Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Social Stuff!
I am not going to write much here this week because with the Holiday Season there is just too much good stuff to write in this space. Suffice it for me to encourage everyone to enjoy your Life with as many loved ones as you can and go into the New Year with a goal (not necessarily a resolution) of making the lives of ones you encounter better than if they had not encountered you. You probably remember the old Boy Scout adage of always leaving a campsite better than when you found it? Well I think the same principle applies to "lives" we encounter. We should always strive to make the lives we encounter better because of our presence. Let's give it a try and see how it works!
Koinonia Sunday School Class!
Attendees: Bill Nichols, Betty Caswell, Alan and Teresa Schlobohm, Josh Schlobohm, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (pastor), Jane and Terry Pursley.
Prayers were requested for:
1. Safe journeys for all those traveling during this holiday season.
2. The ability of Bill's brother and wife to celebrate Christmas in their new home.
3. Suzanne's family being together in their new home (parsonage) with the joy and love they are able to experience there.
4. Betty's daughter - Micky and family - as they enjoy the holiday's in Tulsa and prepare to return to Africa in January.
Class Material: Book of Acts - Chapter 16
In this Chapter we find four (4) distinct sections -
First - In verses 1 thru 5, we see Paul and Silas pick-up Timothy to join them on their missionary journeys and Timothy is circumcised out of deference to the Jews in the area. We remembered The Church in Jerusalem had just issued their decree that circumcision was not necessary for the Gentiles to receive the Lord, but obviously Paul, and of course Timothy, found this act was a means of helping the Jews to accept Christ and so Timothy elected to participate in this act. This tells us the receipt of Christ into peoples hearts is more important than any rituals we may in our worship process.
Second - In verses 6 thru 10 We also find the Holy Spirit leads Paul to take his missionary work into Macedonia (Greece).
Third - In verses 11 thru 15, we find the disciples, encountering a woman in Macedonia named Lydia who is described as a "merchant of expensive purple cloth". The result of this encounter is Lydia accepts what Paul is saying and is baptized. She then makes the unusual statement "If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord come and stay at my home." Paul and his troop then agree to come to her home. The significance of this story is multi-faceted. Paul's first recorded encounters while in Macedonia is with a wealthy woman involved in an evidently lucrative trade of "purple cloth". From this I ascertain, this person is Greek, Gentile, wealthy, influential with her trade contacts, and a woman. The other aspect I discern is that normally such traveling preachers such as Paul would not have been invited into the home of such a person and Paul's presence in Lydia's home may have had more ramifications than we might think. I say this because Luke (writer of Acts) goes out of his way to report that Paul accepted Lydia's invitation after some "urging" takes place. What I see here is a reluctance on the part of Paul (who hasn't been afraid to go anywhere including into towns where he will likely be stoned) to enter Lydia's home but then decides to do so, which Luke finds significant enough to report. Thus we see Paul's message being brought to, and accepted by, people, in this case Lydia, and thus opening "doors" into parts of the Greek society not previously thought to be approachable. The lesson to be learned is we should bring God's word into those places, and to those people we are led to, even when would otherwise think it not appropriate to do so.
Fourth - In verses 16 thru 40, we find Paul and Silas being thrown into jail because they, in the name of Jesus Christ, were able to remove a demon from a slave girl who had been a fortune-teller. Once the demon was removed, the slave girl evidently lost her ability to tell fortunes and so her owner's became upset to the point of dragging Paul and Silas to the local "authorities" who upon hearing the charges had Paul and Silas whipped and thrown into a secure jail situation. That night an earthquake occurs of such magnitude that the jails doors and shackle locks are released setting Paul and Silas free; however, they did not flee. The next morning the jail's captain saw the doors opened and assumed the prisoners had escaped and was about to kill himself out of anxiety when Paul yelled for him to stop. The jailer then provided assistance for Paul and Silas, became a believer, and was baptized. The next morning the authorities, who had Paul and Silas imprisoned, sent a note to have Paul and Silas released, but Paul refused to leave until the authorities came to him and released him in person. The authorities agreed to do this, especially when they learned Paul was a Roman citizen, and even begged Paul and Silas to leave their town. The lesson I learn here is that Paul does not waiver in his Faith of God/Jesus even when circumstances could dictate otherwise. Paul continues to sincerely worship God/Jesus without regards to what Paul will get out of it. Paul worships God/Jesus because Paul loves God/Jesus so much that Paul is willing to accept whatever events occur as a result of Paul following God/Jesus' direction.
Next Week we will be studying Chapter 17 of Acts where Paul and Silas continue their missionary work in Macedonia/Greece with an eventual encounter in Athens and the idols worshiped therein.
Have a Great Week and Enjoy Life!
