New Year's Resolutions

"Yes, you and I need to be committed to change, but not in a way that hopes for a big event of transformation, but in a way that finds joy in and is faithful to a day-by-day, step-by-step process of insight, confession, repentance and faith. And in those little moments we commit ourselves to remember the words of Paul in Romans 8:32  'He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us, how will he not also with him freely give us all things.'" 
Quoted from http://www.paultrippministries.com/new-years-resolutions

In 2013, let's focus on Biblical thinking and not superficial change.

How to Prepare for Sunday's sermon

Taken from Listen Up (click HERE to find out more about this book)

1.  Look up next Sunday's Bible passage and read it at home during the week.
2. Pray for Pastor Duke in the middle of the week.
3. Pray often for yourself, that, by His Spirit, God will grow in you a heartfelt expectation that God Himself will speak to you as His word is preached.
4. If you can, try not to come to the sermon exhausted, but to come rested and ready to pay close attention.
5. Deliberately prepare your mind and heart before the sermon and say to yourself:  "This is when God speaks to me."  Pray again:  "Lord, speak to me.  I am listening."

Did you notice 3 out of the 5 tips involve prayer?

The Ultimate Gift/Goal

From the Gospel Primer.

A great reminder at Christmas as we think about gifts.  God's ultimate gift to us is Himself.

A great reminder at the end of the and the beginning of a new year. Why do I do the things I do?

The Ultimate Prize

In the New Testament, the gospel is several times referred to as “the gospel of God.”  Such an expression should be understood in the fullest sense possible.

The gospel is called “the gospel of God,” not simply because it is from God, nor merely because it is accomplished through God, but also because ultimately it leads me to God, who is Himself its greatest prize.

Indeed, what makes the gospel such great news is God, who brings me to Himself and then gives Himself so freely to me through Jesus Christ.  The essence of eternal life is not found in having my sins forgiven, in possessing a mansion in heaven, or in having streets of gold on which to walk forever.

Rather, the essence of eternal life is intimately knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.  Everything else that God gives to me in the gospel serves merely to bring me to Himself so that this great end might be achieved.  Christ died for the forgiveness of my sins so that I might be brought “to God.”  Christ is preparing a place for me in heaven so that He might receive me “to [Him] self” and have me forever with Him where He is. And yes, there is a great street of gold in heaven, but is there any doubt where the street leads?  Unquestionably, it leads straight to the throne of God Himself, as do all of God’s gifts to me in the gospel.

As I meditate on the gospel each day, I find my thoughts inevitably traveling from the gifts I’ve received to the Giver of those gifts; and the more my thoughts are directed to Him, the more I experience the essence of eternal life.  The “gospel of God” is from God, comes through God, and leads me to God; and it is in Him that my soul finds its truest joy and rest.

Consider these verses:

Romans 5:5.  “. . . the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  

John 14:21.  “. . . he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

John 17:3.  “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

1 Peter 3:18.  “For Christ also died for sins once for all . . . in order that He might bring us to God . . ..”

John 14.  “(2) In My Father’s house are many dwelling places . . . .  I go to prepare a place for you.  (3) If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receceive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

Revelation.  “(21:21) And the street of the city was pure gold . . . .  (22:1) Then he showed me a river of the water of life . . . coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, (2) in the middle of the street of it.”

Romans 11:36.  “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory.  Amen.”

Psalm 16:11.  “You will make known to me the path of life;  In Your presence is fullness of joy;  In your right hand there are pleasures forever.”  

Psalm 42.  “(1) As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.  (2) My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;  When shall I come and appear before God?”  Psalm 37:4.  “Delight yourself in the Lord;  and he will give you the desires of your heart.” 

Psalm 73.  “(25) Whom have I in heaven but You?  And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.  (26) . . . God is my portion forever.  (28) . . . as for me, the nearness of my God is my good . . . .”

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Here are the lyrics to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

Pastor Duke referred to this song two weeks ago and this past week we sang it.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

The Hand of God

I want to be a part of something that can only be explained by the hand of God!  
David Platt from www.multiplymovement.com/sanfrancisco

Think about how this should impact what we pray, think and do!

The Great Commission:
Matthew 28:18-20.
 ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

A COMMAND FROM GOD to be done in & through the POWER OF GOD.

Praying after the benefit concert

The Christmas Benefit Concert is over but we can still be praying for
  the Daughter Project (http://www.thedaughterproject.org/)
  those who heard the truth of the gospel at the concert

Parents check out http://ekidzministry.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-daughter-project-christmas-benefit.html for some resources to talk with your children about human trafficking.

Culture of evangelism AND this quarter's 3E classes

"The Story of God's Glory" will demonstrate that God has made Himself known throughout history.

"God has repeatedly displayed his character in a corporate people. He didn’t just create Adam. He created Adam and Eve. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. God displayed his character through Israel. Then in the New Testament God purchases the church through the blood of Christ."  Mark Dever

"What We Believe" will help people understand the basics of the faith and live them out in their lives.

"Shepherding a Child's Heart" will help parents and others disciple children.

Excuses, Excuses...

Taken from Multiply (www.multiplymovement.com/Multiply-INT-F3.pdf)

Most Christians can give a number of reasons why they cannot or should not disciple other people:
“I don’t feel called to minister.”
“I just have too much on my plate right now; I don’t have time to invest in other people.”
“I don’t know enough.”
“I have too many issues of my own. I’ll start once I get my life in order.”

