Thursday night study weather permitting

Thursday nights at 7pm we will be studying "Thinking Like A Christian" at the church. These lessons are designed to develop a Christian worldview in order to understand our times and how to live effectively and coherently in these days. Of course anyone is welcome to come and attend; it's not a worship service it's a time of learning and understanding of how a Christian should think about the world we live in. Our primary objective is not what to think as a Christian but how to think. We look forward to beginning this study.

No church for Sunday 2-22

No services tomorrow; cancelling due to the snow as more snow is supposed to fall tonight. All of you stay safe and warm and off the streets!

Stay Tuned for the Weather?

We'll keep everyone posted on the weather for tomorrow's services. We will make the call and post it to this blog or our FB page if services need to be cancelled. My normal routine on this is that if other churches are cancelling or some roads are closing we will cancel our services. We will try to contact everyone ahead of time but keep in mind if it's dangerous to drive don't try to get out to church even if you don't hear from us. The only people church should be dangerous for are atheists and sinners! (It's a joke, folks).
Greg will be singing on Friday March 13 for A Gospel Swing Concert featuring Doyle Combs and the 17-piece American Patriots Jazz Orchestra. The event is from the Music Evangelism Foundation. I'll be singing a jazzy rendition of "Go Down Moses" and will be in the choir along with fellow church-member Nancy Jenkins. It will be held at the Trinity Church of the Nazarene 5055 El Camino Dr which is behind the Red Lobster on North Academy. There is no admission charge and an offering will be taken. This band is excellent and you will so enjoy the jazzy, swinging renditions of old hymn favorites, old swing songs and patriotic themes. Come and enjoy

Come Alive Again!

It’s hard to know what to post on a blog on a regular basis. There are so many blogs out there that say so much and no matter what is said someone is going to get mad about it and post their displeasure. Most of the responses to blogs are vile and filled with bad language, I’m sure mostly to increase the shock value of the response. The viler the response the worse the blogger feels about writing whatever he wrote, pens a quick apology and crawls away whimpering never to post anything again that isn’t meaningless tripe. That's usually how I handle things, and that I suppose is the reason for responding in a shocking manner.

Most responses to what I read on various blogs are ad hominem character attacks and don’t answer the arguments the blogger is making anyway. Again, name calling and making people feel bad seems to be the goal, not discussion and meaningful dialogue.
This is especially true for Christian and church blogs: rarely is there a well-reasoned argument against what is said; there’s either full agreement or the author is attacked and accused of being a dog from the pit of hell! Well, I’m just going to post what I think some may want to hear; if you respond with something well-reasoned and objective I may take a look at it. Or not.

And if you are going to post and disagree, do it with good humor, intelligence and Christian respect. Humor is a sign of intelligence and good will and will get an audience a lot faster than insults and ridicule. Try it, you might grow to like it

If you are searching for a local Baptist church and come across this blog, keep some things in mind. I am not King James only. I come from a group of churches that are KJV only and after studying the matter thoroughly over many years I have come to the conclusion that we must read the English translation that best speaks to us. For me that is the New American Standard Bible. I understand that there are many folks out there that are passionately KJV only, but I’m not one of them and will not be one of them. Ever.

It is important that we love and search for the truth. If the truth contradicts some long-held personal beliefs we must repent of our personal beliefs and change our minds. You can’t go through life without changing your mind from time to time. We must pursue the truth wherever it takes us. God welcomes those who are searching sincerely and honestly, the search for Spirit and truth as it says in John, and He will honor and respect our genuine repentance and change of mind. We must go where the truth takes us, no matter what.

The worship of Jesus Christ is the most important thing we do; true worship, privately and corporately with God’s people, is the basis for our knowledge, fellowship and outreach to the world. We must keep Christ uppermost on our minds in everything we do, in church and out, and always remember He is with us, listening to us and watching us, speaking to us and reaching out to us. All the time, without fail. Sometimes He enjoys us, sometimes we grieve Him, but He will always be there. By constantly worshiping Him in everything we do we can keep the grieving part to a minimum.

