Connecting Point

With Pastor Brad not yet returned from his conference, Chuck Vanderscheuren led our service today, welcoming us warmly.

There were a host of announcements. Here are the main ones.
1. Darlene is starting an adult choir which is open to anyone with a heart sing. Practices will be held noon to one on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month.
2. There will also be a children's choir, with practices on Wednesday evening the 1st and 3rd week of each month.
3. Adventure Club is beginning on Wednesday October 7, a weekly program for children preschool to 6th grade. Volunteers always welcome. Contact Brooke for more information.
4. There will be an Old Fashioned Hymn Sing at the Newmans next Sunday at 4:00 p.m. It will also be a potluck meal, with meat provided.
5. Paula noted the Annual Women's Luncheon on Saturday, October 10. A very powerful speak will be sharing.
6. The deacons toured Caribou Lake School this past week to determine its viability as a potential new building to grow into. This was a very preliminary review and there are many variables. Please pray for wisdom for the church leadership.


Chuck then opened the service with the traditional, "The Lord be with you." To which the congregation replied, "And also with you."

The worship team consisted of Ken, Darlene and Chuck, who opened by reading Psalm 105. Then they jumped right in to a rousing version of Your First Day In Heaven, followed by a very powerful Midnight Cry. After a set of worship choruses, Gwen read to us from I Corinthians 12:12-27, the famous passage about the interconnectedness of the body of Christ.

Prayer needs and praises were shared. Then Walt Cresman came forward to share the message.

Connecting Point

Walt brought to church individual bags of Legos for every person in the congregation which were distributed just as he began his message. His aim was to use these Lego sets to share a number of insights pertaining to church life, family life and our purpose in life.

He first drew attention to the fact that all the pieces were different. So it is in the body of Christ and our church family, that we are all different. God forms each of us in different ways and for different purposes.

If you have ever had Legos, you will notice how the one thing they all share is the ability to connect to other Legos. These connecting points enable us to build relationships in various ways. One other thing Walt noted at this time is that the individual pieces may be a variety of colors, but color is not a variable that has any impact on our ability to connect.

He then shared this passage from Ephesians 4:1-6

1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Walt asked, "What does God intend our church to look like?"

Walt said he purchased nearly every Lego set in town in order for us to experience this set of object lessons today. Only one had a steeple, but that is O.K. After showing us how the steeple piece prevents additional connections on the top, he suggested that the best form for a church would be flat, wide and broad. This would allow the maximum number of open connectors for bringing people in to the church family.

Walt also showed how families are an important part of the church. The broad connectivity strengthens a community of believers.

The passage from Luke 10:25 and following was referenced, the wonderful story of the Good Samaritan. Walt noted that acts of kindness make an impact on people. This is one of the ways we make connections.

Walt also asked us to consider how Legos can show a marriage relationship. What does marriage look like?

He showed one example, of two single piece Legos, in which they are connected, but one is on top of the other. A second example was a single Lego with two connectors. The side by side relationship was good, but then he showed us a three piece Lego and cited the role of the Holy Spirit in our marriages. A three-fold cord is not easily broken.

At this point Walt went a bit sideways to make an important point. He spoke about expectations, how our disappointments are in proportion to the disparity between unmet expectations and reality. It is very true that the variance between our expectation and reality can cause us hurt.

He noted then that we're all wired differently, and for this reason we all, like the Lego blocks, have varying numbers of connectors. This was a setup for a profound observation. Like the Lego blocks our pastor and his wife also have a finite capacity for deep connections. Our expectation is often that because our pastor and family is so wonderful we all want to be in a tight connection there. However, the truth is, only God has unlimited, infinite connectors. God can connect to all of us in a manner which is deep and significant.

This was a profound observation, and your faithful blog scribe was impressed by it. America's pastors have one of the toughest jobs in the world. We can play a significant role in providing encouragement and praying for him as he strives to bring us God's truths.

