A Contemplation on Psalm 42: 2

Transcription

1 The Mustard Seed June 2014 P a s t o r s C o r n e r A Contemplation on Psalm 42: 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? The Psalms begin with making a distinction between the blessed man and the ungodly man. The blessed man meditates on the Law of God day and night and does not inquire of the ungodly, sinners or scornful. What is the motive of the blessed man? A blessed man thirsts for God. The promised blessing for the one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness is that he will be filled. The filling is of such a nature that the blessed man will never hunger or thirst again. Of the two conditions thirst is more compelling. The body can do fairly well without food for about forty days but cannot do without water after ten days. Hunger can be palliated but thirst is clamorous, awful, and deadly. When a person's soul thirsts after God nothing else is in focus, nothing else can or will satisfy. O that we would have this intense craving after the highest good. Such a craving is, without question, a mark of grace. This craving is not for the bounty that God gives, not for the blessing that God bestows, not for the communion of the saints, but for fellowship with God Himself. This thirst cannot be quenched except by the living God The Living God gives living water. A dead god is but mockery. Such a god is loathsome. The Living God, the perennial fountain of life and light, is to be our soul's one passion, one desire. How is it that our God is the Living God. He is the Living God originally, operatively, and distinctively. As the one who has life in and of Himself, He is the origin of Life. All other life has life derivatively from Him. The God, for whom we are to thirst, is the only giver of life. The life of each person, whether it be natural, spiritual, or eternal, is a gift from the Living God. Finally, He is the Living God in opposition to all false gods. All false gods may have eyes, but they cannot see. The Living God sees all. All false gods may have mouths, but they cannot speak. The Living God speaks Truth for He is the Lord God of Truth. All false gods cannot grant life for they themselves do not live. The Living God grants Life for He Himself is Life. The person who thirsts after the Living God loves the assemblies wherein His name is adored and looks forward to being in His presence for eternity. The ungodly, sinners, and scornful can never say in earnest When shall I come and appear before God. The wicked will come soon enough before Him. As the devils said that Christ tormented them before their time, the wicked have no desire to come before God. Ask any thief, murder or other malefactor whether they would come before the judge. So the worldly man who walks after the flesh would rather never stand before the Living God. But, the one who thirsts for the Living God desires to be in His presence, to see His face, and is content, yea full of joy inexplicable, as a doorkeeper in God's Temple rather than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Such a person delights in the company of the saints for he who thirsts after the Living God yearns to be with others who thirst after the Living God. One who yearns for God will be discontent, ill at ease, agitated, and as a fish out of water among the ungodly, sinners, and scornful. But, with the saints, who thirst for God, there is joy, encouragement, and a precursor of the Heavenly bliss that will be ours for Eternity. Do you thirst for the Living God? Do you joyfully anticipate standing before the Living God? As saints, washed in the blood of the Lamb, we look forward to seeing Him as He is because we will be like Him. This hope is to purify us. Are you blessed as you meditate on God's Law eschewing the ungodly, sinners, and scornful? What satisfies your soul? Whose company do you seek and enjoy? May God grant you a genuine thirst for Him who is the Living God. Pastor Russell

2 P a g e 2 T h e M us t a r d S e e d Father s Day, June 15 - Labor Day, September 7, 2014 Worship Service at 9:30 am Sunday School on summer break Christian Ed Sunday June 8, 2014 Join us for a time of worship and celebration! We will be having service outdoors (weather permitting) at 10:30 am. Sunday school will meet at 9:15 for final rehearsal before service. We will have the Noisy Offering for Zoya Ministries MOM Orphanage in Africa. Please bring in your change to generously give with hilarity (if you have your regular offering, please make sure it is in envelope and designated on envelope. All other loose change, bills, checks will be given to Zoya Ministries). Following service we will have our traditional BBQ picnic. Paper goods, beverages, condiments, hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share with your church family. If you have games, please bring them. Please join us in congratulating our graduates and to encourage them in their future endeavors. Sarah Williams - Covenant Christian Academy High School Attending Gordon College in the fall. Julie Gustafson - Messiah College - BS in Psychology Arianna Miranda - UMass Lowell - BS in Medical Technology Church Theme Service & Unity For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. Romans 12: 4-6a

