Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Video Sermon: Big Buts and the Kingdom

Big Buts can get in the way of our following Jesus.  We're not talking derrieres here. Rather we're talking about our excuses and other priorities that can come between us and Christ.  Join me in this video version of last weekend's sermon as we study Luke 14:15-24. (Many thanks to Dave Johnson for editing this video!)

Big Buts from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Here are the resources to support this week's sermon.  You may want to download the weekend program and follow along.  Or perhaps you'd like to have a copy of my notes.  If you are a pastor or ministry leader of another church, you are most welcome to use these resources in any way that could build the kingdom of Christ.  We're on the same team!  Download any of the following:

• Weekend program without answers (PDF - 1.3 MB)
• Weekend program with answers (PDF - 1.4 MB)
• My personal sermon teaching notes (PDF - 140 KB)
• My sermon notes in Kindle format (AZW - 17 KB)
• Notes with slides in margin (PDF - 5 MB), used by our tech team
• Weekend Planning Sheet (PDF - 35 KB), for ideas on how to support the theme

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast.

Kindle Daily Deal a Big Deal for Pierce Book Club

Every week so often I update our family members on their Kindle books.  We each keep our own Kindle, but we share an Amazon account together.  I keep track of who buys what.  The cool part is that we can share the books with one another.  Not only does it save us money, but it gives us something to enjoy with one another.  Here is this week's email.

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty and Cheryl:

806 Books in Our Library! We've passed another milestone this past week!  With the addional purchases and rentals of Mark, Walt, Nancy and Jillian this past week, we now have over 800 eBooks in our archives! Read below for the 14 new books we have in our library.  Before we get to the new content, however, allow me to bring you up to speed on some new Kindle developments.

Jillian rents textbooks.  I've always believed my children were on the cutting edge of things.  Jillian, pictured above, proved it once again with the rental of two textbooks for her graduate studies.  College textbooks are ridiculously expensive!  The print cost of one of Jillian's textbooks was almost $200!  Traditionally college students have purchased used books and then sold them again when they were finished.  Amazon now offers a way to rent the textbook just for the period of time needed - in Jillian's case, for 120 days.  Sounds brilliant to me.  Yet surprisingly, college ebooks represent only 2.5% of college textbooks sales.  Congrats to Jillian and Tim for figuring out a way to save money and use the Kindle at the same time!

Dad is addicted.  However, in this case it's a good additiction.  This past week in Dad's blog, he admitted that he is hooked on Kindle and doesn't like reading Dead Tree Books.  Here's what he wrote when his Internet connection at the lake went down.  "I found out, however, just how addicted I am to the computer and the Kindle.  I tried reading a book after eight months with a Kindle.  It was awful!" Welcome to the 21st century, Dad!

I'm being more selective with the addition of free eBooks.  There was a time not so long ago when I bought most of the free books for our Kindle devices.  Not so much anymore.  The truth is that there are just too many freebies out there to do this!  Bufo Calvin, one of the Kindle bloggers I follow, noted this past week that the number of free Kindle ebooks  has exploded with more than 1,000 titles in August -  and this is not even counting public domain books!  So, I'm still watching for the freebies.  But I only pick them up when I think they will fit the profile of our reading habits.  For example I picked up an Agatha Christie novel (with the kind of woman sleuth that Dad likes) and an interesting new free book titled Untouchable.

The big news this week: Kindle Daily Deals!  I love the fact that Amazon is not sitting on it's collective behind with its massive lead in eBook marketing.  They've come up with yet another marketing winner, in my opinion. Every day for a period of only 24 hours, Kindle Daily Deals will offer a new book with a substantial markdown, usually 75% or more, from its standard price.  USA Today and others covered the news about it. 

Here is my take. I've noticed that most of these Daily Deal titles have hundreds of favorable reviews - these are not books no one has ever heard of!  This is really great news for anyone desiring to build a library like we are!  Every day I'm checking out the daily deal and asking the question: "Would anyone in our family like to own a copy of this?"  If so, I don't think we can afford to let the deal go by without taking advantage of the daily deal.  Some of these are priced as low as a buck, with the most expensive being $2.99.  I won't buy every one.  But if the book has been rated highly by many people and the savings are right, I'll add it .  You can see below how much we have saved by these purchases.  (No pressure on anyone here, but if you feel so inclined to send a little extra green my way to help with these bargain basement additions, I won't turn you down!  We all come out the winner!)

