(June 8, 2009)

Prayer House News!

We had a wonderful weekend of ministry. Pastor Nick preached his heart out as he challenged us to believe God to do big things through us like he did through Gideon. On Sunday we handed out lots of awards to our kids as they graduated from one level to the next.

This is Family Week for us which means we will not be having our regular mid week classes. We will not be having RPM either. Please make note of that.

On Tuesday evening there will be a memorial service for Geri Sorensen's father, Jerry Covelli. Visitation is from 5:00 to 7:00pm with the memorial starting at 7:00pm.

Please note: I have posted on the side bar the info for the Missions Trip we are planning for next November. Look it over!

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Moral Responsibility

There are certain things that are true of any move of God, whether it’s the church on foreign land, whether it’s in the book of Acts, or even right here in Kenosha at Prayer House. That’s this; when God moves He is always moving towards reaching people who are lost, broken, and hurting.

That is the mission that has been given to the church – that is our moral responsibility. However, we cannot do it by ourselves, so God gives us his spirit to dwell within us, to gift us and to empower us and that is why we exist.

Since this is the beginning of family week I am going to take a break from the book of Hebrews and go back to the book of Acts. We spent more than a year going through that great book and there are some things I want us to recall about it.

I want us to consider some of the things that characterized the early church because those are the very things that we would want our church to look like also. We see in Acts that people were called to faith and then to be baptized. We do that here. We have witnessed a number of salvations this year. Next month we are going to have a baptismal service. We also see that the believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit and so we emphasize that also.

The book of Acts embodies a Christian community which is quite different from just having pot luck dinners once in a while. For too many, the essence of Christian community is fellowships.

The kindergarten teacher asked the students in her class to bring something related to their families' religions to class the next day. She asked for volunteers to show what they had brought to the rest of the class. One boy came forward and said, "I am Muslim, and this is my prayer rug." Another child came forward and said, "I am Jewish, and this is my Star of David." Another came forward and said, "I am Catholic, and this is my Rosary." The last little boy came forward and said, "I am Southern Baptist, and this is my Covered Dish."

In the book of Acts we see a more radical kind of community which called them to pray, and fast regularly. But as we went deeper into the life of the church we see that it was marked by giving to the work of God.

Acts 2:44-45 And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; (45) and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

So I want to look at the issue of giving this morning. And I can see the excitement on your faces as we touch on this subject. Some of you are shouting (within) and saying, "Yes, yes, finally a teaching on giving."

But this was a major part of the new testament church. There is just so much teaching on the subject that we cannot ignore it. I would not be offering you a well balanced perspective of the gospel if it didn’t include the issue of giving.

But in the book of Acts – it was not just giving – it was radical giving – it was striking to see how willing they were to empty themselves of themselves and give everything to God. Some of us want to give God our hearts without giving him our finances also. I don’t think that is possible because the heart is primarily represented by money.

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Looking for a Parking Space

I was driving around and around a parking garage in search of an available space. Nothing.

Then I noticed a couple walking ahead of me."Going out?" I called to them.

"No," said the man. "Just friends."