Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Bring in the New Year at Church Requel!

Hi everyone!  Pastor Mark here with the last weekly message of 2011.  Since today is the next-to-the-last day of 2011, I can't help but think of the good things that have happened to us as a church in 2011.  I have talked to several of you on the phone this week, and in almost every case we recognized that one year ago we were not nearly as close as what we are now!  We have grown closer to one another as a church.  We have weathered some storms.  We have demonstrated God's love to each other. We have made a difference in one another's life! Before we get too excited about looking forward to 2012, let's not forget to celebrate the good things that happened to us - through Christ - in 2011!

For the first time in Church Requel's short life, we will celebrate New Year's Eve together!  Don't forget that we are meeting again on Saturday evening this weekend!  We won't be meeting on Sunday night.  So let's plan on having a very special time together at 6pm on New Year's Eve.  I have picked out our favorite worship songs.  Melissa Craig has planned a super cool children's church program.  Steve Thoman will share with us how important his Bible reading plan was to him in 2011 - and will encourage you to start a Bible reading plan in 2012.  And I'll bring a message from Romans 8 about how significant it is for us to recognize ourselves as God's children.

I can't think of a better way to bring in the new year than with a Church Requel worship service.  Plan on meeting together as a church family at 6pm.  Help us put everything away at the end. (OCF will be using the chapel Sunday morning.) Then go and enjoy your family and friends at your New Year's Eve party of choice.  In fact, your friends and family might really enjoy coming to worship with you at Church Requel BEFORE going out!  In our case, we've invited our friends - Roc and Kim - to come to CR before we go out on a double date together.  You do the same - invite those you love the most to join you at Church Requel.  Hope to see you tomorrow night at 6pm! Pastor Mark

Sermon Notes: The Word Became Flesh

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.

Listen to Christmas Eve Message

Christmas 2011: “The Word Became Flesh” 12.24.11

Scripture:  John 1:14 ESV

Intro: When I was a child, we would decorate the Christmas tree together as a family.  We’d listen to Christmas music on the old RCA Victrola 45 record player.  Dad and Mom hung the lights. But we kids got to hang the tinsel. The highlight of the night was putting the star on top of the tree.  One child would be honored to do it (and we’d fight for the privilege.)  We weren’t tall enough, of course, so Dad would pick us up, hold us up, and we’d put the star on the Christmas tree!

Our Father God also has given us the gift of the star that hung over Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.  When I think of that star, I can’t help but think of the star my Dad let us hang on the tree.  It had five points.  Tonight I’d like us to consider the five gifts of Christmas we find in John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Starpoint #1:  The gift of ___INCARNATION___.

 "The Word became flesh..." John 1:14a NIV84

 This is often the first miraculous gift we think about when it comes to Christmas.  The baby in the manger.  Somehow God taking on the form of flesh in the person of Jesus.  We do not worship a God who is unfamiliar with the woes of humanity.  God became man. He knows what you’re going through.  He can identify with you. That makes Him approachable to you!  

Audio Sermon: The Word Became Flesh

Join me in this Christmas Eve 2011 audio message from John 1:14.

Listen to Christmas Eve.

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

Video Sermon: How To Think Like Jesus

I really appreciate Dave Johnson for working on these videos.  With the Christmas season upon us, it's understandable that he's a little behind on video editing.  This video sermon is from the December 4th Church Requel service.  This was a significant sermon for me because it was the first one after the funeral of my mother-in-law, Marilyn.  

One way we can KNOW our faith is authentic is to THINK like Jesus!  Romans 8:5-8 gives us insight on how to set our minds like Christ.  Join me as we discover 4 clues for how to think like Jesus.

 

Here are the resources to support this sermon.  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:

• My personal sermon notes (PDF - 141 KB) - what I used in the pulpit
• Same notes in Kindle format (AZW - 15 KB) - if you want to read on Kindle
• Sermon notes with graphics (PDF - 2.7 MB) - used by our tech team
  
• Weekend planning sheet (PDF - 37 KB) - for worship 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.

Christmas Eve Candle Lighting at 6pm!

