Announcements:
- Our police chief, Zeb Rone, is holding a free citizens police academy on Tuesday nights at 7PM. Contact Joyce for more information.
Updates:
- Ken's ulcerated cornea is doing better.
- Vivian is feeling better and is no longer in severe pain.
- Our mayor, Bobby, has a new defibrillator, which will hopefully work better than the last one.
Prayer Requests:
- Vernice Densmore had a small stroke on September 20 and, while recovering well, still needs our prayers.
- Remember J.R. and Danielle, David's renters, who are in need of God's comfort, wisdom, and guidance.
- David has been having back pain. Please keep him in your prayers always as our devoted pastor!
- It is planned that David will be the chaplain present at town council meetings. Pray that he will be a messenger of peace and that the Lord will work through him.
- Remember Pam Fletcher and her son and daughter-in-law, who are going through a difficult time at the moment.
- Vanessa's sister Dixie is going to have surgery for colon cancer, pray for a safe procedure and speedy, complete recovery.
- Pray also for Vanessa's mother, who has recently lost a brother and will probably lose her sister soon.
Sermon Notes:
Vernon brought a message to us this Sunday about tarrying.
Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Workmanship--It's God's work, not ours. We can't make ourselves what He wants, He's already done it.
Prepared in advance (hath before ordained)--He has fit it up in advance. He's planned our lives. We still have choices, but God is intimately involved in our lives even in the worst circumstances.
To tarry is to seep down, to settle, to continue. It is the active form of the word "sit down." It indicates pursuit.
There is no pattern to tarrying--Everyone's is different and we need to be cautious and not judge them wrongly.
There is no place for pride in tarrying--Absolute, total humility is required.
Ephesians 2:8 - "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."
The power we have in Christ is mind-boggling, but it's all His gift. We can't focus on that amazing power or we wil get introverted and power-hungry and lose sight of God Himself.
What are we tarrying for?
The promise--Luke 24:49. The idea in this passage is of "superimposing". God can superimpose Himself on us and make us different.
Luke 24:46, 48, 49
We are to tarry until we get power. We usually focus on the "dynamite" power, but there is another word in these verses we need to concentrate on, the first of four clues.
Clue #1: Endue
The Greek gives the idea of sinking into a garment. It's like we sink into Jesus' garment--a close intimate walk with Him. Focus on power leads to pride and a fall, but if you focus on Jesus you can't go wrong. The purpose of our lives is to obey Him.
John Wesley (may have been someone else) was so desperate for God that he went into the woods and wouldn't come out until he had been touched by the Lord. He was touched and went on to do great things. Charles Finney got desperate, and was so filled with the Spirit that he could simply walk into a tavern and people would begin falling over! But these people ended up getting legalistic and forgot that they got all of their power and wisdom through desperation for God. John G. Lake was empowered to work amazing miracles of healing, but by the end of his ministry he had been destroyed by pride. Catharine Coleman hungered, and got great power, but the end of her life was sickening. Benny Hinn was a humble-looking, shinny guy through whom God did unbelievable things. We know where he is now. Touching God's power is a scary thing, and we need Jesus to keep us humble.
All of these people made a mistake--all glory goes to God. When we make the mistake of taking even a little bit of that glory for ourselves, it can corrupt us. Pride is poison to humans.
Clue #2: Name-Change
Jacob was a different person after this experience, he was Israel from then on. He was a "heel catcher" before, then he got the name "he shall rule as God." He held on for the blessing as we must hold on for the promise. Pray that God will fill us with a hunger to look just like Jesus. Here are three clues: We are endued, We get a name-change, We rejoice in the right things.
Clue #3: Rejoicing
History shows that God starts things and focus on power leads to our destruction. When Jesus sent the 70 out they were doing what He was doing. When they came back they were pumped.
It's natural to rejoice in great miracles, but Jesus cautions us to rejoice only in that we are children of God. When Jesus went out the desert the Devil tempted him to show His power. Turning the stone into bread would have appealed to His pride.
Clue #4: The Yoke
Matt 11:29 - "Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart."
We might see the yoke as our own yoke of Christianity, but it's a double-yoke: Jesus is with us as "the lead ox." The yoke is the "beam of of the balance" (the bar that holds up scales is called the yoke, and the sides must be balanced in order for a yoke to work).
Meek--gentle, humble, mild.
Lowly--depressed (pressed down), humiliated.
Jesus knew His place and gave glory to God alone. We should be like this. We have an invitation to be in Christ's yoke.