3 P a g e 3 Exhortation Romans 12:6-8 (NKJV) 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Do you have a passion for the Word of God and use it to encourage others who may be doubting their faith, to uplift and motivate them, to help them grow in their faith when they may be straying from the truth, to counsel those in need through His Word? Then you may have the gift of Exhortation. In Acts 14:22, the Apostle Paul consistently serves to strengthen the disciples and to encourage them to remain true to the faith. In Acts 11:23, Barnabas encouraged the people of Antioch to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Again, in 1 Thessalonians 2:12, the Apostle Paul describes their ministry among the Thessalonians as encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. An exhorter will encourage believers to mature in Christ and to grow spiritually. Exhorters encourage and lead by teaching, counseling, and discipling others. The exhorter has a passion to encourage all in the church continually building up the body of Christ and glorifying God. Characteristics of someone with the gift of exhortation: Wisdom to understand the Word of God and how it applies to you. Discernment - to be able to "slice open mentally and see the truth for what it is." Faith - to believe God can take you from where you are to where He desires you to be. Discretion - to keep what he knows about you in confidence. Love - to desire the best in your life. Offers God's truth without judgment or condemnation. Creative - to recognize that you are a unique individual and God's Word must be applied to your life creatively. Enthusiasm - to be able to inspire you to desire more in your Christian walk. How true this statement is for so many Christians. God has given each believer a spiritual gift that He wants us to use for His glory, but we often don't use it. We may deny that we actually have a spiritual gift or if we do acknowledge it, we may doubt its usefulness to glorify God, and then just bury it. But we must realize that God wants us to be involved with His work. He is so gracious that by His Holy Spirit He freely distributes gifts to all who are saved. He not only wants us to know our spiritual gifts, but He expects us to grow in them each day.. Paul says another purpose of the gifts is to equip the church for "building up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). He also reminds us in 1 Corinthians 14:12 that, "So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church." Therefore our goal should be to establish, build, and uplift the church with our gifts. Excerpt from introduction-to-spiritual-gifts In Service to His Church, John Kunze, Helen Palmer, Karen TenDyke, Pastor Russ, Nina Miranda, Hartwig Schmidt, Dianne James & Ruth Reed See Page 6 for an additional article on the gift of Leadership Other sources quoted from and for further reading:

4 P a g e 4 T h e M u s t a r d S e e d This month the Missions Committee is highlighting John & Marion Andrews, serving with Arab World Media (AWM), a ministry of Pioneers. Arab World Media engages unreached peoples of the Arab world through media to facilitate church planting as the Holy Spirit enables. They are presently based in Marseille, France. This update was provided by John and Marion and covers their activities for the past year. John serves as: Media Team Coordinator As part of the overall media leadership team provides administration, personnel management and general pastoral care of the team. Media and Church Planting Resources Consultant Coordinates with Arab missionary field teams, promoting effective materials and management of a web-based site, which gives detailed information about these tools. The latest update from John on his ministry: A high point for me was taking on the new responsibility of serving our North African ministry teams. It allows me to travel more in the Arab world and come alongside our colleagues, which I really enjoy. I am passionate seeing workers encouraged and thriving in their ministry. Wearing my media hat, I can also encourage their use of media tools. In October I visited Tunisia. Tunisia has our biggest concentration of workers with 29, plus kids. I travelled to Mauritania, where we have 7 workers in 3 locations. Note that we have no one currently in Algeria, but the church there is doing very well and even starting to send out its own missionaries! In Libya we have 5 in Tripoli, but the country is hard to get into. Another highlight was learning to use a new evangelistic tool called Al Massira (see This is a chronological approach built around 13 video segments that you watch together and then discuss. What is unique about it is that it was made by Arabs in Arabic for Muslim Arabic speakers. It is also subtitled in English and French. One other highlight on the media side is to see the encouraging numbers of what we were able to distribute in We copied and distributed over 10,000 audio CDs and DVDs, most of them via other churches and ministries in Marseille and France. It s the number of downloads that especially excites me. There were over 15,000 downloads of the Bible in 2013 and close to 150,000 downloads of other books and video content. Marion serves with: Children s club, English (bible) class, Evangelistic outreach with local church, and administrative office functions. The latest update from Marion on her ministry: Weekly Bible club: The year has been a good year so far, we struggle less with contempt, so there is less stress. There are not many kids, but some are very faithful. We pray that for each child who comes, the Lord will use that window of opportunity and that the seed of His Word will be sown. Our team is small Cont. on pg. 5