Hi everyone!  Pastor Mark here with your weekly news about Church Requel. I hope this finds you all most excited about Christmas!

Saturday Christmas Eve Service at 6pm.  This weekend our worship service will be Saturday evening rather than Sunday evening. We have planned a shorter service than usual, one that will be family friendly. Your children will not want to miss out on this memorable experience.

Some of our ladies have agreed to lead us in singing Christmas carols together, which we will do at the beginning and end of our service.  We have a child friendly video about the real meaning of Christmas.  Then we'll invite our children to come to the front with Pastor Mark to talk a little about their own Christmas wishes.

Pastor Mark will share his meditation about the five gifts of Christmas we discover in John 1:14.  After communion, we'll circle the chapel and share the light of Christmas with our candles.  It should be a special experience so bring your family and invite your friends.

We will be providing child care in our nursery for our preschool-age children.  Our school-age children (and even some of our older pre-school children) will want to experience the candle-lighting with their families.

Remember - No Sunday Evening Service This Weekend!

I'm looking forward to sharing this first-ever Church Requel Christmas Eve candle lighting ceremony with you.  I hope to see you and your friends Saturday evening at 6pm!  Pastor Mark

Sermon Notes: Immaculate Consent

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.

Listen to "Immaculate Consent"

Christmas 2011: “Immaculate Consent” 12.18.11

Scripture:  Luke 1:34-38 ESV

Video: “Be Born In Me” by Big Book Media [6:18]

Intro: When we come to this time of the year, we are reminded of the incredible interaction that took place 2,000 years ago between Mary and God.  I think we could learn from Mary’s response to the angel.  We see in her response an “Immaculate Consent.”

Many of us on the “protestant” side of the Christian aisle struggle to remember what this word, Immaculate, means.  It’s really simple.  It means pure, clean.  I was taught the meaning of this word early in life.  My mom would often look at my room and tell me how “Immaculate” it was.  Not really.  Usually the word immaculate would be slipped in like this:  “Your room is a pig sty!  Now clean it up.  When I come back your room better be “immaculate!”  Ha!  

I married into a good Catholic family.  In fact the name of the church I was married in was called Immaculate Conception... IC.  We Protestants are confused about this too.  It doesn’t refer to Jesus’ virgin birth.  And it doesn’t mean that Mary was born to a virgin.  It refers to ancient church tradition that Mary was born without original sin.  Her conception, therefore, is thought by some to be “Immaculate.”  This is one of those teachings we don’t find in the Bible, and so we Protestants - with great reverence to Mary - and with great grace and love to our Catholic neighbors - leave behind this teaching as not a core belief of our faith.

But one thing we learn from our Scripture today - without any doubt - Mary’s response to the angel, and to God, was an Immaculate Consent. It was pure.  It was perfect.  Imagine for a moment the shock of being told that you would soon be the mother of God’s son.  And you are a virgin! What a surprise!

God likes to surprise us.  Our Christian faith is one of surprise.  If we follow Christ, our life is guaranteed NEVER to be boring! Today we learn from Mary’s interaction with the angel, HOW we respond to God’s surprise.

Grandson Grayden Joins Pierce Kindle Club!

Every week or so 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, Cheryl and Grayden (Jon):

After almost a full year of saving money, my grandson Grayden finally bought his own Kindle! Many family members - mostly members of this club - have been "helping" over this past year, slipping a dollar or two to Grayden whenever they got the chance.  Just about the time when he had enough saved to buy the $139 Kindle 3, Amazon came out with the new models and simultaneously dropped the price to $79 for the least expensive model.  

I was present with my son, Jonathan, and grandson when they went to Target to pick out the Kindle.  Jonathan was rooting for Grayden to pick out the $99 Kindle Touch, but Grayden liked the buttons on the bottom.  And he liked that extra 20 bucks for buying books!  He's a boy after his grandfather's heart!!!

Here's one more "Grayden Kindle Story" that will warm your hearts.  At church we have been promoting the YouVersion Bible app with Bible stickers that our church members can put on the back of all their electronic Bibles.  The first thing Grayden did was put a YouVersion Bible sticker on the back of his new Kindle.  The other night I was over at his house with my own Kindle Flame. Right away Grayden noticed that I didn't have a Bible app sticker on the back of my Kindle.  "Why not Grandpa?" Yep, he's a boy after his grandfather's heart!