As convincing as these excuses may seem to us, Jesus’s commands don’t come with exception clauses. He does not tell us to follow unless we’re busy.
He does not call us to love our neighbors unless we don’t feel prepared.

In fact, if you read Luke 9:57–62, you’ll see several individuals who gave excuses for why they could not follow Jesus at the time. Read the passage and take note of how Jesus responded to
them. It may surprise you


What excuses tend to keep you from following Jesus’s command to make disciples? 
What do you need to do in order to move past these excuses?

Culture of Evangelism

Have you been praying for a growing culture of evangelism at Emmanuel?

This begins with each member treasuring the Gospel in his/her heart.

These ten questions are taken from an article entitled "Ten questions to diagnose the evangelistic health of your church."  Prayerfully consider these questions and your involvement in EBC's culture of evangelism.

1. Are members more concerned about the lost than their own preferences and comfort? 
2. Is the church led to pray for lost persons?
3. Are the members of the church open to reaching people who don’t look or act like them? 
4. Do conflicts and critics zap the evangelistic energy of the church? 
5. Do small groups and Sunday school classes seek to reach lost persons within their groups? 
6. Is the leadership of the church evangelistic? 
7. Do the sermons regularly communicate the gospel? 
8. Are there ministries in the church that encourage members to be involved in evangelistic outreach and lifestyle? 
9. Have programs become ends in themselves rather than means to reach people?
10. Is there any process of accountability for members to be more evangelistic?

Prayer requests for the Arthur family

We rejoice and thank the Lord for the following:

1. The seminary where I serve as director had lots of debt at the beginning of this year. The Lord provided in unexpected ways and the debt has been reduced from about $200,000 to about $50,000.
2. Our church plant that is starting up at the seminary has a steady attendance of about 60 after only a year and a half.
3. In spite of health issues and financial crises, the Lord has faithfully kept us on the field of Brazil for almost 25 years as a family.

Please join us in prayer for the following:

1. Our son Peter, who graduated from Cedarville while we were on furlough there in Toledo (May, 2011) is living in California and preparing for marriage next July. He is working three jobs and trying to keep his head above water. He also has some health issues, such as problems with his back and some difficulties with concentration due to a concussion in high school.
2. We are very busy! I am preaching in three different churches in the next three weeks and will teach a masters module in Portuguese starting next Monday (Nov. 26). Please pray for me to be ready for this module. I have never given the course (Biblical Theology of the OT) and have had to start from scratch in my preparation. My job as director of the seminary does not leave me enough time to prepare for my classes as well as I would like (I am teaching 10 credits this semester).
3. Our daughter Jill is a senior in high school this year and she is also very busy. Besides her classes and her sports at school, she plays violin for our church and is spending lots of time taking tests (ACT, SAT) and trying to decide where to go to college. On Nov. 30, she will play Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" at the school play. She has lots of lines to memorize. Pray for her to do well. She wants to do everything well to please the Lord.

Real Disciples!

"Real Disciples make disciple!!  The Word of God is intended to SPREAD through us, not STOP with us!" David Platt

We need to be praying that this would be true of every member of Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Prayerfully consider how you can make disciples.
Some, but not all, possibilities are:

1. serving in a ministry at Emmanuel (www.emmanuelbaptist.com/service_opportunities)
2. being equipped in and/or inviting someone to one of our 3E classes (www.emmanuelbaptist.com/3e_discipleship)
3. inviting someone to the Christmas benefit concert (www.toledobenefit.com)
4. actively participating in our Sunday morning service by finding and talking with someone you don't know. 
5. praying for and talking with your neighbors

Ultimately share and show Jesus to those around you!!

More than parades, turkeys and football?

What if God had more for our kin this Thanksgiving than the Macy’s parade, tryptophan-induced naps, and NFL football? What if we saw our gatherings with extended family not as a chance to check out, but as an opportunity for Christian mission?

Making the Most of Turkey Time:  Thanksgiving on Mission  
Tips for those visiting unbelieving family members during Thanksgiving.

5 aims of holiday family gatherings

Taken from a Gospel Colation blogy by Kathleen Nielson.
Click HERE to read the whole article.

1.  Pray in advance.
2.  Pray for God to set a guard over my mouth (Psalm 141:3)
3.  Care for different stages of life.
4.  Infuse my plans with trust in a sovereign God.
5.  Make time to read the Bible out loud and pray out loud together.

The Daughter Project & this year's Christmas Benefit Concert

This offering from this year's Christmas Benefit Concert will be going to the Daughter Project.

You can find out more about this ministry at their website http://thedaughterproject.org/ or their blog http://thedaughterproject.wordpress.com

Here are some recent prayer requests from their website.

1. Thanks to Nova Faith Community for being generous with a donation and for their on-going support of TDP!
2. That ‘Tina’ will continue in her recovery.
3. Thanks to Barry & Craig for joining our Financial Committee.  Both have much experience in financial planning and accounting.
4. That we will find the right women to fill our two House Mom positions.
5. Thanks to Emmanuel Baptist Church for designating us to be the beneficiary of their annual Christmas Benefit Concert, scheduled for December 8 & 9.

