| Sunday Services: | |
| 9:30am | Worship Service |
| 11:00am | Sunday School |
| 6:30pm | Evening Service |
| Upcoming Events: | |
| Mar 10 | Midweek Recharge 7pm |
| Mar 13 | Men's Covenant Group 7am |
| Mar 13 | Jamaica Dinner 6pm |
| Master Calendar | |
| Adult Sunday School Classes: | |
Love & Respect (Marriage Class) - Led by Chaz & Sue Owens | |
Study on Daniel - Led by Roger Broberg | |
| Sermon Discussion Class - Led by Bill Glenister | |
 | |
 | |
From the Pastor's Desk
October 2009The Lord's blessing on the Evans' family has been enjoyed with two recent milestones.
Back in August my mother turned 80. My father also turned 80 in February. Mom is "slowing down" as she puts it but for her age is doing quite well in the health department. My mother is an amazingly cheerful, positive person. I find it very difficult to think of times when my mother ever complained about anything. I'm not sure I can think of a single one. She went through a battle with breast cancer some years back and she never complained even then. You could say that she has an unrealistic view of life. But if you say that you would be wrong. Rather, she has a simple, solid faith that takes God's presence seriously in the details of life. She casts her cares upon the Lord. She is quite the woman of prayer. As a result of that she simply isn't driven to complain about life. Thanks, Mom! As I get older I'm hoping that more of her spirit will rub off on me.
Old age has its trials and challenges, no question. But a youth-worshipping culture should recall that the Bible treats old age as a blessing from God.
Early in September my parents celebrated 60 years of married life. This too is a great blessing. How many marriages do you see these days that last 60 years? My parents have referred to some "hard times" in their married life. I'm not sure what they're talking about. I suppose that as a child such stuff was beyond me. But, whatever the "hard times" were, they persevered. It is wonderful to see them today, after 60 years of marriage, still in love with each other, still enjoying each other, still affectionate.
They come from a generation that I admire greatly. Theirs is a generation that didn't seem to give up and quit as easily as ours seems to do. They had a greater sense of commitment than we do and weren't nearly as swayed by the emotional cross currents of life. I'm sure their generation had its faults too but solid commitment is one of that generations great strengths. I see it reflected in my parents' marriage.
So thanks Mom and Dad for being an encouraging example of loyal, married love. I hope that Patsy and I are passing on similar encouragement to our children and grandchildren.
Thank you Lord for your great kindness to us. I hope this brief report will be a blessing to you as well.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Brad Evans
September 2009
When September rolls around there will be plenty of fresh opportunities for you to grow in grace.
The Love and Respect video series on Thursday nights could be a real boost for your marriage relationship. I hope you will check it out.
If you are new to our church a special Welcome Class will be available for you on Sunday mornings. This will be led by Elder Doug Fox and will meet in the Pastor's Study.
And speaking of welcome, the main class in Fellowship Hall will feature ideas and teaching for extending a Gospel welcome through hospitality and other means. Want to be a more welcoming person for Jesus' sake? This class is for you.
I will be offering an Officer Orientation seminar on three Tuesday nights: Sept 22 & 29 and then Oct 13. We will start with pizza at 6:30 and go until about 8. We will discuss the church officer "job description" biblically, theologically and practically.
This is for men who have been nominated for church office but is not limited to them. If you feel, however vaguely, that church leadership might be in your future, this short seminar will be informative for you.
In October, we hope to offer a community Bible study at a neutral location somewhere in town. We hope to draw in outsiders who might have interest in exploring some basic Bible teaching. You can help us by praying and by inviting acquaintances to come to the study. More details coming soon.
Wednesday night offers another opportunity for prayer, Bible study and fellowship. Why not start the fall season off on the right foot by attending Midweek ReCharge on Wednesday nights, 7 PM at the church.
You can check out the Newsletter for even more opportunities.
Grace be with you!
Pastor Brad Evans
August 2009
I had some requests for the message I gave at the recent funeral for Jill Benedict's father, Mr. Richard Gray. I don't have any notes but I think I can roughly re-assemble it from memory. I hope you will find it edifying.
***
Good, Better, Best. Philippians 1:19-23
One of the central myths of our time is that we can make life good without God. I often see the slogan "Life is Good" on T-shirts and other places. For a non-Christian, life can only be relatively good. Even non-Christians can have passing pleasures and momentary joys. But only believers possess "solid joys and lasting treasures" as the hymn writer put it.
The Christian life is good. God's people can, and should, affirm this. Paul does. "For to me to live is Christ..." In Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins, the adoption of sons, and the hope of glory. In addition, we are given gifts and graces that enable us to live our lives with meaning, purpose, and gratitude. This is true even in a fallen, sin-cursed world.
In a worldly sense some might have looked on Mr. Gray's final, hideous battle with cancer and said, "Oh, his life is no longer good." I believe Mr. Gray would have disagreed with this even in the grip of cancer. For to him, to live is Christ and that is good beyond measure.
Sometimes, the Christian life is so good that we might think it can't get any better. Oh, but it can. In Paul's words, it can get "far better."
Says Paul, writing from prison, "My desire is to depart and be with Christ which is far better." He also says "...to die is gain." What does a Christian, like Mr. Gray, "gain" by dying? We gain God's immediate presence, we pass directly and personally into the presence of Christ. At best, we know him now, in our earthly life through a veil. We see Him but through a glass darkly. Even the best sermon or most enjoyable communion service leaves us hungering for more. We want to be directly and immediately with him. This is "far better" than anything we have now.