Ten New Books - Our newest club member, Cheryl has been a busy girl these past two weeks picking out seven of the ten books added since my last message to you.  I love some of the books she has added, including Children's picture books that look great on the Kindle Flame or the iPad.  Grandparents will love showing off these books to their youngest grandkids!  Tim picked up a classic cheese making how-to.  Dad added a history book on the Scots-Irish culture.  And I added one middle-grader book for Grayden's new Kindle.  All the new books are listed in detail below.  This brings our total ebooks in our Kindle Family Bookclub to 897 book titless, not including 112 Audible books, also available on your Kindles.

Two New Members - We have two new members joining our bookclub in the next week or so.  I have been sworn to secrecy because of the Santa Surprise factor.  But suffice to say, I've been a very busy little elf lately making it possible for two new members to join our merry band!

Kindle 3 Software Update - Make sure your Kindle has the most up-to-date software.  Click Home-Menu-Settings and then look at the bottom right hand side of your screen.  It should say "Version: Kindle 3.3."  If it doesn't just turn on your Wifi and connect to an available Wi-fi network.  Then click Menu and select "Sync and Check for Items."  More information about version 3.3, what's new, and how to update can be found here.  

Audio Sermon: Immaculate Consent

We learn how to turn surprise into surrender by studying Mary's dialog with the angel in Luke 1:34-38. Join me in this talk from last night at Church Requel.

Listen to "Immaculate Consent"

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

This Weekend at CR: Be Born In Me

Pastor Mark here with the news for this weekend from Church Requel.  I'm writing you today from my mother-in-law's kitchen table in Celina, Ohio.  Mary Kay and I made the trip here again to help the family.  We'll be back in plenty of time for Sunday's service and we're looking forward to seeing everyone!

Sunday night we'll sing some Christmas carols in true "requel" fashion.  We'll share prayers and communion together and Nancy will read our Scripture to us from Luke 1:34-38.  Steve will be teaching our elementary children and Bethany will be taking care of our little ones in the nursery, so make sure to bring your whole family!

I am delighted to tell you that we'll watch and listen to a beautiful song & video, brand new for Christmas 2011. "Be Born In Me" is the first single to be taken from the music DVD and music tour THE STORY - a collection of breath-taking songs and films inspired by the Bible stories, all the way from Creation to the Second Coming. This song of Mary's story will be sung by Dove Award winner Francesca Battistelli. Trust me when I tell you that you won't want to miss this very special presentation!

In our teaching, we will think about Mary's unusual conversation with the angel.  We'll learn how we respond to God's instructions, which at times seem so challenging to us. 

This would be an excellent worship service to invite your friends and family.  Christmas is a wonderful time to share the good news of Christ!  Hope to see you at Church Requel Sunday night at 6pm.

Pastor Mark

Sermon Notes: I Will Be Resurrected.

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.

Listen to "I Will Be Resurrected."

I KNOW: “I Will Be Resurrected” 12.11.11

Scripture:  Romans 8:9-11 NIV

Video: “His Resurrection Today” by Beamer Films

Intro: This week I finished the Steven Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.  I have a fascination for Apple Inc and their products, and therefore, the man behind the company.  When I got to the very end of the book I read this Coda when Jobs reflected on his own death. 

“I’m about 50-50 on believing in God.  For most of my life I felt there must be more to our existence than meets the eye.”  He admitted that as he was facing death he might be overestimating the odds out of a desire to believe in an afterlife. “I’d like to think that something survives after you die.  It’s strange to think that you accumulate all this experience and maybe a little wisdom and it just goes away. So I really want to believe that something survives... that maybe your consciousness endures.”  He fell silent for a very long time.  “... but on the other hand perhaps it’s like an on-off switch. Click.  And you’re gone.” He paused again and smiled slightly.  “Maybe that’s why I never liked to put on-off switches on Apple devices.”  

