Easter

remember when I was younger and attending church with my family. There was a hymn that had these words, “stricken, smitten and afflicted.” Those words stick in my mind and pertain to Good Friday. The Lord was pierced for my sins and yours. Tonight we are going to focus on the cross and the passion of Jesus Christ. Jesus was passionate for you and gave his life in your place. I don’t know about you, but I want to honor him tonight. I want to draw close to him. I want to be honest about my sin and express my commitment. This past Sunday I handed out a note card for you to use as a personal response to Jesus, emphasizing his sacrificial death on the cross. What would be your confession? How would you express your commitment to Jesus? That’s the emphasis tonight and I hope you will join us at 7pm. (Nursery provided)

Obviously, Easter follows Good Friday and we will gather together with all those that will be attending at 8, 9:30 or 11am this Sunday. It will be wonderful and the Gospel will be shared. I look forward to seeing you then.

One more thing. Don’t forget the Easter Egg Hunt Saturday (tomorrow) morning at 10am. Everyone is invited. Children (toddlers up to 5^th grade) will have a great time. We are excited to host our Angel Tree families for this fun event also.

If you are connected with our church you have probably already heard that Dave Milo has passed away. Dave’s funeral service will be held next Saturday, March 29^th at 10:30 am. The service will be at our church, and there is a visitation on Friday, March 28^th from 6-8pm at Howell-Edwards-Doerksen Funeral Home at 1350 Commercial St. SE, Salem. Please pray for the family, especially Grace and Amanda.

Will you worship?

News of a terrorist bombing flashes across the TV screen. A politician’s character is assassinated in the name of good competition. Peace treaty efforts yield more violence. The world is a political mess.

A church splinters over worship style preferences. A prominent elder storms out of a congregational meeting. A young Sunday school teacher cries after being scolded by a parent. The world is an ecclesial mess.

Divorce rates climb. Children rebel. Rivalries between siblings rage on. The world is a familial mess.

We haven’t mentioned anything about economics or cultural tension or personal demise. All of these could be added to the story. Life seems to be an unpredictable set of challenging experiences. What do you do with that as an individual? How are we to respond?

In Acts 16 the power of God delivers a slave girl from the bondage of a demon. This is very hopeful and exciting. A few minutes later, the men who have faith to pray in the name of Jesus for the slave girl are being dragged to the city square and accused of arousing the city with confusion and religious turmoil. It won’t be long for these two individuals to be in the inner cell of a jail, experiencing the brunt of a messed up world. What should they do? Where should they turn? What would happen next? I’ll let you know Sunday morning at 9 or 11am, whichever service you choose. This is the gathering of God’s people at New Harvest Church, as well as offering a welcoming heart to our guests and visitors. See you then.

Salvation

I have a question for you: How much does salvation pertain to heaven verses the here and now? When Jesus offered eternal life, do you think he was also concerned about life right now? And how about this question: When does eternal begin? In Romans 12:1 it says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” The phrase “in view of God’s mercy” points back to the wonderful promise of salvation that is offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16 says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes . . .” And then every chapter in Romans gives teaching on this marvelous salvation that offers us eternal life. But the phrase “living sacrifices” is about the here and now. The sense is that God not only wants us to be assured of the gift of heaven, but he also wants us to live these new lives right now. In fact, living heaven right now is more essential to the mission of God than going to heaven later. Our lives right now are the mirror of heaven for the world we live in.

This Sunday we will complete chapter 15 of Acts, which answers the question: What must I do to be saved? Salvation is the gift of faith. But the early church did not end with that alone. It also pointed to how to live life now. How many of us believe we are living heaven now? Not very many of us. I hope that God will challenge us all with these words found in Ephesians 4:1, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

As I write this note I am thinking about Sunday and the opportunity I have to speak after missing a couple of Sundays. Acts 15 is a great passage that continues to have a significant impact on our lives today. I will be focusing on the meaning of Acts 15 with a message entitled, “A New Kind of Christian is . . . Uncluttered.”

I read that to be happy, one should be married, a Republican, an evangelical protestant, located in the upper-middle class, live in a warm climate, be Caucasian, and have a security based on one’s financial status. At the same time, Paul said to Timothy in I Timothy 6:6 & 7, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Would you rather be happy or content? There are so many confusing messages in our world about what we really need to be satisfied in life. I feel pulled in many directions, don’t you?

Jesus said to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things would be added to us as well. I want to have a simpler focus in my life. Jesus is the center and his grace is what makes me content. Would you join me in trying to embrace a simpler life; one that agrees with the Psalmist David in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Or like Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) The greatest is the simplest.

The Gifts of Christmas - Week 2

Are you ready for a little Christmas quiz?

