Come and See!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Holy Week Schedule

On Thursday at 7:00pm we will have a Maundy Thursday service of communion celebrating Christ’s last supper with the disciples.
 
Friday at 7:00pm we will have a Tenebrae service remembering the death of Christ on the cross.
 
Saturday before Easter the Manse will be open for everyone to stop by and take a look at the completed improvements.
 
Easter Sunday we will have an Easter Egg hunt at 10:00am our youth should arrive around 9:30 to hide the eggs for the children. Please bring some cookies to share coffee and juice will be provided. We will also be flowering the cross.
 
Easter Worship at 11:00am
 
Holy Week culminates on Easter Sunday with the church universal celebrating the risen Christ. As Christians we are called to fulfill the Great Commission in our daily lives. Holy Week can give us an opportunity to do this by inviting a friend to worship with us. Ask someone to “Come and See!” Our worship is about seeing Jesus. Let us all help our friends to see our living savior.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Scripture & Questions for Sunday (3/17/13)

Joseph: From Slavery to Deputy ~ Read Genesis 37, 39, 41-48,50

Have you ever found yourself in a place you never intended to be, wondering how you ended up there? Perhaps the question on your mind was more focused on how you could or even would ever get out of those circumstances? A cancelled flight? A cancelled job? Divorce court? A hospital room? Where is God when the circumstances of life are inconvenient? Where is God when your world comes crashing down around you? The Lower Story of Joseph helps us to trust God’s Upper Story in such times as these.
 
Imagine Joseph’s frustration, confusion, and anguish. God revealed to Joseph in two dreams that he would one day rule over his family, preserving the covenant community. God’s plan seemed doomed to fail when Joseph’s brothers sold him into Egyptian slavery. But with the Lord’s favor, Joseph rose to a position of power in Potiphar’s house. Maybe Joseph’s dream emerged as his responsibility over Potiphar’s household increased. But with a prison sentence, that dream seemed once again dashed. God providentially orchestrated events to arrange for Joseph to rise to become the deputy Pharaoh of the superpower of the known world. Man’s evil failures would not foil God’s plan.
 
The story of Joseph is a powerful illustration of God’s control over human history. God’s divine plan would succeed. He had chosen a covenant family and in spite of that family’s efforts to destroy God’s elect, God would still fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant through that very family. God called Abraham’s family to be the conduit through whom He would bless all nations. While the ultimate fulfillment would come in Christ, God used Joseph to reveal Himself as the gracious God of all.   
 
I.    Man Fails
     A.   Joseph suffered at the hands of many people. It would seem that his destiny would be determined by everybody but God.
          1.    His brothers hated him because God chose young Joseph to lead the covenant community. 
           2.    His brothers plotted to kill him, but sold him into slavery in Egypt instead.
           3.    Joseph was falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife.
           4.    Joseph was imprisoned for the crime he didn’t commit. 
           5.    Joseph was disappointed by the prisoner who forgot him.
     B.    Where is God while Joseph is suffering?
 
II. God’s Plan Prevails ~ God’s sovereign fingerprints were all over Joseph’s life! And Joseph knew it in the end.
     A.   God revealed Himself and His plan to Joseph in two dreams. (God’s revelation ALWAYS precedes faith!) 
     B.    God prevented Joseph’s death, but allowed him to be sold to Egypt.
     C.   God providentially put Joseph in Potiphar’s house.
     D.   God providentially allowed Joseph to go to prison where he would interpret dreams for his fellow prisoner.
     E.    This prisoner-butler would remember Joseph when Pharaoh needed dreams interpreted.
     F.    God provided Joseph with prophetic dream interpretations.
     G.   God used Pharaoh to promote Joseph to deputy in the superpower nation of the world. No other place in the world would have more influence!
     H.   God fulfilled the prophetic 7 years of plenty.
     I.     God orchestrated the prophesied famine that forced others to come to Joseph in Egypt, including his own family.
     J.    Joseph recognized God’s sovereign plan to save both his family and the world through him. His focus on God’s Upper Story gave him the perspective, the “God’s eye view,” to endure the suffering and forgive his brothers.

