“ And He said to them, ‘Follow Me’. . . . And they immediately left the nets and followed Him” (Matthew 4:19-20).
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
In chapter 4 of Matthew we discover our Lord’s very first words to His disciples. In this setting, Jesus is initially addressing the brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew. In verses 21-22 our Savior sounds the same command to another pair of blood-brothers, James and John.
It is in this brief episode that the simple words quoted above are discovered: “ Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Then, as they say, ‘the rest is history,’ for the two pairs of brothers did exactly as Jesus had commanded; they “ followed Him” (v. 20, 22).
Back in the mid-1970’s when I first sensed God’s call upon me to become a pastor, my Granddaddy Calvert (who was himself a Baptist pastor), gave me a book by the Scottish theologian William Barclay. Entitled simply as New Testament Words, Barclay explores the meaning of many of the most important words to be found in the New Testament. It has been a wonderful treasure to me since the day I received it as a gift so long ago.
I can still remember how I immediately plunged into the book and my eyes were instantly drawn to the fourth word Barclay treated. It is the New Testament Greek word akolouthein, the very term rendered as “ followed” in Matthew 4:20 and 22.
Dr. Barclay refers to it as “ the disciple’s word.” That is, it was the word that seemed most to characterize the disciple’s relationship to Jesus and to inform us as to the fundamental meaning of discipleship itself. It is this word that indicates the unique attachment of the disciples to their Savior.
This rich term suggests a number of significant shades of meaning and application.
In the world of Classical Greek, this was the word that spoke of a soldier’s duty to his commanding officer. One would “ follow” his general or captain even into the fiercest conflict.
It was also the term that depicted the relationship of a first-century slave to his master. The servant’s main task was to do as commanded, follow orders expeditiously, and faithfully attend to his master’s affairs.
These two shades of meaning are most important as we try to understand how we are related, or attached to, our Lord and Savior today.
The New Testament seems to pick up both of these meanings when it describes the Christian. We are, as Paul makes clear, the “ bondservants” of Jesus (Col. 4:12). And, as we remember, the most basic Christian confession of faith is, “ Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:11).
Christians like you and me, then, are slaves who are always under the command of Jesus. And this is what it means to be one of His ‘followers.’
As Barclay puts it,
“ The Christian is in the position of the soldier who follows Jesus Christ, and who must immediately obey his leader’s command. The Christian is in the position of the slave, who must obey as soon as his master speaks.”
Our encouragement for today is found here in this simple identification of who and what we really are. Like the original Disciples, we are those who have heard and responded to the summons of Jesus to come and “ follow” Him.
And this implies several practical things:
We can trust Him to rule the world, as He has done with perfect wisdom since creation.
We can be OK with not knowing what is coming next, since it is our loving Shepherd who is leading the way.
We can rest in the assurance that He is always very close to us, no matter where His path takes us, or how dark and foreboding the journey might become.
We can be at peace knowing that He is both our Commander and Our Defender. He will not permit even one of His precious, elect sheep to ever be lost!
And we can rejoice that His purposes for this world, and for our individual lives, will be fulfilled as He has ordained from eternity!
If we were to conduct a little pop-quiz today, how would you complete this sentence:
Faith is_____________________.
There are, for sure, many words that believers in Christ might legitimately fit into that space. And if this exercise were to include those outside of the Church, the number of likely answers grows even larger!
But what we discover in Hebrews 11:1 is the Teacher’s answer key.
In this verse of Holy Scripture, the inspired author of the Epistle tells us that “ faith” in God is “ the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So the correct answer to the test, at least as far as this verse goes, is “ assurance” and “ conviction.”
But this answer leaves us a bit puzzled. Assurance of what? Conviction about what? And how are these words related to the “ things hoped for”? And, furthermore, what are these “ things” that are “ not seen” anyway?
Well, it looks as if we’ve got our work cut out for us this coming Lord’s Day as we prayerfully consider these words of Scripture. As we study this passage, the Lord will enroll us in the ‘School of Faith’! And our very first task of the day will be to discover what this most essential word really means.