Another groups Romans 5

Gracious Father in heaven, 

How wonderful and mighty and awesome you are, full of love, kindness and mercy.   

Where our sin abounded, grace abounded much more. 

We are so grateful to You for providing us with the free gift of eternal life through Your Son Jesus Christ.  

Thank You for giving us grace abundantly, righteousness and hope through our Lord.  

Thank You Father so much for this free gift of eternal life that we so greatly needed due to one mans' disobedience.  

You are God Almighty. 

You are Life. 

You are Good.

You are our Strength. 

Please grant us boldness to share your mighty truth of Love, The Gospel, to all you set in our paths in need of The Savior.  

In Jesus Love,  Amen

Another set of Romans 5 prayer (pt. 2)

Father God,
Thank you for the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, without whom we were under the power of death's reign, condemned and helpless.
But because of God's love demonstrated in Jesus, grace abounded.  God's grace defeated death's reign and sin's power.
We have been made righteous and given the gift of eternal life now and forevermore, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Lord, help me to live more consistently aware that sin has spread to all men. Those men need to be made aware of, or reminded of that.  Help me to share with neighbors and other acquaintances that you are a gracious God that has given a free gift to pay for that sin.  Through that gift they can be justified, and be made righteous.

Amen

PRAYER TIME FRIDAY NIGHT

This Friday (11.02), we are going to have prayer time from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm.
This prayer time is for our families, our church and our country.
If you are interested in finding out more email soulcare @ emmanuelbaptist.com

Another Romans 5 prayer

King of the Universe,

I submit to your lordship, repentant of my disloyalty.

I praise and thank you, that though I welcomed Sin’s rule with open arms,

Enthroned him upon my very soul,

And participated in the curse of anti-creation,

Your grace conquered Sin and Death for me.

I praise and thank you that while I was on the enemy’s side,

You purged my record of condemnation,

Granted me citizenship in your eternal kingdom,

And called me righteous, though I am far from it.

I praise and thank you that though once I was in the very grip of death,

I now will reign under your good rule in eternal life.

Give me grace to fight evil at every turn, at any cost, for the sake of your kingdom.

Oh, how I feel the strain of warfare still.

Come, end this war.

Come, establish your kingdom.

I join the groaning of all creation in longing for the restoration of all things,

So come quickly, LORD Jesus!

More Romans 5 prayers

Here are two more Romans 5 prayers.

More will be posted as Soul Care groups send them in.

Sovereign Father, Creator of the universe and mankind, We recognize our need for you.  Thank you for the law that shows us our need for a savior.  We are so grateful for your magnificent grace, planned ages ago in advance for us.  We accept the grace that rescues us from the grips of death, who was king, and sets us free, making us righteous.  Please grant us strength to be your ambassadors and reflect your love and mercy to the lost.  Since you stood in our place, grant us the strength to stand in your place.  Be glorified in our battle against sin, because you are worthy of our highest effort and allegiance.  Amen. 

Lord,
I thank you for your free gift of eternal life that came by grace.  I am thankful that while I was not interested in, or even thinking about you, while my life was lost in turmoil, you invaded my life and opened my eyes to who you are and my need for forgiveness and gave me faith.  I thank you for declaring me forgiven and justified through Christ’s death on the cross in my place.  I thank you for the great, joyous, graced life that you have given me here on earth and the hope I have of being in heaven with you someday, all because of Christ.
Amen

Two Prayers based on Romans 5

One of the questions in Soul Care tonight involved writing a prayer based on the Romans 5 passage Pastor Andrew preached on this past Sunday.

Here are two of them...

Our loving Heavenly Father,
We thank you today for the obedience of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  By His obedience to Your will in coming into this sinful world and taking upon Himself our sin, we now enjoy the forgiveness of our sin and justification.  Our disobedience has been completely forgiven because of His obedience.  We thank You that where our sin abounded, Your grace abounded much more.   For this we give you praise forever!  Amen

Dear Lord,
Thank you for not leaving us in our sin to face eternal death. Thank you for the free gift of salvation and for manifesting your grace to us by sending your son to pay the penalty for our sin. We acknowledge that there is nothing we could do to earn or deserve your free gift which declared us righteous by the shedding of Christ's blood. Please help us live in a way that manifests to others that sin is no longer reigning in our lives.
Thank you that even when we fail you, your grace and forgiveness abounds. You love us unfailingly. Help us to seek and take advantage of opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel with those who are still allowing sin to rule their lives. Help us to live with joy and victory as the liberated saints that we are. In Jesus name, we fight on!

SERVING

Service quotes
Selfishness, which does nothing but foster the status quo, is comfortable.  Putting others' needs first can be awkward.

45 minutes of prayer...

Here are some words and times to help think through how to do 45 minutes of prayer.

REMEMBER THIS IS ONLY A SUGGESTION!

PRAISE (6 minutes)

• Praise God for who He is
• A real simple way to do this is...
• Tell the group "we are going to praise him for at least 8 minutes"
• Have people in your group finish this phrase "God, I praise you because..."
• Remember quiet is O.K. 

WAITING (8 minutes) 

• Eight minutes of silence.
• Tell the group "During this 8 minutes of silence prayerfully reflect upon the prayer we wrote using Romans 5 and use this time to ask God to show you anything you need to confess.  Think specific.  Think actions and attitudes you need to confess."