III. Applications and Implications 
     A.   God is in control. He is sovereign over people and events.
     B.    While Joseph’s story makes no claims that God will directly intervene in every situation, it does remind us that in the end, God brings good out of every evil.
     C.   God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness.
     D.   Suffering is not necessarily a sign of being outside of God’s will.
     E.    Our goal through suffering is to remain faithful to our Sovereign God.
     F.    Faith is the key to endurance.
     G.   Be aware that God may be training you for something in the future.
     H.   Be available for faithfulness in what may appear to be the little things.
     I.     Be prepared to wait. 
     J.    Because God has revealed and fulfilled promises in the past, I can trust Him to fulfill His promises for the future.
     K.    I might be part of God’s plan for someone else.
     L.    God’s sovereignty is not a scapegoat for sin.
     M.   Rest in God’s sovereignty.

Scripture & Questions for Sunday (3/24/13)

Please read the story chapter 4 and Exodus chapters 1-7, 10-17.

The Hebrew people knew the stories of Joseph and Jacob and how they’d settled in Egypt four centuries ago on Pharaoh’s dime.  But that was then and this is now – and now, they were slaves. Some might have thought it was 430 years too late, yet God’s plan for deliverance was right on schedule.  His servant Moses was born during the rule of a tyrannical Pharaoh whose infanticide program was aimed at annihilating the nation of Israel.  Ironically, baby Moses was delivered from danger when Pharaoh’s daughter rescued him from the Nile, hired his mother to nurse him, and raised him as a royal son. 
 
Moses grew up in the palace but knew he’d been born a slave. Feeling sympathetic to the plight of his people, he killed an Egyptian task master and was forced to flee. Moses became a refugee in the far off land of Midian where he married and began tending his father-in-law’s flocks. Moses spent the next 40 years hiding from Pharaoh and like the Hebrew people, assumed this would be the way he’d spend the rest of his days.
 
Then he met up with a burning bush. God spoke from the bush and commissioned Moses as Israel’s deliverer. Not a bad promotion for an 80 year old man with only “ex-prince” and “shepherd” listed on his resume. God revealed Himself to Moses as I AM, the covenant-keeping Redeemer of His people. Moses doubted his own qualifications and abilities, but God responded with the guarantee of His presence.
 
Moses returned to Egypt with the promise of God and the support of his brother Aaron.  As expected, Moses’ demands of freeing the Hebrews were met with Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal.  So God sent a series of plagues and a cycle of challenge began: The plague strikes; Pharaoh relents; the plague stops; Pharaoh recants.
 
Then God presented a shadow of what would be the “ultimate deliverance” with the final plague. All the firstborn in the land would die in a single night, and there was only one means of rescue.  Every household in Israel was to select a perfect Passover lamb, slaughter it and cover the doorposts of their homes with its blood.  That night the angel of death would come and “pass over” the blood stained houses, preserving the lives of all who were inside.
 
The Hebrews left Egypt that same night, and later, an enraged Pharaoh took off in pursuit.  Trapped between his powerful army on one side and the Red Sea on the other, Egypt’s victory appeared certain.  But God split the sea in two and the people walked to safety on dry land.  They celebrated when Pharaoh’s army drowned in the same sea…but only for a moment. Their jubilation quickly turned to complaint when Israel forgot what God had done.  They grumbled over the lack of water and food, but God again proved Himself faithful by providing water, manna and quail to sustain them, this time from their fears and inability to provide for themselves.
 