Here are the books we added this past week:

Sermon Notes: Big Buts and the Kingdom

Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves.  For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before.  And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say!  For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material.  I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.

Big Buts and the Kingdom of God 08.28.11 
Download PDF version.

Scripture:  Luke 14:15-24 ESV

Video: “Big But” by The Veracity Project 

Intro:  I love this video.  Funny!  What I want to know is where did they get the guy to do it?  Did they have auditions?  Funny but true.  Love the line: “Why? Because if we learn [the Word], and share it, and teach it, and live by it, then God is glorified, people benefit, and we get blessed. That’s why we do what we do.  That’s the why behind the but.  If your BUT is bigger than your WHY, then your BUT is too big!”

This is nothing new.  Even people in Jesus’ day had BIG BUTS... big excuses as to why they couldn’t follow Jesus.  They question we want to ask ourselves today is: When it comes to my Christian life, do I have big buts?  There is good news and bad news about Big Buts.  And we learn about both in Jesus’ parable of the banquet in Luke 14:

Good News: All are ___INVITED___ to God’s kingdom

“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.” Luke 14:16b ESV

We love this, don’t we?  We celebrate God sending Jesus, his son.  We love that this is great faith is available to EVERYONE!

“[Jesus] came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.” John 1:7 ESV

We love happy endings.  The story starts off really bad.  One sin by one man. Destruction for everyone.  But then Jesus...

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” Romans 5:18 ESV

We wish it were ALL GOOD NEWS.  But we learn there is bad as well:

Bad News: Our ___EXCUSES___ keep us away.  

“But they all alike began to make excuses.” Luke 14:18a ESV

Here is the party to end all parties.  The paparazzi are going to be there snapping pictures.  The red carpet is rolled out.  The food is plentiful and delicious.  The music features the top bands from around the land.  And most important of all... we are invited to rub shoulders with the most powerful, most wealthy, and most interesting person in the entire universe... and we think we have something more important to do!  This happened all the time to Jesus!

“When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful,
for he had great possessions.”  Matthew 19:22 ESV

“After this many of his disciples turned back and
no longer walked with him.”   John 6:66 ESV

This parable that Jesus tells about the Master and the Banquet is crucial to our proper understanding of Christianity.  We often get it wrong, only thinking of the good news of the invitation and not taking into consideration the bad news of our BIG BUTS, our excuses that keep us from following Jesus.

That’s really the point here, right?  Notice the setup (v.15).  There is a person who is ecstatic at the idea of everyone being in the kingdom with Jesus.  It’s someone who “reclined at the table” with Jesus... perhaps a disciple.  It’s in response to the “won’t life be grand in the kingdom” that Jesus responds.

Audio Sermon: Big Buts and the Kingdom

Big Buts can get in the way of our following Jesus.  We're not talking derrieres here. Rather we're talking about our excuses and other priorities that can come between us and Christ.  Join me in this audio sermon from last evening as we study Luke 14:15-24.

110828BigButs

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.

Weekend Plans: Big Buts and the Kingdom

Hey everyone!  Pastor Mark here with the plans for our worship service Sunday evening at Church Requel.  Hope this note finds you doing well and enjoying the last days of August.

Before I tell you about Sunday night, let me thank each of you for praying for our family this past week.  I love the fact that every time I speak to one of you, your first question for me is: "How is Marilyn?"  The answer is that she continues to recover.  And we are most thankful for this.  Yesterday she was released from Riverside Methodist Hospital and transported to an extended care facility in her hometown of Celina, Ohio.  She is mentally sharp as a tack - (again, thanks for your prayers in that regard) - but she is still quite weak physically.  

Mary Kay and I have been down to see her every day for the past 10 days, sometimes from early in the morning until late at night.  We are both quite tired... but again most happy with Marilyn's recovery.

Now... onto this Sunday evening.  The title to our talk is "Big Buts and the Kingdom."  If you want a hint about the topic, I'll give you three! (Come on... have a little fun!)  

Hint #1 - Watch this short, 3-minute video.  

