January - John 1:14
February - John 1:29-30 NKJV
March - John 3:36
April - John 4:23
May - John 4:24
June - John 5:24
July - John 6:35
August - John 7:37-38
September - John 8:31-32 NKJV
October - John 10:10
Novembeer - John 11:25-26
December - Genesis 50:20
Looking to 2024 (order TBD)
Psalm 19:1
Psalm 30:5
This is the draft liturgist list for CY 2023. It is based on previous service and responses to my recent queries. Please review and reply if you know now that date is not supportable or if someone was missed.
JANUARY
1 Ethan
Delp
8 Rick
Reeves
15 Kathy
Stegall
22 Kenzie
Delp
29 Desarae
Simmons
February
5 Garrett
Stegall
12 Danny Rush
19 Rick
Reeves
26
March
5 Sharman
Spence
12 Lori
Schneberger
19 Kendra
Walker
26 Luke
Schneberger
April
2 Lynn
Ferrari
9 Danny
Rush
16 Kenzie
Delp
23 Lori Schneberger
30 Elementary
Youth
May
7 Laci
Stegall
14 Kathy
Stegall
21 Rodney
Chilton
28 Gerald
Stegall
June
4 Danny
Rush
11 Faith
Schneberger
18
25 Avery
Simmons
July
2 Dylan
Walker
9 Gage
Stegall
16 Emma
Stegall
23 Gerald
Stegall
30 Kathy
Stegall
August
6 Garrett
Stegall
13 Elders
20 Lynn
Ferrari
27 Desarae
Simmons
September
3 Rick
Reeves
10 Larry
Walker
17 Kylie
Denbo
24 Kaitlyn
Denbo
October
1 Dakota
Walker
8 Candace
Bond
15 Kristy
Denbo
22 Ethan
Delp
29 Rick
Reeves
5 Gage
Stegall
12 Dylan
Walker
19 Libby
Spence
26 Lynn
Ferrari
December
3 Ethan Delp
10 Garrett
Stegall
17 Kathy
Stegall
24 Young
Adult Sunday School Class
31 Rodney
Chilton
Read Genesis 5
We begin with the only authoritative genealogy
that will continue beyond the flood that would come. Before the genealogy, we
get a reminder that God created, and he created mankind to be special.
We are of
the earth like the other animals, but we are also of God. God breathed life into us.
This is
the written account of Adam’s family line.
When God
created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and
female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.
This is the
fourth creation account in Genesis. It
is not as substantial as the first
two. It is more like the third,
which is incidental to what followed.
There is a fifth
account. You know it. Some of you know it by memory.
In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was
with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made
But this
fifth chapter of Genesis takes us all
the way to Noah. When we get to
Noah, we will see a re-baselining of God’s creation. But we are not there yet.
It is
important that today we can follow the bloodline of Adam to Noah, and then to
Abraham, and then to Abraham’s seed that we know as Christ. From Christ going forward, it is his blood alone
that is important to us. Understanding
how God’s plan was fulfilled in the human bloodline to Christ is important, but
being washed in the blood of the Lamb is what leads us to right standing with
God.
Again, we
are in the fifth chapter of Genesis, but our understanding of the New Testament
helps us understand the beginning of the story.
It is our finite nature and our earthly mind that thinks we only
understand the new by the old. God is
not bound in linear time and his inspired word gives us the full biblical
witness.
The
bloodline of Adam was first told through Cain, who killed his brother Abel. We do not see the continuation of this
lineage. It will end with the
flood. What we do see is the
continuation of Adam’s bloodline through Seth’s descendants.
Within this
lineage is one very interesting exception to death entering the world through
Adam and Eve. Enoch lived 365 years,
enjoyed faithful fellowship with the Lord, and had a son named Methuselah—who lived
a very long time, but Enoch did not experience death. God took him from the earth without stopping
at death.
So, what
should we take from this chapter?
· Bloodlines are important, all the way
up to Christ. From our full biblical witness, we know that it is the blood of
Christ that moves us forward.
· Biblical authors, inspired by God,
preserved the stories of the bloodlines that would endure to the seed that would come
through Abraham’s line. Adam and Eve would have other children, but they
are not included in the story we have here.
· Sin was already wreaking havoc on the
world, but there were those who were still faithful. They may only be a small remnant, but there
were those who found favor with God on the earth. Enoch was the example in this
chapter. Noah in those to come.
· People lived a long time. God would limit that in
the next chapter.
From the
beginning, God spoke creation into existence, then took what was formless and
gave form to it. God brought order out
of chaos. These first chapters deal with
a lot of chaos, but God will bring order.