The story of God’s people had just begun. The details of the Lower Story already form an outline of the big picture found in the Upper Story. God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt as an early clue of the deliverance that Christ would bring. It would be centuries before Jesus would come as God’s perfect Passover Lamb and secure deliverance for His people. Yet the blood of Passover is a long shadow of what was to come when the Lamb of God set foot on the stage of history. These miracles were merely a hint of things to come; the I AM is still our Deliverer.
  1. How did Moses’ life experiences prepare him for God’s call?  What life experience could God use to minister to others through you?
  2. In the same way that God used Moses to set the Israelites free from slavery, he uses us to help people find freedom in Christ.  Discuss your experiences with sharing your faith; what inhibitions keep you from doing so?
  3. When Moses asked for God’s “official” name, God replied: I AM WHO I AM. Why do you think God identified Himself that way?  What is the significance of that name? What does this name for God tell us about him?
  4. When Moses tells Pharaoh to set the Israelites free, he responds by increasing their workload.  Recall a time when you were obedient to God, but the situation worsened instead of improved.  What life lessons can be drawn from these examples?
  5. Look at God’s description of himself on page 39 (note the “I will” phrases.) What is Moses focused on?  What is God focused on? 
  6. Pharaoh was “plagued” many times over, yet still refused to humble himself before God.  Is there someone you know who has hardened his or her heart toward God?  Can you see how God might use their decision?
  7. While this story has many obvious displays of God’s wrath, we also learn a lot about God’s goodness.  List the ways this story shows God’s goodness.
  8. The Feast of Passover (p. 42) was to be perpetual reminder of how God delivered Israel.  What are the parallels between Communion today, and the Passover?
  9. Even after being delivered, the people of Israel continue to grumble.  Do you know any grumblers?  Are you one?  How does perpetual dissatisfaction affect those in its orbit?
  10. God provides food and water for the Israelites while they are wandering in the desert.  Describe a time God met your need (emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially, etc.) in an unexpected way. Share how this impacted you and others.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Scripture for Sunday (3/10/13)

What sin changes, faith overcomes.
Please read The Story Chapter 2 God Builds a Nation
Genesis 12-13, 15-17, 21-22, 32-33, 35,
Romans 4, Hebrews 11
“I will.” These are words of covenant commitment and promise spoken by a sovereign God to Abraham.  God’s master plan to restore us to Himself gets a fresh start with these words.  God is determined to fulfill His promise in spite of the frailties and failures of His people.   God chooses to create a new nation through Abraham, revealing himself to, and working through this new community of faith.  God promises Abraham saying “I will...”  
        make your descendants into a great nation
        give this nation a land in which to dwell
        bless all other nations through the nation of Israel 

And two thousand years later God’s Son was born, a descendant of Abraham, thus fulfilling the covenant promise.

This chapter demonstrates a striking duality: God using broken people to fulfill His unbreakable promises.  But on a day-to-day basis, God’s people continue to make bad choices that expose their ever-present sin nature.  Abraham and Sarah, waiting for years for the child God promised, opt for a workaround to conceive an heir through Sarah’s servant, Hagar.  Isaac and Rebekah raise a very dysfunctional family.  Jacob perfects the “workaround method” by conniving and cheating his way through life.

But what sin changes, faith overcomes.  In spite of their failures, God’s people respond in faith.  Abraham picks up stakes and travels to a foreign land just because God said to. He gives his relative Lot the choice real estate having faith God would still bless him. Abraham and Sarah, through laughter and tears, finally see God fulfill his promise through the birth of a son, Isaac. In a dramatic episode, Abraham shows he is willing to go so far as sacrificing his only son, Isaac, just because he trusts God. This foreshadows the willingness of God to do the same to his own Son. The key verse of the chapter is:  "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."  Therein lays the Gospel itself.

His family continues to demonstrate faith.  By faith, Isaac finds a wife for his son.  Jacob, comes to faith after literally wrestling with God. By faith, Esau also shows Jacob grace and forgiveness.  With every story, we are reminded that God works through flawed people who take steps of faith.

God chose the most unlikely people upon which to build a new nation, to cause people to look to God to explain how it happened. This gives people today a lot of hope. God’s strategy of picking the least likely candidate to succeed could be my opportunity to be picked for a God-sized project, so others will be able to see him when great things happen.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Scripture & Questions for Sunday (3/3/13)

Please Read Genesis chapters 1-8
Sunday's Sermon will focus on Genesis 1:1-2:3

The Bible contains an Upper Story and a Lower Story. The Upper Story tells the big picture, the grand narrative of God seeking relationship with mankind as it unfolds throughout history. The Lower Story contains the details of particular people, the episodes we’ve become familiar with: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the flood, etc. This Upper Story is really a framework around which we approach and apply any one part of the Bible. It unifies God’s whole message to us and helps guide us through the hard times in life by doing two things:  
 
  a) reminding us of God’s eternal, long-range plan and,
  b) putting our experiences into a divine context formed by a perfect Creator.
 
