Pastor Jenness in Israel this coming week

Please be in prayer for Pastor Jenness as he tours the Holy Land with a group of ministers from our Conference, including the Bishop; he leaves on Wednesday. Here is his schedule for the coming week:

Wednesday, January 27th - Departs USA from RDU around 6 pm, flies to Philly, has a 2-hour layover, then flies straight on to Tel Aviv around 9:30 in the evening - will arrive in Israel at 3 pm the next day.

Thursday, January 28th - After arriving in Tel Aviv, transfers immediately to his hotel in Jerusalem, "The Olive Tree," so named because it is believed King David of the Old Testament once rested under and olive tree on the spot where the hotel is built. Will sleep at the Olive Tree every night of the trip.

The Olive Tree

23 Saint George Street

Jerusalem, Israel 97200

TEL: 011-972-541-0410

Friday, January 29th - Taking tours of the following locations: Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity, the Shepherd's Field, Haas Promenade, Mount Zion, the House of Caiaphas, the Upper Room, King David's Memorial Tomb.

Saturday, January 30th - Jericho, Qumran, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane.

Sunday, January 31st - Nazareth, Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes - Tabgha, the Chapel of Primacy, the Jordan River Baptismal Site.

Monday, February 1st - The Western Wall, the Pool of Bethesda, the Church of Saint Anne, the Antonia Fortress, the Via Delarosa, the Church of the Holy Sepluchre.

Tuesday, February 2nd - Ein Karem, Yad Veshem, the Garden Tomb, and then transfer to the airport for a night flight back to the States.

Wednesday, February 3rd - Arrive at RDU around 9:19 am.

Notes from Sunday, January 24th, 2009

Genesis 3

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

² The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

⁴ "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

¹⁰ He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

¹¹ And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

¹² The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."

¹⁶ To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

¹⁷ To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.

¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." ²³ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

In Memory of Mamie Jean Barwick

Mamie Jean Herring Price Barwick, 76, died Wednesday evening, January 20th, 2010, at her home at 300 Vann Smith Road in Seven Springs in the Pricetown community.

Her memorial service was held at 7 p.m. the following Friday at Tyndall Funeral Home, with the Rev. Bud Jenness and the Rev. Doug Bartlett officiating. Visitation immediately followed the service. At other times, family and friends welcomed calls at the residence. The committal and burial service was held at 11 a.m. the following Saturday at Pineview Cemetery.

Mrs. Mamie Jean was a long-time member of Zion United Methodist Church and Pricetown Volunteer Fire Department ladies auxiliary. She was a homemaker and farm wife, and had been employed for many years with Grady's Appliance Service as secretary and bookkeeper.

Surviving family members include her husband, Marion Barwick of the home; two sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Sherry Price and Tracy and Sue Price all of Pricetown community; two stepchildren and their spouses, Carla and Scott Crouch and Eric and Peggy Barwick all of Wilmington; a sister, Gaynell H. Brock of Mount Olive; six grandchildren, Jonathan Price, Elizabeth Price, Zachary Price, Justin Price, Amber Dawson and Rex Price; a great-granddaughter, Ashtyn Dawson; three stepgrandchildren, twins, Haley and Logan Crouch and Dustin Barwick; several stepgreat-grandchildren; a brother-in-law, Dortch Price and wife, Iva Lois Price, of Pricetown communty; along with several nieces and nephews.

Scripture Notes for Sunday, January 17th, 2009

Psalm 139:14
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Matthew 10:29-31
29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Colossians 1:15-17
15[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The three-stranded coiled cell adhesion molecule LAMININ serves as the glue which holds all human cells together. According to secular scientists, LAMININ looks like this:

New Year Revival 2009 Update

We had a packed house tonight, and Lisa did a tremendous job delivering her first message. Hearts were touched, and we were all blessed!

In Memory of Robert C. Lassiter

Robert Carl Lassiter, 71, of 4538 Emmaus Church Road, entered into the Church Triumphant on Thursday, January 7th, 2009.

Mr. Lassiter was the son of the late Stephen and Pauline Smith Lassiter, and was a member of Zion United Methodist Church. He was retired from General Electric with 30 years of service where he was a welds-mechanic.

He is survived by his wife, Bonnie Parks Lassiter of the home; three daughters and sons-in-law, Yvonne and Danny Mills of Grantham, Amanda and Mark McCollum of Seven Springs, and Catherine Eubanks of Seven Springs; nine grandchildren, Kristina Mills-Gregory and husband, Chris, Miranda Reich and husband, Justin, Candace Mills, Charlie Mills, Sarah McCollum, Rachel McCollum, Will McCollum, Catherine Eubanks and Samantha Eubanks; two great-grandchildren, Landon Mills and Avery Gregory; a sister and brother-in-law, Carolyn and Wellon Pittman of Goldsboro; his dear mother-in-law, Callie Hill Parks of Seven Springs; and the Parks family.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts to Zion United Methodist Church, c/o Joy Williams, 360 Pineview Cemetery Road, Mount Olive, NC 28365 would be appreciated.