I can’t wait to come before our Father with each of you!
All my love,
Mike
Announcements:
Youth Group:
Fall Youth Calendar
September 26th – Youth Group
October 3rd – Cookout and College Care Packages at the Turnbull House
October 17th – Youth Group
October 24th – Youth Group
November 7th – Youth Group
November 21st – Youth Group
December 5th – Youth Group
December 12th – Christmas Party
*All dates are Sunday evenings. Youth group is from 4:30 to 6:30.
College Care Packages:
As we move steadily into the Fall semester, consider serving our CPC college students by donating items to be packaged that will be mailed out at the beginning of October. A donation box will be placed in the foyer of the church on Sunday mornings beginning September 12. The last day to bring items to donate will be Sunday morning, October 3rd. That evening we will box up our donated items at the Turnbull’s house! It will be compelling and rich. Dinner will be provided.
Having approximately 25 college students, please brings items such as pre-packaged snack bars, candy, cookies, brownies, encouragement cards, gift certificates for pizza and fast food/coffee, tissue packs, hand sanitizer, wipes, pens, snack packs of all sorts, Fall seasonal items, gum, hot chocolate, tea, microwave popcorn, etc. These care packages will certainly be an encouragement to the students from their church family!
Do you have a college student? As addresses tend to change frequently in that stage of life, please send me their name and updated addresses so that we can have accurate information for our mailout! You may email them to Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Girls’ Night:
We will have the first of two youth “Girls’ Nights” on Monday, October 18th, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the home of Jeff and Denise Brown. All middle and high school girls are invited to join us for dinner, devotion and a special activity. Please feel free to bring a friend!
Senior Fellows:
The next Senior Fellows Breakfast will be 9 AM, Tues, Oct 5. The Discussion on Issues facing the PCA will now be 10 AM, Tues, Nov 9.
Women’s Ministry:
Monthly Lunch: Our next monthly luncheon will be on October 7 beginning at 11:30 at the Timbers Edge Clubhouse located at 1 Timbers Main, Brownsboro. It’s potluck – feel free to bring a dish or just yourself.
Fall Bible Studies:
The fall Bible studies have resumed! The Tuesday study for mothers meets at 9:30 AM at the church. Contact Amy Schnorrenberg for more info. The Wednesday studies meet at 10 AM and 6 PM at the church. Contact Denise Scrip for more info.
Men’s Ministry:
Bible Study: We would like to invite all CPC men to our Fall Bible study series!
Title – Knowing the Times: A Look at Contemporary Works on Race, Social Justice, Wokeness and Christianity
Description – The church has always grappled with competing worldviews, issues of race, and alternate systems of morality. In modern society, we acutely feel the shifts in our society with our increased accessibility to information at our fingertips at all hours of the day. We would like to invite our men to our Fall study on issues of CRT, wokeness, and the response of the evangelical church. Led and taught by Dr. Mike Calvert, we will take several contemporary Christian works as starting points for our study and discussion. Among these works include Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe and Owen Strachan’s Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel.
Time – Friday from 11:30 to 12:30. Please bring a bag lunch to enjoy while we study and discuss.
Locale – Church fellowship hall
Schedule – We will meet a total of 10 sessions with our first meeting on Friday, September 24th. Our final meeting will be on Friday, December 10th. skipping Friday, October 8th for Fall break.
Please make plans to join us for this important study! If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Fellowship Lunch Groups: Men’s fellowship groups are now forming. The purpose of these groups is to facilitate getting to know our brothers in Christ and enjoy time together. Groups will form around October 12th and run through the Spring Semester, ending around Memorial Day. Normally, groups will meet together for lunch, but it is flexible. Groups could play golf together, go to a Trash Pandas game … whatever you decide to do. For more information, please contact Norman Dean ndeaniv@gmail.com. You may sign up in the Narthex or online at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TQXKW5N.