I'm glad to be back on the blog and coming alive again; we'll keep you posted with various things our church will be doing and if you find us and you like us, we praise the Lord for His grace. His grace is all we have, anyway, so praise the Lord!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!

It’s been awhile since I posted but with the holidays barreling down on us wanted to update all. The church is rolling on; the music our pianist extraordinaire Lisa has been doing lately has been exceptionally blessed and all have been greatly edified. The fellowship has been good and folks have been encouraging one another. The singing has been wonderful as the folks have been lifting their voices ever louder Sunday to Sunday. One of the greatest joys of my life is in raising my voice loud and proud so there’s no mistaking that I love the Lord. When I sing, I feel His pleasure. I am blessed whenever the sound comes up from my throat and out of my mouth. I want folks to know that I love the Lord when they hear me sing no matter the song or the setting. I’ll say it again: when I sing, I feel His pleasure and I know He enjoys me.
I have been working diligently full-time at the DMV and on my music for the Christmas season, especially with the Songspinners. The Songspinners is a group of volunteers who sing and dance for the benefit of the community and each other. They are a wonderful group of people and I consider myself lucky to be a part. Fellow church-member Nancy Jenkins is also a Spinner and has been with them for a long time; this is only my 7^th season (Spring and Christmas each year so 3.5 years now) with them. We are getting into the real teeth of our performances at nursing homes, civic organizations and churches.
We will be at the Pioneers Museum in downtown Colorado Springs tomorrow (Saturday Dec 7) at 12:30pm in the 3^rd floor courthouse. The Spinners will be at Heartsong Church Sunday Dec. 8 at 12Noon for their Friends and Family show and all are invited. Heartsong will have a potluck prior to the Spinners performance and you are invited to partake.
The Spinners will be performing at Freedom on Sunday night December 15 at 6:30pm. The church will gather for its annual Christmas Potluck at 5:30 and the Spinners will follow up. They have a performance at 5pm that day so will come to the church following that performance. For the first time maybe ever I won’t be there for the start of a potluck but Deacon Darrel will get the potluck going and the performance will be after dinner at around 6:30pm.
Come and enjoy our church; it won’t kill you to come to church and we’re not the worst church you’ll ever attend. And always remember, timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.

 

Summer to Fall and the Present

Well, summer is over and fall is coming.

The temps have remained in the 90's after an entire month of rain, hail and floods. We had a special election here in Colorado Springs which concluded Sept 10; I worked on that election in the course of my employment and all went very well; it's now back to the DMV for me!
We will have a baby shower for Kellie Craig this Saturday; for all those that know Kellie and Brandon keep them in their prayers as they are expecting soon.
We concluded our studies on the Psalms and the book of Acts 2 Sundays ago and began 2 new studies this past Sunday: the book of Proverbs for Sunday School and the Gospel of Luke for the worship sermons.
The book of Proverbs is a unique book in the bible. One of our church members who wished to remain anonymous said that "Proverbs is the Bumper-Sticker book of the Bible." So true! Each verse is short, pithy and concise but very meaningful. The book is full of these little general sayings that are worthy of our learning and applying them to our lives. Even though they don't always come true in every situation, usually because we don't apply them properly or because we say we're following them when we're really not, those that will live by these proverbial sayings will live in wisdom and avoid an awful lot of trouble. I'm just sayin!
The Gospel of Luke is the longest gospel and the most detailed. The good doctor Luke wrote a thoroughly investigated and highly documented account of the life of Christ for his good friend, the noble Theophilus. Luke thought that every word he wrote and account he described was true because he was so orderly and detailed in his writing. We need such detailed people in the kingdom of God today: precise, thorough, intelligent and well-written. The last time I studied the book of Luke I was typing my notes on a typewriter, so it is high time we go back through this book with the use of word processing, spreadsheets and overheads.
C. S. Lewis wrote, “For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity” from The Screwtape Letters
As we think about our past we find many regrets, embarrassments that bring waves of shame over us (we don’t spend much time reflecting on our past triumphs)
As we look to the future we find uncertainty, fear, and hand-wringing worry: the worse-case scenario of what might happen dominates our thinking, and what future fears and frights await us causes energy-numbing emotions to fill up our souls (and crippling the body of the necessary energy for today’s problems)
And we spend so little time thinking about right now, for those people right in front of us that we can love, the little things we can accomplish now and the little pleasures we can enjoy; when we live in the present we are experiencing eternity
And in living the present we find that the pain of the past passes into forgetfulness
And the fear of the future is washed away by hope and faith
Regrets and fears are pushed out of our minds by our focus and concentration on the task or experience at hand
When we are actively doing that which is good and wholesome and right in the present we don’t let the past or the future steal our present eternal joy
And we wonder why we spent so much time and emotional energy fretting on things that have not happened yet and most likely won’t happen at all
Or reliving the grief, regret, remorse and embarrassment of those things that have already happened that we can’t do anything about now anyway
Other than to resolve to not repeat the mistakes of the past, and that takes clear thinking for the present, so the present time is all that matters now, for “the present is the point at which time touches eternity”
The Pester

