Growing Together

The day began with overcast skies that quickly converted to a steady rain. Chuck Vanderscheuren welcomed us and quickly turned to announcements.

Announcements

Next Sunday there will be a potluck dinner after the service. 

Prayer Team: If you have a request for prayer, contact Pearl Harmon or Nancy Peyton.

Our worship time began with the reading of Psalm 23. After several worship songs, Gail played a flute solo as the offering was taken.

There were many prayer requests this morning that we shared and lifted up to God. After the prayer time Cheryl and Darlene performed a skit dealing with the importance of staying connected with the church family, addressing today's sermon theme.

Growing Together

There are seasons in life. Sometimes it's spring and everything seems to be budding, blooming, bursting with life. There are other times when it seems like winter and simply staying alive is the goal.

Today's message used Ephesians 4:11-16 as its springboard. 

There are many passages in Scripture that speak of our individual walk with God, but this letter addresses our community of faith. Paul writes about the oneness of the body in this letter and our call to serve one another that the body of Christ may be built up, that we might achieve the unity of faith and attain the full measure of the fullness of Christ.

There are many ways to be a healthy body of believers. One problem that occurs is a drift in values. When we drift away from our mission and make "fun" and "safety" our aim, we've lost our focus.

For this reason, Pastor White created a handout that outlines our Covenant affirmations, the founding values of the Evangelical Covenant Church of which we are a part. The aim of these affirmations is to produce a healthy, missional body of believers.

Our place in the worldwide Christian Church...
We are an apostolic church. We confess Jesus Christ and the faith of the apostles as recorded in the Holy Scriptures. We believe the authority of the Bible is supreme in all matters of faith, doctrine, and conduct, and it is to be trusted. “Where is it written?” was and is the Covenant’s touchstone of discussion with regard to faith and practice.
We are a catholic church. The word catholic literally means universal. This means we understand ourselves to be a part of the community of believers that began with Jesus’s first followers, is alive today, and will continue until Christ comes again.
We are a Reformation church. We stand in the mainstream of a church renewal movement of the sixteenth century called the Protestant Reformation. Especially important is the belief that we are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, not by anything that we can do. The Covenant Church is also shaped by Pietism, a renewal movement that originated in seventeenth-century Europe and emphasized the need for a life that is personally connected to Jesus Christ, a reliance on the Holy Spirit, and a call to service in the world. We are an evangelical church.

For Covenant people, our essential beliefs are summed up in what we call Covenant Affirmations:
We affirm the centrality of the word of God.
We affirm the necessity of the new birth.
We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the Church.
We affirm the Church as a fellowship of believers. It is a family of equals: as the New Testament teaches that within Christian community there is to be neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit.
We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ.

 Conclusion... The Evangelical Covenant Church is a pilgrim church.

>>Read the document in its entirety here.<<

Here at New Life Covenant our aim is to be both Healthy and Missional. Healthy in the sense that we are pursuing Christ. Missional in the sense that we are pursuing Christ's priorities in the world.

The beauty of being a healthy, missional church is that it's not formula-based and not related to size. It's not musical styles or programs. It's about choices we make and being rooted in advancing God's Kingdom. In short, a healthy, missional church is comprised of healthy, missional people.

The Gift of Life

Chuck welcomed us this morning and then invited Pam to give an update on current activities.
Brooke was our worship chair so that her role had been left unfilled when the Shannons left two weeks ago. The council selected Cheryl Borndal to fill that position. The interim pastor search has been moving along in a positive manner while the pastoral search committee is forming to find a permanent replacement for the Pastor Brad. July 24 there will be a congregational meeting after the service.

Chuck asked that we take a little time for silent prayer for the lives unnecessarily lost this past week in the Twin Cities, Dallas and elsewhere. He read a letter requesting that our church strive to be salt and light in the midst of all this darkness. Chuck then read Psalm 90, which includes this memorable line, "From everlasting to everlasting You are God." The psalm expresses God's eternal strength and man's frailty.

We shared a number of prayer requests and had a time of prayer before taking the offering. Zach Crosby was then introduced to deliver the message.

