May 19, 2016
Dear Eastridge Family,
As many of you have heard by now, Lida Charters passed away
this week at the nursing home in Lawrence, Kansas. Lida was 91 years old. The funeral service will be tomorrow morning
at 10:30am here at the church.
Recently I was reading a sermon from Charles Spurgeon. He was a British pastor in the second half of
the 19th century. I read once
how he preached to a crowd of nearly 25,000 people in London on one
occasion. I wanted to share a few
paragraphs form his sermon entitled, The Church's New Mission: Entertaining the
Masses?
An evil is in the professed camp of
the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail
to notice it during the past few years. It
has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump
ferments. The devil has seldom done a
cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to
provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.
From speaking out as the Puritans
did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and
excused the frivolities of the day. Then
she tolerated them in her borders. Now
she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.
My first contention is that
providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a
function of the church. If it is a
Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it?
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature." (Mark 16:15) That is clear enough, So it would have been if He had added, "and provide amusement for those who do
not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.
Then again, "He gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and
teachers ... for the work of the ministry" (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit
is silent concerning them. Were the
prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.
Again, providing amusement is in
direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What
was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt" (Matt. 5:13), not the
sugar candy---something the world will spit out not swallow. He was in awful earnestness.
Had Christ introduced more of the
bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular
when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, "Run after these
people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service
tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the
people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people
somehow." Jesus pitied sinners,
sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.
In vain will the Epistles be
searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, "Come out, keep
out...!" Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They
had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.
After Peter and John were locked up
for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray,
"Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of
innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are."
If they ceased not from preaching
Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution,
they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).
That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rot and
rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to the Bible.
Lastly, the mission of amusement
fails to effect the end desired. It
works havoc among young converts. Let
the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway,
speak and testify. Let the heavy laden
who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic
entertainment has been God's link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts.
The need of the hour for today's
ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one
springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood
and felt, that it sets men on fire.
BOARD MEETING
Immediately following the morning worship service we will
have a short meeting with the newly elected Church Board to get organized.
Our new board members include: Janeth Flores, Elaine Hunter,
Dalia Vargas, Lucy Vargas, Nick Heer, Dan Henry, Norman Karns, Enrique Vargas,
Todd Hunter, Stephanie Heer, and Estefania Peña
GRADUATION RECEPTION
We will have a graduation reception for our high school
graduate Olga Vargas on Sunday May 29th after the worship service.
MNU OFFERING
We will be receiving a special church matching offering for
our MNU students. Olga Vargas is
planning to attend MNU this fall and we want make sure to show our support.
FAVORITE QUOTE FROM SUNDAY SERMON
“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95
percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the
Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of
what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” – A. W.
Tozer
Fulfill the purpose you were put here on earth for. No more delays. No more excuses. Do it – Tony Evans
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