5 P a g e 5 this year, but we never have had to cancel because of unavailability. One lady on the team needs to look for work, and from week to week things are up in the air. So we learn to be faithful in trusting that the Lord will provide teachers, so that the club can continue. Weekly English class: This is an English bible story class along the model of This year again there is no one of Arabic/Muslim background. I do this class with another lady; we both pray that this class will reach the hearts of the students with the gospel. Outreach with our church: There is a burden in our local church for reaching out into a nearby immigrant/underprivileged neighborhood where a lot of Arabs/Muslims live. There was an incident there in June 2013 and ministry has been discontinued. This made me very sad. But I still pray that the Lord would open a door; in particular that there could be home/family to host a monthly good news club in that particular neighborhood. John and Marion have made the following prayer requests: John - Spiritual growth through the leadership program he is taking Marion - Wisdom, patience, love, humility, insight, creativity, good teaching ideas/recourses/tools for the bible club, English bible storytelling class, outreach with the church. For God s Spirit to continue working across the Arab world, bringing men, women and children to himself. Over 50% of people in the Arab world are under 18. Lives to be touched through the many downloads of the Bible. God s word is more accessible to Muslims today than it ever was. Please continue to pray for John and Marion as they seek to spread the Gospel throughout the Arab world, and provide resources to help build Churches. Missions Committee, Lavern Forrest, Marcia Armstrong, Louise Jenkins, Cheryl Diorio Fun on the Fourth! July 2 - July 5, 2014 We will be participating in the Fun on the Fourth festivities at the Shriner s Thursday, July 3-Saturday, July 5. Donations of name brand soda, 20 oz Poland Springs water, and, of course, time! Volunteers are necessary to prepare whoopee pies, strawberry shortcake and apple crisp beforehand. Also volunteers are necessary to set-up, serve and be ambassadors for Christ at our booth. Please see Peter for more info and to volunteer!!

6 P a g e 6 T h e M u s t a r d S e e d Leadership What does it mean to have the gift of leadership, one of the spiritual gifts given by God? The spiritual gift of Leadership, found in Romans 12:8 between the gift of exhortation and the gift of mercy, is believed to be positioned there in order to convey the importance of relationship in this gift. Spiritual leadership not only means providing direction to others; it is also a position of service and provision of care to others. It is being a shepherd that knows and cares for his sheep as in the example of Christ (John 10:14-16). What traits do you look for in a leader? God s Son, Jesus, is the ultimate example of the perfect leader. The worldly view of leaders is different from the spiritual gift of leadership. The worldly view associates power, ability and authority with the position that directs and oversees a group. Christians with the spiritual gift of leadership have several characteristics not found in a worldly leader. First and foremost, the position is by the appointment of the Lord and is under His direction. Christian leaders understand that they are not absolute rulers, but are themselves subject to the One who is over them all, the Lord Jesus who is the Head of the church. Recognizing his place in the hierarchy of the administration of the body of Christ prevents the gifted leader from succumbing to pride or a sense of entitlement. The truly gifted Christian leader recognizes that he is but a slave of Christ and a servant of those he leads. The apostle Paul recognized this position, referring to himself as a servant of Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1). Like Paul, the gifted leader recognizes that God has called him to his position; he has not called himself (1 Corinthians 1:1). Following Jesus example, the gifted leader also lives to serve those he leads, and not to be served by them or lord it over them (Matthew 20:25-28). (from The gift of leadership is unique; yet, encompassing of other gifts also. Those who exhibit leadership also demonstrate one or more other gifts: service, giving, mercy, teaching, pastoring and exhortation. One could also consider leadership as having different levels. The spiritual gift of leadership is found in people who have a clear, significant vision from God and are able to communicate it publicly or privately in such a way that they influence others to pursue that vision. At a very basic level, we are all called to be leaders as one who leads others to Christ. Thus every Christian has the gift of leadership. Those who have a higher level of leadership as a gift are called to oversee and care for the needs of a group. A minister leads his church; a Sunday school teacher leads his/ her class. Do you hear and respond to God s gift of leadership in you? In Service to His Church, John Kunze, Helen Palmer, Karen TenDyke, Pastor Russ, Nina Miranda, Hartwig Schmidt, Dianne James & Ruth Reed

