Pastor Bruce's September 2012 Newsletter Message

ANNOUNCEMENT

Coming Saturday October 13 @ 6:00PM

“LIVE WORSHIP”

If you have any unchurched friends or relatives please invite them to our brand new worship service starting Saturday, October 13 @ 6:00PM. Nursery will be provided and we also hope to have a Sonshine Club.

This is also an alternative for those who work shift work or those who are unable to attend Sunday Morning Worship.

Please be praying for the start of a new adventure here at the Liberty Street Church of God.

Dear Liberty Street Church of God Family,

I am amazed how quickly the summer has passed us by. I know that summer lasts until October, but it seems that once school starts our summer, as we know it, is over. We are gearing up for a busy fall season with lots of activities upcoming.

We are starting into a Capital Funds Campaign (CFC) during the month of September and the theme is, “Building for Him – Today and Tomorrow” Trinity Point Church of God!

We will be sending information to you in the upcoming weeks. We will be preaching and encouraging everyone to be praying and asking God what He would have us each do in giving over and above our tithes for the CFC.  

Also, we are beginning a Saturday Evening worship service, “LIVE WORSHIP” starting October 13 @ 6:00PM.

We, along with some other Church of God congregations in our area are hosting a “Reformation Rally” October 21 and 22. Services are 6:00PM and 7:30PM. The theme is, “Truth Matters Concerning…. Sin and Sins…..Christian Separation and Holiness…..Revival for Survival….. Getting a Soul-winner's Heart. I hope you will reserve time for these most important of meetings. Speakers are; Rev. Gary Swogger, who is a retired COG pastor and Gary’s son, Jimmy is the pastor of the Oakland COG in Distant. Our other speaker is Rev. Anthony Molihan, pastor of the Bowen First COG in Stanton, KY. We are looking for a great time of encouragement and spiritual growth.

A few weeks ago I preached on the subject of “Our Impression of God” from Exodus chapters 19 and 20. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that our impression of God is what would inspire us on our spiritual journey and would also be a basis for how deep our relationship us with Christ. In other words, this would be the foundation for our spiritual experience, our view of the Kingdom of God, whether or not we see the church and our desire to allow God to mold us into the image of Jesus Christ.

In Exodus 19 we find the Israelites had an encounter with God. Not that they hadn’t had other encounters/experiences with God, however, I think they saw God in another way this time. Maybe they experienced God’s power and might in a way that really put “the fear of God” into them.

Here we are, the scene is Mount Sinai, a mountain that is 7500 feet tall, a rather large mountain, and it is covered with smoke and trembling! WOW! I think if I would have been there I probably would have been scared also. Here is where one of the most significant events in the history of the Israelites and Christendom happened and God manifested Himself to His chosen people in a way that stuck fear into them. (Exo 20:18 NIV) “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance…..”

I think it is safe to say they were seeing the glory of God, I think they didn’t recognize it that way.

In his book, “The Message of Holiness” by Derek Tidball, he writes,

            “We will not understand the God who has revealed himself as holy if we confine him to the narrow meandering of our own subjective impressions. He comes not as a trickle to flow through the channels we have dug for our own convenience but as a flood that commands attention and that inevitably affects all it touches and proves unavoidable.    Before we can discover ourselves, or, more importantly and much better that ‘discovering ourselves’, before we can be recreated in His image, we must encounter Him on His own terms and humble ourselves before His awesome otherness.”

Do you see, in your heart, and hear, in your heart, God speaking to you with a thundering voice? Do you have a fear of His authority when He speaks? Do you sense the love He has for mankind in His voice? Are you in awe of Him when you hear His voice? Do you stop and take notice? When He speaks to you, does it make a difference in your life?

Walter Brueggemann is widely considered one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of the last several decades, he said in his book, “The Book of Exodus”

            “We have trivialized “mountain top” experiences as though they are romantic        opportunities for religious self-indulgence. This account in Exodus 19, against any such            domestication, portrays the mountain of holiness as a dangerous meeting place that will leave nothing unchanged.”

            He goes on to say, “We make God in practice too available, too easy and too immediate.   We drop to our knees or bow   our heads and imagine that God is eagerly awaiting attention. Or we drop in casually for worship, assuming that God is always there. Most of our worship takes place well short of the mountain, where we can seize the initiate imagining God at our beck and call.”

I would encourage you to think about the statements that were quoted, meditate upon them and think about them in relation to these chapters in Exodus. Allow God to speak to you through the Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

(Rom 12:1-2 NIV)  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. {2} Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God bless you as we continue the journey together.

Pastor Bruce