Hint #2 - Read Luke 14:15-24.

Hint #3 - You can check out the "This Weekend" page on the CR Website.

Or you could just show up on Sunday and be surprised!  Church Requel will be good.  It's always good when we get together, right?  We'll sing some worship songs - including our new favorite, "Counting on God."  We'll pray together and share communion together.  Randy will read our Scripture for us.  And we'll watch one of the funniest, yet most poignant videos I've seen in a long time.  And we'll study one of the most challenging parables that Jesus ever shared - the Parable of the Banquet from Luke 14.

It should be a good opportunity to bring a friend with you.  I look forward to our worship experience together!

Love you much, Pastor Mark

Video Sermon: Living the New Creation

The Bible tells us that we are a new creation.  But sometimes we don't live like we are a new creation. What makes the difference?  Join me in this video sermon as we discuss the importance of reconciliation.  The Bible text is from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

Living the New Creation from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Here are the resources to support "Living the New Creation."  You may want to download the weekend program and follow along.  Or perhaps you'd like to have a copy of my notes.  If you are a pastor or ministry leader of another church, you are most welcome to use these resources in any way that could build the kingdom of Christ.  We're on the same team!  Download any of the following:

•  Weekend Program without Answers (PDF - 1.3 MB)
• Weekend Program with Answers (PDF - 1.3 MB)
• My personal sermon teaching notes (PDF - 158 KB)
• My teaching notes in Kindle format (AZW - 17 KB)
• Teaching Notes with Slides in margins (PDF - 4.3 MB), used by our tech team
• Our Weekend Planning Sheet (PDF - 35 KB), for creative ideas to support the theme.

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast.

Kindle Cloud Reader Recommended for Book Club

Every week so often I update our family members on their Kindle books.  We each keep our own Kindle, but we share an Amazon account together.  I keep track of who buys what.  The cool part is that we can share the books with one another.  Not only does it save us money, but it gives us something to enjoy with one another.  Here is this week's email.

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty and Cheryl:

I love the pics you send me of how you use your Kindles.  The picture on the right was sent to me by Jennifer who gave her Kindle to my oldest two grandchildren, Grayden and Sicily, to read while on a recent trip to Celina.  It won't be long until Grayden gets his own Kindle. 

Since I last wrote you two weeks ago (August 7th), we have added 13 new books to our collection.  This brings our eBook collection to 788 volumes!  The new editions include mysteries, fantasy, financial advice, and children's books.  Mark, Jillian, Nancy, and Walt all bought new books.  Scroll down to check out these new books along with your current balances.  Before we check out the new books, though, I want to discuss a significant new development for our Pierce Family Book Club.

Cloud Reader Advantage for Family.  Amazon has developed the Cloud Reader as a way of being able to offer an app-like link for iPads.  Most of the media has explained that Amazon has done this primarily because Apple no longer allows Amazon to offer it's Kindle store inside of the IOS Kindle app (without paying Apple its 30% cut.)  You may be wondering what this has to do with you as a member of the Pierce Family Book Club, especially if you don't use an iPhone or an iPad.  Stay with me grasshooper and you will see the BIG BENEFIT to you!

One of the biggest challenges to our book club members is knowing all the resources that are available to us.  Sure, you can access your archives on your Kindle.  But with almost 800 eBooks and over 100 Audible books, you are probably wading through more than 100 pages of of Archives.  Plus it's all in text and black and white.  It's not exactly the most browse-friendly.  Sometimes you just want to open up the archives and browse through to see if anything grabs your fancy.  

The Cloud Reader will do this for you!  It offers you a window to see all the books in color.  Just scroll down to find a book you'll love to read.  You can sort the library by most recent, by author, or by title.  You may not get this excited, but the Amazon Cloud Reader is still a beautiful thing for our club.  

Click on any book and you will be reading the book withing the Cloud Reader within seconds.  This could be a great advantage to you if you are anywhere without your Kindle but with a computer and an internet connection.  You can also access the Kindle Store from within this Cloud Reader.  Honestly though, I don't see reading books online or accessing the store as that much of an advantage to you Kindle Book Club affectionists.  The big deal for us is discovering the books within our archives.  I found that on my Macbook I was able to scroll quickly through the whole list.  That sure beats paging through a hundred pages on the Kindle!  Once you find a book you want to read on the Cloud Reader, go back to your Kindle and download it there to read.

