Community in Action Finale: May 28th

FAMILY SUNDAY NOTES
We took last Sunday and created a service dedicated to ENCOURAGING THE FAMILY OF GOD. We took our motivation from Colossians 4:

7 Tychicus will give you a full report about how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord's work.8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you.9 I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will tell you everything that's happening here. 10 Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas's cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way.11 Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been! 12 Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God.13 I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings, and so does Demas.15 Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters* at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house. 16 After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them. 17 And say to Archippus, "Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you." 18 HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL. Remember my chains. May God's grace be with you.

As you can see, Paul takes considerable time to introduce his "staff" to the congregation at Colosse and to encourage those leaders that they were personally acquainted with. We did the same thing hoping to encourage our people about who is working hard for the Lord and to show you not just what, but who you are supporting when you support the Orchard Church (http://www.theorchardchurchjobs.blogspot.com/). We also took time to dedicate Camryn Bairnsfather to the Lord, to sing & dance praises to our God, and to celebrate communion together.

NEXT WEEK, we begin a whole new journey together called...
"The Barbarian Way." Don't miss it and don't miss this opportunity to invite your friends and family to join us.

THE BARBARIAN WAY

New Sermon Series for June...

June 4th ~ INVASION

June 11th ~ The CALL

June 18th ~ TRIBE

June 25th ~ REVOLT

Here is the meat of the marriage sermon that a few of you had asked for...

The Cure for Loneliness
v Genesis 2:4-25
v Amazing story
v God marries them.
v The only perfect covenant (pre-sin).

Joined in a New Love
v Mark 10:6-9 ~ 6 But `God made them male and female'* from the beginning of creation.7`This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife,8 and the two are united into one.'* Since they are no longer two but one,9 let no one split apart what God has joined together."
v Analogy of Christ and the Law: fulfills the parents love for the kids. The old doesn’t disappear, but gets better in the marriage of the two of them.
v Their new love is centered on Jesus and looks like this: 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

My Life is No Longer My Own
v Ephesians 5:21-33
v As you have given up your lives for Jesus, so now you put that into human action.
v You have both chosen a life of sacrifice for God. You are now choosing a marriage that is underneath the sacrifice of God. No decision, plan, activity or purchase will be made on your own. You make them in covenant with Jesus and with one another.

May 21st "Community in Action Series"

Thanks again to Paul Patterson for bringing us our message this past weekend. He took our "Community in Action" Series one step further. We had talked about the Participants, our Motivator, our Cause, our Suffering, our Obedience to the Motivator and even about taking the cause of the cross to our families, but Paul took us into our world. After a long, but really good, day on Saturday, it was nice to sit with my family and listen to the word preached about taking the cause of the cross to the coffee shop. Here are a few brief notes from Paul's talk on Sunday. Thanks again Paul for coming and sharing.

THE COFFEE SHOP
Colossians 4:2-6

“There is a very, very serious conversation going on in our culture, in Western culture at the end of the 20th century, about God. And the church is not a part of it. We’re not invited to the conversation most of the time, and for the most part we’re not even aware that its happening.”

“Conversation about God is increasingly found outside the church as well as within it. One of the chief venues for such conversation is the movie theatre with its adjacent coffee shops. With attendance at church stagnating and with movie viewing in theatres at an all time high, Christians find themselves wanting to get back into the conversation but often are not able to do so effectively.”

DEVOTE YOURSELVES TO PRAYER
l The APOSTLE PAUL IS NOT SAYING: Effective evangelism depends on our proclamation skills.
l The APOSTLE PAUL IS SAYING: Effective evangelism depends on God’s open doors.
l God’s message will be spread whether we do it our not. Our job is to partner with what He is already at work doing.
BE WISE
l PAUL IS NOT SAYING: Make the gospel easy.
l PAUL IS SAYING: Make the gospel relevant.
l The world is asking important questions (DaVinci Code is asking “who is this Jesus?”) and we need to make sure we are ready with the answers.
LET YOUR CONVO BE FULL OF GRACE
l PAUL IS NOT SAYING: Learn how to argue people into the kingdom.
l PAUL IS SAYING: Enter into loving relationships and let God open the door.
l We don’t enter into relationships with the soul purpose of winning them to Jesus. We enter into relationships intentionally simply to love them the best ways we possibly can.

RECOGNIZE: A community in action is a neighboring community.

Jeff Martin's COMMUNION DEVO from Mother's Day...

John 19
26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, "Dear woman, here is your son."27 And he said to this disciple, "Here is your mother." And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

Jesus was hanging on the cross when He spoke those words. His mother was there with Him at the end of his earthly existence. She was not dismayed by the fury of Satan, or by the horrific sight of the Roman execution of her son. She could not rescue him or relieve him, yet she stood by him. We can only guess what a heartbreak it was for Mary to see her son so abused. It did fulfill Scripture, however.

Simeon was a pious man and had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God had spoken to him that he would see the Messiah before he died. At the time Jesus’ parents presented Him before the Lord, he said these words. Luke 2
29 "Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised.30 I have seen your salvation,31 which you have prepared for all people.32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!" 33 Jesus' parents were amazed at what was being said about him.34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby's mother, "This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him.35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul."