Career/Singles:
The weekly bible study and fellowship for career/singles meets at 5:30 PM Sunday evenings at the home of Jim and Sharon Daughtry.
Prayer Requests:
Healing: Please pray for the health of the following individuals: Suzanne Nimon, Lincoln Ely, Dave Angotti, Zig and Virdia Jastrebski, Ramona Edwards, Bill Dent, Jacky Haynes, Steve Terry, Bill Cowley, and Elizabeth Holton. Expecting: Please pray for the Prinzingers and Paseurs, both expecting in November, as well as the Elliotts, expecting in March. Ministries: Please pray for the following missionaries and ministries: Seth and Jessica Lewis (Ireland); Steve and Rita Williams (New Zealand); Noah and Karleigh Stephens (Thailand); Vinnie and Molly Athey (RUF at UAH); Amos and Jessica Williams (RUF at Alabama A&M); Ken and Angie Burnett (FCA); Franky and Alaina Garcia (church plant in Canada); Dieter Paulson (church plant in Scottsboro, AL); Gannon Miles (seminary student); The Huntsville Pregnancy Resource Center.
Online Donations:
If you would like to give to Christ Presbyterian, you can do so at the following link:
“ Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field”– Jeremiah 10:5
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I forget which old Tarzan movie it was exactly (after all, there were forty-one made from 1918-1970, and several more after that!), but there was a scene in one of them where our great hero of the jungle encountered a massive idol-god deep in the rain forest. Shaped something like a pyramid, it stood there unmoved, smoke coming from its top, and its devotees feverishly adding wood to the fire to keep the smoke bellowing up into the sky. Then, there were the throngs of ‘natives’ who brought sacrifices to appease the stolid deity, accompanied by ecstatic supplications for protection and provision. Even as a young boy, I was impressed and fascinated by the great contrast between the active worshipers and their static, unresponsive god.
The Old testament prophet Jeremiah got it right with his colorful description of all such idols. They are nothing but “ scarecrows in a cucumber field”! And as Jeremiah adds in verse 5, such idols “ cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
In contrast to these false-gods, the One True and Living God is anything but inactive!
In the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus Himself explained that, “ My Father is working until now” (5:17). According to Jesus, the God who has saved us is always at work, always doing things great and small, and always working out His eternal purposes for our world and for the entire universe!
To bring this down to a very personal level, we might reflect upon the many ways that our Father is ever active in the lives of those who, by His grace and mercy, belong to His Son. Scripture provides us with nothing short of an overwhelming picture of His constant activity on our behalf. Let me provide but a few examples from the Old Testament, namely from Psalms and Isaiah:
From Psalms
18:32, 48–He arms us with strength and delivers us from our enemies.
32:7–He protects us from trouble.
37:28–He loves us and will not forsake us.
41:1–He delivers us from danger and is always guarding us and preserving our lives.
73:23–He is holding us and guiding our lives.
111:5–He is providing for our bodily needs.
121:3–He is preventing our feet from slipping.
145:14, 19, 20–He is upholding us when we fall, fulfilling the desires of our hearts as we fear Him, and watching over us.
147:3–He is healing our broken hearts.
From Isaiah–
40:29–He gives us strength when we are weary.
50:7–He helps us continually.
51:12–He comforts us.
Now, these are just a few of the manifold actions of our God on behalf of His people that are to be discovered in the Old Testament.
When it comes to the New Testament, the list of divine works is just as impressive. For the sake of brevity, we might simply appeal to a couple of passages from Paul’s epistles:
Romans 8:28–“ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Philippians 2:13–“ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
It seems clear enough that this is what our Lord was referring to when He told His Jewish opponents that His Father is “ working until now.” Not only is He “ working” in His governance and maintenance of the universe, He is powerfully at work in each of our lives; blessing, protecting, leading, nourishing, energizing, and forming us into His holy and beloved people!