Here's the bad news.  You can only do this using the Safari or the Chrome browsers right now.  In other words, this won't work on your Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers.  (Amazon tells us that these browsers will be supported in the future.)  So for the time being if you want to make this happen, you'll need to download a new browser for your computer.  This is no big deal and I'd be happy to help you.  Just give me a call.  In essence here are the steps you'll want to follow to get the Amazon Cloud Reader going for yourself:

1. Download Safari or Chrome if you don't already have it.  
   • Safari can be downloaded from http://www.apple.com/safari/download/
   • Chrome can be downloaded from http://www.google.com/chrome
2. Inside of either Safari or Chrome, enter the Cloud Reader web address: read.amazon.com (easy to remember!)
3. Download the Cloud Reader by clicking on the download button
4. Enter our account information. (Call me if you don't know it.)
5. Bookmark the Cloud Reader so you can quickly and easily go back anytime you'd like.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is.  Once you are set up, you'll be able to browse our archive library from the comfort of your local computer anytime you'd like.  I'm more than happy to help you with this so call me if you want some help. 

13 New Books Added!  Here's the details:

Sermon Notes: Living the New Creation

Here are my sermon notes from this past Sunday, August 21st.  Enjoy!

Living the New Creation 08.21.11

Scripture:  2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV

Video: “You Are A New Creation” by Hyper Pixels

Intro:  One of the greatest verses in the Bible, one of the greatest promises we have as Christ-followers is that we are a new creation.  The new has come.  The old has passed away.    

Do you look at your Christian life and ask, “Where is the new?”

I’ll admit that I do.  I know I’m a new creation, but the wrinkles of my life seem to show up more readily.  (Not to mention my old spare tire!)  I may be a new creation, but I’ve got the same old mortgage.  I’m a new creation but I still wake up slow and lose patience quickly.  I may be a new creation but I have some of the same old relationship issues.  Here’s what I’ve learned after being a Christ-follower for 45 years...

There is a profound difference between __BEING___ the new creation
and ___LIVING___ the new creation.

Notice who the Apostle Paul is writing to in 2nd Corinthians.  He is writing  to Christ-followers.  “To the church at Corinth...”  And to them (and us), he says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has has passed away. Behold, the new has come!”  They, like us, need to be reminded from time to time about the new creation that we are.  However, it’s possible to be a new creation and still live like the old creature - not enjoying any of the benefits nor making any particular difference to the world around us.  So... how do we go about living the new creation?

• The key to living the new creation is ___RECONCILIATION___. 5X!

God, who through Christ reconciled us.

(God) gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

God was reconciling the world to himself.

God was... entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Be reconciled to God.

We have pretty selective reading habits when it comes to the Bible.  Have you noticed that?  We like the parts we like.  We often don’t spend much time reading around our favorite parts.  Being a new creation?  Old gone? New come? We like those parts.  Do we notice though that the emphasis in this part of the passage is all about reconciliation?  Let’s talk a little about this word.

“Reconciliation” - a restoration of friendly relations where once there had been enmity, hostility, alienation.  It’s clear this starts with God.  We were at war with God.  We were enemies of the Most High. He took the first step of providing a means of peace by sending His son.  The Bible tells us about Christ’s meritorious (it was effective) and substitutionary sacrifice so that God is no longer our enemy!  This is GREAT news! 

Audio Sermon: Living the New Creation

The Bible tells us that we are a new creation.  But sometimes we don't live like we are a new creation? What makes the difference?  Join me in this audio sermon from last evening as we discuss the importance of reconciliation.  This passage we studied is found in 2 Corinthians 2:17-21.

110821LivingNew

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.

This Weekend: Living the New Creation

Hey everyone!  This is Pastor Mark writing from the waiting room outside heart surgery recovery at Riverside Methodist Hospital.  Mary Kay and I were driving home from our Michigan vacation last Sunday evening when we received the call that Mary Kay's mom, Marilyn Hawk, was taken to the emergency room with back and shoulder pain.  She was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm which requires 2 surgeries to repair.  Marilyn is now recovering from her first surgery. 