It was a good service, and I believe there were many good messages for all.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain

Today we kicked off our new schedule with Sunday School at 9:00 and the worship service at 10:15. Pastor Brad welcomed us warmly, then quickly summarized the main points of today's message before running through the announcements, which were as follows:
1. The Truth Project will begin next Sunday. If interested, see Brad to sign up. Cresman's will host two groups at their home. One will be held on Sunday afternoons and the other Monday evenings. Contact Brad or Walt & Gwen for more information.
2. Adventure Club is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 7 for children from age four to sixth grade. AC will meet Wednesday evenings from 5:30 - 7:00. If interested in helping, contact Brooke.
3. An Old Fashioned Hymn Sing and Potluck will be held at the Newmans on October 4 at 4 p.m. Meat will be provided... bring your favorite sides or desserts.
4. Anyone interested in making Christmas ornaments can join us on Thursday mornings now through Christmas. See Gail Brown for details.

After a period of worship and prayer, the Scripture reading was from Colossians 1:9-14.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain

Brad opened his message by re-reading the passage from Colossians chapter one.

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The first verses, 9-11, were the focus for today's message. Paul here is telling the Colossians what he is praying for as he thinks of their community of believers. The four things are (1) that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will, (2) that they would live worthy lives, (3) bear fruit, and (4) have an enduring faith.

The context of Paul's letter to the Christians in Colossae was that were a number of false teachings creeping in to the church. It wasn't a single "great white shark" tearing them up, but a mix of smaller issues which needed to be addressed. One was that Jesus was not involved in the Creation, based on a false concept of the Trinity. A second was that certain people had special knowledge that was not available to the rest of the church. Lifestyle questions also were part of the mix. There was also a bit of angel worship as well as the notion that there were demons behind every bush.

As often happens with young churches with a lot of new believers, their lack of Bible training can cause them to take in ideas that seem religious or right but are not Biblical. Similarly, the Colossians needed help getting clarification in a variety of areas.

Brad then went into detail regarding the four prayers in this section.

1) Knowledge of God's will

The is a difference between knowledge of God and the knowledge of His will. We can know a lot of facts about God, but still miss what He expects of us. God's will matters. Do you know what God's will is for this world? You should be filled with is. God's will for the world is peace, that violence would end. That is all throughout Scripture. It is also that those who have more would feed those with less. God's will is that there would be a common community established in our world. Also, He has a will for lost people, that they be found.

And God's will for His church is that it would prevail everywhere. His will for the poor and oppressed is that they would be fed and set free.

Our prayer should be, "God, show us Your will."

2) Live a worth life

This piece of Paul's prayer deals with all the lifestyle debates which were occurring there. One group focused on very strict regulations and another group was saying it didn't matter how you lived. Paul's prayer was that they would live a life worthy of the calling on their lives. Ultimately, we're to walk as Christ walked. What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD)

3) Bear fruit

Brad noted that as we bear fruit we will grow in our knowledge of God. The goal of our Christian lives is not merely salvation. We're God's handiwork, a masterpiece... but also a work in process. That is why we need to persevere in our Christian walk.

4) Be strong, persevere by God's glorious might

"There is an enemy power out to thwart you," Brad said. Life has many hardships. That is why Paul continually encouraged the saints to persevere. In his letter to Timothy he stated, "I have fought the good fight, I've finished the race."

It never pays to drift. It's better to pay the price of endurance that to go through the pain of error and sin.

In summary, God has qualified you... that is, made you qualified to be in the Kingdom, not because you were good, but because of His mercy.

Brad then shared this illustration. "If you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, you know it's because someone put him there." It's a cute picture of grace. I'm heaven bound not because I can climb there on my own, but because Someone put me there.

Christ, Paul says, has transferred up from a bad place to a better place. He's paid the price to redeem us. There's always a price.

Another illustration of grace... In Sudan there's a civil war taking place. Women and children have been put into slavery and are victims of despicable deeds. European Christians aware of the situation risked their lives to meet with the warring factions to determine a price for the slaves so they could raise money to buy their freedom. For $33 each they redeemed as many as they were able.

Can you imagine what these women and children felt was they were relieved from their suffering by people they didn't even know? So it is with ourselves. We were bought with a price, and that price was a lot more than 33 bucks. It cost God the spilt blood and pierced body of His son, the second person of the Trinity.

You have been qualified, transferred and redeemed. And now you are safe and secure and relocated and forgiven forever through Jesus Christ. That's the message that we get to proclaim to our broken, messed up world.