If I may risk sounding a bit disrespectful, our God is not just sitting there on His throne, watching us serve Him, depending upon our contribution to His happiness and well-being! He is not like that “ scarecrow” in the field, swaying in the wind, and deteriorating from exposure to the elements! And He does not need us to add wood to the fire we ourselves have sparked in order to make Him appear holy and alive! He is Holy, and alive, and active with or without us! But because He has actively claimed us in His grace as His very own, He is working on our behalf, always!
Now, what’s really amazing is that such knowledge, if properly understood, does not lead to passivity on our part. Rather, it prompts us to energetically serve the One who is always acting for our benefit!
I have a feeling that if that idol in the old Tarzan movie could have spoken (a totally absurd idea for sure!), it would have said something like, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ Whether in Hollywood or in real life, idols simply can’t do anything for anybody!
However, your Father in heaven has something very different to say to you on this new Monday (and He really can speak!). He says He is working even now! He is busy for the benefit of those He loves the most, those whose sins He has paid for with the blood of His Only-Begotten Son! And because His Word is always true, we can faithfully serve Him in the very power that He provides for us each moment!
As you begin your work-week, remember that long before your feet hit the ground this morning, your loving Father was already at work! For in His eternal work-week, there is no weekend of inactivity! How awesome this truth is!
This coming Lord’s Day we will resume our series of messages on the Epistle to the Hebrews. One of the most familiar chapters in the whole Bible is the eleventh chapter of this great book. Many of us know it as ‘The Roll Call of Faith,’ and this is a very appropriate title indeed!
As you know, it is in this chapter that we find a list of sixteen Old Testament figures (plus the Israelites who came out of Egypt with Moses, and the Old Testament prophets) who are intended to serve as examples of living faith in action. From their stories we see what true faith in Christ actually is and does.
On Sunday, we will begin our investigation of Hebrews 11 by first considering the words that close out chapter 10. In verse 39 we read:
“ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”
Having sounded these words of both warning and comfort, the author then proceeds with his explanation and illustrations of saving faith with the words of 11:1, “ Now faith is. . . .”
Let’s fervently pray for the proclamation of God’s Holy Word!
Adult Sunday School: A Study of the Song of Solomon
Perhaps no other book in the Old Testament challenges and equips modern Christians to withstand the rising tide of secularism as does this divinely inspired love-poem. In our present age of moral and sexual anarchy, the ancient words of Israel’s king Solomon call us to holiness both in body and in soul. I hope you will join us in Sunday School at 9:30 AM in the Worship Center for the study of this amazing book. You will find a link at the Church website for the class outlines, notes, and a list of resources.
Men’s Friday Lunch Bible Study Starts Next Week, September 24
Let me invite all of our men and guests to join us for our Friday Bible Study at the Church from 11:30 AM-12:30 PM. I will be leading a study from the Scriptures that will equip us to respond to some of the significant challenges to the Christian faith.
We will also be reading the wonderful book by Dr. Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe (Salem Books, 2021). Bring a lunch and your Bible and join us each week! Also, if you are planning to attend, please send an email to Matthew Elliott at mattke@live.com
I love you all and pray for you always!
Mike
Announcements:
Youth Group:
Fall Youth Calendar
September 19th – Youth Group
September 26th – Youth Group
October 3rd – Cookout and College Care Packages at the Turnbull House
October 17th – Youth Group
October 24th – Youth Group
November 7th – Youth Group
November 21st – Youth Group
December 5th – Youth Group
December 12th – Christmas Party
*All dates are Sunday evenings. Youth group is from 4:30 to 6:30.
College Care Packages:
As we move steadily into the Fall semester, consider serving our CPC college students by donating items to be packaged that will be mailed out at the beginning of October. A donation box will be placed in the foyer of the church on Sunday mornings beginning September 12. The last day to bring items to donate will be Sunday morning, October 3rd.
Having approximately 25 college students, please brings items such as pre-packaged snack bars, candy, cookies, brownies, encouragement cards, gift certificates for pizza and fast food/coffee, tissue packs, hand sanitizer, wipes, pens, snack packs of all sorts, Fall seasonal items, gum, hot chocolate, tea, microwave popcorn, etc. These care packages will certainly be an encouragement to the students from their church family!