The line of Adam that goes through Abraham is the thread that will
continue to put order in the world.
God will
preserve a remnant of his creation. The evil that was prospering will be put
away. God’s relationship with mankind
will continue.
The full
biblical witness tells us that evil will again tempt God’s people, but God will
continue to make a way for his faithful.
So as this
chapter prepares for what is to come, let us consider where we have been.
God created.
God created good.
God gave form to the formless.
God created humankind special. We are of God and like the other creatures—we
are of the world. We are unique among
everything in creation.
Sin had manifested itself in disobedience to God. God gave
consequences.
Humankind made offerings to God. God was pleased with one of these offerings.
Man has manifested anger and again given sin a foothold.
Sin continued in Cain killing Abel. God gave consequences for
this action but did not disown Cain.
Humankind had language, literature, tools, abodes, and grew
crops and raised herds.
These were not mere cavemen who grunted and waved clubs. From the beginning humankind was special.
Sin continued.
Adam was blessed with a lineage that would continue through
Seth and eventually bring us the Christ.
Adam had other children but the story of God’s relationship
with humankind will continue through Seth’s line.
Enoch marked the exception to death entering the world
through Adam and Even. All of these
people—except Enoch—who lived a long time, eventually died.
It has not yet rained on the earth.
We are introduced to a man named Noah. He had kids when he
500. He was the father of three sons.
After Noah
was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.
We should
realize that we have the Old Testament to better understand the New Testament;
however, we who see the full
biblical witness know that the converse is also true. We have the New
Testament to help us understand the Old Testament and better understand a God
who is not confined to linear time as we are.
Our full
biblical witness will tell us that the story that gets us to Jesus and
salvation and the fulness of life and life eternal, and it comes through a
selected line and there will be adversity along the way. Trials and tribulations will continue into our
time. Sin continues into our time. Some
of us may or may not know what we call the Great Tribulation, but all will know
some tribulation in our lives.
Many hope to
be taken directly to heaven as was Enoch and those who will be living at the
time of Christ’s return. We all hope
that the Burns Flat Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Church in Philadelphia—that
we read about near the end of the age—share much in common, being saved from an
hour of trial.
But we also
hope to bear witness to the one true God and his Son that we know as Christ
Jesus, our Lord and our Savior and our hope.
We hope to live a life full of testimonies of how we have overcome all
the obstacles and stumbling blocks set before us without becoming a stumbling
block ourselves.
We want to
be known as followers of Christ Jesus by our love. If that means that the world hates us, then
so be it. We know whom we serve, whom we
follow, and whom we trust.
The line
from Adam to Christ does not walk along the Primrose path, but it is a line
that we will follow to our Savior.
Genesis won’t get us all the way there, but we will understand the early
part of this story that tells of God’s relationship to the crown of his
creation.
A flood is
coming, but we will see those who are rescued from the destruction continue the
story.
Amen.
Good Morning! Today we begin with the Marine Corps Daily 7. These are 4-count exercises. I will count the cadence. You will count the repititions. Your first exercise is:
Side
straddle Hop
Push Ups
Mountain
Climbers
Bend and
Thrust
And other
exercises that have changed over the years, generally to make sure all muscle
groups were targeted. They will surely
change again as the fitness gurus learn more, but this routine of seven
exercises most always preceded whatever fitness training was to follow—the
obstacle course, the confidence course, a 5-mile run, or a formation run in
boots with rifles.
It was the
traditional start to just about every workout.
What if we as Christians did something similar? What if we had a daily seven? What if there were 7 things that we did every
day. Maybe they wouldn’t always precede
the rest of the day, but we would consciously make sure they made it into every
day.
What would
be our daily 7? You could come up with
your own, but here’s a place to start.
They might change as we grow as believers, but this would be good for
the first year.
Proclaim the Good News (John 3:16-17)
Seek first God’s kingdom and his
righteousness (Matthew 6:33)
Study to show yourself approved (2 Timothy 2:15)
Be the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
Be a light unto the world Matthew (5:14-15)
Be known as Christ’s disciples by
your love (John 13:34-35)
Enjoy fellowship with God and each
other (1 John 1:3)
Read Genesis 4
Bob Seger has a song called Night
Moves. You can guess what it’s
about. In the song, there is one line
that goes like this.
Working on Mysteries without any clues. Working on our night moves.
What’s a Bob Seger song got to do with
Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the Garden?
These first two people that we learn about, learned how to work on
mysteries without any clues. These two
people made another person.
Eve noted it was with God’s help. They
named the kid Cain. I wonder if they
knew they were having a baby or if Adam just thought that Eve was putting on a few
pounds and knew not to say anything.
