Sanctity of Life Sunday

Jesus and John the Baptist were distinct persons while still in their mothers' wombs - John jumped for joy when he heard Mary's voice (Luke 1)

Science has confirmed that life begins at conception. Modern medical practice can do surgeries and treat the unborn. Criminal justice precedents favor the unborn that if you murder a pregnant woman you are guilty of two homicides. Sociologically people are aware abortions are terribly disproportionate against non-whites. All this confirms our theology and informs our conscience of the sanctity of human life beginning at conception.

Nevertheless we still see our tax dollars funding a culture of death. Planned Parenthood - the largest abortion business in America - aborted nearly 330,000 babies last year - more than the year before - an average of one abortion every 90 seconds. It took over half a billion tax dollars from you, the taxpayer, and it wants even more. It wants more abortions and more tax dollars. The abortion industry had a banner year at your expense - the abortion giant received more than $528 million of your tax dollars. Planned Parenthood is profiting from death, bragging about ObamaCare, and touting how many pro-life laws it has defeated. Not only did its abortions increase last year, so did its bottom line. It has more than $1.372 billion in assets.

We pray for the unborn and their mothers and that fathers will protect their unborn and take responsibility.

We pray against the culture of sexual promiscuity that prostitutes God's gift of sexuality without regard for the consequence. We pray the fear of God come on us as a nation. We pray mercy and healing for those who have had abortions. We pray against the demonic evils of murder and selfishness that motivates the abortion industry and planned parenthood. We pray deliverance for the abused and victims of trafficking. We pray blessing on families and on all children, in the name of the Father fr whom all family derives it's name, and the Son and Holy Spirit.

Next Sunday we will offer blessing prayers on all children and families who are brought forward.

 Invite guests.

-PD

HE IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN!

By Dwight Cunkle

When Jesus shared breakfast with Peter He was teaching us that Resurrection is less about what we can do for God; it is more about being with Jesus, and responding to the Father, and being more aware of our union in Holy Spirit with him because He loves us so.

PAYG Remember that after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, his sister Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with oil worth an entire year’s wages. Rereading the passage (John 12:1-11) reminds me of first time through the Ignatius retreat, when we were asked to prepare some gift as expression of our love to give Christ. So, I wrote the song, “You thought of Me.” In my weakness, limited time, emotional and mentally drained state, what can I give You as an offering? Make a cross? Write a poem? You give all to us, and all good things we receive are gifts of your grace, so what can we offer back to you as token of our love?

Last Sunday service there was a beautiful moment of surrender when many in the congregation held out there hands, palms up, desiring Jesus more than anything. It came in response to Jeffrey’s word of loving him instead of self-centered and self-serving love. Then we confessed sins and received the body and blood of Christ together. Since it was Palm Sunday my message told the story of Scriptures fulfilled, to the very day of Christ being proclaimed as Messiah and his triumphal entry.

Perhaps one of our "gifts" to Christ in this season is to both receive the love for which we are asking and believe that as we are seeking and knocking on the door of His heart, we truly are finding his heart - especially regarding the building the revitalization of this congregation in his love.

Immediately after the meeting Richard shared prophetic words which he received during my message which confirmed what I also had received from the Lord - that our sowing was not and is not in vain, whether we are the ones who reap or someone else does, but God’s word will accomplish his purpose and bring fruit as we seek Him and his will.

As we think on Resurrection and a renewal of our “First Love” relationship with Jesus I remember the Christmas poem by Christina Rosetti, “In the bleak Mid-winter."

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

Grace and peace to you in the power and love of Jesus, the Risen Lamb of God, who reigns over all.

VALUE BASED LIVING

VALUE BASED LIVING

By Rick Warren

Let your life be a stepping stone to Christ and not a

stumbling block. 1 Cor. 8:13 & 10:31

Everything you do is influenced by your values. Even if you've never actually sat down and made a list of what's important to you, your actions in life are largely determined by the values you hold. Every time you make a decision you're relying on your values to tell you what to do.

Unfortunately, some of the values you operate by are counter-productive to your success and a hindrance to your satisfaction in life. You see, many of the unconscious values you live by you didn't choose. They were imposed on you by parents, peers, and the culture around you. (Today, television is the #1 values shaper in our society.) You may be operating on incorrect information and values that don't stand up under pressure.

Just like the ‘set of the sail’ determines the direction of a sailboat, your values chart the course for your life. The questions are: In what direction are your values leading you? Are they going to deliver what you hope or will you eventually be disappointed?

Here's another fact about values: they cause a lot of your stress! Stress occurs when what you say you believe and what you actually do don't line up. For instance...

When you SAY "My family is important to me.”

             But you're always too busy or too tired to enjoy them.

When you SAY "I value my health."

             But you overwork, overeat, and never exercise.

When you SAY "I'm not materialistic."

             But you become so in debt you must worry constantly about finances.

When two of your values conflict, that's called a dilemma. A Gallup Survey recently revealed that incongruent values is the #1 cause of emotional tension among Americans. What's the solution?

1.    IDENTIFY WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN LIFE. "...We should choose to follow what is right. But first we must define what is good." Job 34:3-4 You need to come up with a personal definition of success - not someone else's definition, but your own. Remember this: Success is the feeling I get when I live out my values. It is not a destination. You can be successful at any stage of your life, based on your own personal values and goals. Begin by making a list of what you value most in life. Ask yourself "What is going to last!"

2.    BEGIN BY ELIMINATING THOSE THINGS THAT REALLY AREN'T IMPORTANT. "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how God's ways really satisfy you." Romans 12:2

© 2003 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. Adapted from a column by Dr. Rick Warren

WHAT WE REJECT WHEN WE REJECT JESUS

WHAT WE REJECT WHEN WE REJECT JESUS

By Caryll Houselander

Behold the man abiding in mankind!

He has put on our humanity. He has put you on—and me. He has covered himself with our shame, blindfolded his eyes with our blindness, bound himself with our slavery to self. He is bruised by our falls. He bleeds from our wounds. He sheds our tears. He has made himself weak with our weakness. Faint with our faintheartedness. He is going to die our death.

All people are condemned to die, but he Is condemned to die not only his own death, but yours and mine, and that of every man whom he will indwell through all the ages to come.

“Behold the Son of God!”

“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!”

He alone, of all men born, need not have died; but because things are as they are, because we have to pay the price of our sins, and our life on this earth must inevitably be a journey through suffering to death, Christ has chosen to give himself to everyone who will receive him, so that each     person who wills can tread that road with the feet of Christ, and at the end of it he can, if he wills, die not his own death but Christ's…

He has chosen our impotence in order to give us the power of his love, our weakness to give us his strength, our fear to give us his courage, our ignominy to give us his majesty, our pain to give us his peace, our wounds to give us his power to heal, our dying to give us his life, our interdependence that we may give him to one another…

Yes, and behold in him in yourself. Each one of us can recognizer himself, a sinner, in the disfiguring, the bruising, the ugliness, hiding the beauty of the fairest of the sons and daughters of men. And there can be few who do not recognize themselves, too, in the utter loneliness of this man in the midst of the crown that lately spread their garments to be trodden by the little donkey he rode on, and no clamor for his blood.