Jesus’ torments were his mother’s tortures; it was as if she were on the cross and her heart bled with his wounds. We can see the power of divine grace supporting his mother under this heavy trial, though. We don’t see her wringing her hands, or tearing her hair, or ripping her clothes, or crying out loud. What we do see is Mary, with a wonderful composure, standing by the cross. She was strengthened by that divine power to this degree of patience. She probably had a fuller expectation of his resurrection than anyone else had. We don’t often know what we can bear until we are tried, but then we know God who has said, “My grace is sufficient for you”.Jesus tenderly provides for his mother at his death.

It’s probable that Joseph, her husband, died long before, and that her son Jesus had supported her. It was her relation to him that had been her sustainer and now that he was dying what would become of her? Jesus saw her standing by, and knew her cares and sorrows. He also saw John standing not far off, and so he created a new relationship between his beloved mother and his beloved disciple. He said to her, “Woman, here is your son”, and to him, “Here is your mother”. From that time on, that hour never to be forgotten, the disciple that Jesus loved took her into his own home. See how Christ took care of his mother? He wasn’t so much taken up with a sense of his sufferings as to forget his loved ones- it was their concerns he bore on his heart. His mother, though, was so taken up with his sufferings that she didn’t think of what would become of her; but Jesus did.

He calls her “woman“ and not “mother“, not out of disrespect, but because “mother” would have been a devastating word to her. He knew she was already wounded to the heart with grief. He spoke as one that was no longer in this world, but as one already dead to those who were dearest to him and left behind . Here’s an example of divine goodness for our encouragement. Sometimes, when God removes one comfort from us, he’ll raise up another. Usually it’s one that we weren’t looking for at all. If one well dries up, the same living water will fill another one.

This is also an example of family duty. If we are a family in God’s sight, then we must care for all in the body as true family. Christ teaches children to provide for the comfort of their aging parents. If they proceed their parents in death, they should, as best they can, provide for them and meet their needs.

Jeff Martin
May 14, 2006

Community in Action: May 14, 2006

MOTHER’S DAY

Taking the Cause into the Family
Colossians 3:18-4:1

We opened our talk with reference to how Paul discussed holy living in both the book of Ephesians and the book of Colossians. Then, he immediately went into discussion on how our families should love and interact with one another. So, we referenced our discussion on clothing ourselves with the person of Jesus, especially His love. And, we focused on how a person who is clothed with Christ should take the cause of the Cross into their family first. Here are the practical ways to take the cause into your families.

The Cause in Marriage (3:18-19)
Ο Wives, be willing to give up your life for your husband.
Ο Wives, belong to the Lord.
Ο Husbands love your wives like Christ loves His bride.
Ο Husbands, never treat your wives harshly.

The Cause in Parenting (3:20-21)
Ο Children, obey your parents.
Ο Children, please the Lord.
Ο Parents don’t aggravate your children.
Ο Parents don’t discourage your children.

RECOGNIZE: That the most important place you can take the cause of Christ is to your family.

A community in action reflects Christ in their daily family life.

THE UNIFORM

A Community in Action Series: May 7th

THE UNIFORM
Colossians 3:1-17

Intro:
Talked about Tim Robbins cleansing moment at the end of "The Shawshank Redemption." Also, discussed how many of the Jewish survivors of the concentration camps would burn their clothes when they were released.

THROW AWAY YOUR OLD CLOTHES

• Sinful, earthly things (3:5-7)
• Evil nature/wicked deeds (3:8-9)

CLOTHE YOURSELF WITH A BRAND NEW NATURE

• always clean (3:10)
• everyone is dressed in white (3:11)
• hired by God himself (3:12)

THE CHURCH UNIFORM (2:12-17)

• compassion
• kindness
• humility
• gentleness
• patience
• forgiveness
• love
• peace
• God's word
• singing

RECOGNIZE: That God cares what kind of personality (the personality of Jesus) to church NOT what kind of clothes.

A community in action represents the Lord Jesus' character (3:17).

April 30, 2006 ~ Community in Action Series: Obedience

OBEDIENCE TO THE MOTIVATOR
Colossians 2:6-23

We discussed how coaches that are loved and respected are so much easier for players to obey. ILLUSTRATION: Jordan was unable to win championships until Phil Jackson came and got him to buy into his coaching philosophy. Same is/was true of Kobe and the Lakers with Phil this year. We want to look at how Christianity has a system and a coach.

ROOTS (playbook/coaching philosophy)
l Faith, truth, thanks (2:7)
l Tree Groups
l False Teaching (2:4, 8-9)
l Da Vinci Code / Gospel of Judas
l Baptism and The Cross (2:11-15)
l “The Cause” and the pledge

RELATIONSHIP God is not one who is distant, but wants to know about your day... every day... whether good or bad. Have a conversation with the Creator and Savior not just say somber words or beg for help.
l Not about the rules (2:16-23 and Romans 14)
l It’s about following a person (2:19-20)

RECOGNIZE: That we are not following a list of do’s and don’ts we are following Jesus.

A community in action is changed by getting closer to the person of Jesus Christ.