BIBLE (6 minutes)

• For part of this 6 minutes read Psalm 42 or 119
• Then pray prayers based on the truths found in the passage you read.

PETITION/INTERCESSION (10 minutes)

• Pray for the missions on this month's mission prayer page.  This is the yellow sheet under the mission TV by the welcome center.
• Pray for your group's missionary.  Check the missionary page for the missionary update letters (www.emmanuelbaptist.com/missionaries)
• Pray for those on the prayer sheet
• Pray for your neighbors, family and others.
• Pray for ministries of the church.

THANKSGIVING (8 minutes)

• Thank God for what He has done for you in the past.
• Thank God for what He has done for you this past week.

SINGING (5 minutes)

• Sing a song with your group
• You or someone in your group can lead the group
• youtube has many great videos to sing or listen to
• Play a CD for your group

If you are a math person, you realized these times don't add up to 45 minutes.  Yes, that is correct.  Hopefully, this will not distract you too much :)

Pray for our missionaries...

Ken and Clea Rathbun in Jamaica.

Especially remember to pray for Clea Rathbun.  THANK GOD for her recovery from dengue fever and for continue improvement as she ministers to the children and others at Bay Life Baptist Church.

Be praying for Ken and Clea's ministry to the students at Fairview Baptist Bible College.
http://www.emmanuelbaptist.com/pdf_forms/rathbun.pdf

Also, be praying for our church's spring mission trip to Jamaica.

Praying for our missionaries...

Mark and Anahi Self

Pray that they would reach 50% of their support level by the end of this year.

As of right now they have 18 meetings set up for 2013 and would to have 30 meetings.

You can read more at
http://www.theselfsinargentina.com/mark-index.htm

Adoniram Judson resources

Free resources on Adoniram Judson from John Piper:

Adoniram Judson: How Few There Are Who Die So Hard

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ

Doctrinal Statement and Prayer? (Part 2)

Praise God for who He is and not merely what He has done for you.

How can you pray this?

We believe there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite Spirit, the Maker
and supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and
worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love; that in the unity of the Godhead
there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine
perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of
redemption (Exod. 20:2‐3; I Cor. 8:6; Rev. 4:11).

Suffering and the misuse of Romans 8:28

Robert Jones writes there are "two problems with how we use Romans 8:28-29."

First, the promise of “good” in verse 28 is not a blank check. We are not free to identify the good as whatever wished-for thing we want, even a very good thing like someone else’s repentance. While these parents understandably longed for their teenager to follow Jesus, God defines the good differently in this text. Amid many other possible goods, God prioritizes our own Christlikeness as our highest good.

The second problem may be more common: How? How, specifically, does God use hardships to make us like Jesus? We must not let Romans 8:28-29 become abstract. The rich truth that “God uses trials for his glory and our good” must not become a Christian platitude. We must labor to understand what that might actually look like in any given situation.  To read the rest of the article click 
http://tinyurl.com/bcc-godandsuffering

Especially in light of Pastor Duke's sermon this past Sunday http://www.emmanuelbaptist.com/messages/rekindle/rekindle.09.30.12.mp3 on suffering and persecution, this is a good blog article to read.

Think about how these truths should impact 
- how we think about our own suffering
- how we pray for others in the midst of their own suffering

Prayer Requests for Fred & Rachel Whitman

Please pray for:

1. Wisdom for the doctors as they decide the next steps in light of the second "pre"-cancerous sore under Jonathan's tongue. They have furlough meetings lined up through mid-December in the States.
2. Patience and strength for Joshua as he awaits knee surgery for a torn ACL (knee). They are in the currently in the process of moving in to a larger apartment. With the church-planting responsibilities as well as family needs, it does not seem a good time to us for this injury but God knows best!
3. Smooth transition as the preaching and leadership responsibilities in our church at San Sisto are passed over to Lucio Stanisci.
4. Strength and wisdom as I substitute two Sundays a month at Ancona (on the east coast) for co-worker Andrew Bishop (currently on furlough) who recently joined Baptist Mid-Missions as a result of EBM's being dissolved.
5. Wisdom as my prison ministry expands, now in three and possibly to five prisons, that I won't try to do too much.
6. Help in finishing up the final touches on the first phase of our church building renovation in preparation for inspection (possibly in the coming weeks), as well as finances and help as we'll soon (as soon as our renter leaves) need to step into phase two, doubling the auditorium and adding more Sunday School rooms to keep up with the growth.
7. Conversions as a result of our soccer ministry. I bring a short devotional (besides playing soccer) at both of the practices each week. Pray especially for Karan, (an Indian Hindu), Mamadù and Macan (Mali muslims) Fabian, Giovanni, Cristian (Ecuadorian Catholics), Michael (Nigerian Anglican) as well as Francesco and Pasquale (Italian Catholics), most of whom have visited the church.
8. Quality time with our seven grandchildren (Rebecca, Cristina, Sammy, Elisa, Noah, Naomi, and Sofia) as we seek to be models for them and point them to Christ.
9. Final plans, strength and safety for our Christian History Tour, Oct. 1-12, 2012.
10. Pray that we might grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord pleasing Him in all our ways. Missionaries struggle daily with this as you do.