Needless to say we have spent every waking minute this week with Marilyn, or in the waiting room, or in the car driving back and forth.  For those of you who have been praying for us - THANK YOU SO MUCH!  We are most grateful that Marilyn is now doing as well as can be expected.  She still has a long road in front of her, so your continued prayers on her behalf would be most appreciated.  Marilyn is mother to 7, grandmother to 21, and greatgrandmother to 11 (and counting!)

As best as possible I've done my preparatory work here at the hospital.  We will be studying 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.  You probably have heard some of these verses in the past: "You are a new creation.  The old has gone.  The new has come."  The issue we will consider this week is this: What happens when your life doesn't feel like the new life?  How do we live this new life?  As I have written in my sermon, I may have a new life but I still have the old wrinkles, the old job, the old relationship problems... you fill in your own blanks.  There is a difference between having the new life and living the new life.  We'll especially consider the special place that reconciliation has in this new life.

You may recall that this past June, Pastor Aaron Rose from Pavilion Community Church spoke at Church Requel for me when I was gone for a week.  Aaron is another church planter and the two of us have become good friends.  I am returning the favor to Aaron Sunday morning for his vacation down to Myrtle Beach.  I plan on preaching the same sermon, "Living the New Creation," Sunday morning at Pavilion.  If for any reason you can't make our 6pm service, by all means come to Pavilion Sunday morning.  Pavilion is located at 225 S. Mill St. Lexington, Ohio 44904.  Their service begins at 10am.

Hope to see you Sunday.  Keep praying for Marilyn.  Pastor Mark

Video Sermon: Joy and God-O-Nomics

How do we remain joyful when Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street all take an economic plunge?  By knowing the differences of God-O-Nomics!  Join me in this timely video teaching from James 1:9-11.

Joy: God-O-Nomics from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

 

Here are the resources to support this week's sermon.  You may want to download the weekend program and follow along.  Or perhaps you'd like to have a copy of my notes.  If you are a pastor or ministry leader of another church, you are most welcome to use these resources in any way that could build the kingdom of Christ.  We're on the same team!  Download any of the following:

• Weekend Program without Answers (PDF - 1.3MB)
• Weekend Program with Answers (PDF - 1.3MB)
• My personal sermon teaching notes (PDF - 165KB)
• My sermon notes in Kindle format (AZW - 16KB)
• My notes with slides in the margins (PDF - 5.3MB), used by our tech team.
• Weekend Planning Sheet (PDF - 35KB), for creative ideas to support Godonomics theme.

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast.

This Weekend We Welcome Tony Pingitore!

Hi everyone!  Steve Thoman here filling in for vacationing Mark Pierce this weekend.  

We'll miss Mark, but we have great plans for Church Requel Sunday night!  Tony Pingitore has agreed to speak to us Sunday night.  For those of you who don't know Tony, he and Mark served together as fellow pastors at Crossroads.  Since then they each have planted a new church.  Tony is the founding pastor of Mosaic.  

Tony will be speaking to us on the topic of "Restoring Dignity."  His text will be from Mark 9:14-29.  I've had the privilege of listening to Tony speak and I can tell you it is always good and it is always an adventure!  You won't want to miss Sunday night.

I'm also thrilled to tell you that we have a live praise band scheduled.  Dave Johnson has coordinated it. Josh Langdom will join him on the drums.  Christy Anne will be driving down from Cleveland.  And, for the first time at Church Requel, Brandi Walker will be singing too. (I have to admit to being a bit partial to Brandi!)  

It should be a great night to see all your friends from CR, to sing some great songs, and hear an inspirational message from Tony.  See you all Sunday evening!  - Steve Thoman

Video Sermon: Joy and Doubt

Doubt is the great robber of joy.  Without faith we can't believe that God is with us or that He cares or that He has any help.  In this Church Requel video talk, we affirm that God gives wisdom generously to all without reproach. 

Joy: Doubt from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

 

Here are the resources to support this week's sermon.  You may want to download the weekend program and follow along.  Or perhaps you'd like to have a copy of my notes.  If you are a pastor or ministry leader of another church, you are most welcome to use these resources in any way that could build the kingdom of Christ.  We're on the same team!  Download any of the following:

• Weekend Program without Answers (PDF - 1.3MB)
• Weekend Program with Answers (PDF - 1.3MB)
• My personal teaching notes (PDF - 141KB)
• My notes in Kindle format (AZW - 16KB)
• Sermon Notes with Slides in Margins (PDF - 5.8MB), used by our tech team.
• Weekend Planning Sheet (PDF - 35KB), for creative ideas to support theme.