Terry
Note: As always, the above thoughts are mine and mine alone, and are not reviewed by or necessarly agreed to by our pastor, Salem Church, the United Methodist Church, or any other intelligent party. I encourage all to read the subject verses on their own and come to your own understandings.
T
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
December 21, 2009
Good Afternoon!
Social Stuff!
Jane and I just returned from a visit with our daughter Rebecca in Columbia, Missouri, and we had a very nice time. We got to see Rebecca's new cedar Christmas tree and it was very nice. We also watched two movies Sunday afternoon - We tend to do that sort of thing from time to time just because we can! We first saw "The Princes and the Frog"! Its a nice Disney animation feature good for all ages although there is a lead character who is cast as a not-so-nice Vodoo magician. Jane and I thought this character might be a little too intense for those 5 years and younger. There is a song in this movie I liked very much entitled "Dig a Little Deeper!" written by academy award winner Randy Neuman. You have to pay attention to the fastly spoken words but its a great message and appropriate for us Christians. The second movie was "Avatar" which we both really liked. Its a 3D action flick with a good story line. The 3D effects are well done and don't "overwhelm" the movie. You should go see it if you have the chance and desire to do so.
Saturday night Jane and I along with 11 other Salem members attended a Koinonia Christmas dinner at Mama Campisi's on "The Hill", and it was a very good experience. The waiter was excellent, the food was great, and everyone agreed we really enjoyed the evening.
Salem Church Cantata!
On Sunday our choir sang our Christmas Cantata and Jane and I both thought it was excellent. We received a lot of very good reviews for the congregation and we thought we were able to convey well the message of Christmas! It is a great pleasure for us to sing with such great people as those we have in the choir and to be led by Bob Mienz. Bob is an excellent organizer, manager, and leader of the choir. It was his excellent leadership that we thought allowed the choir to perform and convey the message at a high level of quality. We are very happy to be a part of this group.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
Attendees: Ginny Maas, Betty Caswell, Bill Nichols, Denise Kelly, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (pastor), Alan and Teresa Schlobohm, Jane and Terry Pursley.
Prayers were requested for:
1. Terry Pursley's mom (Opal Pursley) who was just diagnosed with "shingles" at the Delmar Gardens Nursing Home in Fenton, Mo.
2. Continued prayers for Mickey and Paul Prince (Betty's daughter and son-in-law) who are missionaries that will soon be returning to Africa.
3. Teresa's friend (David) who was seriously injured in a sky diving accident several months ago.
4. Safe travels for all who are traveling this coming Holiday Season.
Class Material Discussed - Chapter 15 of the Book of Acts.
In summary, Chapter 15 discusses a significant decision made by the newly developing Christian Church. The issue is the inclusion of Gentiles into God's salvation and specifically the need for all Christians to be circumcised.
As we saw in Chapter 10 and 11, Peter had been given a "vision" from God, to include the Gentiles in God's salvation plan as evidence by the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit after being baptized by Peter. The Christian leaders had accepted Peter's message that Gentiles were part of God's plan of salvation. The question in Chapter 15 was whether the "Gentile Christians" had to be physically circumcised, per the Jewish tradition, in order to receive Christ. Paul and Barnabas had been preaching that circumcision was not required of the Gentiles and evidently this point was "hotly" debated and was a significant reason why Paul and Barnabas were called in to Jerusalem to discuss this topic. Verse 7 indicates a "long discussion" was held until Peter stands up and reminds everyone of Peter's previous vision and actions, and reaffirms two very important facets of Peter's "vision" experience".
First - In Verse 9 Peter says - "He (God) made no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), for he (God) cleansed their hearts through FAITH." (Note: Bold type, statements in parentheses, as well as larger print are my additions for emphasis purposes.)
Second - In Verse 11 Peter says - "We believe that we are ALL saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus."
(Note: Bold type and larger print, and italics, are my additions for emphasis purposes.)
Peter clearly lays down here the basic Christian principles that people, regardless of their background, are saved by God's Grace thru Faith. This is a fundamental principle of the Christian Faith and one we must all remember incorporate into our Christian Life.
Chapter 15 indicates a letter is written by the Jerusalem Church leaders confirming their agreement that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to be saved, and this letter was taken back to Antioch of Syria by Paul, Barnabas, and two other "church leaders", as a way of confirming the Christian leaders decision on this point of circumcision.
As Chapter 15 closes, we see Barnabas and Paul separate overall a personnel decision and as we begin Chapter 16 next week we will be following the exploits of Paul and Silas as they start Paul's second missionary journey.
Jane and I hope each and everyone of you have a very Merry Christmas and keep in your hearts that Jesus is God's Gift to Us out of God's Grace so that through our Faith we may be saved and have eternal life with God.