7 P a g e 7 Cub Scout Corner We are coming to the end of a busy and fun filled year. The boys have learned and grown so much. Our last camping trip is the last week of May at 40 Acres. This is our last pack meeting and the cub scouts earn any last badges and will be moving on up. What a fun year. Hopefully some of the boys will have a chance to go to summer day camp. This is a fun filled time and it is only a week event. Thank you, Chris, Jenn and Paul Rich, for all your work. Many thanks to all the leaders and our den chief Jose who have worked to make this year a great year. I wish to include a thank you to all the parents and the boys for being a part of this year. It is now sign up time for the Scouting New Year. If you know anyone who would like to join scouting please send them down. This is something the boys would never regret and always remember. If they don't make the open house please have them come in Sept. The Open House on May 28 will be feature a show "The Science Man". It will be a great fun night. Thank you for supporting these boys. May God bless these boys and help them grow in Him. Boy Scout Corner We have completed so much and are finishing our year. So many boys have advanced in rank. This is not always an easy thing. They are required to learn and show what they have learned before they advance. It has been a somewhat quiet month and they were not able to do the White Mountain hike due to of bad weather. Boy Scouts go on events in rain, snow, etc. except if there is a danger of thunder storms or dangerous weather conditions. Due to that threat they have postponed the hike to a later date, to be decided soon. Congratulations to our new Eagle Scouts: Zach Tingdahl and Scott Robinson. Serving Saint Paul s has been a blessing and privilege to the boys. They are looking forward to serving again next fall as they have finished serving through the summer. I wish to congratulate our own Boy Scout, Jose, for his advancement to 2nd class and then to 1st class, great job; I am proud of him. He worked hard to make it to this point and is looking forward to moving on up. We have been blessed by our Lord Jesus for his grace and his blessings. Thank you Lord Jesus for putting me in this position and blessing me with this honor. God Bless these boys, our Church family and the leaders for all you have done. God Bless. Submitted by Peter James Charter Chairman-Dick Grinder Charter members-steve Lyons & Peter James

8 The Congregational Church 220 Middlesex Ave Wilmington, MA Moved? Please update your address with the Church Office. Thank you. M u s t a r d S e e d N e w s l e t t e r Pastor: Russell Kent Secretary: Heidi Kumm Music Director: Lydia Okumura Sexton: Don Armstrong July/August Newsletter Deadline June 22, 2014 Office Hours Mon-Thurs - 9:00-3:00 pm Phone: office@wilcong.org Happy The Mustard Seed - A publication of The Congregational Church in Wilmington, 220 Middlesex Avenue, Wilmington, MA Editor: Heidi Kumm. The Mustard Seed is published monthly, excluding the month of August, to keep members and friends informed of programs of the church and to report news about the congregation. Deadline for copy: Third Wednesday of the month