your spiritual service of worship.

Transcription

1 April 2018 Volume 1 Number 3 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. - Romans 12:1 -

2 W H A T C A N I D O? When I think about Jesus Christ, and how He came from Heaven to save humanity, my mind is often overwhelmed. It occurs to me that I am so unworthy that God would ever do such a thing as to die for what I have done and then to give His life to me. In fact, the bible goes farther telling me that Jesus actually stands between me and punishment day and night forever! So then the question comes to mind, What can I do in return? All that I am and all that I have is nothing compared to what God has given to me. Well, God has already instructed each of us what we are to give in return for our Savior. Romans 12:1 says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. So it is God's will for each of us to live for Him and to work to share the Gospel. We are 'living' sacrifices which means, our time, our efforts should be spent serving Jesus Christ! Whether we are made to preach, or sing, or any number of other things, we should find how we can do what we do, for God. Sometimes it will be easy and other times difficult, but it will always be worth living and working for Christ. So as we remember the cross and God's great sacrifice, let us also remember to work for the One who has saved us. Maranatha! IN THIS ISSUE 4 HE IS RISEN! The Reason We Worship 5 Your Reasonable Service What is reasonable to God 5 Spirit and Truth The importance of the Holy Spirit as we worship Pastor James Kressman PastorJames@friendshipassembly.org From The Pastor Lead Pastor Brad Williamson PastorBrad@friendshipassembly.org As we are celebrating the Season of resurrection. It is important to remember that our hope has come because of the victory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has triumphantly taken our sin and shame that once separated us from God and has eliminated it by dying in our place and raising to life. Now that he has ascended to the right hand of the Father, we can now be set free through faith in Him! How truly blessed we are in Him. Still there is one very important aspect that Jesus mentions in this scripture. Though he die. We have been given eternal life through faith in Christ, but until we rise with Him in glory, it is required that we remain and do His work until we put off this body. It is through our lives being dedicated to Him that we become effective for our purpose. When the time comes for us to put off this body then we will be welcomed into the final state of what the Lord has intended for us from the beginning. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. - Philippians 1:21 -

3 UPCOMING EVENTS SUN 1 WED 4 FRI 6 SAT 7 APRIL THIS MONTH AT A GLANCE HAPPY EASTER! JESUS HAS OVERCOME LIVE Missionary Update: Jim and Ester Mazurek CONCERT: Liberty Quartet 7PM MERGE Home Bible Study Membership Class 9AM 50 s Plus at The Cliff House NEED MORE INFORMATION... Connect with your Pastors & Ministry Leaders: Lead Pastor Brad Williamson PastorBrad@friendshipassembly.org Pastor Scott James Admin, Culture, CE PastorScott@friendshipassembly.org Pastor James Kressman Music, 50 s Plus PastorJames@friendshipassembly.org Pastor Sam Thurman Youth, Tech, PR PastorSam@friendshipassembly.org SUN 8 WED 11 SUN 15 SAT 21 WED 25 FRI-SUN nd Annual Derby and Chili Cook-off! Special Guests 6 PM Service Missionaries: The Appel Family Girls Ministry Store Night FOOD DRIVE SUNDAY - Bring donations for Mercy s Gate as your offering Sarah s Home Training 50 s Plus Fellowship Potluck Special Guest Speaker Missionary: Dan Gibson Girls Ministry Retreat SAT 28 Sarah s Home Training Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, - John 11:25 - Kids Ann Campos Kids@friendshipassembly.org Girl's Erin James GirlsMinistry@friendshipassembly.org Royal Rangers John Koster RoyalRangers141@friendshipassembly.org Men Eugene Snow MenofFriendship@friendshipassembly.org Women Margaret Austin WomensMinistry@friendshipassembly.org MERGE Pastor Scott & Erin James Merge@friendshipassembly.org Missions Emilio Delgado Missions@friendshipassembly.org Prayer Ken & Christine Gonzales Prayer@friendshipassembly.org First Impressions Will Brent Mail@friendshipassembly.org Learn more about our ministry team at:: FRIENDSHIPASSEMBLY.ORG/ABOUT/TEAM View the calendar of events online at FRIENDSHIPASSEMBLY.ORG/CONNECT And keep an eye on the weekly bulletin for all the latest event updates. 2