Do you have a college student? As addresses tend to change frequently in that stage of life, please send me their name and updated addresses so that we can have accurate information for our mailout! You may email them to Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Senior Fellows:
The 9 AM, Tues, Sept 7 Breakfast and 10 AM Discussion on Issues Facing the PCA (led By Pastor Mike) are cancelled due to COVID concerns. The next Senior Fellows Breakfast will be 9 AM, Tues, Oct 5. The Discussion on Issues facing the PCA will now be 10 AM, Tues, Nov 9.
Women’s Ministry:
Monthly Lunch: Our next monthly luncheon will be on October 7 beginning at 11:30 at the Timbers Edge Clubhouse located at 1 Timbers Main, Brownsboro. It’s potluck – feel free to bring a dish or just yourself.
Fall Bible Studies:
The fall Bible studies have resumed!
The Tuesday study for mothers will be on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 AM at the church. We will be watching a 10 week video series together by Nancy Guthrie on Saints and Scoundrels in the story of Jesus. I think it will be a very interesting study. You don’t have to purchase the book but if you would like to, here is the link.
We will of course have the most important group discussion and prayer time afterwards.
Let Amy Schnorrenberg know if you will be joining us and how many little ones you need nursery for.
The Wednesday studies will meet on Wednesdays at 10 AM and at 6 PM at the church. I am thrilled to study the first 18 chapters of Exodus together, using the study guide God of Deliverance by Jen Wilkin. From the study promotion:
The exodus of the Israelites shapes our understanding of the whole Bible, its themes reverberating all the way to Revelation. Exodus is the birth narrative of a nation unmistakably guided by the Great Deliverer. In this 10-session verse-by-verse study of Exodus 1–18, Jen Wilkin shows us that Israel’s story is our story: the same God who delivered Israel also delivers all those He loves from slavery to sin and from service to the pharaohs of this world. He lifts our eyes to the promised land He has prepared where we dwell with I AM and worship Him as the one true God.
Men’s Ministry:
We would like to invite all CPC men to our Fall Bible study series!
Title – Knowing the Times: A Look at Contemporary Works on Race, Social Justice, Wokeness and Christianity
Description – The church has always grappled with competing worldviews, issues of race, and alternate systems of morality. In modern society, we acutely feel the shifts in our society with our increased accessibility to information at our fingertips at all hours of the day. We would like to invite our men to our Fall study on issues of CRT, wokeness, and the response of the evangelical church. Led and taught by Dr. Mike Calvert, we will take several contemporary Christian works as starting points for our study and discussion. Among these works include Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe and Owen Strachan’s Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel.
Time – Friday from 11:30 to 12:30. Please bring a bag lunch to enjoy while we study and discuss.
Locale – Church fellowship hall
Schedule – We will meet a total of 10 sessions with our first meeting on Friday, September 24th. Our final meeting will be on Friday, December 10th. skipping Friday, October 8th for Fall break.
Please make plans to join us for this important study! If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Career/Singles:
The weekly bible study and fellowship for career/singles meets at 5:30 PM Sunday evenings at the home of Jim and Sharon Daughtry.
Prayer Requests:
Healing: Please pray for the health of the following individuals: Suzanne Nimon, Lincoln Ely, Dave Angotti, Zig and Virdia Jastrebski, Ramona Edwards, Bill Dent, Jacky Haynes, Steve Terry, Bill Cowley, and Elizabeth Holton. Expecting: Please pray for the Prinzingers and Paseurs, both expecting in November, as well as the Elliotts, expecting in March. Ministries: Please pray for the following missionaries and ministries: Seth and Jessica Lewis (Ireland); Steve and Rita Williams (New Zealand); Noah and Karleigh Stephens (Thailand); Vinnie and Molly Athey (RUF at UAH); Amos and Jessica Williams (RUF at Alabama A&M); Ken and Angie Burnett (FCA); Franky and Alaina Garcia (church plant in Canada); Dieter Paulson (church plant in Scottsboro, AL); Gannon Miles (seminary student); The Huntsville Pregnancy Resource Center.
