Fall Tapestry

Falls colors form amazing tapestry

Many colors blend and new colors be

The reds alight the whole like fire

More of them our hearts desire

The yellows bright places in the sea

Of the wondrous rolling tapestry

The green pockets here and there

Adding poignancy to trees when bare

The browns form the flowing sea

The most plentiful color of falls tree

God has a meaning to this tapestry

Each color God gave us eyes to see

The reds remind us sin and loss

Redeemed by Jesus on the cross

The green are from death set free

And will grow and live eternally

The yellows fro and too do toss

If go too far will grow bare by loss

What of the browns of tapestry

That dim the colors of the sea

They are dead though leaves see

Dead to live now and eternally

But the green trees red must share

For life to spread color everywhere

For only the red of Jesus’ blood

Can stem the browns dying flood

Receive the red and green can be

Set afire the flow of Fall’s Tapestry!

                                                                        7/19/2018

I Believe I posted this before but think God wants me to share this again.  I hope and pray you will come up with your own prayer list!

And is different each day

For Ecuador I often pray

For the Philippines I do pray

For China called to pray

For North Korea often pray

For persecuted called to pray

For sleeping Church I pray

For Christians alive I pray

For those lost I daily pray

For those hurting I do pray

For caregivers also do pray

For those abused daily pray

For those enslaved daily pray

For Muslims each day pray

Their hatred would go away

Killing for God is their way

God, break their heart I pray

For those who are against God

Fallen children of Your sod

Seeking to be their own god

Break their heart please God

For my family I do pray

Strengthen by the fray

Help them find Your way

To grow in You every day

Father I am so weary today

Pain seems to grow each day

I struggle to find Your way

I pray for strength every day

Whatever this day does bring

Give me strength praise to sing

Comfort me under Your Wing

No matter Your praise I will sing

To You Who’s sees our daily trial

The burden of our pain Your trial

Hurt and suffering by You file

May we with Love make You smile!                            4/7/18

A Worship Decoder

                All around you in the sanctuary are symbols that are codes to understanding the God we worship and how we should worship Him.  Here are the meanings of the codes you see every Sunday.

Colors:  The colors for the Altar clothes and other items have their own meaning.

White:  purity and holiness                          Red: redemption, salvation sacrifice

Purple: royalty and power                           Green: new life and provision

What do these colors teach you about Jesus?

The Altar

                The altar is a reminder that Jesus is the Lamb of God sacrificed for us so all items on the altar represents Jesus.  Everything on the Altar should say something about Jesus!

Cross: reminds us that Jesus gave Himself for us.  It also shows we should be firmly established with God (vertical post) in order to reach out to the lost and our brothers and sisters in Jesus (left and right arms).

Offering plates: reminds us that as God has given us everything He blesses us by allowing us to give!

Bible:  the written Word of God reveals to us the Living Word of God Jesus Christ

Candles: remind us that Jesus is the light of the world.  The number of candles teaches us too!

1 = “The Lord our God is One God!”; 2 = Jesus is fully God and fully man; 3 = the Trinity; 4 = four corners of the world and Gospel for the whole world; 6 = creation (seldom used); 7 = fullness of creation and the Sabbath; 12 = twelve tribes and twelve apostles the people of God

Altar cloth:  reminder of the Tabernacle made of curtains, the veil before the Holy of Holies and the cloth used to humiliate Jesus during the Passion. 

Communion elements: The Body and Blood of Jesus are presented in different ways in denominations.

The altar can also contain olive oil to show the healing power of Jesus, incense to remember the sweetness of the presence of Jesus and other items used by different denominations.

The altar rail

                The altar rail places us before the altar so we can meditate upon Jesus and spend time with Him in prayer!  The middle is usually open to show that as the sacrifice of Jesus rent the veil before the Holy of Holies we are now allowed to enter into the presence of God ourselves and do not need a priest.

Pulpits

                Pulpits are for the proclamation of the Word of God. The Bible is read and the Gospel proclaimed by the preacher from them.  Some have one while others have two.  With two pulpits the larger is usually used for preaching and the smaller for announcements.

Piano and Organ

                From our Jewish heritage music has been a part of worship. Many of the Psalms have choir and music notations on them.  Some denominations do not believe in music because it is not directly mentioned in the New Testament.  But the Apostles would have known music in their worship.

Choir loft

                The choir loft is usually around the altar area.  The choir is singing to God and so should be pointed at the altar.  In fact everyone in the sanctuary should be pointed at the altar directing their worship to God.

Audio/visual equipment

                Audio/visual equipment can be used to enhance worship with our video oriented society.  With audio/visual equipment has come a new problem, to not let worship degenerate into entertainment.