4 Adult Ministries Women s Ministry Margaret Austin Listed on your calendar for the month of April is Easter. Don t miss the tiny font. But do we need a calendar to remember one of two important dates for Believers? Do we need to be reminded of the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Not if we are seeking to maintain a lifestyle of worship. What is worship? Worship is defined as, the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity (GOD). How do we show reverence or respect to Him whom we confess that we believe in? The Bible has a perfect answer in Romans 12:1-2. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices and not be conformed to the ways of this world. Instead we must renew our minds. This is our true worship. Just look at Ephesians 4. "assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. " - Ephesians 4: Seeking to fellowship with Jesus through his word and prayer causes worship to freely flow as gratitude and thankfulness fill our hearts. Life becomes more about Him and less about us. Grow with us! For the month of April, Women s Ministry s Sunday school class will be studying Praise and Worship. You re invited to join us as we study this controversial subject in the modern church, Sunday mornings at 10 AM. Prayer Team Ken and Christine Gonzales WE WORSHIP GOD because He first loved us. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We worship Him because He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Imagine the conversation in heaven I ll go Father I ll Go, and walk the road of humiliation, suffering, and degradation. I will carry their cross to Calvary. I will wear a crown of thorns. I will be spat upon. My beard they will pull and cast lots for my clothes, I will suffer for their righteousness. I will take the lashes across my back beyond recognition, for them. I will destroy every evil, wicked and vile sin. I will defeat every infirmity and affliction so they can have abundant life! A man came down from heaven whom we never knew and chose to lay down his life. This man so pure and holy came to set us free. Jesus, our God, took our place. This is Why We Worship our King, Jesus. He is worthy to be praised! John 4:24 says, We are to worship Him in spirit and in truth. He deserves our highest praises. We praise and worship with uplifted hands, an expression of love, gratitude, sacrifice and thanksgiving. He inhabits the praises of his children. Let us continue to worship and praise our king from the rising to the setting of the sun. When we continue to fall deeper in love with him, he will bring us to all truth, knowledge and understanding. Worship him with all your heart, mind and soul, so that we may become true worshipers. Empty us Lord to be filled with more of you. Help us to hear your heart beat and bring us back to a heart of worship. Amen! 3

5 HE IS RISEN! The Reason We Worship! Men of Friendship Eugene Snow Where does the saying He is risen; He is risen, indeed come from? The best answer we could find was: Apparently, it started as a traditional Easter greeting in the early churches. One would exclaim He is risen! That would produce the traditional response of He is risen, indeed! While this has become a tradition we must make sure that this greeting is much more than an empty tradition. The words He is risen! should remind us of the joyous news we celebrate at Easter, that Jesus death was not in vain, and that He has the power to overcome death. Saying He is risen! allows us to share this incredible truth with each other. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope for salvation and for our own resurrection and eternal life. In Ephesians 4:8 we were freed Therefore it says, When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. But still there are many today who don t believe and view the Resurrection story as a fable, not as a fact. But we know better, we know there is an empty tomb. We have the written evidence. But we must be on guard as the same enemy who tried to keep Jesus in the grave continues to tempt us to doubt. Doubt that Scripture is accurate. Doubt that such a miracle could happen. Yet we have the opportunity to be the people Jesus talked about when He said, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed - John 20:29 - On a trip to Israel at our visit to Golgotha, my wife and I felt a presence that clearly affirmed our belief that this Bible story was as real today as it was that Sunday morning on Calvary. Can you just imagine how wonderful it would have been to be there on that Resurrection morning and to feel the earth quake beneath our feet, to hear the heavy stone being rolled away by an angel sent from heaven, and to have to shade our eyes from the brilliance of Jesus form as He appeared at the tomb s entrance? The earth had never before felt such power. It was the power of a God strong enough to conquer death. The best news we have received today is the proclamation of: He s alive! These two words take care of every problem, every heartache, every hopeless feeling we have. They are our answer. They are our healing. They are our hope. As the old Gospel song sings; He's alive, He's alive, He's alive and I'm forgiven, Heavens gates are open wide. Worship with joy in your heart happily waiting for our resurrection Sunday! 4

