Sunday Worship Preview - October 20

Sunday, October 20 - (9:00 & 10:30 Services); Wednesday, October 23  (6:30 pm Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Sermon - "Give Till It Feels Good"

Features - 22nd Sunday After Pentecost & 6th Sunday of Church-Wide 40 Day "Committed to Christ" Focus

Scripture - Deuteronomy 14:22-29 & Luke 21:1-4

Theme - If we want to be committed to Christ,there are six vital areas in which we need to give our time and focus. Each of these areas will help us to become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. One of these areas is in our commitment to financial giving.

Churches Helping Churches - A Thank You Letter

Thanks to a generous memorial gift, our church added an electronic sign at our Crossroads ministry center on West Fair Avenue. We donated the previous message board to Hockingport United Methodist Church which was in need of this type of sign for their church facility.

Here is a thank you letter to our church from the wonderful people at Hockingport UMC. The message on their new sign was a creative way of thanking us!

We would like to thank the members of your church for giving us your announcement board sign which you got your new digital one.

Our church is very small and therefore don't have a lot of extra money to purchase things like this. We had been using an old sign that we had for years to announce activities going on in our fellowship hall and it was getting in bad shape.

We have heard many comments and compliments from members of the community on how nice it looks. Again, thank you so much for this very generous gift and may God bless you all!

Dave's Deep Thoughts - A Faith Lesson for Type A Personalities

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.

Now I am all for bargains,

but some days you get more than you bargain for.

It was an 8am doctor appointment on a Wednesday in late May.

A few days earlier, I had noticed that my left leg

from the knee down had begun to swell.

I had gone to a local urgent care facility to have it examined.

Because they couldn't immediately ascertain the type of infection,

they gave me a general antibiotic and drained some fluid from the knee

 to see what type of infection was causing the inflamation.

They scheduled a follow-up appointment.

When I arrived at the 8am appointment 3 days later,

I fully expected them to indentify the bacteria,

 hand me the appropriate antibiotic,

tap me on the head,

and send me home for milk and cookies.

Instead I got......

"You're going to the hospital."

I immediately let them know that that was not possible.

Late May is a very busy time for me at my work,

as I am deeply involved in getting several summer ministries started.

A trip to the hospital was neither convenient nor practical.

The response was quick....

"If you want to keep your leg, you are going to the hospital!"

There aren't too many words that stop type A personalities in their tracks,

but words like "amputation" & "prosthetics"  just might do it.

Confident that he had me at checkmate,

the doctor gave me two hours to pack,

take care of loose ends, and arrive at the hospital.

Two hours later, this Type A pastor

arrived at the local hospital

armed with lap top, spread sheets, and flash drives.

They might be taking me down

but I was determined to get my work done while doing so.

I put on the obligatory

hospital gown of embarrassment

fully aware of what was coming next.....

the poking/prodding session.

Let me say this about poking and prodding.

Nothing is left to chance.

NOTHING.

If I thought I was thorough in my work,

I was about to meet my match in Nurse No-Nonsense.

She marched into the room armed

with thermometers, blood pressure monitors

and a few unknown tools that immediately struck the fear of God into my heart.

If I was type A, she was Type AAA.

It was revival time

and Nurse No-Nonsense was determined to cast out whatever affliction she could find

in the name of science.

Soonafter, the doctor arrived,

and the interogation began.....

Every childhood disease was scrutinized,

every family member's medical history was brought into question,

every medical procedure, every vaccination was investigated

They wanted information

and I just wanted an intravenous  antibiotic drip.

But what I got was a trip, not a drip....

a trip on a guerney to someplace deep within the bowels of the hospital.

They started talking about possible blood clots.....

 and that meant a trip to the sonogram room.

This day was getting more complicated by the minute.

Six hours earlier,

I was intent on getting some pills and getting back to work,

but instead, I was now in a dark room with a guy named Jacque and a hot oil massage.

To this day, I have no idea what a hot oil leg massage

has to do with finding blood clots,

but all I can say is that sometimes life takes you to some very strange places.

Type A personalities like to be in charge

and  be in control of their environment and their lives.

Type A people do not like poking, prodding, and surprise hot oil massages.

Three hours later,

I got my I V drip and within hours, my leg showed improvement.

After a one night stay, I was home once again.

Life is full of twists and turns.

You can't be sure what each day will bring.

As a Christian, I am sure though, who walks with me through each day.