Merry Christmas!
Terry
PS - As always, the above thoughts are mine and mine alone. Neither our pastor, Salem Church, the United Methodist Church or any other intelligent oversight group has contributed to, or commented upon, my thoughts. Please us your own judgement when considering what I have presented.
T
Social Stuff!
Jane and I just returned from a visit with our daughter Rebecca in Columbia, Missouri, and we had a very nice time. We got to see Rebecca's new cedar Christmas tree and it was very nice. We also watched two movies Sunday afternoon - We tend to do that sort of thing from time to time just because we can! We first saw "The Princes and the Frog"! Its a nice Disney animation feature good for all ages although there is a lead character who is cast as a not-so-nice Vodoo magician. Jane and I thought this character might be a little too intense for those 5 years and younger. There is a song in this movie I liked very much entitled "Dig a Little Deeper!" written by academy award winner Randy Neuman. You have to pay attention to the fastly spoken words but its a great message and appropriate for us Christians. The second movie was "Avatar" which we both really liked. Its a 3D action flick with a good story line. The 3D effects are well done and don't "overwhelm" the movie. You should go see it if you have the chance and desire to do so.
Saturday night Jane and I along with 11 other Salem members attended a Koinonia Christmas dinner at Mama Campisi's on "The Hill", and it was a very good experience. The waiter was excellent, the food was great, and everyone agreed we really enjoyed the evening.
Salem Church Cantata!
On Sunday our choir sang our Christmas Cantata and Jane and I both thought it was excellent. We received a lot of very good reviews for the congregation and we thought we were able to convey well the message of Christmas! It is a great pleasure for us to sing with such great people as those we have in the choir and to be led by Bob Mienz. Bob is an excellent organizer, manager, and leader of the choir. It was his excellent leadership that we thought allowed the choir to perform and convey the message at a high level of quality. We are very happy to be a part of this group.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
Attendees: Ginny Maas, Betty Caswell, Bill Nichols, Denise Kelly, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (pastor), Alan and Teresa Schlobohm, Jane and Terry Pursley.
Prayers were requested for:
1. Terry Pursley's mom (Opal Pursley) who was just diagnosed with "shingles" at the Delmar Gardens Nursing Home in Fenton, Mo.
2. Continued prayers for Mickey and Paul Prince (Betty's daughter and son-in-law) who are missionaries that will soon be returning to Africa.
3. Teresa's friend (David) who was seriously injured in a sky diving accident several months ago.
4. Safe travels for all who are traveling this coming Holiday Season.
Class Material Discussed - Chapter 15 of the Book of Acts.
In summary, Chapter 15 discusses a significant decision made by the newly developing Christian Church. The issue is the inclusion of Gentiles into God's salvation and specifically the need for all Christians to be circumcised.
As we saw in Chapter 10 and 11, Peter had been given a "vision" from God, to include the Gentiles in God's salvation plan as evidence by the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit after being baptized by Peter. The Christian leaders had accepted Peter's message that Gentiles were part of God's plan of salvation. The question in Chapter 15 was whether the "Gentile Christians" had to be physically circumcised, per the Jewish tradition, in order to receive Christ. Paul and Barnabas had been preaching that circumcision was not required of the Gentiles and evidently this point was "hotly" debated and was a significant reason why Paul and Barnabas were called in to Jerusalem to discuss this topic. Verse 7 indicates a "long discussion" was held until Peter stands up and reminds everyone of Peter's previous vision and actions, and reaffirms two very important facets of Peter's "vision" experience".
First - In Verse 9 Peter says - "He (God) made no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), for he (God) cleansed their hearts through FAITH." (Note: Bold type, statements in parentheses, as well as larger print are my additions for emphasis purposes.)
Second - In Verse 11 Peter says - "We believe that we are ALL saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus."
(Note: Bold type and larger print, and italics, are my additions for emphasis purposes.)
Peter clearly lays down here the basic Christian principles that people, regardless of their background, are saved by God's Grace thru Faith. This is a fundamental principle of the Christian Faith and one we must all remember incorporate into our Christian Life.
Chapter 15 indicates a letter is written by the Jerusalem Church leaders confirming their agreement that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to be saved, and this letter was taken back to Antioch of Syria by Paul, Barnabas, and two other "church leaders", as a way of confirming the Christian leaders decision on this point of circumcision.
As Chapter 15 closes, we see Barnabas and Paul separate overall a personnel decision and as we begin Chapter 16 next week we will be following the exploits of Paul and Silas as they start Paul's second missionary journey.
Jane and I hope each and everyone of you have a very Merry Christmas and keep in your hearts that Jesus is God's Gift to Us out of God's Grace so that through our Faith we may be saved and have eternal life with God.
