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August 2007 |
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Rhonda and I returned from our church’s annual conference meeting in Anaheim again grateful to the Lord for such a sweet and Godly fellowship in the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC). The one quote that stuck in my mind from the preaching was David Bryant’s quote, “Hope is hearing the music of the future. Faith is dancing to it right now.” Yes, the life of the Christian is a life lived to the beat of a much different drummer. A congregation such as ours has the challenges of the practical problems (weed cutting, mopping floors, budgets & bills, facility maintenance & building projects, etc.), but above and beyond the challenges, we have the romance with the Lord that trumps all the less than pleasant tasks and difficulties that might come down the road. I think of that when I see one of you trimming the weeds around the church - sweating, huffing and puffing - not because you necessarily like trimming weeds and sweating but because the romance of God has captivated you, the work of God is your privilege. You may or may not remember that I am using the opening of the Chimes to address five important, historic beliefs in Reformed Protestantism. Some refer to these as T.U.L.I.P. The “T” represents Total Depravity or as some would say – humanity’s radical corruption or original sin. The “U” of TULIP represents Unconditional Election or God’s sovereign choice. This reminds us that the big thing about our faith is not necessarily our personal choice of God but his choice of us. The “L” of TULIP is Limited Atonement or as some would call it Christ’s purposeful atonement. Here we are reminded that Christ’s death on the cross was truly a sacrifice for those who walk in grace in this life. For those who reject God and pursue selfish goals, there is no atonement, no sacrifice, no price paid, no redemption. The “I” of TULIP is Irresistible Grace or Effectual Grace as some might call it. Say what??? Read on. Think of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-46). We all know a corpse cannot revive itself. It could not even assist in such a miraculous work. It could only respond after receiving new life. Lazarus was unquestionably dead, not just unconscious. The stench from his body was repugnant. Jesus made no attempt to woo Lazarus from the grave with wit and flowerily words, but instead by his power, he revived Lazarus’ rotting body. A dead man stands up, heart beating, lungs pumping oxygen. Though incapable of assisting in his own resurrection, Lazarus was capable of obeying the Lord in newness of life. Some might point out that though Christ supplied the power to bring life back into his body, Lazarus made the choice to stand up and respond to Jesus’ command. That may be true, but lying there dead, he was powerless to participate in the life-transforming process. Only after he was alive again, could he exercise his muscles to stand and walk. Some Christians might bristle at the statement, “new birth or spiritual birth precedes faith”. You might respond, “But Pastor Curry, I thought repentance and faith preceded new birth? Doesn’t Jesus say something like repent and believe? Doesn’t the Bible say believe and you will be saved? Doesn’t repentance, belief, and faith make salvation possible?” Don’t forget, the death of Christ on the cross preceded you, preceded your repentance, your faith. Correct? It was his death on the cross for you, which resurrected you to life, spiritual life. Christ’s death doesn’t simply make it possible for you to choose, it accomplishes your redemption. It gave you a spiritual pulse. By the fact of your redemption, it is now possible for you to repent and believe. Make sense? Like Lazarus who was dead as dead can be, the Christian was dead, spiritually dead as dead can be, until Jesus gives him spiritual life. The new believer hears the Gospel message and begins to realize what Christ has done for him. It now makes sense. He is alive, not dead. He must get out of the grave. He now can repent and believe. Grace to him is irresistible. He can use his muscles to stand and walk and go forth in life, in the joy of redemption. He cannot resist the impulse of his heart to beat or his lungs to suck oxygen. Grace is now completely effectual – irresistible. To the Christian who understands this, Christ is not a take it or leave it proposition. Christ is absolutely the hope, the way, the truth and the life. For the one giving testimony to his faith, he is mindful that the very person who is the recipient of his words may be hearing the voice of Jesus to come forth, just like Lazarus did. When such a person does hear Jesus, he will repent; he will believe. Before, he was dead, spiritually dead. Now he is alive. Only then is repentance and faith possible. Such is the “I” in TULIP – Irresistible Grace. Youuuuu… think about that. Pastor Curry