My issue isn't trusting that Jesus is with me.......

it is in trusting that He knows better how to use my day than He does.

I know that sounds arrogant

but that is the challenge for me and likely, other type A people.

Lesson learned.

Somehow, the world still turned with me in the hospital overnight.

Somehow, the summer ministries were able to start on time.

Somehow, life still went on.

It's a humbling lesson.

We aren't as important as we think.

We aren't as needed as we think we might be.

And yet, it is God that gives us our importance and purpose,

and it has nothing to do with our personality type, abilities, or job position.

                                                           

                                        Sometimes we get more than we bargained for in a day.

                  But the real bargain is the One who will carry us through the day, if only we allow Him.

        

                                              And that is what I learned in the hospital. 

    

                                             Oh, I learned one other thing in the hospital.

        Never  ever get into untreated pool water to fix a leak.

Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another,

for God is opposed to the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.

                                       I Peter 5:6b

Upcoming Sunday Scripture Commentary (October 6)

October 6 Sermon – “It’s a Privilege to be Here!”

Hebrews 10:19-25

The author of the Letter of Hebrews wants us to see that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Jewish expectation of a coming High Priest who will save us from our sins. In our passage for today, the author highlights the importance of gathering on a regular basis for worship and encouragement.

Verse 22 is what we are invited to do based on everything that has been shared to this point in the Letter of Hebrews – worship! “Drawing near” is another way of saying, “come to worship!”

How should we come to worship?

1) True Heart –  This reminds us of Jeremiah 31:33.

2) Complete assurance of faith – We don’t have to come up with faith. It’s provided for us through Jesus Christ and what he has done for us through his life, death, and resurrection.

3) Hearts sprinkled clean – This means forgiveness!

4) Bodies washed in pure water – A reference to baptism and how we have been initiated into God’s new covenant community in Christ.

Verse 25 – There is no such thing as “solo Christianity.” We need each other. Worship has a communal dimension.

Luke 19:45-48

In our Gospel reading, Luke tells us of the time when Jesus cleansed the Temple from the corrupt money changers. The Temple was the central place of worship for the Jewish people. Jesus' actions show how important our gathering for worship is to God.

Jesus was not only reacting to the corrupt money changers of the Temple. He was also making a symbolic protest against the ideology that the Temple had come to represent which was a nationalistic belief that the people of Israel were more special than anyone else. They had forgotten that they were to be a light to the world and not unto themselves.

When Jesus entered into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that God would one day enter the holy city and bring salvation. Jesus embodied this prophecy. This text helps us to understand that Jesus was the embodiment of God.

The Right Scripture at the Right Time

[View from the top of a mountain in Central Pennsylvania where my dad went deer hunting every year.]

As the sun was rising above the beautiful mountain range in Central Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, I randomly opened the bible to begin my day. It opened to Psalm 125 which had these very appropriate words for my geographical setting, As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time on and for evermore.

I like to spend time at the mountains. It’s where dad took me deer hunting and where our family enjoyed summer vacations. This area is filled with God’s beauty. The early morning mountain fog, the beautiful and well kept farms, and the nearby State Park with a crystal clear lake shape my childhood memories.

That morning, when I read that bible verse about the mountains, a smile came to my face. God really does provide the right scriptures at the right time for us. As I read that verse and took in the beauty of the sun rising above the mountains, I was reminded of God’s protection and presence in my life.

We are in the middle of our church-wide “Committed to Christ: Six Key Steps to a Generous Life. The steps include prayer, bible reading, worship attendance, witnessing, financial giving, and serving. When we make a commitment to make these six steps a priority in our lives we become more aware of God’s presence.

I’m so glad that I opened the bible to Psalm 125 that morning in the mountains because God had a special message for me that day. May God bless each of you as we continue our “Committed to Christ” journey together.

Sermon (September 29) - "Have You Read It for Yourself?"

   

     During these Sundays in September and October, we are focusing on the key disciplines that every Christian needs to practice in order to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, we talked about the importance of prayer and many of us made personal commitments in having a deeper prayer life. Today’s discipline of reading the bible is just as important.

     Many of us heard about or watched “The Bible Miniseries” on the History Channel. The first episode of that series attracted 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest entertainment broadcast of 2013. These incredible TV ratings show that the American public is interested in the Bible.

     The American Bible Society’s 2013 survey on what Americans think about the bible offers us some very positive signs. I want to share two parts of that survey with you this morning.