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast.

Audio Sermon: Joy and God-O-Nomics

How do we remain joyful when Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street all take an economic plunge?  By knowing the differences of God-O-Nomics!  Join me in this timely audio teaching from James 1:9-11.

110807Godonomics

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.

Family Kindle Book Club Update

Every week so often I update our family members on their Kindle books.  We each keep our own Kindle, but we share an Amazon account together.  I keep track of who buys what.  The cool part is that we can share the books with one another.  Not only does it save us money, but it gives us something to enjoy with one another.  Here is this week's email.

Dear Dad, Jillian, Tim, Jessica, Dave, Jennifer, Mike, Nancy, Patty and Cheryl:

Jessica reminded me Friday that she "misses the Kindle update email."  I admit to being a bit behind.  The last email I sent was on July 12th.  Since then, we have added 9 new books to our collection... 10, if we count the audio book that Jennifer bought and then I cancelled.  Sigh.  More on that later.  (My oldest daughter, Jennifer, is pictured at the right with her new Van Gogh Kindle skin.)  

This brings our archives to 780 Kindle eBooks and 109 Audible titles.  The nine new titles added are listed below. First, here is some news that might interest you.

Speculation High on New Kindle Models.  I've read quite a bit over the last couple of weeks regarding the liklihood of Amazon bringing out a new Kindle soon.  Based on the time between the release of Kindle 2 and Kindle 3, the Kindle 4 should be out within the next 2 months.  So should you wait to get the newer model?  Probably.  Though Len Edgerly reminds us in his most recent podcast that if you should buy a new Kindle and a new one comes out within 30 days, you can return the old one for a full refund.  There is one advantage to buying now... the price of a refurbished WiFi Kindle is down to the lowest price ever - $99!

New Free Sci-Fi Magazine.  A new "digest-version" subscription of the monthly Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine is being made available for FREE exclusively through Amazon.  Stephen King has called this magazine, "the best fiction magazine in America."  I have subscribed for our family.  You'll find it available in the archives.  It is especially attractive on the color screens of computers and smartphones.  (Of course the text reads perfectly well on the pearl ink screens of the Kindle itself.)

Harper Collins 99 cents sale.  Harper Collins is making dozens of its most popular titles available for the Kindle for only 99 cents.  The sale is on for August only.

Library Lending Available in September?  Amazon has publicly stated that the new library lending capability will be made available no later than year-end.  However, last week A Kindle World Blog reports that this new feature offering thousands of books on a lending basis could be available as soon as September.  I hope this proves to be true since Grayden will soon be coming on board with us and would love to borrow early reading materials from the library.  Personally, I think this makes sense as I can see how Amazon may announce their new Kindle models and their new lending features all at the same time.

This Weekend: Joy and God-O-Nomics

Hey everyone!  Pastor Mark here with our Church Requel plans for this weekend.

What a rough week it's been for our country's economics!  The story on the left was on my iPad when I woke up this morning (click it to read the whole piece from The Daily.)  The title says it all: "One Hellish Week."  Economic numbers show a weakening economy.  The federal government barely averts bankrupcy by passing the debt ceiling bill.  Then the stock market tanks more than 500 points on Thursday.  

Here's my question for us this weekend:  How do we find joy in the midst of economic disaster - either personally, corporately or nationally?

The answer?  Know the difference between economics and God-O-Nomics. Haven't heard of God-O-Nomics?  All the more reason to come to Church Requel this Sunday night!  We'll consider 7 differences between economics and God-O-Nomics and why understanding and applying these principles can help you have joy regardless of what happens on Wall Street, Main Street, or Your Street!

Of course the sermon is only one reason to come to the 6pm worship service.  We'll sing some of your favorite songs together: "Love the Lord," "Counting on God," and "Came To My Rescue."  (We sang Counting on God last weekend for the first time.  I bet you have it down pat this weekend - I love that song... been singing it all week, especially as I've watched the news!)  