Did they even know to start picking out
names before the kid was born? Adam had
some naming experience. He named all the
animals and even gave his wife a name.
In any case, the kid was named Cain.
Sometime later, Eve gave birth to a
second son and they named him Abel.
We don’t get to see the terrible twos,
losing teeth, or even the preteen antics of these two boys. We see them as
men—likely young men. Cain was a farmer
and Abel worked the flocks.
Cain brought an offering—a minchah (מִ× ְ×—ָ×”)—of
the fruits of the field. Abel brought
fatty portions from his flocks. Why Abel
butchered animals when it seemed that Adam and Eve were vegetarians goes
unanswered. Perhaps that prohibition was
only for life in the garden.
In any case, God was pleased with
Abel’s offering but not with Cain’s. Why?
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they
had been told, “Don’t eat from that tree.”
They had a specific prohibition.
They had a Thou Shat Not!
We don’t see anything that precedes
the offerings of the two brothers. These
were offerings, likely not sacrifices to atone for sins. They were gifts, tributes, and presents.
One was acceptable. One was not.
And so, begins the course of theological discourse.
Some say that Cain’s gift was too
small. That it was a token
offering. That’s possible but not
directly supported.
Some say that for an offering to be
acceptable, there must be the shedding of blood. We are told that there is no
forgiveness without the shedding of blood, but the text does not say the
offering—sacrifice if you will—was for atonement. Anyway, we will later see
grain offerings prescribed when we get to the Law that came through Moses.
Some say that Cain’s attitude was not
right. We see his reaction to God not
finding favor in his gift, but we do not see what preceded the gift. If we give someone something that we think is
wonderful and they don’t like it, we don’t always have the best attitude when
our gift is rejected.
No one can argue that Cain’s reaction
was contrary to the ways of God, but we don’t really know why his gift was not
acceptable.
If we search our full biblical
witness, we find a single verse in Hebrews that offers some light. This epistle tells us that Abel’s offering
was given
in faith. We are not told that Cain’s
gift was bad, just that Abel’s was better. We had to venture a long way to find
this answer and would have loved to have received this explanation or at least
some explanation in the text of Genesis, but we are told in Hebrews that Abel
acted in faith.
So, what prompted Cain to make an
offering? Did he feel that he had to make one?
Was this an obligation or duty that Cain perceived? Was Cain not giving cheerfully?
The Lord loves a cheerful
giver. Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. Let each person give
as he has decided
in his heart.
We don’t see the reason that Cain’s
offering was not acceptable to the Lord in the text of Genesis. Perhaps the story of why it was not was
passed on orally for centuries only to be recorded in the New Testament Letter
to the Hebrews.
What we do see is Cain’s reaction to
not finding favor with God through his offering. It wasn’t pretty. Cain killed his brother. The term murder seems appropriate but the
word used in Genesis is not the same word used in the Commandments. It seems that this action was planned, but
that is our presumption—our inference; however, we don’t see scriptural
evidence of malice aforethought—mens rea in legal terms.
Before the killing or murder of Abel,
God asked Cain, why are you angry? Why
are you down and out? If you just do
what is right, everything will be good.
Adam and Eve had a single prohibitive
command. Don’t eat from that tree.
They disobeyed and there were consequences.
We don’t see any instructions for Cain
or Abel about making offerings. How did
they know what would please God and what would not?
What if they didn’t know? What if they just brought what they thought
they should bring?
One offering was acceptable and one
was not. The Lord looked with favor on Abel’s offering but not on Cain's. The scripture does not say that the Lord was
angry with Cain. His offering just fell
short of what God expected.
Now think about this. What if, Cain had a
teachable spirit? What if, Cain decided
to make his offering more like his brother’s? What if, Cain had tried again to
please God?
Look at your life as a child, including as a young man or woman. Did
your parents prescribe everything that you were to do or not to do?
It might have seemed like it at the
time, but it is more likely than not that you learned much from
experience. Trial and error has been a
learning tool for a long, long time.
The story is that Thomas Edison had
1000-3000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the lightbulb. This probably wasn’t even to invent the
lightbulb but to find a filament that would not burn out too quickly. Regardless of where you stand on Edison’s
invention or refinement of the lightbulb, and who got proper credit, there was
a lot of trial and error.
What if Cain, instead of deciding to
be angry at God or angry at his brother, decided to try once again to please
God with an offering? What if he gave it, one more try? Or two or three or a
thousand more?
What if Cain’s heart was set on
pleasing God and he kept on trying? But that is not the story we find in this
chapter.