You can listen to Radio Luce, the radio station Fred helped start, at www.radioluce.com/it/

If you go to Operation world there is a good 2 minute prayer video - www.operationworld.org/ital

Doctrinal Statement & Prayer? (pt. 1)

Have you ever thought about using a doctrinal statement as a prayer prompter.

Emmanuel Baptist Church's doctrinal statement can be found at http://www.emmanuelbaptist.com/statementoffaith.pdf

Read through one of these statements and thank God for WHO HE IS not only what He does.

The Scriptures

We believe in the authority and sufficiency of the Word of God, consisting of the sixty‐six books of the Old and New Testaments, as originally written; that it was verbally and plenary inspired and is the product of Spirit‐controlled men, and therefore is infallible and inerrant in all matters of which it speaks. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creed, and opinions shall be tried (II Tim. 3:16‐17; II Pet. 1:19‐21; Isa. 40:8; I Pet. 1:24‐25a). 

Prayer:
Lord God, the AUTHOR of scripture,

Thank you for revealing Yourself to the humanity in scripture.  You have given us Your Word so that we would be in awe of your character.  I want to come to Your Word with this attitude.

1st Timothy 3:16‐17.  

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God^[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2nd Peter 1:19‐21.   

 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 40:8.  

The grass withers, the flower fades,

1st Peter 1:24‐25a.   

for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.  The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”  And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Here is a link to help you pray for the Navarette family...
  www.emmanuelbaptist.com/children/navarette.update.pdf

In Praise of Inefficiency

A blog that is very relevant to what we want to do as a church
http://www.timothypauljones.com/2012/06/07/in-praise-of-inefficiency/

by Timothy Paul Jones

I saw something beautiful the other day while walking down Breckenridge Lane. In a front yard not far from my home, a young mother was removing a layer of leftover leaves from the fall in preparation for planting spring flowers—an ordinary activity in the middle of an ordinary day.

What was extraordinary about this scene was what I saw beside this young woman.

A tow-haired boy, perhaps three or four years old, was attempting to assist her. His rake was man-sized, his movements were far from efficient, and he was leaving more leaves than he moved. Yet, as I passed this mother and child, I heard no criticisms. Instead, I heard a constant stream of encouragement: “Daddy will be so proud of your hard work! Can you try to get those leaves over there? You know, honey, it might work better if you turned the rake over.”

If this woman’s sole goal for the afternoon was leaf removal, her best bet would have been to plop her preschooler in front of a television to watch professionally-produced children’s programs that pretend to equip children with skills for life while leaching away their capacity for meaningful relationships. If this mother had chosen this option, she could have pursued the goal of planting spring flowers far more efficiently.

But this woman had a goal that was far bigger than any flower-bed.

This woman understood that her deeper purpose on this day was not to improve a yard but to shape a soul. She was teaching her child the value of work and partnership and family structures, in addition to the quite crucial skill of knowing which side of a rake is supposed to face the ground. She was an amateur, in the best and oldest sense of the word “amateur”: a person who engages in a particular activity because of love. She most likely possessed no transcripted credential in the fields of motherhood or leaf removal. But that was all for the best anyway because no credential could develop in a child what this mother was engraving in her son’s soul that afternoon.

::Equipping My Brothers and Sisters, the Neglected Role of Church Leaders::

So what does all of this have to do with church leadership?

Simply this: If you’re a church leader trying to train parents to embrace their role as disciple-makers in their children’s lives, you are likely to wonder at some point, “Wouldn’t it be more efficient for hired professionals to disciple children through church programs instead of expecting parents to participate in this process? No matter how many times I encourage and equip the moms and dads, some of them don’t even seem to be trying! Even the ones that try don’t always do a good job. Why constantly acknowledge the parents as primary disciple-makers when so many of them do it so poorly? This is so inefficient!”

If that’s the way you feel, you’re partly correct! If your goal is organizational efficiency, equipping parents to disciple their children may be an inefficient use of your time, and turning over children’s spiritual lives to professionals at church might make perfect sense.

But efficiency is not the goal of gospel-motivated ministry.

The crucified and risen Lord Jesus determines the shape and establishes the goal for his church, and it has been his Father’s good pleasure to constitute his church as a conglomeration of amateurs, not as a corporation managed by professionals (1 Cor 12:4–31). His Spirit does not give gifts for the purpose of making the church efficient. The Holy Spirit arranges gifts in the body according to his will in order to make his people holy (1 Cor 12:11).

The role of God-called leaders is to encourage and to equip their brothers and sisters in their communities of faith to serve as ministers and missionaries first within their own households, and then far beyond their households (Acts 2:39; Eph 4:11–13). These processes are not likely to be quick or efficient. Sometimes, it will feel as if professionalized programs would be an easier solution, but no church program can develop in a child what parents are able to engrave in their children’s souls day-by-day. And so, despite the apparent inefficiency of expecting parents to disciple their own children, family-equipping ministers persist in their passion for training fathers and mothers as the primary disciple-makers in their children’s lives.