Merry Christmas!
Terry
PS - As always, the above thoughts are mine and mine alone. Neither our pastor, Salem Church, the United Methodist Church or any other intelligent oversight group has contributed to, or commented upon, my thoughts. Please us your own judgement when considering what I have presented.
T
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
December 14, 2009
Good Morning - Sort-Of!
Its actually Tuesday December 15, 2009 and not Monday December 14 as today's blog title would suggest, but I have had dificulty getting time to up-date my blog, so my apologizes to those who read my musing!
Social Stuff:
Well last week I sang in two different chorus presentations with the St. Luke's Hospital chorus, practiced with Salem's choir on Wednesday, and then Jane and I traveld to Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon/evening. We traveled to Madison to help our Daughter Amy and her husband Todd, along with their three children, move from an apartment to their new home in Madison. This was very exciting but we had to leave Saturday afternoon so we could be back at Salem on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning we enjoyed both Sunday School and Church and then went to visit my mom at Delmar Gardens in Fenton for their Christmas party. After this party we met with two of our long time friends and we went to the FOX theatre to see the play "Christmas Story" and it was very enjoyable. Monday morning I got up to work on my blog when I receved a call from Delmar Gardens saying my mom had fallen out of her bed and was on her way to the Emergency Room, by ambulance, to St. Clare Hospital. So I stopped what I was doing and spent a majority of the day at St. Clare supporting mom thru her ordeal. She had rolled out of bed and basically hit head first on a carpeted floor with the result being abrasions from the rug and a cut upper lip which required 5 stitches to close. As most of us know, a hospital emergency room is not a place where you normally find expedited service so we didn't get out of there until about 4:00 PM. Mom was pretty tired and looked "rough" but her spirits were good and I am sure she went to sleep shortly after I left. When I got home from helping mom I had to change and then Jane and I went to the Christmas Party at Salem where we again had a very good time. Thanks to the Methodist Men for doing a great job!
While all the above activities were taking place we had the Hardcastle contrcution team remodling our home's den from which I am writing this blog. We removed everything from the room and the Hardcastle team of Phyllis, Rob, and Michael, repaired celing damage, painted both the ceiling and the walls, and then replaced the room's carpet with wood flooring. They did a very good job and at a reasonable price. Jane and I would recommend their work to anyone interested in any such similar remodelinlg efforts. In any event, the Hardcastles finished yesterday (12-14-09) and last night, after the Christmas Party we started moving back into the den and made sufficient progress to allow me to do this blog and other work this morning. Of course I had to restart my computer and given my "IT" skills this is no small feat and it took about 2 hours to get all the bugs worked out but it looks like we have made adequate progress.
Sunday's Sermon: This past Sunday Pastor Lyons'presented another excellent sermon and normally I wouldn't comment, but her message resonated with me in a particular way and I wanted to breifly comment on her discussion of Joseph. As Suzanne stated, verses 19 of Mathew Chapter 1 reads "Joseph, her fiance, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly." This verse struck me as being very meaningful, Using my words this verse says - Joseph was a good (righteous) man who loved God and thus was driven to obey God's Law, and thus needed to separate himself from Mary for her apparent transgressions; but because he also loved Mary, Joseph did not want to hurt Mary while obeying God's Law; thus Joseph was willing to quietly break the engagement in order to minimze the impact upon Mary. I reflected that far to many times in our modern times people, out of some misguided concept of God's love, are willing to punish other people for these other people's sins. This is not what God's teaches us in his story of Joseph. At the time, Joseph thought Mary had slept with another man, and had become pregnant with another man's child, even while being engaged to Joseph. BUT JOSEPH DID NOT TURN BITTER AND ATTEMPT TO PUNISH MARY! In fact while Joseph sought to follow the Law he also intended to protect Mary. What a wonderful example, of rejecting the sin but not the sinner, for all of us to follow, and what a wonderful earthly father Joseph would be for raising God's son - Jesus.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
Attendees: Bill Nichols, Ginny Maas, Alan and Teresa Schlobohm, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (pastor), Betty Caswell.
Prayers were requested for:
1. Cyndie's uncle Forest Boden whos struggling with Alzhiemers, and a staff infection.
2. Teresa's 78 year old uncle, John Krampf, who was just laid off from work!
3. Catie Aderack who is an 86 year old neighbor of Bill Nichols who is recovering from injuries from a fall she recently experienced.
4. Josh Scholobohm who is pursing his engineering degree - Way to Go Josh!
Class Material : The Book of Acts, Chapter 14.