Online Donations:
If you would like to give to Christ Presbyterian, you can do so at the following link:
“ And they glorified God because of me”–Galatians 1:24
In 2004, a young and virtually unknown singer named Kelly Clarkson wrote and recorded a song entitled ‘ Because of You’ that became one of the most popular hits in the pop music scene during the 2000’s. The song’s beautiful melodies are strangely interwoven with the painful and distressing lyrics that tell the story of Clarkson’s broken relationship with her father. Listening to it, one is both drawn to its melodious attractiveness and repulsed by its dark message.
Its chorus is heartbreaking:
Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk Because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don’t get hurt Because of you I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me Because of you I am afraid
The blunt lesson this tune sets forth is simple enough, and it is one that reflects a truth that all Christians can confidently embrace: The way that we live, the decisions we make, the words we use, and the attitudes we manifest sometimes have a life-changing impact upon others either for good or ill.
Now, I believe I know what you’re thinking. This is supposed to be a Monday note of encouragement, yet I have successfully introduced a wave of sadness or regret into your week. Every one of us has, at one time or another, done or said something that has deeply discouraged or damaged another person. And for us fathers, we are especially sensitive to our frequent parental failings, and we fear how they will play out in the lives of our children. However, this is not the main reason I have referred to this popular, but terribly tragic song.
To the contrary, there is a most wonderful and reassuring message here for us on this new Monday!
When the Apostle Paul wrote the words from Galatians quoted above, he was speaking of the fact that his fellow-believers among the inhabitants of ancient Syria, Cilicia, and Judea were moved to glorify God “ because” of the amazing transformation that had taken place in his life.
We can see this in verses 21-23:
“21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, ‘He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’”
This is nothing short of incredible to contemplate! The man who was once not simply an unbeliever, but a violent persecutor of the Church (Gal. 1:13), became one who boldly proclaimed the very message he was determined to eradicate from the face of the earth! Such a reversal of life could only result in the glorification of God!
So here is where we discover our encouragement for today.
I would guess that there were also many people who were driven away from the Savior because Paul so desperately opposed Christ and the Gospel in his pre-conversion life. He left much pain and suffering in his wake. This is why he never seemed to forget about it:
“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God”–1 Corinthians 15:9.
But. . . that wasn’t the end of his story! Grace made him into a new man, put him on a new pathway, commissioned him to a new mission, and filled his soul with a new love for Christ he would even forfeit his life for! And “ because” of God’s grace, mercy, and power at work in Paul others were moved to glorify God!
It’s true enough that even Paul’s life was not pretty at times. Like us, he had also hurt and scarred others deeply, leaving lasting damage to their souls. But even despite this, it was how his life would finish that made the difference!
In the last few decades of his life, the One who called him in grace to be the Apostle to the Gentiles would more than make up for the damage this one man had previously done! Grace seems always to triumph in the end, even over the very worst of our messes!
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Paul’s story can be yours as well!
As you seek to follow and obey Jesus today, others will glorify God “ because” of you! Your Father will make use of your life to stoke the fires of praise in the hearts of other believers, and even in those who are yet to trust in the Savior. A perfect past is not a prerequisite for being used most wonderfully by the omnipotent Lord who has saved you! Grace will prevail in your story as well!
For today, then, be faithful to Him. Love Him. Worship Him. Run to Him in your times of failure and sin. Let His grace and mercy become even stronger in you and dearer to you. And be assured that someone is watching. Your faithfulness to Christ today will be a magnetic summons to the praise of that one Name that stands above them all!
This coming Lord’s Day, Sunday School begins again at 9:30 AM. We look forward to gathering together in the study of God’s Word.
Our Adults will be studying the Song of Solomon. I will be teaching this fourteen-week series that will end with our final class on December 19.