Steve will tell us all about some exciting plans for both men's ministry and women's ministry along with everything else coming up on the calendar.  We'll enjoy fellowship, communion, prayer and a Bible Reading by Jean McKinney.  We'll even share vegetables with one another from our gardens!

Sounds like it will be a fun evening together.  I hope to see you Sunday night at 6PM.  - Pastor Mark

Sermon Notes: Joy and Doubt

Every week I publish my sermon notes from the weekend before.  It is my hope that this might benefit you, the reader.  If you are one of CR's parishioners then reading what I intended to say might be enlightening.  If you are another pastor or minister please use this in any way that might be helpful.  It is my sincere hope that God would be given all the glory!

Joy and Doubts 07.31.11 (part 3 of Joy Series)

Scripture: James 1:5-8 ESV

Intro:  Today we want to continue our Joy series by talking about the connection between Joy and Doubt.  Doubt is the great robber of our faith and of our joy!  We cannot enjoy God’s Presence during the trials of life if we doubt He is there or we doubt that He cares or we doubt that He has any words of encouragement or help.  Many times in Scripture we read the words, “And it came to pass...”  What is it that is “passing through” in your life today?  You can learn from it, conquer it, be blessed by it, be closer to God through it - but doubt robs us! Before we talk about Doubt...

Let’s Review!  The key word in our James text is CONSIDER.  We are to consider it, or count it, all joy when we encounter all kinds of trials.  It’s a matter of our attitude, how we think about it.  We learned that joy IS NOT (1) automatic, (2) easy, (3) a feeling, (4) or dependent on circumstances.  Joy comes straight from God. God’s joy is on the inside of us and so it doesn’t matter what’s going on on the outside of us - trials, temptations, from God, from ourselves or others, loneliness, illness or death, sometimes even because we are Christ-followers - we can still experience joy.  We’ve learned that there are 5 reasons why we experience trials: so that I may (1) know my faith is authentic, (2) persevere, (3) be mature, (4) be fully equipped, (5) be blessed.  That’s a very fast run through of the last 2 weeks.  Go online and watch or listen!

 Before we talk about Joy and Doubt, we need to talk about 

 Bible Lesson:  Consider passages in ___CONTEXT___.

This means that we consider the verses that come before and the verses that come after.  We ask ourselves what did the original writer understand when he wrote?  How do we think the original readers understood what was written?

 Today we see 2 examples where CONTEXT matters:

1.  How do verses 2-4 and 12 impact our understanding of verses 5-11?

Is it likely that James decides to switch quickly his writing and his main subject from the connection of joy and perseverance and maturity and then suddenly talk about faith and doubting in v. 5-8 and then pride and humility in v. 9-11, only to come back to his main topic in v. 12?  Look at it.  Verse 4 and 12 seem like they are two book ends of the same theme.  Therefore, isn’t it likely that what comes in between (v.5-11) have something to do with the main idea?  

2.  How does our understanding of verse 5 impact our understanding of verses 6-8? (Let’s hold off on this question for now... )

 Question:  What does “wisdom” mean?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, ...” James 1:5a ESV

 Answer: “Wisdom is a capacity of the mind; in the OT it involves both knowledge and the ability to direct the mind toward a full understanding of human life and toward its moral fulfillment. Wisdom is thus a special capacity, necessary for full human living, but one which can be acquired through education and the application of the mind.”   - Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

 So we can see the connection of “wisdom” in v. 5 with “count” in v. 2: Both deal with the ___MIND___.  The audience that James is writing to knew that wisdom was not just some a matter of more knowledge.  More than just a quality of “being wise.”  It was more a matter of knowing what do to do and then doing it in any given situation.  So James is saying if you get into a “AND IT CAME TO PASS” situation where you don’t know how to count it all joy...

If I don’t know the pragmatic how to “count it all joy,” I am to:

1. Ask God. (v.5)
2. Ask in faith. (v.6-8)  This is our outline for tonight. One at a time:

Audio Sermon: Joy and Doubt

Doubt is the great robber of joy.  Without faith we can't believe that God is with us or that He cares or that He has any help.  In this Church Requel talk, we affirm that God gives wisdom generously to all without reproach. 

110731JoyDoubt

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.