PULPIT FORECAST"To regularly avail oneself to the public exposition of the Holy Scriptures is one of the highest and holiest habits one can ever attain in this life." Here we are in the middle of the summer of 2008 message series – “Finding Your Unique Place in God’s Plan”. Hopefully you are finding this helpful in observing your own spiritual life and identifying where you “fit” in Christ’s church. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians are rich with admonitions and encouragements. When reading them through once or twice, it is really hard to begin to get the depth of meaning that one gets from putting them under a microscope. Bring your Bible each Sunday and begin your week in the Word. "To regularly avail oneself to the public exposition of the Holy Scriptures is one of the highest and holiest habits one can ever attain in this life." Last Tuesday evening at our Council prayer meeting, we briefly discussed this summer’s study series – preaching and teaching. It seems that several of you are really “getting into” the thrust of Paul’s letters as to finding your niche in ministry. The biggest obstacle to finding a ministry that matches who you are is usually you. Say that again. Yes, it is usually you. As the young infant moves from the bottle and learns potty habits, he or she begins to realize that the world doesn’t revolve around their needs. If one hasn’t made that transition by the teen years, mom and dad have a big challenge. Trying to potty-train an adult is a real problem.You can see a similar thing in most congregations. Upon coming to faith, the person feeds off of the teaching and ministry of others. Then hopefully when growth begins to happen, one realizes that they are active within the congregation, not only for what “they” can get or benefit, but for others as well. Spiritual maturity brings a certain level of compassion and concern for others’ spiritual growth. At that point, ministry begins to get exciting. You realize it is not about you. Your needs are less and less the issue, less and less the concern. Maturity is taking place. We see this happen a lot in our Christian Life Groups. Thus my sermon series for the summer.AUGUST MESSAGES5th “Spiritual Life – Spiritual Gifts” is the title of the message taken from I Corinthians 12:1-11 We will also share in Holy Communion.
12th “Understanding How Church Really Works” is the message title using I Corinthians 12:12-31.19th “Order in the House” is the message title taken from I Corinthians 14:26-40. 26th “Not Crack Pots but Clay Pots ” will be the message taken from II Corinthians 4:1-18.
ON THE RADIO EVERY SUNDAY 98.3 Know of a shut-in who might enjoy our service? Make sure to have them tune in every Sunday. At the end of each service, Calie Lyons and Jim Pillars make a fast trip to the radio station to be on the air at 12:00 noon. People who live out of the area can tune in on the internet by visiting www.wrlr.fm . Look to the left side of the page and click on “on-air audio stream”. . REACH ONE OUTREACHAs you may know, our church helps the Park District in its “Reach One” program, which brings children to the Park District every Friday evening for a picnic and free swim in the pool, etc. They ask area churches to help with the picnic by serving and providing the hot dogs for cook-out. We are scheduled to do help this coming Friday, August 3rd. If you want to cook or serve, contact Teresa Pillars. ALL CHURCH PICNIC – AUG. 19TH Last year’s picnic went so well we are doing it again! For the noon meal that Sunday, come to the park across the street from the Lyons’. Bring a dish to pass. Bring a friend. We will have a special time of introductions for guests. Everyone is asked to think of a neighbor, family member, co-worker or friend and bring them.