In Chapter 14 we read more about the adventures of Paul and Barnabas in the towns of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas brought a great number of Jews and Gentiles to become believers in the Good News. The degree of their success was measured by the fact that some fo the town leaders became jealous and incited many of the town's people to riot and they attempted to stone Paul and Barnabas, who fled for their safety.
They fled to Lystra and here the crowd became such huge followers of Paul and Barnabas that the crowd attempted to sacrafice animals as if Paul and Barnabas were Gods. This caused Paul and Barnabas tremendous mental anguish and they attempetd to let the people know that Paul and Barnabas were only humans, just like everyone else, and that it was God, who sent them, that should be worshiped, and not by sacraficing animals but by believing ing the Lord Jesus Chirst. Even with these exortations the people still wanted to sacrafice animals and then certain Jewish leaders again incited the crowd to stone Paul and this time they almost killed Paul. Paul was saved however and traveled to Derbe where he and Barnabas continued to preach the Good News. Then the most amazing thing happened, Paul traveld back to Lystra, where he had almost been killed, to continue preaching the Good News, and in fact began to stregthen the faith of the believers. Those of us in the Koinonia Class said - Wow! To be stroung enough to go into a town and get "stoned" is one thing but to return and continue the same preaching is something else. All of this is evidence that Paul and Barnabas were not performing this preaching for their own self gratification, but because they loved God and were following God's plan.
How many of us are willing to stand up for Jesus when ever we are in a social situation where Jesus is being defamed? How many of us are willing to take a stand for Jesus even when the situation is tough? Next time lets think of Paul and his commitment and let our Christian views be known!
Next week we will be studing Chapter 15 in the Book of Acts and here we will see where Paul gets called into the "Mother Church" at Jeusalem to expalin what he has been preaching!
Until then - Have a Great Week and Enjoy Life!
Terry
PS - One closing thought - In all of my blog messages, the words and thoughts are mine and mine alone. They have not been reviewed are accepted by Pastor Lyons, Salem Church, the United Methodist Church or any other intelligent oversight group. Anyone reading my words should feel free to exercise their own intelligence and relationship with God and to consider or reject my musings as they determine is best.
T
Its actually Tuesday December 15, 2009 and not Monday December 14 as today's blog title would suggest, but I have had dificulty getting time to up-date my blog, so my apologizes to those who read my musing!
Social Stuff:
Well last week I sang in two different chorus presentations with the St. Luke's Hospital chorus, practiced with Salem's choir on Wednesday, and then Jane and I traveld to Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon/evening. We traveled to Madison to help our Daughter Amy and her husband Todd, along with their three children, move from an apartment to their new home in Madison. This was very exciting but we had to leave Saturday afternoon so we could be back at Salem on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning we enjoyed both Sunday School and Church and then went to visit my mom at Delmar Gardens in Fenton for their Christmas party. After this party we met with two of our long time friends and we went to the FOX theatre to see the play "Christmas Story" and it was very enjoyable. Monday morning I got up to work on my blog when I receved a call from Delmar Gardens saying my mom had fallen out of her bed and was on her way to the Emergency Room, by ambulance, to St. Clare Hospital. So I stopped what I was doing and spent a majority of the day at St. Clare supporting mom thru her ordeal. She had rolled out of bed and basically hit head first on a carpeted floor with the result being abrasions from the rug and a cut upper lip which required 5 stitches to close. As most of us know, a hospital emergency room is not a place where you normally find expedited service so we didn't get out of there until about 4:00 PM. Mom was pretty tired and looked "rough" but her spirits were good and I am sure she went to sleep shortly after I left. When I got home from helping mom I had to change and then Jane and I went to the Christmas Party at Salem where we again had a very good time. Thanks to the Methodist Men for doing a great job!
While all the above activities were taking place we had the Hardcastle contrcution team remodling our home's den from which I am writing this blog. We removed everything from the room and the Hardcastle team of Phyllis, Rob, and Michael, repaired celing damage, painted both the ceiling and the walls, and then replaced the room's carpet with wood flooring. They did a very good job and at a reasonable price. Jane and I would recommend their work to anyone interested in any such similar remodelinlg efforts. In any event, the Hardcastles finished yesterday (12-14-09) and last night, after the Christmas Party we started moving back into the den and made sufficient progress to allow me to do this blog and other work this morning. Of course I had to restart my computer and given my "IT" skills this is no small feat and it took about 2 hours to get all the bugs worked out but it looks like we have made adequate progress.