For example, without the “Upper Story”, a lost job could be seen as an event without hope. But put into the context of the larger chronicle of our lives, and God’s perfect design, that lost job can be seen in a very different light, perhaps as an opportunity for God to reveal something better.
So, by putting all we read into the larger picture, we can make modern-day application from the Bible that takes into account the grand, mysterious ways of God, and guards us from misapplications that can result from an isolated “what this verse says to me” approach. In other words, the Upper Story creates the context for the Lower Story. 
At our church we want to use The Story to help everyone gain a better understanding of the big picture of the Bible and to better understand God’s redemptive plan for us today. As we journey together through The Story we will take note of both the temporal events and characters (Lower Story), as well as the eternal purpose of God: to restore and build a relationship with His creation.
  1. Has your experience with studying and learning the Bible been fulfilling or frustrating? Why?
  2. Do you have a favorite Bible story or Bible character?
  3. What is it about the story or character that most fascinates or resonates with you?
  4. The Bible has been attacked by skeptics for centuries. A July 9, 2008, headline reads, “Dead Sea tablet casts doubt on death and resurrection of Jesus.” The DaVinci Code is on the national bestseller list for weeks. Other religious groups declare that the Bible is full of inconsistencies and is therefore untrustworthy. How have similar experiences impacted your personal trust in the Bible?
  5. List a benefit (or two) that you expect to personally experience from going through The Story this year. How do you think our church as a whole will benefit?
In the beginning, God. God is the central character of the grand story of the Bible. It really is all about Him and His desire to be in relationship with people. In the opening chapters of Genesis, the Upper Story is in full view. God has a grand vision to be with us, and enjoy harmonious life with us on the newly created perfect earth. Man and woman together reflect God’s image as community. As images of God, they are to rule as His benevolent representatives over the earth. In the garden, there is perfect communion with God, one another and with the creation itself. It is all about relationships—relationship with God and relationship with each other.
 
But God doesn’t force those relationships. When man and woman choose to listen to a creature rather than the Creator, the vision is ruined. Sin enters in and brings with it physical death and separation from God and expulsion from the garden. The whole earth is cursed and begins to die. The sin nature is inaugurated by Adam and Eve, and its tragic consequences are passed on to their offspring. Cain killing Abel demonstrates that every human is infected with sin. But sin is more than what we do, it is what we are—it is now our very nature.
 
Relationship between God and man has now been broken as has the harmony between man and woman. Even the earth itself no longer relates well to man. Immediately, however, God begins His plan to get us back into a right relationship with Him; and that Upper Story never changes even to the last chapter of the Bible. Even after God brings judgment upon a wicked earth, Noah and his family still emerge from the ark with their sin nature. It is going to take something beyond people to solve the sin problem. A clue to the solution is subtly given to us in God’s response to Adam and Eve. God Himself makes for them clothes from an animal’s skin to cover their nakedness—blood is shed to cover their sin. And a promise is made that sin will one day ultimately be vanquished.
 
This first chapter of The Story is vital to understanding God’s Upper Story. The major doctrines of our faith are rooted here, namely sin and redemption. In the Bible, only the first two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation give us a glimpse into life in a world without sin, a world as God intended it to be. When we compare our world with what the world was like before sin, we learn that nothing is as it should be. Nothing. Sin changes everything. Since the fall in the garden, man exists in a fallen world under the dominion of Satan. But the believer’s hope lies in knowing that one day the Messiah, promised from the beginning, will return to earth, conquer evil and fully restore the relationships lost in the garden.
  1. Chapter 1 shows that everything began with God creating and ordering. How is this different than other explanations you have heard of how the world began?
  2. How might knowing that life has purpose and direction affect your daily decisions?
  3. What do think it means to be made in the image of God?
  4. How does it make you feel when you have created something or when you have completed a big project?
  5. How did the author describe the earth at the beginning of creation? (1:1-2)
  6. What important events did the author describe in these verses? (1:1-2:3)
  7. What did God give to man and woman? (1:29-30)
  8. How did God describe what he had created? (1:31)
  9. What does the creation story reveal about God’s character?
  10. What does the creation story tell us about humankind?
  11. How does your belief about the origins of life affect the way you live your life on a daily basis?
  12. How should the fact that human beings are created by God impact the way we see life?
  13. What does the fact that God made us in his image tell us about people?
  14. How does the fact that people are made in God’s image affect the way you feel about yourself?
  15. How does the fact that people are made in God’s image affect the way you treat other people?
  16. What have you learned from this passage about your worth?