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ALL CHURCH PICNIC – AUG. 19TH Last year’s picnic went so well we are doing it again! For the noon meal that Sunday, come to the park across the street from the Lyons’. Bring a dish to pass. Bring a friend. We will have a special time of introductions for guests. Everyone is asked to think of a neighbor, family member, co-worker or friend and bring them. COFFEE HOUR8/5 Set Up Sunday 8/12 Katie & Randy Margison 8/19 Picnic 8/26 Hank & Sue McDonald
USHER SCHEDULE8/5 Dawn Brtek & Annette Gathercoal 8/12 Manny Reyes & Chris Sybrandy 8/19 Mike & Cindy Johnson 8/26 Dan Schlabach & Karen Eggert
SPECIAL THANKSTo the people of Community Church for making it possible for us (the Currys) to represent you at ourAnnual Conference meeting in Anaheim, California. This was a privilege and a gift.Expenses were kept to a minimum as we arranged the flights through frequent flyer miles and stayed at a lesser expensive hotel than at the conference site. As usual the fellowship of other CCCC folk was super great. The business meetings went as planned – budget adopted, officers elected, etc. Our time hosting Dr. Winter and his wife, Barbara, was extra special. Dr. Winter is now 82 and is not able to do much public speaking. We were blessed to have them at the conference.While in the L.A. area, we did visit the campus of William Carey International University at Pasadena (www.wciu.edu). It was such a joy as I have got to know several of the staff through email and telephone over the last couple of years through my studies. Lisa O'Neil, Senior Academic Administrator, loaned us a car all week which saved car rental.Again thanks!CONSITITUTIONAL CHANGESEvery few years, we examine our constitution and make adjustments for changes in our church life. Mike Johnson, our Council President, has asked Pastor Curry, Linda Martin and Jim Pillars to work on this and present some recommendations. For example, one change needs to be made in reference to the pastoral role as to confidentiality. In recent years, Pastors have been called to testify against their own church members. Years ago that would have been unthinkable but not now. The legal climate is much different. If the church does not specifically outline this function in its constitution, there is no basis for establishing legal argument for clergy confidentiality. We also are reviewing how we nominate and elect Council members. If you have any suggestions, let one of the committee know. RUMMAGE SALE NEWSWell the rummage sale is almost upon us and the ladies of the Lydia circle are working hard to make sure that the 2007 fall sale is as great as all of the past sales have been. We are really pleased to be able to us the front entrance once again and will have a check-out area in the newly created space just outside of fellowship hall at the bottom of the front stairwell. We are still in need of people to work the cash desks and help with bagging customer purchases. The sign-up sheet is on the counter in fellowship hall. Please stop by during coffee hour and add your name to the list. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to call Linda Martin. As always, people are needed to sort and price donated items during the 10 days prior to the sale. Any amount of time you can spare is appreciated, even if it is just one hour! The church will be open each weekday from 8am till 9pm from Monday august 6th to Tuesday august 14th so bring your donated items downstairs and stay awhile to help price them if you have the time. If you absolutely can’t get to the church between 8am and 9pm on a weekday, please call and we will try to accommodate you. ( please don’t leave donations outside as we don’t want anything to be damaged in the event of rainy weather.) Don’t forget set-up Sunday is august 5th beginning immediately after the worship service ends. Lunch will be served around 1pm for all those who can stay and help, and if any of you would like to contribute some food for lunch, please let us know. We would count it as an extra blessing. One correction is in order: on the handout some of your received a few Sunday’s ago the start time indicated for the “early bird” sale on Wednesday august 15th was written as “4pm” and should have been “3pm”. Sorry for the error!!! We are looking forward to working with all of you once again. You sister in the lord; The ladies of Lydia Circle Linda martin president 815-575-2501
BIRTHDAYS If you know of anyone who is not on our list, contact Randy Margison. 2: Joyce Richter 21: Marietta Eggert 21: Rylee Brtek 27: Sam Dietz
USE OF CHURCH BUILDING AND CHIMES CALENDAR?? The calendar in the Chimes each month only contains the events of our church life. It does not list all the groups using the church facility on different dates. If you wish inquire about using the facility, please call our Facility Coordinator, Jim Pillars.
CARD MINISTRYIf you know someone is in need of some spiritual love from our sister’s and brother’s in Christ, please contact Cindy Johnson and give his or her name and address. Email Cindy at TWEETYCINDY0301@COMCAST.NET A Big Thanks to those that have so willingly served all year. COUNCIL REPORTS from the most recent meeting are always available at the back of the church in the wooden rack at the top of the steps. Don’t hesitate to pick one up if you have interest. Council Meetings are always open to our members. We meet the first Tuesday evening to conduct church business and the third Tuesday evening to pray. Please contact Council President Mike Johnson if you wish to attend or speak at any meeting. PURCHASING AT MENARDS?As a fund raiser for the new Building we will have Menard's Scrip. Some were not aware that we had it. You purchase te scrip from the church in $25.00 increments. You use these when you shop at Menard's just as you would cash. Keep one or two on hand so that you are prepared when you go to Menard's. If you have a big building project or other large purchase coming up there we can get larger denominations also. See Marietta. We get 4% on each and at the end of the year they send an additional 2% in merchandise certificates. Thus. we actually get 6% profit.
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