6 Kids and Youth Kids Church YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE Ann Campos...Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service... The rendering of this Scripture in the King James version originally caused me to stop and ask, When presenting myself as a living sacrifice, how much of a sacrifice is a reasonable amount of service? What is God's standard of the correct proportion of a living offering? Although those are interesting questions, they were the wrong questions. 'Reasonable' in this Scripture isn't a 'measured amount', rather the Greek word for 'reasonable' is 'logikos'. If you recognize that word sounds similar to 'logical', then you're on the right track. To present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God is tapping into reasoning that is above man's. It makes logical sense to lay our lives on the altar before God. In Kids' Church, we might say to turn off our I Wanter. Stop our selfishness and allow God's will to become our will. The goal is to get in harmony with the highest spiritual reasoning possible. The Lord's logic. What type of living sacrifice is an acceptable offering to Him? An offering that is 'hagios'. A holy sacrifice. 'Holy' is used in a variety of ways throughout Scripture; careful handling of duties toward God, worshiping well or reverently, moral excellence Being a 'holy sacrifice', in our dissection of Romans 12:1, 2 is defined as being different. Not behaving like the world might behave, rather it is behaving as The Lord would. It is hard to comprehend that we mere humans can become a 'holy' sacrifice that is acceptable for God to receive as a gift of worship from us to Him....and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind... The process of working toward holiness begins with our wordly rationalization (selfish I Wanter ) being transformed to righteous reasoning. Metamorphosis from carnal thinking to righteous reasoning leads us to a spiritual place that offers a life of worship acceptable to The Lord. Refuge Youth SPIRIT AND TRUTH Pastor Sam Thurman The Psalms are known for great expressions of worship through poetry, hymns, prayers, and songs written to a God who is intimately known and deeply loved by His people. Perhaps one of the things that stands out the most when reading the Psalms is that these expressions of worship were written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ came and fulfilled the scripture by, conquering the cross and the grave. Worship was being expressed not necessarily because of what God had done, though He had done great and mighty things for Israel, but worship was being given simply because of Who God is. Psalm 100 concludes in verse 5 with this statement. For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations. What a statement to make! What a pure message of true worship. Jesus, while talking with the woman of Samaria said, But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. So, what is it that gives us the ability to worship in spirit and truth? John 14: gives us this instruction and promise. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. We now know the finished work of the cross. How much more should we express our worship to God, since we have a full picture of His plan for salvation. As we submit our will, daily to Christ, the Holy Spirit, which is Truth, lives within us and our life is transformed into living worship of the Father. God Bless. 5

7 Missions Girls Ministry Erin James "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12 - Praise the Lord! Three of our Stars girls accepted Jesus as their savior! They all prayed the salvation prayer, asked Jesus into their hearts and one girl prayed that she "doesn't want to be in trouble, but she wants to do good." It is so inspiring to see how God uses all of our sponsors, His word, and the Girls' Ministries curriculum to change lives and draw us closer to Him. Girls, abide in Jesus, trust Him always, obey His word, and God will use you to change the world! Royal Rangers Outpost 141 John Koster In celebration of Easter, Rangers are spending the month focusing on our 8th Blue Point A Royal Ranger is Spiritual focusing on pray and meditating on the scripture. Our 3rd Gold Point also speaks of the importance of the spiritual growth of boys (mentally, physically, spiritually, socially). A willingness to include a spiritual aspect In Rangers is what separates our ministry from other secular youth programs aren t you glad? To paraphrase Jesus, what good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul its about spiritual growth. We encourage our boys this month and every month to grow spiritually through prayer, bible lessons, and devotions. By doing this, we participate in what Paul spoke of in Romans 12 - the spiritual act of worship - the transformation of the mind. Challenge your boys this month to read Romans 12 and talk with them about spiritual transformation we will partner with you this month in the classroom. God Bless. Missions Partnership Emilio Delgado Short-term Missions Financial Support Application As Friendship grows, it is important to welcome families and individuals into mission work. Missions related service leads to spiritual growth, expands world views and can inspire career choices towards mission and ministry work. Overall, it creates a positive impact in the lives of those serving in the name of our Lord. Thanks to the generous offering of our congregants, we are able to use Friendship Missions budget to provide limited financial support to congregants planning to go on Short-Term Mission trips. Serving within our local community continues to be a vital priority. However, we are all aware of the increasing cost of travel that oftentimes is the reason family and individuals may not consider serving outside their community. Therefore, financial support will help offset expenses by approximately 1/3 of a typical Short-Term Mission Trip and encourage our congregants to step out of their comfort zone. When families and individuals return, they will deliver a post-trip presentation. This will enhance our church missions while increasing our very own to serve and experience missions in a tangible way. Please request the application from the church office. If you have questions please Missionsadm@friendshipassembly.org. 6 We look forward partnering with you in your Short-Term Mission Trip. Children Christian Book Drive Local Missions Opportunity Friendship Assembly and EPIC (Executives Partnering to Invest in Children) are teaming up to donate NEW and GENTLY USED CHRISTIAN children s books to children and families in-need at local elementary schools, libraries, doctor s offices and child care centers. We will be a collection site by hosting a donation box. Donation boxes will be in our Foyer through the month of April and pick up donated books on April 30th. Join us in this unique way to impacts our children in the community with Christian children books. Question please missions@friendshipassembly or any missions committee member. Harvester s Circle Ruth McElhannon Harvester's Circle has been back in full swing since early January. We are all thrilled to have some new faces along with their various talents. We had quite a bump in the road as we started up again this year with Ruth being ill for a few weeks. We're so thankful that she's back, on the mend, and doing considerably better, PTL! Some current projects being worked on are: quilts, baby items (including crocheted hats and dresses), knitted dishcloths, and more! Remember, we are always taking orders for T-shirt quilts. Call Ruth for more information, and to place your order