COME SPEND A DAY WITH ME

 

Come spend a day with me

A day that’s not care free

Seeing those in great pain

Whose life seems a strain

Whose today is dismembered

And only yesterday remembered

Where tomorrow will be found

In yesterdays unmerry-go-round

Where pain is a sign of life

And death holds hope of life

All that they cannot do

Each day is one thing new

Tears fall upon my face

Where is God’s amazing grace?

Is God in the nursing home?

Why won’t He take them home?

Then I see God’s amazing grace

In each of my members face

A faith that they are not alone

That God will take them home!

By Ronald Ramsey 2002

“7 ¶  O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. 8  Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9  But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. 10  I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!" All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him." 11  But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonour will never be forgotten. 12  O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. 13  Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.” (Jeremiah 20:7-13 NIV)

            Some call Jeremiah the weeping prophet and here we see the pain and anguish expressed in what is an amazing exhibit of a prophet’s heart!  We are shown the pain and anguish Jeremiah is suffering as an intermediary between God and his people!

            Jeremiah openly and fervently accuses God of calling him to tell of the coming destruction and not revealing what this would cost him.  Rather than listening to what God is revealing they seek to destroy Jeremiah so they will not have to hear the open judgment for their sin and the punishment they deserve.

            Then comes an amazing picture of what following God’s call is in the life of a Christian.  Verse 9 goes beyond heart and soul and declares God’s call alights our very bones and leaves us unable to resist unless we turn from God!  This fire burns forth through judgment to bring healing but will not consume if we trust and follow God.

            Jeremiah sees God as his protective warrior who will show vengeance upon those who refuse to listen and abuse God’s messenger.  Jeremiah has faithfully committed “his” cause to God and trust God will revenge all wrongs.

            Having confessed to God his struggles and fears Jeremiah then calls all to sing to God and praise God!  Jeremiah has not just confessed his grief and sin but the relief is also a result of his faith God will make all right!  The fullness of song and praise comes from the faith that even in the midst of the suffering God is our warrior and will see us through!

            Have you ever experienced the burning in your bones of God’s call for you?  Do you trust in God to be your warrior and to defend you?  When you worship God is there a fire in your bones and do you sing forth praise to God rather than just mumbling the words?

“1 ¶  My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2  For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3  Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4  Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5  Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8  But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9  With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11  Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12  Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” (James 3:1-12 NKJV)

            James warns us to be a teacher is not something we should seek and we must realize carries with it a stricter judgment!  Some might consider this unfair and others may say this makes it harder to find teachers.  Why should a teacher receive a stricter judgment just because they are a teacher?

            The answer to why teachers receive a stricter judgment can be seen in the rest of this passage. James spends many harsh verses dealing with the power of our tongue and the horrific damage an unruly tongue can make not only in our lives but also in the lives of others.

            A teacher carries an eternal burden of the souls of their students. James reminds us our tongue is an expression of our heart and it is very difficult to not teach from our heart and mind rather than from God’s word! We can even come to believe in what our tongue say’s rather than what God reveals to us in the Bible!

            This will lead not only us to eternal destruction but also our students! As teachers we will have the blood of our students on our own soul!

            To teach our own “truth” or what is acceptable in our time and community is to call God a liar and to despise the Truth! When we teach untruth and call it God’s truth we confuse and deceive our students and even ourselves!

            The tongue can create or destroy, praise God or abuse God and is so many ways either cause havoc or bring peace.  The danger of the tongue is seen in how many use their tongue for destruction compared to how few use it for peace.

            Why did James speak so harsh and so much about the power of the tongue?  Why did James say the tongue rather than our tongue?  How do you use your tongue?

“28  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29  He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31  But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31 NKJV)  It also would be helpful to read the chapters before this.

          Over the more then 30 years of being a pastor a common thread I have heard is the Old Testament God is so much harder than the New Testament God.

          What foolishness!  God is never changing and is the same in the Old Testament, New Testament and forever beyond!  We can see the same terror and violence in our own times as nations and even individuals are judged for their wickedness.  Maps change so much and great nations become weak and weak nations grow and become great.

          As in Israel if they come back to God they will be forgiven and strengthened and renewed!  Much of what nations and individuals blame God for is really the result of our sin!

          The passage from Isaiah gives us such an amazing picture of who we can be through God. God offers us “proof” of who we can become by revealing who God is!

          The God who created us is able and desires to re-create us. We spend and waste some much time and effort to make ourselves better but God is the only One who can re-create us!

          Please rethink your view of the Old Testament and see in the news God works in the same way now and forever! And now as in Isaiah’s time we can trust that God and desires to re-create us!