Sunday's Sermon: This past Sunday Pastor Lyons'presented another excellent sermon and normally I wouldn't comment, but her message resonated with me in a particular way and I wanted to breifly comment on her discussion of Joseph. As Suzanne stated, verses 19 of Mathew Chapter 1 reads "Joseph, her fiance, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly." This verse struck me as being very meaningful, Using my words this verse says - Joseph was a good (righteous) man who loved God and thus was driven to obey God's Law, and thus needed to separate himself from Mary for her apparent transgressions; but because he also loved Mary, Joseph did not want to hurt Mary while obeying God's Law; thus Joseph was willing to quietly break the engagement in order to minimze the impact upon Mary. I reflected that far to many times in our modern times people, out of some misguided concept of God's love, are willing to punish other people for these other people's sins. This is not what God's teaches us in his story of Joseph. At the time, Joseph thought Mary had slept with another man, and had become pregnant with another man's child, even while being engaged to Joseph. BUT JOSEPH DID NOT TURN BITTER AND ATTEMPT TO PUNISH MARY! In fact while Joseph sought to follow the Law he also intended to protect Mary. What a wonderful example, of rejecting the sin but not the sinner, for all of us to follow, and what a wonderful earthly father Joseph would be for raising God's son - Jesus.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
Attendees: Bill Nichols, Ginny Maas, Alan and Teresa Schlobohm, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (pastor), Betty Caswell.
Prayers were requested for:
1. Cyndie's uncle Forest Boden whos struggling with Alzhiemers, and a staff infection.
2. Teresa's 78 year old uncle, John Krampf, who was just laid off from work!
3. Catie Aderack who is an 86 year old neighbor of Bill Nichols who is recovering from injuries from a fall she recently experienced.
4. Josh Scholobohm who is pursing his engineering degree - Way to Go Josh!
Class Material : The Book of Acts, Chapter 14.
In Chapter 14 we read more about the adventures of Paul and Barnabas in the towns of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas brought a great number of Jews and Gentiles to become believers in the Good News. The degree of their success was measured by the fact that some fo the town leaders became jealous and incited many of the town's people to riot and they attempted to stone Paul and Barnabas, who fled for their safety.
They fled to Lystra and here the crowd became such huge followers of Paul and Barnabas that the crowd attempted to sacrafice animals as if Paul and Barnabas were Gods. This caused Paul and Barnabas tremendous mental anguish and they attempetd to let the people know that Paul and Barnabas were only humans, just like everyone else, and that it was God, who sent them, that should be worshiped, and not by sacraficing animals but by believing ing the Lord Jesus Chirst. Even with these exortations the people still wanted to sacrafice animals and then certain Jewish leaders again incited the crowd to stone Paul and this time they almost killed Paul. Paul was saved however and traveled to Derbe where he and Barnabas continued to preach the Good News. Then the most amazing thing happened, Paul traveld back to Lystra, where he had almost been killed, to continue preaching the Good News, and in fact began to stregthen the faith of the believers. Those of us in the Koinonia Class said - Wow! To be stroung enough to go into a town and get "stoned" is one thing but to return and continue the same preaching is something else. All of this is evidence that Paul and Barnabas were not performing this preaching for their own self gratification, but because they loved God and were following God's plan.
How many of us are willing to stand up for Jesus when ever we are in a social situation where Jesus is being defamed? How many of us are willing to take a stand for Jesus even when the situation is tough? Next time lets think of Paul and his commitment and let our Christian views be known!
Next week we will be studing Chapter 15 in the Book of Acts and here we will see where Paul gets called into the "Mother Church" at Jeusalem to expalin what he has been preaching!
Until then - Have a Great Week and Enjoy Life!
Terry
PS - One closing thought - In all of my blog messages, the words and thoughts are mine and mine alone. They have not been reviewed are accepted by Pastor Lyons, Salem Church, the United Methodist Church or any other intelligent oversight group. Anyone reading my words should feel free to exercise their own intelligence and relationship with God and to consider or reject my musings as they determine is best.
T
Monday, December 7, 2009
December 7, 2009
Good Morning!
Social Stuff!
Very busy week! I have joined a volunteer chorus group and participated in about 4 of their concerts. Its primarily Christmas music at this time and we are singing at various nursing and assisted living venues. I hadn't met any of the chorus members, except the one person who invited me, and thus I have met a whole new set of friends I didn't know I had!!! In addition, our church choir sang in a special presentation at a local church displaying a very large number of high quality nativity scenes from around the world. Our choir was one of several that provided Christmas music as a background for the event and it was much fun. I love to sing but because of my reduced talent level I have to adhere to the "herd" principle which says - the larger the herd the better I sound! I sing with great groups and enjoy it very much.
Our Koinonia Sunday School Class is sponsoring a Christmas Dinner at Mama Campisi's in The Hill district of St. Louis on December 19, 2009 at 5:30 PM and so please let me know if you are able to join us.
