September 18, 2014
Dear Eastridge Family,
I read this little devotion this week by author Randy Alcorn
and I wanted to share it with you. Also
I have a number of items that I want to pass on some more information. Here is the devotional by Randy Alcorn:
From beginning to end, Scripture repeatedly emphasizes God’s
ownership of everything:
“To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest
heavens, the earth and everything in it” (Deuteronomy10:14).
“The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants”
(Leviticus 25:23).
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory
and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and
honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).
“Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under
heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11).
“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and
all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the
waters” (Psalm 24:1-2).
“For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a
thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the
field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine,
and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:10-12).
“‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord
Almighty” (Haggai 2:8).
Search and you
won’t find a single verse of Scripture that suggests that God has surrendered
his ownership to us. God didn’t die and leave the earth—or anything in it—to
me, you, or anyone else. And if we should think, Well, at least I own myself,
God says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1
Corinthians6:19-20).
When I’ve
taught from 1 Corinthians 6 in a college class, I have asked someone in the
front row to lend me his pencil for a moment. When he handed me the pencil, I immediately
took it, broke it in half, threw it on the ground and crushed it under my foot.
The reaction of the students was shock
and disbelief. What right did I have to break someone else’s pencil? But then I explained that it’s really my
pencil, which I planted with that person before the session.
Suddenly everything changed. If it was my pencil, but only if it was mine,
then I had the right to do with it as I pleased—which is precisely Paul’s point
in his letter to the Corinthians. The
believers in Corinth were doing what they pleased. And why not? They thought their lives were their own. But Paul says, “No, it’s not your life. You
own nothing, not even yourself. When you
came to Christ you surrendered the title to your life. You belong to God, not to yourself. He is the only one who has the right to do
what he wants with your life—your body, your sexual behavior, money,
possessions, everything.”
God doesn’t
just own the universe. He owns you and
me. We are twice his—first by creation,
second by redemption. Not only does God
own everything, but he determines how much of his wealth he will entrust to us:
“Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the
ability to produce wealth” (Deuteronomy8:18).
“The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts
up” (1 Samuel 2:7, NKJV).
“Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all
things” (1 Chronicles 29:12).
Stewardship is
living in the light of these overriding truths. It’s living with the awareness that we are
managers, not owners; that we are caretakers of God’s assets, which he has
entrusted to us for this brief season here on earth. How we handle money and possessions
demonstrates who we really believe is their true owner—God or us.
·
Back to
Church Sunday & Potluck dinner following morning service
National Back to Church Sunday began as a movement to invite
everyone in America back to church by empowering and motivating church members
to invite their family and friends to come with them to a special service
hosted by the local church.
The movement was spurred on by a couple of statistics:
"82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to
attend church if invited"
–Dr. Thom Rainer, The Unchurched Next Door
Yet only 2% of Christians EVER invite someone to church!
Here at Eastridge we have been encouraging people to pray for
their OIKOS and to look for opportunities to be a witness. This Sunday we would love to have several
visitors come and join us for potluck dinner.
This Sunday you can be part of the 2% who actually invites
someone to church. Don’t forget to bring
some food to share in the potluck. If
everyone brings a main dish and a side or dessert we should have plenty of food
for several visitors.
·
Missionary Service
Next
month we will have a missionary Russ Frazier and his wife Carla speaking here
at Eastridge on Sunday evening October 5th. Russ and Carla have served as missionaries in
Africa and as pastors in the US and are preparing for a new assignment at
Africa Nazarene University in Kenya where Russ will be working to train pastors
at the University.
·
Royals Game Saturday
This Saturday, September
20, Pastor Josh is taking a group from Eastridge to attend a Royals game.
·
See You At the Pole
Wednesday September 24th is the See You at the Pole Prayer
Event. All around the globe, in every
time zone, students will be gathering at their flagpoles, praying for their
school, friends, families, churches, and communities. SEE YOU AT THE POLE is a
day committed to global unity in Christ and prayer for your generation.
Pastor Josh will be attending the event at Wichita Southeast
High School which begins at 7 am. The
theme verse this year is “Never stop praying, especially for others (EPHESIANS
6:18a CEV). If you cannot attend the
SYATP event please join us in praying for our students.
Wednesday evening Pastor Josh will take our youth to attend a
city wide prayer event.
·
Church
Cleaning/Work Day
Saturday, September 27 we will start cleaning the
church and Fellowship Hall at 9am. The
trustees will have a list of jobs and projects that also need to be completed
·
Sunday School
While we
are making a push to invite people to come back to church on the National Back
to Church Sunday; we also don’t want to forget our Sunday school classes and
small groups that study the Bible.
Each
Sunday morning at 9:45 we have Sunday school classes for all age groups, from
birth to infinity. We have three adult
classes which meet on Sunday morning: Muriel Murray teaches from the Nazarene
Church Quarterly Sunday School material and her class meets in the Fellowship
Hall; Pastor Andy Shimko has just starting some new material based upon the
book “Love, Acceptance & Forgiveness” and his class meets in the cry room
off the sanctuary; Pastor Daniel Peña teaches a class in Spanish that has been
studying John Wesley’s understanding of holiness and they meet in the church
office.
·
MNU Football Game
On Saturday October 11th, MidAmerica Nazarene
University is playing in the NAIA Gridiron Challenge at Arrowhead Stadium in
Kansas City Missouri at 3pm. MNU will be
playing Missouri Valley College Vikings.
If you are interested in attending the game contact Pastor Josh.
I look
forward to worshipping with you on Sunday!
Pastor
Andy Heer
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