Pastor Charles’ Reflection

Christians are not perfect people. We know that, the world knows that and God certainly is aware of that fact. Someday when Jesus comes to take us to be with Him, we shall be perfect for we shall be like Him. In I John 2:15-17, we read, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.” Jesus said, “Be ye perfect,” in Matthew 5:48. That is the goal, the ideal for which we are striving. If we are not striving toward perfection, we are sorry Christians. We must aim at the moon, even if we hit the streetlight on Cherry Street. The mighty Mississippi always flow southward, but sometimes it flows eastward, westward, northward, but the general trend of the river is in the southward direction. So, although the Christian sometimes goes in the wrong direction, although we often sin, the trend of our life is upward and God-ward. It is sad, but Christians often get into the wrong places, mentally and spiritually. 1) Some Christians get under the tree of discouragement as did Elijah, the Old Testament prophet. After proving that God was a mighty God over Baal and the false prophets, Jezebel, the wicked queen, was violently angry and threatened to kill Elijah. How quickly he forgot the recent victory and asked that God let him die. We are discouraged to easily, we forget that God cares for us, we forget the messages of the past, we forget how God has brought us out of our troubles, we worry about everything that we cannot control. We forget His promise in Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee...” That is our problem, we look at the trouble, instead of looking up to God. When we do this we dishonor Christ when we sit under the tree of discouragement. 2) Sometimes Christians get up on the housetop of self ease. David was idle on the roof of his palace. The battles were over, he had nothing to do. Temptation came to him in the form of a beautiful woman and David broke four of God’s commandments, namely covet, lust, adultery and murder. A life of self-ease shrivels the soul. Someone said, “an idle brain, (or hand) is the devil’s workshop.” David was tempted when he was not busy for God. Are you on the housetop of self-ease with too much time to gossip, find fault, criticize the church or pastor, rather than saying a good word for the church and praying for the pastor. “If you can’t say something good about the church everyday, ask God to keep you quiet.” Anybody can find fault over the phone, but let me remind you, if people talk about someone else in your presence, they will talk about you to someone else. I would say some of us are guilty of the same. Let me encourage you to get a Biblical life. The life of self-east brought David’s downfall. 3) Some Christians get into the doubting castle of unbelief. John the Baptist while in prison began to doubt, if Jesus was really the Christ. We may doubt our salvation. We may doubt if there is anything to the Christian religion after all. We may wonder if the Bible is the Word of God. If you love a person and begin to doubt him/her, you will soon cool off and that is true to the church, God’s Word and Jesus. When a person believes in something, he gives his best to it. 4) Some Christians get into the ring of wrangling. A couple of the disciples wanted prestige, and position as they sought the highest places. When Jesus spoke to them about their request, He said that the one who would be highest must first be lowest, that the one who would be greatest must first be the servant of all. Most church quarrels start after such wrangling. This is my____, my_____, my____. Some one wants the high place, someone wants the entire church to go his/her way. The church needs men and women who will take any place for Christ. We grieve the Spirit of God when we wrangle. 5) Some Christians get into the sieve of self-confidence. Simon Peter fell to that sin, but recovered and became a dynamic force of the Kingdom of God. When we think that the work we are doing for the Lord is successful because of us, our talents, our work, our brilliance, we are certainly riding for a fall. It is either all for God, and we must trust Him for all that we do, have and achieve. It matters not now much we do, how hard we work, IF GOD IS NOT IN IT, OUR EFFORTS ARE AS TINKLING BRASS AND A SOUND CYMBAL. 6) Some Christians get on the slippery path of worldliness. Lot choose to live in the wicked and worldly city of Sodom and lost his wife, daughters as he almost forgot God. Let the Christian be warned that the world is after him/her. When a Christian is active for the Lord, he/she is a marked person and the world goes after him with position that will bring worldly recognition. There is no sweet fellowship with God on the slippery path of worldliness. Let the Christian have a good time, but let it be in the right way. If we could get church members to give as much time and energy to the Lord’s work as they do to the world, we would have the strongest church on earth. 7) Some Christians become ensnared in the meshes of disobedience. Moses had been faithful for years, then came a careless moment. God told him to speak to the rock and water would come out. But Moses was angry with the people, wanted to show them his power so he struck the rock. As a result he lost the Promised Land. When we disobey God we lose many wonderful things He offers us. God may not call you to preach, or occupy some prominent position, but He does call you to give Him your best wherever you are. Yes, there is a crown for us, if we’ll be faithful to our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. See you Sunday as you exercise your faithfulness to the things of God and not the world. In Jesus’ Grip, Pastor Charles (Yes, I know this is a long article, but you will have to admit there is a lot of truth in it. Selah!)

