we walk with Christ, we, too, sometimes live like we don’t know that Jesus is alive.
Into the dark tomb came the explosive power of Life, and death was banished forever. It no longer exists. That which held sin’s answer now holds God’s life. There is no fear. There is no sting. He, Jesus, is Alive! He destroyed the power of Death. He walked out of the grave into our lives to liberate us from that which held us in bondage. He is now Lord of all, and all things are under His feet! He is alive!
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. ~ Revelation 1:18
Prayer: Jesus, help me live in you as you live in me. Please let the power of your resurrection transform me even as it did your body. Amen.
Saturday: Silence Hidden
Posted by kenneth - 10/04/09 at 01:04:09 pmOn the Road to Calvary
This week we will explore a few of the many events that took place during the week prior to Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, the day we call Easter. Let us walk with Jesus as he walked those last steps of his life on the road to Calvary.
SATURDAY, April 11
Reading: John 12:23-25
(In the Gospels there is very little written about the days Jesus was in the tomb)
23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Devotional: Silence Hidden
Jesus was executed.
Travelers prepared to go home.
Hope was low.
The High Priest was smug.
The devil thought that he had won.
The Romans had squelched another potential rebellion.
The world, the flesh and the devil were in control.
In the ground lay the broken and dead seed, hidden from the sight of man, waiting for the power of God to conquer the sting of death and grant new life to His creation. In silence it lay hidden, and the world would never be the same again.
Our hope is not in what we see, but in what is promised.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
~ Colossians 3:3-4
Prayer: Jesus, create within me an excited expectation for the power of God to regenerate new life in me where death once reigned. Amen.
Friday: Jesus Walks Ahead Alone
Posted by kenneth - 09/04/09 at 01:04:29 pmOn the Road to Calvary
This week we will explore a few of the many events that took place during the week prior to Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, the day we call Easter. Let us walk with Jesus as he walked those last steps of his life on the road to Calvary.
FRIDAY, April 10
Reading: John 19:28-42
The Death of Jesus
28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
The Burial of Jesus
38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Devotional: Jesus Walks Ahead Alone
Earlier, Jesus told his disciples he was going where they could not go. The crowds had left him. Even Peter denied him. Yet, Jesus knew this was the plan. There was to be only one perfect sacrifice, the second Adam.
Jesus was completely aware of the history of sin in mankind and its devastation and effect for thousands of years yet to come. His road was to be traveled alone. His earthly destiny would be led by men who had no understanding of who he was or his role in their redemption. God gave his son Jesus the Creator into the hands of the created, those now fallen, corrupted and full of death.
Arrested, mocked, beaten beyond recognition, humiliated, abandoned, falsely condemned, and nailed to a rough cruel cross, Jesus submitted himself to his Father’s plan. Then God placed the sin of all mankind on his only son, from the first sin of the first man Adam to the last sin to be committed by the last man on earth. The burden was so great that only a perfect sacrifice could bear it. And when, at the perfect time, Jesus gave up his spirit and died, Joseph of Arimathea laid his body in a tomb. And there he lay guarded.
Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, … Where I go, you cannot come.” ~ John 8:21
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for loving me so much that you did for me what I could not do, die for my sin. I love you, Jesus. Amen.
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