Cain invited his brother to go for a
walk. It would be Abel’s last walk. Cain killed his brother. We like to say he
used a rock but that does not come from scripture.
Shakespeare’s
Hamlet might suggest Cain used a jawbone or this could just be a literary
analogy of the first murder citing it was Cain’s jawbone.
We don’t really know what weapon Cain
used. We do get a glimpse of his heart. When God questioned Cain, the world’s first killer
or murderer seemed to have no remorse.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is
your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
First Cain lied and then he gave God a
little attitude. “Am I my brother’s
keeper?”
The term murder implies that Cain
invited his brother on a walk for the purpose of killing him. We infer from the rest of the story that might
be the case.
In any case, Cain got booted out of
his home and went to a land called Nod.
That begs the question: “Who named this place?”
Cain took a wife and had kids. Again, it begs the question: “Where did his
wife come from?” Did Adam have a sister
wife or a side chick in Nod and had some kids over there? Where would she have come from?
Cain is destined to be a wanderer, but
he finds a place to settle down and a wife.
This brings us to the question of how
much we take literally in the creation accounts. We are told that God
created humankind, male and female alike, but we are not told that he created
two and only two humans.
Are Adam and Eve representative of the
entire creation? God put a whole bunch
of stars into the universe at the same time.
Perhaps, he populated the earth with many humans at the same time and
the story of humanity is told through Adam and Eve.
If you believe that Adam and Eve were
the only two humans that God created, then Cain’s wife becomes a source of cognitive
dissonance. Remember that the creation
accounts are faith statements. God
created. God created everything
good. God created life according to its
kind. God gave commands to multiply.
Genesis—especially the creation
accounts—are not science books and not a complete genealogy of every human. We
do get some genealogy, but it is of those through whom the story of God’s
relationship with humankind will be told.
Through this initial genealogy, we see
humankind introduced to tents, tools, and music. Ranchers join the farmers in this new world.
We also see Adam and Eve becoming
great, great grandparents. One of their offspring—Lamech took two wives. God commanded all creatures to multiply, but
he told humankind to fill the earth. Perhaps,
Lamech thought he could speed up the process.
I think that I might be getting a
Nobel prize for brilliance this year. It
takes one woman nine months to have a baby, but if you took nine women and got
them pregnant, on average, they would have one baby a month. I have not yet heard from the committee
concerning my Nobel Prize, but the year is not over.
In any case, Lamech doubled his
efforts to populate the world.
Next, we have a confession by Lamech
that he killed someone who
wounded him. The term is not murder. It’s the same term as when Cain killed
Abel and not the term used in
the prohibitive command used in Exodus
20. We don’t know who he killed.
The whole account is presented as a
short poem. It’s one that seems to mix
a confession with a boast. Lamech could
have killed this young man in combat or it could have been a misunderstanding
gone bad.
It would be almost three thousand
years before the Law given through Moses would establish sanctuary cities for
those in Lamech’s situation, but Lamech seemed unconcerned about needing a
place of refuge before the matter could be adjudged. He had confessed but thought
if God would avenge the murderer Cain, he would surely stand up for
Lamech even more.
If you watch enough Law and Order,
you know that the detectives seldom get the full story on the first go-round. Motives
and circumstances change after every commercial. If you made it this far in the
chapter, you probably have more questions than answers.
There is one more aspect that I mentioned
only briefly. This part of the story was
presented poetically. I doubt the
scribes in Babylon thought that they would spice up the reading with some
literary flair. They likely recorded a
poem that had been passed down for centuries.
Why is this of any significance? Adam and Eve and their descendants were not
cavemen. They didn’t grunt and wave
clubs to communicate. They had tents and
tools and practiced animal husbandry.
Add to that, they had a dose of poetry.
Language and literature tell us that there was an element of
intelligence, maturity, and even sophistication in early humankind.
The story shifts abruptly back to Adam
and Eve and we are told they had another kid.
These two are great, great, great, great, great grandparents but they
are having another kid. Imagine being 50
or 100 years old and finding out that this newborn kid is your uncle.
OBTW, the kid’s name was Seth. There
will be more about Seth’s children and their children in the next
chapter.
The chapter ends with the statement
that people began to call on the name of the Lord. If everyone had remained in
the garden, that would have been a no-brainer. But there were people to the
east of the garden—in the land of Nod and surely in places all around, but they
began to call upon the name of the Lord.
The story is told through a specific
genealogy, but people at large began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Where have we come in this chapter?
Cain killed his brother.
Cain is exiled but not destroyed.
Cain takes a wife and has children.
His children have children.
Those children have children.
We see tents and herds and tools and
music introduced to the world.