Jane and I also attended a "End of the Year Celebration" put on by the Multiple Sclerosis Society with the emphasis on this years 2009 Bike Ride Event. We learned there had been over 3,100 bike riders on the event and together we raised over $2.3 million for the MS Society. I enjoy riding in the event and simultaneously helping to raise money for people stricken with MS. If you are like-minded please join or support me in the 2010 ride as I have registered to ride once again.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
This week's attendees were: Bill Nichols, Ginny Maas, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (Pastor), Joyce Unruh, Betty Caswell, Jane and Terry Pursley.
Prayers were requested for the following:
1. Chris Jenkerson's family since Chris died this past week.
2. Charollet Michelle whose grand daughter died this past week.
3. John Moore, a cousin of Denise Kelly's, who is experiencing family difficulties.
4. Billie Montgomery who is recovering from a painful episode associated with shingles.
5. Meridith Jones who is doing well in school and just needs our prayerful support as she continues.
6. Betty Caswell's daughter Mickey who is dealing with a potential case of melanoma and who also will be returning the Africa as a missionary on January 5, 2009.
7. Joyce's aunt Mary Ann who is dealing with a health issue dealing with her lungs.
Class Material: The Book of Acts, Chapter 13
In Chapter 13, the Book of Acts transitions from a focus on the ministry of Peter to that of Paul. In verses 1 thru 3 we see the Holy Spirit directing the believers to dedicate Barnabas and Saul/Paul to begin the work God had called them to accomplish. After receiving this dedication, Barnabas and Saul/Paul began their work.
Barnabas and Saul/Paul began preaching in various synagogues until they reached the town of Paphos, where they encountered a false prophet named "Bar-Jesus" who had considerable influence with the local governor. Bar-Jesus attempted to keep Barnabas and Saul/Paul from talking with the governor and when this happened the Holy Spirit filled Saul/Paul who in turn spoke words that caused Bar-Jesus to go blind. Obviously this caused Bar-Jesus much turmoil and affected the governor to the extent the governor became vary interested in what both Barnabas and Saul/Paul had to say.
After speaking with the governor, Barnabas and Saul/Paul traveled to Antioch of Pisidia. (Note: It is in this section of scripture where the Book of Acts begins to refer to Saul as Paul.) Here Barnabas and Paul were listening in a synagogue when those in charge of the service asked Barnabas and Paul to to speak. Paul rises up and presents a very concise but detailed description of the history of the Jewish nation from the time God chose Israel as his people until the current time. Paul concludes by telling both the Jewish people in the synagogue as well as the Gentiles, who were outside listening, that "the message of salvation has been sent to us! Paul says in Vere's 38 and 39 "Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sings. Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God - something the law of Moses could never do."
As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue they were begged to return and preach more and so Paul and Barnabas did return a week later, but this time almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach. The Jewish leaders were jealous of this public response to Paul so they began to speak badly of Paul but in response Paul and Barnabas spoke out bodly saying that, because the Jews rejected God's outreach, the Good News was being extended to the Gentiles. Verse 48 and 49 says "When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. So the Lord's message spread throughout that region."
We can only imagine what spiritual and emotional impact this message of Paul's had upon the large crowd. The Jewish leaders were obviously scared of the excitement of the crowd because they immediately begin stirring up the influential religious women and leaders of the city who in turn incited a riot against Paul and Barnabas. This riot caused Paul and Barnabas to run from the town and "shake the dust of the city from their shoes". This "running from the town" would seem to be a significant negative for Paul and Barnabas but Chapter 13 ends with this wording in Verse 52 - "And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
Next week we will continue with Chapter 14 but as we leave Chapter 13 we should remember at least two items of interest from Chapter 13.
1. Paul begins to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ and THAT THIS GOOD NEWS IS MADE AVAILABLE TO ALL PEOPLE WHETHER THEY ARE JEWISH OR GENTILE, and
2. Never discount how much your Christian outreach affects others. Even when we seem to receive nothing but negative feedback, Paul and Barnabas' Chapter 13 story tells us we can be filling people's hearts with Joy even if the external response is negative.
Next week we will study Chapter 14 of Acts as Paul and Barnabas continue their journey and this time the negative response becomes more intense than just angry words!
Until then have a Great Week and Enjoy Life!
Terry
Social Stuff!
Very busy week! I have joined a volunteer chorus group and participated in about 4 of their concerts. Its primarily Christmas music at this time and we are singing at various nursing and assisted living venues. I hadn't met any of the chorus members, except the one person who invited me, and thus I have met a whole new set of friends I didn't know I had!!! In addition, our church choir sang in a special presentation at a local church displaying a very large number of high quality nativity scenes from around the world. Our choir was one of several that provided Christmas music as a background for the event and it was much fun. I love to sing but because of my reduced talent level I have to adhere to the "herd" principle which says - the larger the herd the better I sound! I sing with great groups and enjoy it very much.
