Operation Christmas Child 2009

Link to Samaritan's Purse International homepage: HERE

Our congregation prepared approximately 62 boxes toward this noble cause, and ask that everyone please pray that the recipients of these items would:

Receive them in the spirit in which they were given...

Be touched by the presence and anointing of the Holy Spirit, that they might be receptive to the Gospel message...

Notes from Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

The following Scriptural texts were emphasized in the hopes that they would bring comfort to all who feel their prayers are going unanswered:

MATTHEW 6:5-15

5…when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.11Give us this day our daily bread.12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

LUKE 11:1-13

1And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.3Give us day by day our daily bread.4And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

5And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

MARK 11:22-26

22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

25And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

MATTHEW 18:15-22

15Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

18Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

21Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

LUKE 18:1-14

1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

9And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18

16Rejoice evermore.

17Pray without ceasing.

18In everything, give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

JAMES 4:1-17

1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 11Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? 13Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 17Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Pilgrimage 2009, etc.

On the weekend of November 13th-15th, the senior ZION MYF attended Pilgrimage in Fayetteville, NC. On Saturday night, the 14th, Lisa Mozingo gave her personal testimony to 6,075 people. On the 15th, while the pastor attended the event with the youth, Mrs. Dolly Thompson delivered an inspiring message to our congregation.

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

While the Pastor attended a Conference-sponsored seminar in Atlantic Beach, our Lay Leader, Mike Judy, delivered a message...

Founder's Day Notes: 11/1/09

Zion UMC Celebrated its 132nd year of existence this year,

and to commemorate the event, the following texts were read:

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

Psalm 37:3-6

and

Matthew 24:35-51...

The following information was also conveyed:

In 1877, when our church was first organized,

• Rutheford B. Hayes succeeded Ulysses S. Grant as President of the U.S.
• Queen Victoria of England was celebrating her Golden Jubilee
• The Indian Wars were still being fought out West
• Paved roads and highways were not yet in existence
• Automobiles were not yet being widely produced
• Orville and Wilbur Wright were years away from their first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC

Yet the Word of God was being proclaimed in our church, just as it is today.

Other interesting facts:

Those in our congregation who were kids

in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or 70's

probably shouldn't have survived.

Why?

• Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
• We had no childproof medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and what in the heck was a bike helmet? We won't even talk about hitchhiking. . .
• As kids we would be carted around in cars with no seat belts or air bags and riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
• We would spend hours building scooters. . . skateboards. . . go-carts out of old wood, rusty scraps and then rode down hills, only to find out we forgot the brakes. . . but we had our feet!
• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. (And no one was able to reach us because cell phones hadn't been invented.)
• We fell out of trees, got cuts, broke bones and teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. Remember accidents? No one was to blame, but us.
• We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
• We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
• We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar cordials, but we were hardly ever overweight because we were always outside playing and although we shared one soft drink with four friends, no one ever actually died.
• We did not have Play Stations, X-Boxes, 99 channels on cable, DVDs, surround sound, cell phones, personal computers, FaceBook, MySpace, Blackberries, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes, roller skated, or walked to their homes and stood in front and yelled for them to come out to play, or knocked on the door, rang the bell or just walked in to visit them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! How did we do it?
• We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
• Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat it. And the next time they usually passed.
• Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected and there was no one to hide behind.The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

  And despite ... or, perhaps, because of all this ... this generation has produced some of the most outstanding risk-takers, problem solvers, innovators and inventors, ever.
  The past 50 years has seen an explosion of advancement and new ideas.
  Why?

Because we were given freedom and responsibility. . . the chance to succeed and to fail.

And we learned how to make the most of what we were given.

If you are one of us, Congratulations! Give yourself a hand!

Also conveyed was the following:

Thirty Years Make a BIG, BIG Difference

1979: Long hair

2009: Longing for hair

1979: KEG

2009: EKG

1979: Acid rock

2009: Acid reflux

1979: Moving to California because it's cool

2009: Moving to California because it's warm

1979: Hoping for a BMW

2009: Hoping for a BM

1979: Going to a new, hip joint

2009: Receiving a new hip joint

1979: Rolling Stones

2009: Kidney Stones

1979: Being called into the principal's office

2009: Calling the principal's office

1979: Disco

2009: Costco

1979: Parents begging you to get your hair cut

2009: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1979: Passing the drivers' test

2009: Passing the vision test

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things.

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year's incoming freshmen.

Here's this year's list:

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1989.

• The space shuttle Challenger blew up before three years before they were born.
• Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
• Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
• The CD was introduced six years before they were born.
• They have always had an answering machine.
• They have always had cable.
• They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
• They grew up thinking Jay Leno was always the host of the Tonight Show.
• Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
• They never took a swim and thought about the movie 'Jaws.'
• They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
• They don't know who Mork was, or where he was from. And they don't care.
• They never heard: "Where's the Beef?" or "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or
• "Ze plane Boss, ze plane."
• They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.
• McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
• They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

.

And yet the Word of the Lord endures forever. Amen.