The Membership Corollary

Here's a thought provoking word for your Friday:

Our membership in the church is a corollary of our faith in Christ. We can no more be a Christian and have nothing to do with the church than we can be a person and not be in a family.… It is part of the fabric of redemption. (Eugene Petersen, The Contemplative Pastor)

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Resurrection Sunday - Worth Celebrating! Worth Smiling About!

The weather may have crimped our plans for recreating the 100th anniversary photo outside, but this one looks great anyway.

He is risen.  He is risen indeed!

Revised Service Schedule For Easter

Service times for Easter week are as follows:

Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting - CANCELLED
Friday Evening (Good Friday) Communion Service - 7-8PM
Sunday Morning SONRise Breakfast - 9AM
Sunday School - CANCELLED
Sunday Morning Worship - 10:30AM

But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. (Mark 16:6 NKJV)

Your King Is Coming To You

We continue to experiment with publishing our services, both online, and via CD.

Here is Sunday's sermon.  We welcome feedback on the quality of the audio, as well as on any issues you might experience in trying to play it.



(NOTE - These posts automatically forward to our email list, so if you received the email and the audio player is not showing, please visit the webpage.)

228

That's the number of postcards mailed out so far.  


That leaves 72 unaccounted for.  


Have you mailed yours yet?  


Let's fill the Lord's house on Resurrection Sunday. 


Jesus is alive!

Your King is coming

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. Matthew 21:4-5

We are entering into the best part of the year for Christians, and it begins this Lord's Day as we reflect upon the King's entry into Jerusalem on what has since been named "Palm Sunday."

It was a direct fulfillment of prophecy... It was a brazen declaration of sovereignty... It was an astonishing claim if deity. He was and is the King - YOUR King, to be more precise.

Pick up a palm branch with us this coming Lord's Day, and worship Him with us. And, if you haven't yet met Him... Or are just wondering what He is all about, just come and learn about Him... Come and meet Your King.

Sunday School begins at 9:30, and the Worship Service takes place at 10:30.

In Jesus' Name

A word on prayer, from R. A. Torrey's book, "How to Pray":

It was a wonderful word about prayer that Jesus spoke to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion, "Whatsoever ye shall ask IN MY NAME, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it." Prayer in the name of Christ has power with God. God is well pleased with His Son Jesus Christ. He hears Him always, and He also hears always the prayer that is really in His name. There is a fragrance in the name of Christ that makes acceptable to God every prayer that bears it. But what is it to pray in the name of Christ? Many explanations have been attempted that to ordinary minds do not explain. But there is nothing mystical or mysterious about this expression. If one will go through the Bible and examine all the passages in which the expression "in My name" or "in His name" or synonymous expressions are used, he will find that it means just about what it does in modern usage. If I go to a bank and hand in a check with my name signed to it, I ask of that bank IN MY OWN NAME. If I have money deposited in that bank, the check will be cashed; if not, it will not be. If, however, I go to a bank with somebody else's name signed to the check, I am asking IN HIS NAME, and it does not matter whether I have money in that bank or any other, if the person whose name is signed to the check has money there, the check will be cashed. If, for example, I should go to the First National Bank of Chicago, and present a check which I had signed for $50.00, the paying teller would say to me: "Why, Mr. Torrey, we cannot cash that. You have no money in this bank." But if I should go to the First National Bank with a check for $5,000.00 made payable to me, and signed by one of the large depositors in that bank, they would not ask whether I had money in that bank or in any bank, but would honor the check at once. So it is when I go to the bank of heaven, when I go to God in prayer. I have nothing deposited there, I have absolutely no credit there, and if I go in my own name I will get absolutely nothing; but Jesus Christ has unlimited credit in heaven, and He has granted to me the privilege of going to the bank with His name on my checks, and when I thus go, my prayers will be honored to any extent.

Pray, Christian. Carve out some time each day to pray. Join us for midweek prayer meeting Wednesdays at 6:30 as we pray together. Pray, pray, pray.

A Mind To Work

Nehemiah 4:6 So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

Great things happen in the Kingdom when God's people come together and work. In Nehemiah's day, such willingness resulted in the miraculous rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. What might God do in our day, if we, too, have a mind to work?

Saturday is spring cleaning day at FBC - a work day to prepare the church building and grounds for Resurrection Sunday. Don your work togs and join us. We will start with breakfast and prayer at 8:00, and then get to work. We should be all done no later than 11:00.

A PRAYER FOR WEDNESDAY MORNING

In 1752, at the ripe age of 20, George Washington wrote the following in his prayer journal.

Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great creator of heaven & earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; look down from heaven, in pity and compassion upon me thy servant, who humbly prostrate myself before thee, sensible of thy mercy and my own misery; there is an infinite distance between thy glorious majesty and me, thy poor creature, the work of thy hand, between thy infinite power, and my weakness, thy wisdom, and my folly, thy eternal Being, and my mortal frame, but, O Lord, I have set myself at a greater distance from thee by my sin and wickedness, and humbly acknowledge the corruption of my nature and the many rebellions of my life. I have sinned against heaven and before thee, in thought, word & deed; I have contemned thy majesty and holy laws. I have likewise sinned by omitting what I ought to have done, and committing what I ought not. I have rebelled against light, despised thy mercies and judgments, and broken my vows and promises; I have neglected the means of Grace, and opportunities of becoming better; my iniquities are multiplied, and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord, with shame and sorrow, detestation and loathing, and desire to be vile in my own eyes, as I have rendered myself vile in thine. I humbly beseech thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins, for the sake of thy dear Son, my only saviour, Jesus Christ, who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; be pleased to renew my nature and write thy laws upon my heart, and help me to live, righteously, soberly and godly in this evil world; make me humble, meek, patient and contented, and work in me the grace of thy holy spirit. Prepare me for death and judgment, and let the thoughts thereof awaken me to a greater care and study to approve myself unto thee in well doing. Bless our rulers in church & state. Help all in affliction or adversity---give them patience and a sanctified use of their affliction, and in thy good time deliverance from them; forgive my enemies, take me unto thy protection this day, keep me in perfect peace, which I ask in the name & for the sake of Jesus. Amen

May we all pray so well this Wednesday morning. And this Wednesday evening, as well, when FBC gathers for our midweek prayer meeting. There is much to pray about. Will you join us?

6:30-7:15 PM

No Fool!

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." (Jim Elliot)

Tomorrow morning we will be serving the Lord by serving the hungry at the Haven Of Rest in Akron.  Jesus said when we give in such a way, we are giving to Him.  How can we lose?  

Join us Saturday, 10:00 AM at the Haven of Rest.  Call the church if you need directions.