::Divinely-Designated Amateur Disciple-Makers, the Neglected Role of Christian Parents::

In the early twentieth century, a journalist named G.K. Chesterton offered these comments about the British and American jury system:

The trend of our epoch up to this time has been consistently towards specialism and professionalism. We tend to have trained soldiers because they fight better, trained singers because they sing better, trained dancers because they dance better, specially
instructed laughers because they laugh better, and so on and so on. … [Yet] our civilization has decided, and very justly decided, that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men. When it wishes for light upon that awful matter, it asks men who know no more law than I know, but who can feel the things that I felt in the jury box. When it wants a library catalogued, or the solar system discovered, or any trifle of that kind, it uses up specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity.

A similar statement might be made regarding the training of children to respond to the gospel day-by-day. 

Though professionals may certainly partner with parents in this task, such a serious undertaking is too significant to be relinquished to professionals, too profound to be befuddled by a focus on efficiency. The formation of a child’s faith is not a skill for specialists. It is a habit to be developed in the lives of divinely-designated amateurs, and these amateurs are known as “Dad” and “Mom.”

In my childhood, one of the most significant habits that shaped my soul was a single, simple pattern that required no special skills, no particular curriculum. Each night, my mother came into my room, sat on the side of my bed, and listened to me pray.

What was significant about this wasn’t so much the praying, which was pretty much the same every night. It was the conversations about life that arose in the context of prayer—coupled with the fact that I had to face my mother every evening, regardless of what I might have done during the day.

At some point in early adolescence, I informed my mother that, from that point forward, I could handle praying on my own. Deep inside, I regretted my request even then, and I regret it even more now. In some inexplicable way, knowing that I would have to pray with my mother each night placed a limit on what I was willing to say and to do during the day.

Today, this pattern from my childhood marks the end of each day in the lives of each of my own children. A few months ago, when my teenager suggested that she might not need me to pray with her each night, my response ran something like this: “You know, I think you are totally able to pray on your own, and I want you to pray on your own as well. But, even though you don’t need my help to pray, I need the reminder every night that God gave you to me and that I’m responsible to guide you toward him. So, every night, I’ll still be here to pray with you, no matter what.”

Since that moment, my daughter and I have had dozens of important night-time conversations that I might otherwise have missed.

There is no curriculum for this habit. Life itself is the curriculum. There is no special training, only the gift of time given each night. Sometimes it works well, other times it doesn’t. It’s an inefficient use of time by any earthly standard—but it is a right and good response to God’s work of grace in our lives.

REKINDLE

This Sunday, we will be looking at some specific application points from Revelation 2:1-7, the church in Ephesus.
Pray that we as a church would always remember our first love, Jesus Christ.

Pray for Steve and Rowena Barnes

Check out our EKIDZ ministry page to see some specific prayer requests for the Barnes family in France.
www.ekidzministry.blogspot.com

Prayer for my comfort or for God's glory.

Gospel Primer: 


More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit for them.  For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which II live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me.  (p. 31)


We need to be praying for SO MUCH MORE than just "God, remove this difficult situation from my life."


Consider this quote:

"Life is war. That's not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the denGod has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need."  John Piper 

Lord, God, 
may my prayers be about you and your glory
AND not me and my comfort
Amen.

Adult and Children's Ministries

Here are a couple of thing you can be praying as it relates to adult and children ministries.

Adult ministries

• 3E/EBI/ABS
• Pray that these classes would help ground people in God’s teaching.
• They would help educate, equip and edify the people of Emmanuel
• They might provide opportunities for new people to check out our church.
• Pray that through these classes we would glorify God by making disciples
• Soul Care
• Pray that this ministry would help us, as a church, care for one another.
• Pray for the leaders and host families.
• Pray for new leaders and host families.

Children ministries

• Pray for the children and families that Emmanuel Baptist Church has the privilege and responsibility of ministering to.
• Pray for the current teachers and assistants as they transition to a new curriculum and schedule.
• Pray for new teachers and assistants. We would love to have some more people helping in the children’s ministry.

Summer Prayer Meeting

Tonight's Psalm for Prayer Meeting is
Psalm 127

Remember this...

   Unless God…
        …it is vain.

May we remember the truth of this Psalm as we prepare for fall ministry opportunities.

To find out adult and children's ministry in fall check out:
www.emmanuelbaptist.com/adult.and.children.pdf

Completely Done...

This is the new song we learned on Sunday.

Getting what you want in prayer!!

Psalm 37:4
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”


Seek true pleasure in the Lord and you will get what you want and what you want will be what God gives.

WHAT ARE YOU PRAYING FOR?!?!

ARE YOU DESIRING THE THINGS OF GOD?!?!

Pride and Prayer

Pride is demonstrated in prayerlessness.

The first question of this week's Soul Care questions is "Describe a specific time this past week where you demonstrated either a dependence or lack of dependence on God."
EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US NEEDS TO GROW IN OUR DEPENDENCE OF GOD!

Prayer demonstrates a dependence upon God.

Here is an excerpt from today's Gospel Primer "Chosen for Prayer" (35)

Therefore, I can infer that prayer is not simply something I am allowed to do as a Christian; prayer is actually one of the great purposes for which God chose to save me.

On 04.27 I posted an article entitled "Seven Ways to pray for your prayer life."
Later I received an email from Terri W.  She had reworded the seven statements to help her pray these things for herself and others.