We see plural marriage.
We see the man with two wives killing
a younger man. Draw your own
conclusions.
We see people calling upon the name of
the Lord.
We see many aspects of the beginning
of this story of God’s creation. We
probably have more questions than answers. People have multiplied, killed each
other, and called upon the name of the Lord. Humankind continued to sin and some
of it began to seek the Lord. For those
of you who have been through Genesis a few times, you know that there will be
more sinning than seeking in what is to come.
In the next chapter, you will get a lot
of names and years and then more names and more years and then more names and
more years and finally, we will get to Noah.
While you are making your charts and family trees in next week’s
reading, think on this from chapter 4.
What if we had a teachable spirit?
What if we had a teachable
spirit? What if when we fell short, we
tried to do better?
What if we didn’t get angry with God
or with our brother or our sister? What
if we just tried again to please God?
Do you remember the counsel from
James? Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry because
human anger can not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
What if we really did have a teachable
spirit? Could we avoid so much sin by
just taking the yoke
of our Master and learning from him?
Before Cain killed his brother, God
gave him counsel.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are
you angry? Why is your face downcast? If
you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is
right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule
over it.”
If you don’t give up, if you don’t let
anger
get a foothold, if you will just do what is right, everything will be just
right in your relationship with God. But
if you don’t, sin is ready to take control of your heart.
What if we took God’s counsel and just
learned from him instead of getting angry at God or the situation or our
brothers and sisters? What if we just
tried one more time to please God? What
if it took two times or two thousand times before we gave into our frustration and anger, and surrendered to sin?
Why must we give in so quickly?
Imagine coaching a team and every time
someone didn’t get something right, they became angry at you or other
players. They tried to get back at you
or they hurt those players who did the drill correctly.
We expect players to be
coachable. Why are we as Christians not
more teachable?
Yes, there is killing, probably murder,
in this chapter, but God encouraged Cain to make another effort. God did not disqualify Cain from anything
because of his offering. God essentially
said, “Why don’t you give it another try?”
Why don’t we give it another try when
we choose to be angry at God or at each other?
Why not take one more shot at
pleasing God? Maybe it will take a
dozen or a hundred or a thousand tries to get it right, but why choose to be
angry at God and each other instead of continuing to do our best to please God.
Read the next chapter, but think about being
slow to anger and quick to trying again to please God.
Amen.
Read Genesis 4
Let’s start
after the offerings. Abel’s brought him
favor. Cain’s was less.
Then the Lord
said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be
accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it
desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Let’s focus
on this part: “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you
must rule over it.”
We are
charged to be masters over sin. Paul
wrote :
Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
From the
beginning, humankind had to deal with sin and we are charged to be masters over
sin. Sin is present and powerful but we
are to be more powerful.
It sounds
like we are to be stronger than sin. It
sounds like this is all on us. It sounds
like we had better use our own understanding if we want to rule over sin.
But God told
Cain to just do what is right. Just do
what God expects of us. We are of the
earth. We are of God. We struggle, but we can trust the Lord and do
what he tells us to do.
Sometimes we
have to figure out what pleases God, but we should not get angry and let sin
take over when we don’t get it right on the first attempt.
We must be
alert, on our guard, and ready at all times because sin lurks nearby waiting for
its opportunity. The more we do things
God’s way, the fewer opportunities sin has to make its move.
Sin uses
terrorist tactics. It wants to attack
the least defended target that gives it the highest payoff. If we are focused on doing things God’s way,
we are not a prime target. The Devil and
evil would love to bring us down, but when we live to please the Lord, our
defenses are strong. Evil wants to bring us down because we are bringing light
and love to the world, but our defenses are sound when we remain in the Lord.
Our downfall
comes when we think, “I’ve got this.”
When we forget that we are incomplete without God. When we try to do anything or everything
without yielding to the Spirit that lives within us.
Our human
nature wants us to be masters of our lives.
That sounds like a good thing. It
sounds like many earthly religions, but we have one Master and it is the Lord.
We are to be
masters over our money, our resources, and other things that are part of our
lives, but Jesus is our Master. The Spirit is our Counselor and Helper. We don’t do anything on our own without
risking giving sin a foothold in our hubris.
God told
Cain to give it another try, but Cain was angry and discouraged. Cain gave sin a foothold. This might have been a different story if Cain invited his brother to go for a walk and talk about what it was to please the Lord.
We are told
to seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness before all things. Do we always do this? That’s a rhetorical
question. I don’t know anyone who is batting
100%.