8 Do You Need Prayer? Let us know at: Weekly Opportunities to Connect and Grow Sunday Small Group Discipleship Classes 10 am Youth Service (Jr. & Sr. High) 6 pm Tuesday Ladies Prayer am Wednesday (During 7pm Service) Royal Rangers Girls Ministry Thursday Harvesters Circle Craft Group 9 am Temple Keepers 9:30 am Friday Senior Prayer am Sermons CD s are available at the info center for $2 or you can listen to past sermons online for free. Helpful tips if you re new to Friendship Parents, please check your kids in at the Kids Church room prior to service, then have your children sit with you for worship until they are dismissed to Kids Church. Newborn to 36 month nursery is located in the East Wing Cry Room is available just outside the sanctuary to the left Elevator access to the lower level is down the hall near the library. To Give Online visit us at: DISCIPLESHIP IT S HOW WE GROW ADULT KIDS/YOUTH DISCIPLESHIP CLASSES SUNDAYS AT 10 AM Powerful Living AG Curriculum Basement 4 Pathfinders Book of Isaiah East Wing - E 3/4 Decisions Topics of Daily Living W6 Women s Closer Walk with Jesus Basement 3 The WORD Ecclesiastes West Wing - W1/W2 Nursery Newborn to 36 months East Wing - E 1/2 Preschool 3 to 4 Years old 1B/1D Primary Kindergarten to 2nd grade East Wing - 1E Middler 3rd to 5th grade West Wing - W4 Young Teen 6th to 8th grade West Wing - W5 High School 9th to 12th grade Basement 6 NEW 6-week Discipleship Class STARTING APR 15 : Testify! with teacher Jim Williamson. Explore the Biblical principles behind effectively sharing your testimony for the glory of the Lord. Sign up online or in the lobby! Lead Pastor Brad Williamson, PastorBrad@friendshipassembly.org Assoc. Pastor Scott James (Admin, Culture, CE), PastorScott@friendshipassembly.org Assoc. Pastor James Kressman (Music, Seniors), PastorJames@friendshipassembly.org Assoc. Pastor Samuel Thurman (Youth, Marketing, IT), PastorSam@friendshipassembly.org Weekly Service Times Sunday 8:30 am, 11 am, 6 pm Wednesday 7 pm 3685 New Center Point Colorado Springs, CO Fax: mail@friendshipassembly.org F R I E N D S H I P A S S E M B L Y. O R G SERVING COLORADO SPRINGS SINCE Peter 4:10 Office Hours Monday - Friday 9 am - 4 pm Sunday, Open During Service Times