The Gift of Life

Zach began by reading John 10:1-10, the text for today's sermon. But first, before preaching, he briefly shared about his health, the heart condition that he's dealt with for 25 years which has been a lifetime struggle, including a heart transplant about 2 years ago. He currently lives in Superior where he is working on developing a marina at one of the former ore docks. As it turned out his personal story was significantly integrated into the message.

The passage in John begins by mentioning a sheepfold, a metaphor that is foreign to us because none of us have ever had a sheepfold. In Jesus' day sheep were an important part of the economy. Essentially, sheep would be taken out of the sheepfold by day so they could graze, but then would be brought back to where it was safe at night.

Jesus used the metaphor to teach us some things about life. Anyone who doesn't come in through the gate is a thief or bandit. Zach said he always had a problem with Jesus comparing us to sheep because they tend to be dumb. Since this a metaphor, what are our bandits? What is it that steals our security and joy? Health issues? Money, or lack of it? Broken relationships?

At this point he shared in his own story in greater detail. While in seminary, near graduation with four children and a beautiful wife, he came home from a pastor's conference and unexpectedly passed out while picking up a toy from the floor. The process of figuring out what the cause was took years, and caused a lot of inner turmoil. He shared that he has been legally dead seven times. It steals your peace and your sense of security.

It also makes an impact on your finances. His heart transplant cost a million and a half dollars. Wouldn't it be nice to have a million and a half dollars?

His heart got so enlarged he couldn't live a normal life. He ultimately had to go to Mayo Clinic where he spent 68 days in intensive care, and experience that separates you from friends and family, and from your dignity.

These are the thieves and bandits that steal our security and hope.

But then there is the Good Shepherd who leads his sheep out to pasture and back to the safe place. Because the sheep know his voice they are calm.

Zach shared that when people are waiting for a heart they sooner or later end up depressed, and when that happens they often become ill the next day. When they get ill they can't go through surgery so it is a major problem. Zach said he prayed for God to help him minister to others there while he was in the ICU.

Another passage about sheep is Psalm 23. If you follow Christ He will lead you to peace and security. "Yea, though I walk through the shadow of death I will fear no evil."

God can take the most miserable situation and turn it into the best ministry of your life.

In verse six the writer points out that the disciples didn't understand the metaphor. Jesus gives additional insight. In verse seven Jesus goes further. "I am the gate," He says.

The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly.

Finding Rest For Your Soul

On a beautiful summer-like weekend, with the countryside bathed in sunshine, Pastor Shannon greets us warmly. “I am grateful you’ve chosen to worship with us here this Memorial Day weekend. The theme in our message today will be from Psalm 23."

Announcements 
We’re going to try to do Friendship Dinners again. Be sure to sign up.
Next Sunday the softball team will be gathering for practice at 2:00 p.m. in Twig.
Saturday, May 31: Church cleaning day.
VBS will be the week of June 16 at Grand Lake Community Church. Volunteers still needed, especially for help preparing food.
Tuesday, June 10: Ladies Day at the church, 9:00 a.m.

Chuck, Ken and Darlene led us in worship on this Memorial Day weekend and Sixth Sunday of Easter.

Finding Rest For Your Soul

"My message today is about my own spiritual journey and trying to wrestle with these issues."

Brad began his message by sharing a story about trying to cut down a tree at his mother’s house. It proved to be far more work than he realized when he started. On another day this week he tried to get things ready at their cabin but once again tried to do too much work in too short of an amount of time.

Too many of us these days are always in a hurry. All too often we rush to the store, hurry through chores and also try to rush our relationship with God. Psalm 23 offers a perfect antidote to this stress-producing way of life.

Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… He restores my soul.”

Each phrase in the psalm requires a decision. "The Lord is my shepherd" is the first fork in the road. Without a shepherd, all the issues of our life are our responsibility, and leave us in a state of worry about all the details or everything. Alternative, we can let God take care of our cares.

The solution to our harried living style is not a pop culture maxim to add margins in our lives. It begins by asking Jesus to be our Good Shepherd.

Sheep spend ten hours a grazing and the rest of their time chewing their cud. Ruminating. To ruminate, sheep must be relaxed.