1. Pray that God would teach me to pray with a humble spirit.
2. Pray that God would keep me from eloquent, showy public prayers from a prideful heart.
3. Pray that God would teach me and remind me frequently what the really important requests are.
4. Pray that God would help me to remember Biblical examples of answered prayer.
5. Pray that God would give me confidence in his sovereign power.
6. Pray that God would help me to persevere in my praying.
7. Pray that God would encourage me with the truth that he is my loving Father and will give me only what is good.

 I am sharing her seven statements for two reasons. 

First of all, her statements are good summaries, rethinkings of Challies' statements.

Second, she shared these with her Soul Care group and me.  That is what we want to happen around here.  Sharing things that you have been challenged by.  Thinking through how to use resources that have been provided. 

TAKE OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN LEARNING AND HOW YOU HAVE BEEN GROWING WITH OTHERS!!!

How to pray for Pastor Duke

At the end of his message on June 10 "Gospel Grounded Leadership," Pastor Duke shared six desires he has for his life. 

• I want to be genuine in my walk with Christ.
• I want my family to love Christ.
• I want to meet here on Sunday with the expectation of receiving and giving.
• I want to meet with brother and sisters to pray and think about the application of God’s word in our lives.
• I want to share Christ as a natural part of my life
• I want to finish well.

These six thing are great things to be for Pastor Duke and our other pastors.

Let the little children come (more specific)

Emmanuel’s mission statement begins with the following phrase:  glorifying God by making disciples.  Our children’s ministry wants to do this.  Two ways we need to make disciples are by helping parents understand their God-given responsibility to make disciples of their children and by providing God-glorifying, Bible focused lessons that point to Jesus.
There are two big opportunities for everyone at Emmanuel Baptist Church to get involved in ministering to children and families.

SONSHINE: 

The Sonshine carnival (06.23) and Sonshine (06.24 – 28) are coming quickly.  There are lots of way you can help with that: 

• Bring cookies or kool-aid
• Invite neighborhood families to the carnival and Sonshine
• Especially, pray for Sonshine.  Pray for Pastor Andrew and the teens and adults as they continue to prepare for this big week.   Pray for the children and families who will be visiting our church for these events.  Thousands of invitation cards were just mailed to houses around the church.

EKIDZ FALL MINISRY:

Pray for the preparation going into our fall children’s ministry.

Specific things to remember regarding this ministry:

• Tonight (06.06) and next Wednesday (06.13) there are children’s ministry Q&A times for parents and teachers at 7:00.  Please plan to come out to one of these meetings to hear about what we are planning to do in the fall.
• Teachers, assistant teachers and future teachers, I also want to remind you of three very important & necessary curriculum training times:  Saturday, June 16 (6:30 – 8:30); Wednesday, June 20 (9:00 – 11:00) and another time after Sonshine (check www.emmanuelbaptist.com/children for date and time).  You can go to the children’s webpage to see previews of the curriculum.
• Please email children@emmanuelbaptist.com if you have any questions.

Let the little children come...

Two prayer requests related to EBC's ministry to children and families:

1. Summer - Sonshine carnival (06.23) and Sonshine (06.24 - 28).  Pray that these would be great opportunities for us to minister to the community around the church.
2. Fall - Two services and changes within the children's ministry.  Specifically pray for teachers who are going to be trained on the new curriculum over the summer (check out www.emmanuelbaptist.com for information about new curriculum and training times)

Some prayer helps from this morning...

The church prays evangelistically by…
 -praying for the lost generally and specifically.
 -praying for the preaching of the gospel locally and globally.
 -praying for people to be sent from the church to preach the gospel.


Why would he tell us to pray for all people but only list those in authority?
 -Because you wouldn’t naturally think to pray for the ones who persecute you.
 -Because it reminds you that God is over the king.  Remember the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.
 -Because praying for someone reduces your risk of revolting against them.
 -Because they are most responsible for the good order of society which gives the church greater freedom to preach the gospel.

Use your thumb as a global prayer help:

This month, the 1st through 3rd grade children's church theme is becoming a global christian.
During the first two weeks the prayer help of THUMB was used.
Pray for
Tribal people
Hindus
Unreligous
M uslim
Buddhists

Pray that people in these groups would have their eyes open to the glory of God and their need for Jesus.
You can purchase prayer cards @ http://www.navpress.com/product/9781600061196/T-H-U-M-B-Prayer-Cards-Caleb
You can see the teacher/parent resource @ http://www.navpress.com/images/pdfs/9781600061196.pdf

Ministries groups are praying for...

The following list includes what the ministries or areas of the church some of the Soul Care groups are praying for...

• Pastor Duke's group - church planting missionaries
• Bill Everett's group - SonShine
• Pastor Dave Rodgers' group - Groceries for Life, children's ministry
• Craig Covrett's group - Children’s ministry, specifically Promised Land and DiscipleTown
• Nate Miles' group - Sonshine VBS, ECS school staff and school enrollment, church budget, Pastor Duke and Sunday morning services
• Pastor Snyder's group - ECS
• Bruce Snyder's group - SonShine
• David Regnier's group - Groceries for Life, Ekidz - Children's ministry and youth ministry
• Pastor Shane's group - the Ekidz - children's ministry
• Bob Shawver's group - Mud Hens chapels & Dave Regnier's ministry with the team, church's finances
• Mitch Ogle's group - Biblical counseling ministry
• John Clawson's group - senior saints/widows & youth/Sonshine

Seven Ways to Pray for Your Prayer Life

These seven ways are from a recent blog by Tim Challies.  You can read more about each of them by going to his blog article listed below.