As we will no doubt discover, this ancient love poem, fully inspired by God, will speak to our generation in ways that directly address the moral issues we now face. I hope you will plan on joining us as we explore the riches of this portion of God’s Word!
Our preaching series on Romans 12 will come to an end this Sunday as we consider the words of Romans 12:18. In this verse, we are exhorted to “ live peaceably with all.”
Then, beginning on Sunday September 19, we will resume our sermon series on the Epistle to the Hebrews. That day, we will start our journey through chapter 11, the great chapter on faith.
I love you all so very much,
Mike
Announcements:
Worship Time and Sunday School:
Starting Sunday, we will be returning to our normal schedule, with Sunday School classes for all ages beginning at 9:30 AM, and our service of worship beginning at 10:30 AM.
Youth Group:
Fall Youth Calendar
September 12th – Youth Group
September 19th – Youth Group
September 26th – Youth Group
October 3rd – Cookout and College Care Packages
October 17th – Youth Group
October 24th – Youth Group
November 7th – Youth Group
November 21st – Youth Group
December 5th – Youth Group
December 12th – Christmas Party
*All dates are Sunday evenings. Youth group is from 4:30 to 6:30.
College Care Packages:
As we move steadily into the Fall semester, consider serving our CPC college students by donating items to be packaged that will be mailed out at the beginning of October. A donation box will be placed in the foyer of the church on Sunday mornings beginning September 12. The last day to bring items to donate will be Sunday morning, October 3rd.
Having approximately 25 college students, please brings items such as pre-packaged snack bars, candy, cookies, brownies, encouragement cards, gift certificates for pizza and fast food/coffee, tissue packs, hand sanitizer, wipes, pens, snack packs of all sorts, Fall seasonal items, gum, hot chocolate, tea, microwave popcorn, etc. These care packages will certainly be an encouragement to the students from their church family!
Do you have a college student? As addresses tend to change frequently in that stage of life, please send me their name and updated addresses so that we can have accurate information for our mailout! You may email them to Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Children’s Ministry:
We are thrilled to start back to Children’s Sunday school THIS Sunday at 9:30 am. It is an exciting year as we have wonderful teachers ready to invest in your precious children!
Toddlers: Moms’ Rotation
preK/Kinder: Faithann and Sarah Gibson
1st/2nd/3rd: Denise Brown and Sharon Daughtry
4th/5th: Stanley and Penny Gibson
Subs: Rachel and Paul Matheny
Matthew also has both middle AND high school classes at the church house.
I am so thankful God has provided these teachers and all those who are willing to sub when these cannot be there. We could not do this without each of you!
We use a curriculum from Great Commission Publications, and it is rich in Bible truths. Your children are learning so much, and even more, they are building relationships with other adults/parents as well as other children. Highly encourage all children to attend Sunday school!
I’ll have some tasty treats ready to celebrate our first Sunday back. See you then!
We have also updated the nursery volunteer sign up through the end of the year. As a reminder, we invite any Christ Pres woman, teenage and up, to serve our families with young children by volunteering in the nursery on Sunday mornings. Please consider helping us fill this need and see the sign up genius link below for further details. This is a huge blessing to our young families and a great opportunity for our church body to invest in the lives of our little ones.
The 9 AM, Tues, Sept 7 Breakfast and 10 AM Discussion on Issues Facing the PCA (led By Pastor Mike) are cancelled due to COVID concerns. The next Senior Fellows Breakfast will be 9 AM, Tues, Oct 5. The Discussion on Issues facing the PCA will now be 10 AM, Tues, Nov 9.
Women’s Ministry:
Monthly Lunch: Our next monthly luncheon will be on October 7 beginning at 11:30 at the Timbers Edge Clubhouse located at 1 Timbers Main, Brownsboro. It’s potluck – feel free to bring a dish or just yourself.
Fall Bible Studies:
The fall Bible studies have resumed!