This made me incredibly sad.  Here was the man who created the company that just weeks before had become the most valuable company in America.  Yet with all this financial and leadership wealth, he was impoverished when it came to a real spiritual hope in his own resurrected life.  Sadly, I believe many Christ-followers, who should be the most hopeful about their own resurrection, are also spiritually impoverished - not knowing with any certainty of their life after death.  Where are you?

1.  I ___SHOULD BELIEVE___ I will be resurrected.

Many Christians believe in their own future resurrection - not from an internal certainty of their own eternal security - but because it’s on the list of “things to believe in.”  I’m a Christian.  To be a Christian I must believe in certain things.  So I do.  I believe in the Trinity - 3 distinct persons of the Godhead. The virgin birth. The belief in Jesus as fully man and fully God. The belief that Jesus died and was resurrected.  There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging these aspects of our Christian beliefs, but a simple head knowledge doesn’t really change us our our situation.  It doesn’t make us any different than the Steve Jobses of the world who give it a 50-50 chance.  “Guess I’ll find out for sure after I die.”  Paul argues against such a “not really sure” mentality.

 “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 NIV

 Believing in Jesus’ resurrection is closely tied in with believing in our own resurrection.  We believe in our own future resurrection because of the reality of Jesus’ past resurrection.  Paul argues that if we aren’t really sure about our future resurrection then we can’t be really sure of Jesus past resurrection because they are tied together.  And if that’s true then, he says, our faith is useless!  Our faith should be good for something.  It should change the way we live now, the way we think about things now, the way we approach life now.  There’s more than three score and ten... so much more!  How I think about resurrection impacts my worries, doubts, successes, failures, pains, & relationships.

Audio Sermon: I Will Be Resurrected

Some Christians believe in their future resurrection because they should. Others believe in it because they want to - they hope it will happen. But can we really KNOW we will be resurrected? Join me in this audio version of last night's talk as we study Romans 8:9-11 together.

Listen to "I Will Be Resurrected."

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

Video Sermon: I Am Not Condemented

Romans 8:1 tells us that if we are Christ-followers, we are not condemned!  What does this mean? How can we know this?  In this video sermon from November 27th I talk about the 4 Rs of our freedom in Christ. This talk was originally scheduled for one week earlier, but had to be postponed because of my mother-in-law's death on that Sunday afternoon.  In the confusion of the funeral week which followed, I didn't get the graphics to Dave Johnson, who so graciously and expertly edits our sermon videos. This talk was a moving experience for everyone that Sunday evening, including myself.  I hope it touches your heart as well.

 

Here are the resources to support this week's sermon.  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:

• My Personal Sermon Notes (PDF - 144 KB), used by me in the pulpit
• Same notes in Kindle format (AZW - 17 KB), for those who want to read on their Kindles
  
• Sermon Notes with Graphics (PDF - 1.4 MB), used by our tech team
  
• Weekend Planning Sheet (PDF - 36 KB), for ideas to support the no condemnation 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: Dessert, Family Sing, and Resurrection!

"Dessert, Family Sing, and Resurrection!" That's a headliner I bet you won't see often!  Ha! But it's an accurate description of everything happening at Church Requel this weekend.  Hi!  This is Pastor Mark with your weekly update of all the cool things happening at our church... so make sure you take a moment to read the details.

Dessert at the Pierce Home - Tomorrow night at 7pm everyone is invited to come to our home for desserts. This will be our Christmas social event and you won't want to miss it! Everyone is invited - the whole family! (Have you noticed? Kids love dessert too!)  Make one dessert to share and bring it with you.  We will provide the drinks, plates, napkins and eating utensils.  Should be a lot of fun.  Need directions to our home?  No problem.  Just give me a phone call and I'll guide you in.  My phone number is 419.564.1525.