Summertime and the Livin' is....

Summertime has been eventful this year. Grandchildren have visited, vacations are being taken, families have gotten together; it has been a grand time so far. We prayed for our brethren in the Black Forest and were relieved to see the fires stop. Good friends were deeply affected and our hearts went out to them. We have all been working hard to serve the Lord and support our families by the grace of God as always. We were glad to have the Songspinners visit in June and had a great time of potluck fellowship.

On August 4 we will join Heartsong Church after our morning service with a potluck lunch. Afterwards we will have a traditional gospel singing that Greg will lead and Lisa will play for. All are welcome.
We have been journeying through Psalms this summer and have rejoiced to learn that David revealed his poetic heart to us in what a personal relationship with God should be. We recently went through Psalm 139 and rejoiced in the creation of God in that “we are fearfully and wonderfully made.”

¹⁴I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.

• Man as a creation of God is wonderful and glorious. Admiring the value of the creation of God means the praise goes to God, not the thing created
• When you look at man, you see the image of God. When you look at God you do not see the image of man, for God is the creator
• Man was created by God in God’s image but not created as God or a god; the idea of a human being is just that – one species, never more than a human, never less than a human
• Man will never be more than a man, a created being of God, yet man is special and separated from all other created things. It was only in man that God’s person and image was “breathed”
• This does not make mankind little gods. Even in glory man will not be deity; he will be man glorified. Man is born sinful and with a “lifeless spirit” that was waiting to be “regenerated” by the Spirit of God
• Jesus was the Son of Man. He was all the fullness of man and God in physical form. Jesus in His post-resurrection form represented the highest man will reach (Phil. 3:20-21; I Jn. 3:2), the “quintessential” man
• Man as a creation can grow and mature in the form of Christ personally and spiritually, and can emulate the character of Christ substantially, but he is still a created being. Man will one day go from being a horse to a winged horse, but will still be a horse in nature. Jesus took on the appearance of a horse but wasn’t by nature only a horse
• God should be praised for His creation. Man represents the highest expression of God’s creative nature; we are the pinnacle of God’s creation
• We are “fearfully made.” The creation is of such power and beauty that it excites awe and fear in the eyes of the beholder. God did not make us to be timid, but what He made was so wonderful that looking at it makes the one beholding fearful and awestruck
• The body is complicated, intricate and delicate in its makeup; a person doesn’t have to be a scientist to realize it. The greater mystery is not that a human being dies but that he is alive at all
• Man is also a moral being with total separation from animals. Part of man’s glory in creation is the moral nature of man and his freedom of choice
• We are also “wonderfully made.” This refers to the intricacy of creation. We are more than a chemical machine. No machine could ever duplicate the intricate creation which is a human being. Will a computer one day be the duplicate of a man (Artificial Intelligence)? This is not likely since it was man that created the computer.
• “Marvelous are thy works;” it is not that God made Adam and started the order of human procreation, then let it go on its own. Man does not make himself. God is involved in every birth, therefore we are His work. This is not to say that God is the cause of every birth
• David gave all the credit for himself to God, not to his mom and dad. No one is a prisoner of his genes, but God used genetic material to form us