Our Koinonia Sunday School Class is sponsoring a Christmas Dinner at Mama Campisi's in The Hill district of St. Louis on December 19, 2009 at 5:30 PM and so please let me know if you are able to join us.
Jane and I also attended a "End of the Year Celebration" put on by the Multiple Sclerosis Society with the emphasis on this years 2009 Bike Ride Event. We learned there had been over 3,100 bike riders on the event and together we raised over $2.3 million for the MS Society. I enjoy riding in the event and simultaneously helping to raise money for people stricken with MS. If you are like-minded please join or support me in the 2010 ride as I have registered to ride once again.
Koinonia Sunday School Class:
This week's attendees were: Bill Nichols, Ginny Maas, Cindie Jones, Suzanne Lyons (Pastor), Joyce Unruh, Betty Caswell, Jane and Terry Pursley.
Prayers were requested for the following:
1. Chris Jenkerson's family since Chris died this past week.
2. Charollet Michelle whose grand daughter died this past week.
3. John Moore, a cousin of Denise Kelly's, who is experiencing family difficulties.
4. Billie Montgomery who is recovering from a painful episode associated with shingles.
5. Meridith Jones who is doing well in school and just needs our prayerful support as she continues.
6. Betty Caswell's daughter Mickey who is dealing with a potential case of melanoma and who also will be returning the Africa as a missionary on January 5, 2009.
7. Joyce's aunt Mary Ann who is dealing with a health issue dealing with her lungs.
Class Material: The Book of Acts, Chapter 13
In Chapter 13, the Book of Acts transitions from a focus on the ministry of Peter to that of Paul. In verses 1 thru 3 we see the Holy Spirit directing the believers to dedicate Barnabas and Saul/Paul to begin the work God had called them to accomplish. After receiving this dedication, Barnabas and Saul/Paul began their work.
Barnabas and Saul/Paul began preaching in various synagogues until they reached the town of Paphos, where they encountered a false prophet named "Bar-Jesus" who had considerable influence with the local governor. Bar-Jesus attempted to keep Barnabas and Saul/Paul from talking with the governor and when this happened the Holy Spirit filled Saul/Paul who in turn spoke words that caused Bar-Jesus to go blind. Obviously this caused Bar-Jesus much turmoil and affected the governor to the extent the governor became vary interested in what both Barnabas and Saul/Paul had to say.
After speaking with the governor, Barnabas and Saul/Paul traveled to Antioch of Pisidia. (Note: It is in this section of scripture where the Book of Acts begins to refer to Saul as Paul.) Here Barnabas and Paul were listening in a synagogue when those in charge of the service asked Barnabas and Paul to to speak. Paul rises up and presents a very concise but detailed description of the history of the Jewish nation from the time God chose Israel as his people until the current time. Paul concludes by telling both the Jewish people in the synagogue as well as the Gentiles, who were outside listening, that "the message of salvation has been sent to us! Paul says in Vere's 38 and 39 "Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sings. Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God - something the law of Moses could never do."
As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue they were begged to return and preach more and so Paul and Barnabas did return a week later, but this time almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach. The Jewish leaders were jealous of this public response to Paul so they began to speak badly of Paul but in response Paul and Barnabas spoke out bodly saying that, because the Jews rejected God's outreach, the Good News was being extended to the Gentiles. Verse 48 and 49 says "When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. So the Lord's message spread throughout that region."
We can only imagine what spiritual and emotional impact this message of Paul's had upon the large crowd. The Jewish leaders were obviously scared of the excitement of the crowd because they immediately begin stirring up the influential religious women and leaders of the city who in turn incited a riot against Paul and Barnabas. This riot caused Paul and Barnabas to run from the town and "shake the dust of the city from their shoes". This "running from the town" would seem to be a significant negative for Paul and Barnabas but Chapter 13 ends with this wording in Verse 52 - "And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
Next week we will continue with Chapter 14 but as we leave Chapter 13 we should remember at least two items of interest from Chapter 13.
1. Paul begins to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ and THAT THIS GOOD NEWS IS MADE AVAILABLE TO ALL PEOPLE WHETHER THEY ARE JEWISH OR GENTILE, and
2. Never discount how much your Christian outreach affects others. Even when we seem to receive nothing but negative feedback, Paul and Barnabas' Chapter 13 story tells us we can be filling people's hearts with Joy even if the external response is negative.
Next week we will study Chapter 14 of Acts as Paul and Barnabas continue their journey and this time the negative response becomes more intense than just angry words!
Until then have a Great Week and Enjoy Life!
Terry
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