New Year Revival 2009

Sunday night, we were blessed to hear Rev. Jerry Sheffield of Magnolia break open the Bread of Life for us, and the Holy Spirit truly fell.

Monday night, Rev. Crandle Fountain blessed us with a word from the Lord.

Tonight, Rev. Fountain returns for a second time, at 7 pm.

Tomorrow night, we close out our revival with our very own Lisa Mozingo delivering the message! Service starts at 7 pm, preceded by an MYF fund-raiser from 5-7 pm - please join us for Soup and Sanwiches prior to this special event!

Notes from Sunday, January 10th, 2009

HOPE is the anticipation of good in the future...
FAITH is a supernatural and confident belief in God's provision in the here and now...

Hebrews 11:1 - "Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen."

Scriptural passages on Hope:

1 Peter 1:3

1 Peter 1:13

1 Peter 1:21

Titus 2:3

Notes from Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

In the coming New Year, may we be a people filled with HOPE, asking ourselves,
"If God is for us, then who can be against us?"

The following texts were cited in this morning's message:

1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-19

REVELATION 21:1-6

1 PETER 3:15

PROVERBS 27:17

1 CORINTHIANS 10:13

EPHESIANS 2:12

COLOSSIANS 1:27

MATTHEW 10:28

1 PETER 5:7

Notes from Sunday, December 27th, 2009

From the ancient work THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO:

In Persia is the city called Saveh, from which the three Magi set out when they came to worship Jesus Christ. Here, too, they lie buried in three sepulchres of great size and beauty. Above each sepulchre is a square building with a domed roof of very fine workmanship. The one is just beside the other. Their bodies are still whole, and they have hair and beards. One was named Beltasar, the second Gaspar, and the third Melchior.

Messer Marco asked several of the inhabitants who these Magi were; but no one could tell him anything except that they were three kings who were buried there in days gone by. But at last he learnt What I will tell you.

Three days farther on, he found a town called Kala Atashparastan, that is to say Town of Those Who Worship with Fire. And that is no more than the truth; for the men of this town do worship with fire. And I will tell you why they worship with it. The inhabitants declare that in days gone by three kings of this country went to worship a new-born prophet and took with them three offerings -gold, frankincense, and myrrh - so as to discover whether this prophet was a god, or an earthly king or a healer. For they said: 'If he takes gold, he is an earthly king; if frankincense, a god; if myrrh, a healer.'

When they had come to the place where the prophet was born, the youngest of the three kings went in all alone to see the child. He found that he was like himself, for he seemed to be of his own age and appearance. And he came out, full of wonder. Then in went the second, who was a man of middle age. And to him also the child seemed, as it had seemed to the other, to be of his own age and appearance. And he came out quite dumbfounded. Then in went the third, who was of riper years; and to him also it happened as it had to the other two. And he came out deep in thought. When the three kings were all together, each told the others what he had seen. And they were much amazed and resolved that they would all go in together.

So, in they went, all three together, and came before the child and saw him in his real likeness and of his real age; for he was only thirteen days old. Then they worshipped him and offered him the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh. The child took all three offerings and then gave them a closed casket. And the three kings set out to return to their own country.

After they had ridden for some days, they resolved to see what the child had given them. They opened the casket and found inside it a stone. They wondered greatly what this could be. The child had given it to them to signify that they should be firm as stone in the faith that they had adopted. For, when the three kings saw that the child had taken all three offerings, they concluded that he was at once a god, and an earthly king, and a healer. And, since the child knew that the three kings believed this, he gave them the stone to signify that they should be firm and constant in their belief.

The three kings, not knowing why the stone had been given to them, took it and threw it into a well. No sooner had it fallen in than there descended from heaven a burning fire, which came straight to the well into which it had been thrown. When the three kings saw this miracle, they were taken aback and repented of their throwing away the stone; for they saw clearly that its significance was great and good. They immediately took some of this fire and carried it to their country and put it in one of their temples, a very fine and splendid building.

They keep it perpetually burning and worship God with it lit nearby. And every sacrifice and burnt offering which they make is roasted with this fire. If it ever happens that the fire goes out, they go round to others who hold the same faith and worship with fire also, and are given some of the fire that burns in their church. This they bring back to rekindle their own fire. They never rekindle it except with this fire of which I have spoken. To procure this fire, they often make a journey of ten days

That is how it comes about that the people of this country are those who do worship with fire. And I assure you that they are very numerous. All this was related to Messer Marco Polo by the inhabitants of this town; and it is all perfectly true. Let me tell you finally that one of the three Magi came from Saveh, one from Hawah, and the third from Kashan.