It seems
that we make exceptions to what God has commanded. It seems that we all have reasons or excuses
as to why God’s way doesn’t work. All of us have something that we consider unique. We think our situation is different. We know
that our case has to be the exception to the rule.
It seems that we are sometimes quick to anger,
despite the counsel to the contrary. Our own understanding leads us to anger
and gives sin a foothold.
Sometimes we
wonder why we are not at peace
when we don’t do things God’s way. Why
won’t God get in step with what I know that I need—with my desires.
God knows
your desires and needs and struggles and he knows what is best for you, even
when you think otherwise. Yes, it’s more
trust
in the Lord over our own understanding, and it won’t be the last time you
get that.
There were
consequences for Cain, but God did not disown him. There are consequences for
us, but God does not disown us.
But there
are blessings and peace when we just do our best to please God and set our
selfishness and anger aside when we don’t hit the target the first time.
When we let
anger take hold, we give sin a foothold.
When we give sin a foothold, we are on the defensive.
Marines are
taught to kill with pistols, knives, entrenching tools, and anything in
arm’s reach, as well as with their bare hands. They
are also trained to hit a man-sized target at 500 yards. While they are ready to fight hand-to-hand,
destroying your enemy at 500 yards is much preferred.
You usually
get more medals for hand-to-hand combat, but your battles are better won at 500
yards. Your battles are better won where the enemy never has a chance to get a
foothold.
Don’t give
sin a foothold. Don’t let it in
close. Let the Lord fight for you. Trust him. Obey him. Have faith in him. Keep
trying to please him, even when you don’t get it right the first time.
Amen.
F4 Meeting Report
20 July 2022
Tom Opened
with prayer. In attendance were Laci
Stegall, Amanda Rush, Kendra Walker, Des Simmons, Sharman Spence, Lynn Ferrari,
and Tom Spence. Kathy Stegall joined by
phone.
Most were
confident that we have been on a good course and just need to make some minor
adjustments and keep recruiting help.
Times were confirmed:
6:00 – 7:30 pm. No building access (or use of
equipment/restrooms) except for workers & their children prior to 5:45
pm. Kathy may be outside for some
oversight but we do not want to encourage early arrivals.
Confirm
Classes & Classrooms
Nursery – Children of Workers only
Others— Lynn will lead a 3rd grade only class
(Leaving Kathy with 4th and 5th).
All age groups. Women
will join men for the fall semester
We currently have teachers for all ages/grades T-1 and above
to include music
Cell/Smart Phone
policy. After the prayer, we ask that
all phones be put away until authorized by the table parents. Older children will be asked to engage in
conversation until after they get their food.
Table
Parents will moderate their tables. They
will have some scripted activities, but the goal is to migrate to genuine
person-to-person conversations.
Conversation starters will be provided for each meal. Each table parent
is asked to warm up with the following.
·
Table
Mantra
·
Memory
Verse
Among those
who we may want to ask to be table parents are Mike and Fran Kiser. Katy Horne could also assist someone.
·
Parents
come in for positive transfer of children (ages?) (walkers?)
We do not
need the police with lights flashing for departure of the children, but want
make them aware of when we release the children and how we cross the highway.
Amanda
always needs help in the kitchen. Anyone
who can come early is appreciated.
Instead of a
Clean Up Coordinator, we will have a clean up checklist for each teacher
so that each class will know what to do when it is their turn. The assigned
clean up crew may take up to 10 minutes of class time if needed.
AC settings
(everything to off at the end of the evening until November)
The schedule
was changed to include a Fall Break and change Ash Wednesday back to worship
but with no sermon. All worship Wednesdays will be preceded by 10 minutes in
the classroom. See separate page for the new
schedule.
Next Steps
·
Laci
will contact the Police Chief
·
Tom
will produce a Clean Up Check List
·
Kendra
will bring conversation starter cards
·
Lynn
will confirm with Kathy about breaking out 3rd grade and advise all
·
Kathy
will pursue a crosswalk near the traffic light
·
All
are asked to review the thoughts in the moving towards a mission statement
handout
Tom closed
the meeting with Prayer
This post is for your review if you have accompanied us through Paul’s letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, or it can be the beginning of your own study. In any case here are the links to the scriptures and to the messages that accompany it. Enjoy your journey.
I
am Crucified with Christ. Christ Lives
in Me!
The
Righteous will Live by Faith!
4
When
the fullness of time had come
A
Prayer for the Church in Ephesus and for Us
Leading
those governed by rules to the richness of love
Make
the Most of Every Opportunity
To
Live is Christ. To Die is Gain
The
Image of the Invisible God
Don’t
let man’s rules get in the way of God’s love
Do
it all in the Name of the Lord
Galatians
– Ephesians – Philippians – Colossians 10,000-foot flyover
You have completed our trek through Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Most of what you will get in this review should familiar. We won’t hit every point. This is a 10,000-foot flyover.