1. What state is “White Christmas” set in?
2. Who is Bing Crosby’s army buddy in “White Christmas?”
3. In “Home Alone” a young boy is abandoned when his parents rush off to vacation in _________.
4. What was the first instrument on which “Silent Night” ever played?
5. What country did the traditional Christmas flower, the poinsettias originally grow in?
6. How many wise men came to the manger?
7. Which character in the Christmas story needed an OBGYN?
8. What was the setting of Jesus’ birth?

Christmas is an intriguing time. In preparing for Sunday, we are entering the most mysterious part of Christmas. Our character this Sunday is the Virgin Mary. Yet the story clearly tells us that she would give birth to a boy named Jesus. How could this be? We are going to be introduced to our second gift of Christmas through the life of Mary. In has an inspiring and softening effect on your heart and mind. I invite you to come and ponder with me the significance of Jesus being born to a young woman named Mary.

There is a lot happening in the church as we have our first Christmas play, entitled “Tis the Season” tomorrow night, December 8^th, at 7 pm. Everyone is welcome. I am looking forward to it with anticipation. The Angel Tree ministry only has a few gifts, around a dozen, left to be distributed in our church body. We will do that Sunday morning. There are still many things to take place before we reach the exciting evening of December 24th when we gather at 5 or 7 pm to worship the newborn Savior. I hope things are going well for you. I look forward to seeing you.

The answers to our Christmas quiz are . . . (see below)

1) Vermont 2) Danny Kaye 3) Paris 4) guitar 5) Mexico 6) unknown 7) Mary 8) Stable, barn or cave because that’s where a manger would be kept.

The Gifts of Christmas - Week 1

Let me start with this anecdote from a real life story:

Two fellows opened a butcher shop and prospered. Then an evangelist came to town and one of the butchers was saved. He tried to persuade his partner to accept salvation also, but to no avail. “Why won’t you Charlie?” asked the born-again fellow. “Listen Lester,” the other butcher said, “if I get religion, too, whose going to weigh the meat?”

That may seem like an unusual story to begin my weekly e-mail, which is meant to highlight the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is a time of anticipation of the coming of Christ. Christmas is a great time to deepen your relationship with the Lord as you appreciate the fact that God came to us through his Son. But the way that Advent begins throughout church history is more challenging than you might expect. The first statements of Advent come from John the Baptist when he says, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” In other words, ready your heart for an encounter with the Living God. Or another idea, if you aren’t ready to change, you’re probably not ready to receive what Christ has to offer this Christmas season.

In preparation for Sunday, ask yourself this question, “What’s most important to me at Christmastime?” Let that be a fill in the blank for you. I don’t want you to give an answer that you think is right, but rather one that you truly believe. What is most important to you at Christmas? Contemplate that question as you prepare yourself for our Sunday gathering and the sharing of the Lord’s Table. And if you are so inclined, read Luke 1:5-25, which will be the passage we will study together as a church. See you soon

P.S. Our Christmas program is scheduled for December 8^th, 14^th & 15^th at 7 pm. You won’t want to miss it. It is a great event to bring family and friends to as well. And, it’s free, of course.

World Changer

An interesting exercise is putting in a title utilizing the Google search engine to see what comes up. I put the title “world changers” to see what I would get and the first several entries had to do with missionary work, which is encouraging. But the first world changer that had more of a secular twist was Oskar Schindler from World War II. We know of Oskar Schindler from the movie “Schindler’s List.” He was listed as a world changer. Sometimes various things claim to be world changers. I was reading a list that included the Fender bass guitar, the Model T Ford, and banana pie. We might not know why these are listed as world-changing innovations, but I have been thinking about that as I prepare for a message on a man named Saul who would soon be called Paul. I want to suggest that his world changed so much so that he became a world changer.

A message on Paul is a great way to wrap up our series for the fall on the Book of Acts. There are two great events that stand over all other events in the Book of Acts and the first is the coming of the Holy Spirit and the second is the conversion of Paul. That’s our study this week.

The story I read goes like this: “A man sitting beside me in a Pentecostal service at a storefront on Brook Avenue (in New York) once said to me, ‘You’re not from the neighborhood.’ When I said, ‘No,’ he shook my hand and said I should feel welcome. ‘If you’re looking to get you some church you came to the right place.’ ‘I’ll never forget that phrase, “get you some church,” because it sounded like good food that you were being offered and could count on it if you really wanted to be filled.” I really believe the Lord uses New Harvest church to give you some good church. It’s Friday but Sunday is coming and we have the privilege of worshipping our God, hearing his Word and being together. Don’t miss it. The Bible says it’s worth the effort.

Because of Jesus,

Barry