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We encourage you and our family to worship with our friends and volunteers from Barnwell on Saturday in the gymnasium of Ebenezer ARP Church on Ebenezer Road just past the post office on the left and across from Greene’s Funeral Home. The service will begin at 7:30 and will be led by the folks from Barnwell.

We are so grateful for our ARP friends for their hospitality and thoughtfulness in allowing us to invade their campus for the next 10-12 days. They have been more than grateful in helping providing their facilities to lodge and to feed our friends from Barnwell. Thanks again to Nadine for getting the ball rolling.

Worship Next Week - July 12, 13 and 15, we will meet at Ebenezer ARP Church at 7:30 P.M. joining the folks from Barnwell who will be leading the services. We encourage you to attend as many, if not all, of these services as your possibly can. We will meet for our regular services at NewKirk on Wednesday at 6:45 P.M.

Our schedule for Sunday, July 11, 2010. There will be no Sunday School. We will begin our worship service at 10:00 A.M. There will be no Children’s Church. All children under four will be in the nursery. All other children over four will remain in the sanctuary. Please, please, please, find someone from Barnwell and sit with them during worship and the dinner to follow. We will have some time between worship and the noon meal to fellowship, and we encourage you to do so. REGARDING THE MEAL!!!!! We have suggested that you prepare enough for 15-20 people, not just one item, but a MEAL. It is important that we have plenty of food for our guests and for us. So think big!

We welcome T. J. (Ted) Austin to our church family. J. T. moved his membership to NewKirk from Oakdale Baptist Church. We rejoice over a fine young man joining our church family.

On Sunday, July 18th, we will vote on Jason Adams to become our Minister of Music. On Wednesday, July 21, we will have our Quarterly Business Meeting. We encourage all department and organization chairs to give their report and present the written report to Michelle Goodman, our Church Clerk.

According to McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, only 28% Americans are able to name more than one of the five first amendments freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. However 52% of all Americans can name at least two Simpsons’ from television.

In an effort to ensure the safety of our children, the deacon council in conjunction with the children's committee has updated our nursery policy and created a children's church policy. Copies of the policies are available for review or you may e-mail me at ddaniels@rock-hill.kk12.sc.us for a copy. We will vote on these two policies at our next quarterly conference on July 21st. If you have any questions concerning these policies please let us know. Thank you Donna Daniels.

Youth Weekend Retreat - The youth will have a summer retreat in Maggie Valley, NC the weekend of Friday, July 30 through Sunday, August 1. The cost will be $20 per participant and is due to the Trotters by July 15th. Potential activities include going to Ghost Town or a water park, putt-putt, trout fishing, shopping in Cherokee, and go-cart racing. A youth / youth parents meeting will be held closer to the retreat date to get the details regarding departure time, what to pack, activity list and accommodation info. We will have evening Bible study and church on Sunday so your Bible is a must pack. As a prerequisite, all youth wishing to attend the retreat are expected to assist with NewKirk’s building project July 11th -17th You can work at the sports camp, go out with the evangelism team, work construction, construction cleanup, or deliver snacks and drinks to the builders. There is a task for you.

In an effort to add security for the children and those working in our nursery and Children’s Church, the back doors will be locked as the choir goes into the sanctuary. We hope you understand and will use the front entrance to enter for worship when these doors are locked. Thank You, The Deacon Council

PEWS FOR OUR SANCTUARY— We thank you and praise God for this phase in our plans for the sanctuary. We have two different sized pews. A six foot pew will cost $500.00. We now need 22. A nine foot pew will cost $750.00. We now need 28. We have had 2 of each size donated. The cost includes a brass plate with the donor’s name and the name of the person to be honored or memorialized. Please put a check in an envelope and mark clearly that it is for a pew, giving size and amount included. Thank you for your help..

We express our Christian concern and prayers on behalf of the Frances McClurken family upon her death last week. She is the grandmother of Laurie and Matt O’Steen, and Gail, her daughter.

OTHER MINISTERS FOR SUNDAY, July 11, 2010
Children's Church: Michelle & Ray Goodman
Infants’ Nursery— Lee Ann & Kellee Seay
Usher/Greeter Teams– Chipper Smith, Tim Seay, Austin Seay, Daniel McCallum
TELLER: Tuesday, July 12—Arlyn Dail

CHURCH CALENDAR
July 11– 10:00-Worship & Covered Dish 5:00-Youth
July 12 & 13—7:30-Worship at Ebenezer ARP w/Barnwell Volunteers
July 14—6:45-Adult Bible Study, Children & Youth, 7:30-Choir Practice
July 15—7:30-Worship at Ebenezer ARP w.Barnwell Volunteers