We begin with the Galatians.
There
is no other gospel. It’s Christ and
Christ alone. There is no Jesus
Plus formula for salvation.
I have died to all of the rules. I could never live up to all of the
rules. My disobedience, my missing the
mark, my sin all had to die. It
did. It all died in Christ.
I
am crucified with Christ. Christ
lives in me.
We may butt heads sometimes, but when
we do, it should be as iron
sharpening iron, not an insistence on our own way. Stick to what we have in common—Christ Jesus
is the way to salvation. It’s all about the grace that we know in Christ.
Paul continued his chastisement of the
Galatians shifting to the interrogative.
Did you receive your salvation by obedience to the law or by receiving
the good news? How have you been so
easily fooled?
It’s
been said that it is easier to fool someone than to convince them that they
have been fooled. There might just be some truth in that statement.
So then, how will the righteous
live? The righteous
will live by faith.
You can’t read Galatians without
reading Paul’s
Christmas story.
But when the
fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born
under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption as sons.
Paul
challenges the Galatians to stick to the one and only gospel. He asked, Have I now become your enemy by
telling you the truth?
He says
don’t buy the snake oil. As we continue into the last chapter,
Paul uses metaphor to make his appeal to the fidelity of the gospel.
You
were running a good race. Who cut you off?
There
is a whole bunch of chastisement in this letter, but it is also home to the fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
Paul
gives some encouragement near the end of the letter. He charged the Galatians
and us not to grow weary in doing good. A
harvest is coming. Hang in there.
Paul
wraps us his letter with an affirmation and a challenge. He will never boast except in the cross of Jesus.
So too, he challenges us to the same standard.
And
there we have the 10,000-foot flyover of the letter to the Galatians. It’s on to the Ephesians.
There
is only one place to begin this letter.
It is with the spiritual blessings that we know in Christ Jesus. In him, we are blessed beyond measure.
Paul
prayed that these believers in Ephesus would know all of these blessings. That prayer is for us as well.
And
then we come to words that carried through all four of these letters. They are by grace through faith.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so
that no one can boast.
This is
where we anchor ourselves when it come to salvation. It is 100% the gift of God. Our discipleship is another story
altogether. We have much to do in the
areas of love, faith, obedience, service, worship, and so much more in response
to this gift, but we must know with certainty that our salvation is totally the
gift of God.
Our
response brings us out of division into unity.
We are one in the Spirit. Christ
has made us one. We have a diversity of
gifts and responses to grace, but we are to be of one accord in the Spirit of
God.
We who
have professed Jesus as Lord must undergo a paradigm shift, a renewal of the
mind, an exchange of old thinking for new thinking. We are no longer people governed by rules,
but people ruled by love.
Our
whole identity is in God. We are indeed his
new creation.
How do
we know that we are living the Christian life?
One way is to ask this question.
Do I speak the truth in a spirit of love? Speaking the truth in love is a
benchmark of our Christian maturity.
Speaking
the truth without love is easy. It is
simple condemnation.
Giving
people what the world calls love without the truth is not so hard either. That’s the vending machine.
Being
able to speak the truth and do it in a spirit of love takes Christian
maturity. It’s no picnic.
And now
we come to words that challenge us to live in response to the grace that we
know.
Live a life worthy of the calling that you
have received.
Much of
that worthy life involves unity. We should live in accord with
each other. We may have to practice some
patience, gentleness, humility and other Christlike traits and qualities, but
we must remember that our response to this gift of grace should be the best
response we can muster.
In that
response to grace, we strive to hit the target. That could be strict obedience
to the law. It could be pure love. We know that love will not harm others so in
most cases, you might not be able to tell the difference, but God will show us
the target.
If we
want to please God, we had better aim at the target and do our best to hit it.
The
words from God that we read in Leviticus and that were repeated by some of the
apostles should ring true.
Be holy
because I am holy.
We have
been saved from sin and death so we can live completely for God. He will show us our targets.
What
does that mean? It means that we have
eyes to see opportunities all around us. God
wants us to make the most of the opportunities.
Yes,
these opportunities exist in a world ruled by sin. We must be wise. We must use the sound mind
that God gave us.
It’s a
target-rich environment, but we must hit the targets at which we take aim.
Paul
wraps up this letter with some counsel for families. Love,
respect, obedience, and remembering who the parent is when things get stressful.
This is still excellent counsel for this century.
Finally, we get the full armor of God.