     As you look at the first survey, you’ll notice that 88% of Americans say that they own a bible. That’s a very high percentage.

     Notice that 80% of the people say that the bible is sacred. That’s also a pretty high percentage.

     And this is a very interesting statistic. 61% of people wish to read the bible more.  That’s encouraging. I was thinking that this percentage would be a lot smaller. Knowing that most of us want to read the bible more shows that people have a healthy curiosity about this ancient book.

     

     Here’s a second survey that I want to show you, also from The American Bible Study this year. This survey focuses on the Mosaic generation which would be ages 18 to 28. Notice how this younger generation scores higher than average on these particular topics about the bible.

     Now, some of the topics, you can understand why they would score higher such as parenting and dating and relationships. But notice this generation’s higher than average interest in topics such as dealing with illness/death and addressing family conflict.

     I really shouldn’t be too surprised by the results of this recent survey because the bible speaks to every area of our lives. It helps us to see that the questions we have about life and death and human interactions can be found in the pages of this holy book.

     The problem for most people isn’t that they see the bible as irrelevant. The problem is that we just don’t make reading the bible a priority in our day to day living. And that’s the reason for our focus on this very important topic. By the end of our time together today, my hope is that many of us will make a commitment to read the bible on a more consistent basis.

     One of the major challenges as to why people do not read the bible is that they find it very difficult to understand. It appears to be a very intimidating and complicated book. I totally get why people feel this way about the bible because in many ways, it is.  But that doesn’t mean that we can’t overcome some of those initial impressions.

     If we think of the bible as a compelling story from beginning to end, it might help us to read it for all it’s worth. Here’s the incredible thing about the bible – Even though it was written over a span of a thousand years, by many different authors, and written in three different languages; Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the bible displays an incredible continuity in telling the hope-filled story of God’s desire to rescue the world from sin and death.

     If it helps any, I like to describe the plot of the bible’s storyline by using five “C’s.”

     The first “C” is Creation. In the beginning of the bible, we are told that God created the world and all that is in it and called it good. How’s that for a positive beginning to the greatest story ever told?! A loving God created this world and called it good.

     The second “C” is Corruption. Not too long after God created humanity, we messed it up by sinning against God and that’s why we live in a world that is filled with sin and death. And as we know, sin leads to all kinds of negative consequences and despair.

     The third “C” is Covenant. Thank goodness, that the bible doesn’t end with the second “C” of corruption or that would be a very sad and tragic ending to the biblical story. Since God is a loving God and created this world and called it good, God is bound and determined to defeat sin and death once and for all. To do this, God makes a covenant or an agreement with Abraham and later with the people of Israel. It is through this covenant that God will save and rescue the world from sin and death.

     The only problem with this part of the biblical story is that God’s people were not always faithful in living out their covenant with God. Sometimes, they would obey God and experience blessings, and other times they would break their covenant and suffer the consequences.

     Reading this part of the bible is very frustrating because just when you think that the people of God are going to finally make it, they disobey God and things unravel again.  And yet, as we read these biblical stories, we can see ourselves in these stories. We can identify with those times when we are living according to God’s designs and purposes, but we can also identify with those times when we fail to be the people God has called us to be.

     And this leads us to the fourth “C” of the biblical story. Christ. Since God’s people were not able to live out their end of the covenant, God sent Jesus Christ to do what we were unable to do for ourselves. When Jesus was dying on the cross and said, “It is finished,” he was basically saying, “I have fulfilled the covenant that God made to rescue the world from sin and death.” And when Jesus rose again from the tomb with a new body, a resurrected body that would never die again, he was giving us an advance sign of God’s new creation when we all of God’s people will be made new again.

     And this leads us to the fifth and final “C” of the biblical story, consummation.  Even though Jesus fulfilled God’s covenant and defeated the power of sin and death, we still live in a world that is filled with pain, brokenness, and sin. Jesus has already won the victory but we still await that time in the future when Jesus will return and heaven and earth will become one.

     This final “C” of consummation is the spoiler alert part of the biblical story. This is where the plot was heading all along when God will make all things new.

     And at the very end of the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, we are told that when this time comes which is the ultimate Christian hope, death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away. All of God’s people will be reunited in worship and praise and we will feast at a great heavenly banquet.