Family Sing - So what's a "family sing?"  I'm not sure what else to call it, other than wonderful, fantastic, and exciting! This weekend Brandi Walker will be leading our worship time.  That alone is fantastic.  Brandi always does such a GREAT job!  This weekend, though, she has invited her mom (Cindy), her sister (Trish) and her niece (Haleigh) to join her in leading our worship.  In addition, Dave Johnson and Ryan Shoemaker will be providing live guitar music and drum accompaniment.  We know how wonderful it is when we have live music!!! Our setup teams will arrive two hours earlier on Sunday (at 2pm) to setup so Brandi, Dave, Ryan, Cindy, Trish, and Haleigh can prepare.  I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to our worship time.  They are all such great worshipers.  I know they will lead us well. 

Resurrection - No, I'm not predicting the resurrection will come Sunday night. (Though it could!  We must always be prepared!)  However, we will be talking about it during our sermon time.  We will continue our I KNOW sermon series study from Romans 8.  (Did you miss last weekend?  You can read the sermon notes here.)  Our topic this coming Sunday night?  "I know I will be resurrected."  Randy Craig will read our Scripture (Romans 8:9-11.)  Then we'll talk about the difference between believing in our coming resurrection because we should believe it and KNOWING we will be resurrected.  What a difference that makes in how we live our daily lives now.  

Coincidentally this week I finished reading the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. (Excellent read by the way!)  At the end, in a sad coda, Steve talked to Walter about his own anticipated death.  On the topic of the afterlife, he thought about it for a few moments, and then told Walter that he gave it a 50-50 probability. I find that sad, because I think it's possible for us to realy KNOW we will be resurrected.  That's what we're going to talk about Sunday night.

And if all that were not enough, Melissa Craig will be teaching our elementary children Sunday night. She is so good at what she does! I remember the last time my granddaughter had the opportunity to be with Melissa in Children's Church. She called me that night to tell me how awesome it was and could I please ask "Miss Lissa" to please teach again soon! I don't often get phone calls like that from my grandchildren, and I don't recall any ever telling me how much they liked MY teaching! Ha! So if you have elementary age children FOR SURE bring them with you!

If ever you had an opportunity to invite friends and family to Church Requel, this is the weekend to do it!  Dessert Saturday night (YES! Invite them... the more the merrier!), family worship and a great resurrection talk Sunday night. Dessert. Family Sing. Resurrection. Who would want to miss out on a weekend like that?

See you soon!  Pastor Mark

Sermon Notes: How To Think Like Jesus

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.

Listen to "How To Think Like Jesus"

I KNOW: “How To Think Like Jesus” 12.4.11

Scripture:  Romans 8:5-8 NIV84

Intro: I grew up infused with PMA - Positive Mental Attitude.  I read and reread Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich - which had the idea that how I thought about things - either positively or negatively - was the most important determining factor for achievement.  I regularly listened to audio tapes by Earl Nightingale telling me about the Acres of Diamonds that were in my own backyard if I only developed my mind and my skills to recognize them.  Zig Ziglar told me in his seminars that my attitude in life determined my altitude in life.  

As a mature Christ-follower and pastor I think all this actually has great value - but like all things in this life - is only a poor copy of the truth of God’s Word.  It’s good as far as it goes, but God’s plan for us - and for our minds - is so much more powerful and rich.

How I think is vitally important to how I feel about my faith in Christ.  We often get this backwards, allowing our feelings to inform our minds. It should be the other way around. Thinking... setting my mind... has purpose, intention, deliberate.  My mind is not some neutral territory where I allow any thought to come in.  I set my mind according to the Spirit of Christ.  What does that mean?  What does that look like?  

 As a Christ-follower I need to know ___MY MINDSET MATTERS!___

 We see this over and over again in the NT:

• ^“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2 NIV84
• “Therefore, prepare your minds for action.” 1 Peter 1:13 NIV84
• “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV84

Long Overdue Pierce Family Kindle Club Update

Every week  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:

Yep.  It's been two months since I last sent you all an update. You're wondering if I've given up on this wonderful thing we have going here.  All the ebooks. All the audiobooks. And now with the K Fires, the music, movies and even more fun interactions.  Short answer.  Nope.  Not given up.  Just way behind. Sorry.  Not big on apologies for what should be a fun experience (I won't let it get so far behind again), so let's get on to the fun stuff!