But, let’s put on the armor-all of it.
· The belt of
truth
· The breastplate
of righteousness
· Feet
fitted—these are your combat boots—with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace
· The shield of
faith that extinguishes the arrows of the enemy
· The helmet of
salvation
· The sword of
the Spirit which is the word of God.
Now it’s on to the Philippians.
As we begin this letter we must understand that
our salvation is a done deal. God did it
all. Jesus paid it all. It’s all from God so that nobody can boast
about their own salvation.
In our response to this done-deal salvation, we
often find ourselves to be a work in progress. We have a lot of
work to do to live up to the person that God made us to be.
Early in this letter, Paul proffers the
ultimate win-win. For him to die right
now would be fantastic. He would be with
the Lord. Oohrah, hallelujah, amen.
For him to live another day would be another
day that he could take the good news to the lost. It was the best mission—the best commission
ever.
It was
win-win. To live is Christ.
To die is gain.
It should be the same for us.
There are other familiar words that we know
from Paul’s letter to the Philippians—every knee will bow and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Those are some good words, but we should finish
the sentence—to the glory of God.
We should not expect a forced confession, but
the ultimate expression of the truth:
Jesus Christ is Lord!
This letter brings us to our response to the
gift of God that we call salvation. Paul
tells us to work out our salvation as the most important thing that we do.
Our response to God’s incredible gift of mercy
and grace that we have received through faith is the most important thing we do
for the rest of our days in these bodies on this planet.
We have an abundance of opportunities in which
to respond with love for one another as we live out our salvation.
We are reminded that we are citizens of heaven
and that we go through this life with purpose.
Press on. Don’t lose your
focus. Don’t go native. This world is not our home.
Press on.
Paul noted to the church in Philippi and others
as well, that so many had made ad hominem attacks on him and he wasn’t playing
this game.
But if he were to play the game, he had the best resume of any of his so-called challengers. He just did not regard his religious status
of any value when it came to right standing with the Lord. He considered it as valuable as manure.
It’s Christ, Christ, and only Christ who brings
us to right standing with God.
Paul, writing from prison in whatever form that
looked like, challenged us to be happy, to rejoice, to know the joy of the
Lord.
Our joy comes from the Lord.
We rejoice in the Lord. We talked
about the source of our joy—our gladness—being the favor of the Lord.
Paul also challenged us not to worry. Don’t be anxious about anything. We can know a peace that comes from God that
goes way beyond what we can understand.
Our job is to go to God in thanksgiving, have
our talk with him, and receive a peace that will guard our hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus.
Paul understood that God made us right with him
but we were not quite there yet. It’s a
done deal but we are still working on our part.
One day, God will finish the good work that he began in us, but for now,
we are still working on it.
So, Paul equipped us with a simple piece of
counsel. Think on good things.
The governing verb here is think. In a world governed by red herrings, nonsequiturs, and other logical fallacies as well as purely emotional appeals, we
are challenged to think.
We are charged to use the sound mind that God
gave us.
That brings us to the Colossians.
We begin with Christ being the image of the invisible God.
Remember that Jesus told his disciples before he went to the cross, if
you have seen me, then you have seen the Father. Quit asking for what you already have.
After the resurrection, he told Thomas, but he
was speaking to all gathered in the room with him that they believed because
they had seen. Blessed are those who
have not seen yet have believed.
That’s us.
Next, we are reminded that we are redeemed and reconciled.
The work to reconcile the entire creation was accomplished in Christ
Jesus. It’s hard to see now, but the
work of the cross accomplished it.
What comes next is a throwback to the Galatians
and others who were being courted by fancy arguments. Do not be deceived.
There is one gospel and you heard it. Stick to it.
We talked about the law, written codes, and the
invoice for our sin. What we should have
walked away with was that man’s rules must not get in the way of God’s love.
The third chapter of this letter had some
umbrella sort of counsel.
Whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord.
and
Whatever you do, work at it as if you are working for
the Lord, not for men.
Live in love but keep your eyes open for the
tricks of the world. Be a little salty.
How do we wrap this up?
One gospel.
One Spirit.
One Lord.
One accord.
Salvation one hundred percent the gift of God.
Rejoice in the Lord, always.
Be anxious for nothing.
Pray about everything. Start by being thankful.
Think on good things.
It’s what you do with what God gave you not
your titles and accolades that count.
Never lose sight of the fact that we are
working for the Lord.
Press on.
Put on the full armor of God.
Live in the fruit of the Spirit.
Above all else, put on love
Talk and live grace but be seasoned with salt.
Those should get you through the week.
Amen.