Brad provided us a technique for getting more out of a passage of Scripture: break the phrase down, word by word.

The Lord.
The Lord is. He is real.
The Lord is my…. It’s personal.
The Lord is my Shepherd. Think about what the shepherd does so that the sheep do not have to think about.

The next phrase: I shall not want. Because the Lord is caring for me as the good shepherd, I can live a joyful, satisfied life. I do not have to live a life driven by unsatisfied desires.

Sheep are followers. Sheep aren’t reflective. They are passive followers of the sheep in front of them. Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”

Here's another fork in the road decision: choose gratitude. Find satisfaction in the shepherd’s presence rather than his gifts.

Who is happier, the one with lots of boxes and always wanting more, or the one who has but one box but is content? More is not better.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. Too often we do not want to lie down. We want to control everything. But sooner or later we must face the fact that we’re not really in control. We’re not created to carry the burden of controlling everything.

If the Good Shepherd is present in your life, wherever you are is a green pasture.

Your life is a gift. Rest in this competent God is a gift.

Prayer is rest in God. Letting God be the one at work.

He leads me beside still waters. Sheep need still waters. When sheep fall into rushing waters they can drown.

Be still. Be still and know He is God.

He restores my soul. The good shepherd walks confidently, competently… and He says, “My sheep know My voice.”

Let Him be your shepherd. Instead of worrying about stuff, ruminate on Him. Instead of wallowing in discontent, be grateful for Him. Instead of trying to control everything through frantic activity, surrender to Him. Instead of having all this noise and chaos, listen to Him. Then you can stop living on the edge of your seat, and live with a restored soul.

Expressions of Thanks

It was exceedingly chilly this morning. Brad in his opening remarks shared that we will be talking about gratitude today.

Announcements
1. Anyone interested in being part of a choir for the Christmas program see Darlene.
2. Drake mentioned a men's outing on Saturday December 14 to go to Fleet Farm in Blaine. Let Drake know if you are interested so they
3. Next three Sundays the youth of church, all ages thru high school, will be practicing for Christmas program. 9:00 a.m.
4. Next week we will be collecting the Covenant World Relief soup cans.

Drake read from Ezekiel about a vision of the glory of the Lord, then led us in worship, accompanied by Darlene on keyboards.

After the offering the children carried to the front the Offering Christmas Child shoeboxes they assembled for needy children overseas.

Many prayer requests and updates regarding various concerns we have been praying for.

Expressions of Thanks

Brad said he would be making a few remarks about gratitude and then give us the opportunity to share our

He then prepared us for a verse from Paul by saying, "There are two kinds of oughts, the ought of obligation and the ought of opportunity."

For example: You ought to see Jackson Hole in the spring. This is an ought of opportunity.

We often teach gratitude out of obligation, as a duty. But obligations become a burden when it is a duty. True gratitude is of a different nature.

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~ I Thes. 5:18

Brad shared that as he thought on this theme a number of statements people came to mind. One was, "Though I lost my job this year, I am grateful that God has been with me." Many other statements were shared with similar sentiments, from a girl going through chemo, from a man with no legs.

Whatever you're going through, God knows. And being "in Christ" is the foundation of our gratitude. It is not circumstances that give us gratitude. It is being in Him that makes it possible for us to be continually grateful... in all circumstances.

Pastor Brad then read Psalm 23, focusing especially on the phrase "my cup overflows."

Rejoice in all circumstances. This is God's will for you, in all circumstances.

Brad had us talk to one another in family units (or small groups) to discuss what we're grateful for. After taking time to listen to one another, several people shared their blessings and what they were grateful for, with specific details, some of them very personal and precious.

We were then encouraged to extend this beyond these walls and share faith matters with our families at home, closing the service with Hymn 59, Let All Things Now Living.

Afterwards Chuck shared how grateful he is for partners in ministry, sharing examples of ways in which needs have been met through this past year. Chuck said that our church will rent the Washbucket laundromat in Lincoln Park to help the many young people wash their clothes for a day. Looking for volunteers to help out December 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. plus anyone who can help provide soap and other necessities.