1. Pray that your prayers would be the expressions of a humble heart.
2. Pray that God would remind you that he doesn’t want or need your eloquent prayers.
3. Pray that you would remember what the really important requests are.
4. Pray that you would remember biblical examples of answered prayer.
5. Pray that God would give you confidence in his sovereign power.
6. Pray that God would help you to persevere in your praying.
7. Pray that God would encourage you that he is your loving Father and will give you only what is good. 

http://www.challies.com/resources/seven-ways-to-pray-for-your-prayer-life

Lord Teach Us to Pray

Luke 11
http://www.emmanuelbaptist.com/discovering_jesus2
Pick up a prayer book mark in the foyer.

Prayer is not about asking and getting stuff from God.
Prayer is about depending upon and listening to God. 

May our worship of God and not ourselves mark our prayers.

Pray for wisdom, contentment and generosity

These prayer prompters were adapted from the following blog: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/07/17/generous-and-content-with-our-money/

Lord,
Remind me over and over again of the truth in Proverbs 4:7 "The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight."  -  Seek Financial Wisdom (check out Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace)

Remind me over and over again of the truth in Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" - Pursue Contentment (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Remind me over and over again of the truth in Psalm 37:21 "The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives" - Be Generous (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

God, you have provided all that we will ever need (Rom. 8:32). 
You also care for grass (Matt. 6:28-30) and birds (Matt. 10:29),
so "we can be content with or without stuff." 

You have been "infinitely generous with us in Christ so, rich or poor, we can be joyfully generous in a way that makes our neighbors scratch their heads and say, 'Who are these people?'"

how to stir up genorisity...

Tomorrow (04.15)...
Pastor Duke will be preaching from 2 Corinthians 8:8 - 15.
And we will be taking an offering for the Luce family in Australia.

HE HAS RISEN!!! Jesus Lives!!

Read 1 Corinthians 15 as you listen to this song from Sunday morning.

The Truth of 1 Corinthians 15

"Death has been swalled up in victory"  1 Cor. 15:54

"THANKS BE TO GOD!  HE GIVES US THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST."
1 Corinthians 15:57

Question for this Easter: How do we know?

How do we know we've been forgiven?
How doe we know that we have been made clean?
How do we know we'll go to heaven?
How do we know we've redeemed?

Because of what Jesus has done!!!

Live to Give

This month Pastor Duke is preaching a series entitled "Live to Give."  This series is about more than tithing.  We have already been challenged to live generously as it relates to finances and time.

During this month we are going to have three giving projects:
1.  The Luce family, our missionaries in Australia, have a need for a refrigerator (April 15)
2.  Groceries for Life has a need for syrup and breakfast cereals (April 22)
3.  Bring in your green church banks to help with the building project (April 29)

Each week before the project this webpage will include some specific things to be praying for each of the ministries.

2 Peter 1:5-7 prayer prompter

This past week in Soul Care, groups looked at Peter's list of qualities to add to your faith.
Use this list and the questions to deepen your prayer life.


VIRTUE – How can I do good to someone this week?  

KNOWLEDGE – How am I learning God’s Word

SELF-CONTROL – Where do I need to improve in self-control?

STEADFASTNESS – Where do I need to persevere?

GODLINESS – In what areas of my life am I not showing a love for God and godliness?

BROTHERLY AFFECTION – How can I be quicker to think of others?

LOVE – Do I care about the lost? How?


ADDITIONAL RESOURCE:  This verse card maker could be helpful in remembering promises from God's word - www.mcscott.org/

Thank you God for Jesus!

If you are having trouble be thankful REMEMBER TO ALWAYS THANK GOD FOR JESUS.

In saving, God also did justify me
Accounting me righteous by His own decree,
declaring me guiltless of all of my sin,
and bringing His wrath against me to an end.
This wrath Christ appeased in full brunt on the Tree,
When, bearing my sin, He endured it for me.
Gospel Primer p. 83

Remember this prayer model.

Remember this prayer model that Pastor Duke referred to last week.

Acknowledge you cannot change on your own
Pray and ask God's help
Trust a promise
Act
Thank God for His Grace that is at work in you

CBF prayer request

Be in pray for Pastor Paul and the CBF group in Florida this week.
Pray for spiritual growth of everyone involved.
Pray for unity among the group members.
Pray for the health and safety of the group.

Pray that everything that has happened and will happen will gloriy God.

Poverty and Prayer

"The gospel reminds me daily of the spiritual poverty into which I was born and also of the staggering generosity of Christ towards me. Such reminders instill in me both a felt connection to the poor and a desire to show them the same generosity that has been lavished on me. When ministering to the poor with these motivations, I not only preach the gospel to them through word and deed, but I reenact the gospel to my own benefit as well." Gospel Primer, p. 39.

Great reminder that summarizes Pastor Duke's sermon "The Gospel Investment"

Pray for our Groceries for Life ministry.
Pray that we would not only distribute food items to people but also share the life-changing truth of the Gospel!!