PCPrays

So last week I wrote about short term mission trips and about my concern about them.  Today I want to try to go a little deeper into the problem.  Today I talk more about all mission work not just “short term mission trips”.  Anyways first we will talk about football (that’s a first for me).

Let’s say that a person wants to play in the Super Bowl.  You can not start at the super bowl.  First this person (and their team) would have to play in games (and win).

But even before this person plays games with their team they must go to practice.  The team practice together and they learn how each person fits into the team.

And for years before this person was ever picked to play for the NFL he spent time doing personal practice.  Just him, him and friends, high school, etc.

Now playing in the super bowl is more grand than a guy going to the gym.  But it would be imposable for a person to get to the point where they can go to the super bowl without going to the gym.

Now I want to say the same thing is true in the normal Christian life (I say normal because I believe that God does grant special grace to people who are in jail or persecuted countries where they can not do corporate worship, or they might just not have a family).

The thing is that we think that we (and our children) can grow into healthy Christian men and women living only in the top two or three levels.

Personal Bible reading, prayer and fasting are foundation to the Christian life.  And daily family worship is as important to the Christian life as going to practice is for a NFL player.

Yes, dear Christian parent, you have the main responsibility to raise your child in God’s ways.  It’s not the youth pastor’s job to do so. Using mission trips to help “mature” our children spiritually would be like playing in the super bowl to learn about football.  Yet we treat it as the norm to send our young adults – who spend no time in the Word, who don’t pray, have never fasted (apart from a “soda” fast for lent one year) and who parents have never sought to teach them God’s way – to do mission work in hope that it will mature them.

It does not work.  We can not spend all our time (or even most of it) with our kids playing sports or watching tv.  It is our job as parents to lay a Christian foundation for our children to build upon.

So maybe the problem is that we have parents who are not passionate about the Gospel.  We have people who have no spiritual foundation of their own bringing up worldly children and instead of trying to build a solid foundation of Christian disciplines we send them off to West Virginia for a week.

Share on Facebook

So a group of us from church are going over to Everyday Blessing tomorrow.  I think it’s a group home for children.  I’m not 100% sure.  But Ken Roberts has set up a work day for us.  I’m not sure how many people are going to be there or what we are going to be doing.  But thats okay.

On a related note please keep Everyday Blessings and places like it in your prayers.  Ken has been talking to them and they are getting less support from the government.  Thats one of the reason why they need help.  They can no longer afford to have some one cut the grass or paint or do anything like that.

I hope that this is something that the EPC PC can get into.  We don’t do anything right now and thats just sad.

If you want to help let me know and I can get the address for you.  Also I’ll try to get some pictures.  The battery on my camera is almost dead and I need to find the charger for it.

Share on Facebook

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money”

Jesus starts with a basis truth and then applies it to a specific example.  So yes, in context this verse deals with serving money.  However that does not take away from the basic truth that Jesus starts with.  That is that “No one can serve two masters”.  You cannot serve God and country and more then you can serve God and money for either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

How I wish that we could hear preaching on this.  But because our hearts refuse to throw out all of our idols we sing “God bless America” during worship.  Christians used to be killed for refusing to say “caesar is lord” now we proudly say the pledge of allegiance during worship.

Anyways, guess I’m going t0 be worshiping with Dave’s church this weekend.  I’m sure the grandparents will love to have Marci  :)

Share on Facebook

A talk by Pastor Don and Aaron Odom.

To be honest this week was just weird for me.  Pastor Don and Aaron just talked about worship.  It’s not the first time they did this and I did not like it last time either.  This week they talked about the Normative and Regulative views of worship.  Now the strange thing is that Pastor Don acted like no one in the service ever heard of these terms before, but he preached a sermon on it 7 months ago.  And on top of that the last time Pastor Don was pro-Regulative where as this time he sounded more like he was pro-Normative.  The whole thing was just weird for me.

I think the best part of the “talk” time was Marci motor boating.  She’s so cute.

Aaron did lead the singing today and that was good.  I really enjoyed it.  Thanks Aaron.

Share on Facebook

So Nyssa and my self had our first turn at the “Prayer Wall” thing we are doing at church.  I wrote about it a week or two ago with my fears and my hopes for this time.

We had three Scripture versus that we focused on last night and I just wanted to share them.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart

Psalm 37:4

They may see your good deeds and glorify god

1 Peter 2:12

Increasing in the knowledge of God

Colossians 1:10

I know that for the 1 Peter and the Colossians verses that it’s not the whole verse.  But this is just the part that we focused on.  All of Colossians 1:9-14 is a great prayer guide and also sprinkled throughout Colossians 4 are other great prayers for each other.

I just wanted to say that if you get to your time and are not sure how to pray or where to go these verses are a great place to start.

Share on Facebook