Since I last wrote you at the beginning of October, lots of fun things have happened.  Tim and I received our Kindle Fires.  Jillian received her Kindle Touch.  (And I got my K3 back from Jillian!) Cheryl officially joined in on the family fun with her own purchase of a Kindle Fire!  Officially we are now up to 10 Kindle devices among us.  Plus several of us use the Kindle apps on various mobile devices.

New Books - Since October 4th, we have purchased 28 new books (see the list below).  I'm not sure I can do the normal job I do providing all the info.  But I'll give you titles, authors and who bought the books (as best as I can reconstruct).  If you see a book you have purchased and I didn't know - please write me back and let me know so I can account for them correctly. (There are 4 new books that I couldn't account for.  All were purchased at super low prices so kudos to whoever bought the bargains!)

Grand Totals - With these new purchases listed above, we now own 875 Kindle ebooks and 112 Audible titles in our Pierce Family Kindle Book Club.

Audio Sermon: How To Think Like Jesus

One way we can KNOW our faith is authentic is to THINK like Jesus!  Romans 8:5-8 gives us insight on how to set our minds like Christ.  Join me in this audio sermon from last evening as we discover 4 clues for how to think like Jesus.

Listen to "How To Think Like Jesus"

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

Weekend Plans: Thinking Like Jesus

Hi everyone!  Pastor Mark here.  This weekend we will continue our study time in Romans 8.  Do we need a WWJD bracelet to remind us to ask "What would Jesus do?"  Or is it possible that God had a better idea?  You know He did!  He literally gave us the mind of Christ in the person of the Spirit of Christ in our lives. Each one of us - if we are a Christ-follower - have this gift!  The tough question we'll address Sunday in our study of Romans 8:5-8 is this: Do we think like Jesus?  Or not?  We'll discover that this is a priority in our discipleship.  We'll learn 4 key elements of what "thinking like Jesus" looks like... and what it doesn't look like! (By the way, if you missed part one of this new series you can read it and listen to it here!)

Along the way we'll sing together, pray together, and take communion together.  Also Steve has some great things to tell us about what's been happening throughout this past week at Church Requel.  One of your fellow parishioners was mentioned in a national webcast about the YouVersion Bible app!  It is so cool to see our small church accomplishing BIG THINGS for God and His kingdom!

Speaking of accomplishing big things, don't forget that we've decided to continue to give food to the hungry throughout the month of December.  So when you come Sunday night, bring some extra food to give away.  Steve emailed you a list of things you can bring with you when you come to church.  If you missed his email, you can read it again here.

I love you all much!  Thank you for your continued prayers for Mary Kay and her family as we move through the grieving process over the loss of her mother.  Your cards, notes, emails, and phone calls mean so much to both of us.  See you Sunday at 6pm!  - Pastor Mark

CR Brings Christmas Meals To Those In Need

Steve Thoman sent this email out to our church Wednesday reminding us that we have decided to continue giving out food to those in need. Already we have received calls from some families. Here's what Steve wrote:

Thank you Church Family, you have blessed my socks off the past three weeks.  Not only have you provided, and delivered 40 (forty) Thanksgiving meals, with less than three weeks notice, you've chosen to continue meal donations through Christmas!  Isn't God doing wonderful things in Church Requel!  Those of us that have had the privilege of delivering meal donations to:  the needy; women of domestic violence; and our veterans; have witnessed firsthand the desperate need in our community for simple provisions.  As we make plans to celebrate mankinds most precious gift, December 25th., let's share our abundant blessings with the less fortunate.
 
If you have the means, we are still in need of:

• Canned Vegetables -- Green Beans, Corn
• Canned Fruits -- Fruit Cocktail, Cranberry Sauce
• Stuffing
• Gravy
• Macaroni & Cheese
• Boxed Desserts
• Finances

I realize these are difficult times for many, if you are unable to help with meal donations, no problem, simply pray for Church Requel and this effort -- prayer is at the foundation of all our efforts.  If you have any questions or know of a family in need, contact Sheri Pryor or Steve Thoman.

In Christ's Love
Steve Thoman

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.  1 Timothy 6:18 ESV