As I visited Mr. Gray in those final days of suffering, I would read Bible passages about heaven. I would read from John 14 or from Revelation 21. Every pastor likes to have people listen to the Word and I assure you Mr. Gray was listening. Despite his pain and dementia he was being blessed by God's assurances of the "far better" soon to come.
Now, by grace, Mr. Gray has entered upon this "far better." So we are not sad for him. We are sad only for a loss and for the presence of death, the last enemy.
But this is still not the end. In a very real sense it is only a beginning.
We still wait for "the best." He still waits for the "best."
Mr. Gray enjoys the presence of his Lord. But his body has turned to ashes in the grave. He still waits for the best of all which is to have soul rejoined to resurrection body and enjoy the Lord at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Paul is ready to enter the "far better" at death but he truly longs for the best: "...that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." The resurrection of the body is the best! We wait for the perfect yet to come.
We ought always bear these truths in mind as we live this earthly life: enjoying the good and longing for the far better and for the best.
As you may know Mr. Gray was a prisoner of war during the Second World War. I've had the privilege of reading his journal and seeing photographs of that experience. It was intriguing to see how a man of faith lived through such a trial.
I can only imagine the deep longings he must have felt for home during those years of imprisonment in Germany. I can only imagine the profound joy he must have felt when it was all over and he finally went home!
My friends and fellow believers, we are all POW's in a fallen, sin-cursed world.
Let us long for home as we pass through this valley of shadow. Let us anticipate the joy that awaits all who know Christ. Let us embrace, by faith, God's promise of the "far better" and of the "best."
Pastor Brad Evans
July 2009
Thank you, Richard Dawkins!
Richard Dawkins is the author of the best-seller The God Delusion. The title says everything about Dawkin's view of God and Christian doctrine. Dawkins, an Oxford professor and scientist, has been called an evangelical atheist. He is not simply an atheist, but is a passionate and persuasive atheist. Recently, I watched his debate with fellow Oxford professor John Lennox, who is an articulate Christian. The film version of the debate shows why Dawkins has become quite popular. He is an effective, winsome speaker who makes an attractive case for his atheism.
"Excuse me, Pastor, but why are you thanking him?"
I thank Richard Dawkins because he has slapped me in the face and awakened me from my sometimes drowsy awareness of the magnificence of the cross of Christ! Dawkins debates the existence of God in a calm, scholarly way, but when Jesus Christ is the topic of debate, Dawkins gets downright emotional.
To paraphrase what he said to Lennox: "You believe that your Creator God came down to this speck of dust to deal with the sins of His little creatures. He allowed Himself to be tortured. You believe this was the best He could come up with as a way of dealing with sin. Absurd!"
Well, you can quibble with Dawkin's language, but, unless we've fallen asleep, he gets it just about right! Not a bad sermon for an atheist. The work of the Christ is just that astonishing. Paul calls it "the scandal of the cross." He says that the cross is "foolishness" to the natural mind. Paul admits that the cross does seem absurd to the world.
This is William Farley's point in his wonderful book Outrageous Mercy. Farley says that we neglect the cross because "sheer familiarity numbs us to the reality of the critical truths for which it stands" (p. 21). Farley is saying that we can fall asleep to the outrageous wonder of the cross. Sometimes it takes a militant non-believer like Dawkins to slap us in the face until we say: "Hello! Our faith really is rooted in an outrageous mercy."
So thank you, Richard Dawkins. But you haven't intimidated me or silenced me. You've actually stimulated me to proclaim the cross all the more vigorously.
Maybe the Lord will use Richard Dawkins to rouse a host of preachers from their slumber. I hope so.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Brad Evans
June 2009:
I was on my way back from a conference in Pennsylvania when the fog rolled in over the Poconos. The fog covered the earth for miles, and in stretches was thick as any I've ever been in.
Fog puts an end to business as usual. At least, for sane people it does. Driving lights come on, driving speeds go down, drivers tense with alertness, the highway is followed with care. What about those who don't slow down in such fog? See my previous reference to sanity!
We live in a cultural fog these days. Things that once would have appalled us are now taken for granted. I'm thinking of practices like abortion, no-fault divorce, Sabbath breaking, indulgence in pornography and gay marriage. In the fog, these ways of life make sense to people. And if they don't make sense to people, they are at least filed in the "whatever" drawer. (Read: who really cares?)
This is all made possible by what David Wells has called "the weightlessness of God." The reality of the living God makes no difference to many. People by and large simply do not take God seriously. The fool has said in his heart: ‘There is no God.' (Ps. 14.1) To stay with my image of fog, we could speak of the eclipse of God. People have lost their moral and spiritual bearings. If all these other things make sense, it's largely because the living God doesn't make sense. In that environment, one of the things sin does is to make further sin seem plausible, acceptable, even normal. No one seems to see the danger, slow down, and follow the road more carefully.
I hope that God's people can see this fog for what it is. I hope that we, at least, slow down and hug the road. If you can bear a little more imagery: let's call the road "The Word of God." Especially in times of cultural fog we do well to heed the words of Isaiah: To the law and to the testimony. (Isaiah 8:20) We must clearly hear God's law. God's timeless requirements must be regularly proclaimed. God gives commandments, not suggestions. This will make us hungry for grace and forgiveness. It will drive us to His testimony, where He tells us that He has sent His Son to be the world's Savior. No wonder Scripture calls this a light in a dark place!
Beloved Congregation: Be careful out there in the fog.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Brad Evans