     But until that time of final consummation, God has sent us the Holy Spirit to empower and equip us to be the people God has called us to be. We, the committed followers of Jesus Christ, the church, are called to share this good news with our community and world through both word and deed. That’s why we exist as the church, to share the good news of Christ and offer God’s healing love to every situation we encounter.

     So, in just these past couple of minutes, we heard the main storyline of the bible by thinking about the five “C’s” – Creation, Corruption, Covenant, Christ, and Consummation. And whenever you read the bible, it’s good to keep these five “C’s” in mind because these five “C’s” are interwoven throughout the bible.

     They set the overall context of any particular scripture passage you may be reading at the time. These five “C’s” remind us of where we are located in the larger biblical story. They help us to not be intimidated by this ancient writing consisting of sixty-six books since there is a riveting plot line from the Book of Genesis and all of the way to the Book of Revelation.

     The second challenge for us is to make reading the bible a priority in our lives. While it’s easy to say that we believe the bible is an important book, we sometimes just don’t make the time to read it on a consistent basis for ourselves.

     The good news is that there are a number of modern bible translations that make the bible easier to read. The translation that we use here in worship, The New Revised Standard Version is an excellent modern translation. The important thing is to have your own personal bible, one that you can read and understand.

     We’re all busy people, so it’s important to have a routine where we read the bible on a consistent basis. The more of the bible we read, the more we will open ourselves to what God wants to say to us. Sometimes God has a comforting and reassuring word for us. Other times, God wants to challenge us or help us to see things in a new way. When we read the bible, it’s always good to pray, “Lord, help me to hear what you are saying to me today as I read your Word.”

     The Upper Room bible reading devotional is a great resource to read the bible on a daily basis. Each day contains a scripture passage, a brief story connected to the reading, and a concluding prayer focus and thought for the day.

     You may want to simply choose a book in the bible like the Gospel of Mark and read a chapter a day. Or you may want to make it a routine to read the scripture lessons we will be using for the upcoming Sunday in worship. There are many ways to read the bible on a consistent basis.

     I continue to be amazed at how the several biblical authors over the course of several centuries were able to add their parts to the unfolding drama of God’s salvation history and how it all fits together.  It’s just remarkable. And we get to read this book and allow it to guide us and give us hope in our day to day living.

     No wonder the Apostle Paul instructed young Timothy with these words from our scripture reading this morning – “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

     Tim Binkley, a member of our church loves to read and study the bible. Let’s watch this video of Tim sharing what the bible means to him.

           I invite us to turn to our commitment slip that is in your bulletin. It’s on reading the bible and you can see the various commitments that are listed there. I’m going to read these possible responses.

·       No, I am not ready to make a commitment today.

·       No, I am not ready to start, but I want to with all my heart.

·       Yes, I will read the Bible sometimes.

·       Yes, I will read the Bible frequently.

·       Yes, I will read the Bible on a daily schedule…and I am ready for a structured plan of Bible reading. (Check a plan below)

___The Upper Room Devotional (print copy & online)

___Read scripture readings for upcoming Sunday worship

___Read a book from the Old Testament

___Read a book from the New Testament

___ Other Plan

·       Yes, I will sign up for a weekly small group/bible study

·       Yes, I will attend a weekly Sunday School class

·       Reading the Bible will be a priority in my life, growing to include the following:

     I will strive for my daily life to reflect the teachings of the Bible. I will surround my family and friends with Scripture. Through reading the Bible, I will find strength, power, and direction to face the week.

      As you complete your commitment slip, remember to complete both sides of the slip. You’ll need to tear off where you see the dotted line. Keep the left side of the slip and we are invited to place the rights side of the slip in one of the covenant baskets nearest you. There are baskets down front here and there are baskets up in the balcony.

     I want you to know that we will give these commitments utmost care. We’ll have somebody who is very trustworthy collect these just so that we can be aware of the commitments that are being made today.

     I think we’re ready. May God bless you during this sacred time of commitment.

Sunday Worship Preview - October 13

Sunday, October 13 - (9:00, & 10:30 Services) & Wednesday, October 16  (6:30 pm Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Sermon - "You Shall Be My Witnesses"

Features - 21st Sunday After Pentecost & 5th Sunday of Church-Wide 40 Day "Committed to Christ" Focus

Scripture - Colossians 4:5-6 & Matthew 28:19-20

Theme - If we want to be committed to Christ,there are six vital areas in which we need to give our time and focus. Each of these areas will help us to become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. One of these areas is in our commitment to witnessing and sharing our faith.