The Tuesday study for mothers will be on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 AM. We will be watching a 10 week video series together by Nancy Guthrie on Saints and Scoundrels in the story of Jesus. I think it will be a very interesting study. You don’t have to purchase the book but if you would like to, here is the link.
We will of course have the most important group discussion and prayer time afterwards.
Let Amy Schnorrenberg know if you will be joining us and how many little ones you need nursery for.
The Wednesday studies will meet on Wednesdays at 10 AM and at 6 PM. I am thrilled to study the first 18 chapters of Exodus together, using the study guide God of Deliverance by Jen Wilkin. From the study promotion:
The exodus of the Israelites shapes our understanding of the whole Bible, its themes reverberating all the way to Revelation. Exodus is the birth narrative of a nation unmistakably guided by the Great Deliverer. In this 10-session verse-by-verse study of Exodus 1–18, Jen Wilkin shows us that Israel’s story is our story: the same God who delivered Israel also delivers all those He loves from slavery to sin and from service to the pharaohs of this world. He lifts our eyes to the promised land He has prepared where we dwell with I AM and worship Him as the one true God.
Men’s Ministry:
We would like to invite all CPC men to our Fall Bible study series!
Title – Knowing the Times: A Look at Contemporary Works on Race, Social Justice, Wokeness and Christianity
Description – The church has always grappled with competing worldviews, issues of race, and alternate systems of morality. In modern society, we acutely feel the shifts in our society with our increased accessibility to information at our fingertips at all hours of the day. We would like to invite our men to our Fall study on issues of CRT, wokeness, and the response of the evangelical church. Led and taught by Dr. Mike Calvert, we will take several contemporary Christian works as starting points for our study and discussion. Among these works include Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe and Owen Strachan’s Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel.
Time – Friday from 11:30 to 12:30. Please bring a bag lunch to enjoy while we study and discuss.
Locale – Church fellowship hall
Schedule – We will meet a total of 10 sessions with our first meeting on Friday, September 24th. Our final meeting will be on Friday, December 10th. skipping Friday, October 8th for Fall break.
Please make plans to join us for this important study! If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Career/Singles:
The weekly bible study and fellowship for career/singles meets at 5:30 PM Sunday evenings at the home of Jim and Sharon Daughtry.
Prayer Requests:
Healing: Please pray for the health of the following individuals: Suzanne Nimon, Lincoln Ely, Dave Angotti, Zig and Virdia Jastrebski, Ramona Edwards, Bill Dent, Jacky Haynes, Steve Terry, Bill Cowley, and Elizabeth Holton. Expecting: Please pray for the Prinzingers and Passeurs, both expecting in November. Ministries: Please pray for the following missionaries and ministries: Seth and Jessica Lewis (Ireland); Steve and Rita Williams (New Zealand); Noah and Karleigh Stephens (Thailand); Vinnie and Molly Athey (RUF at UAH); Amos and Jessica Williams (RUF at Alabama A&M); Ken and Angie Burnett (FCA); Franky and Alaina Garcia (church plant in Canada); Dieter Paulson (church plant in Scottsboro, AL); Gannon Miles (seminary student); The Huntsville Pregnancy Resource Center.
Online Donations:
If you would like to give to Christ Presbyterian, you can do so at the following link:
“ You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand”–James 5:8.
My Beloved Ones in Christ Jesus our Lord,
One of the oddities of our modern, technologically advanced life is the amount of waiting that we do throughout any given week. Whether it’s in the checkout line at the grocery store, at a governmental office, the airport, or in traffic, we seem to always be ‘in the queue’ as they say. What makes this so strange to me is the expectation that our ever-evolving technology would lead to less waiting around. Yet, a 2017 survey of people in the USA found that we wait on average:
20 minutes a day for the bus or train
32 minutes whenever we visit a doctor
28 minutes in security lines whenever we travel
21 minutes for our significant other to get ready to go out
13 hours annually waiting on hold for a customer service
38 hours each year waiting in traffic (50 hours in larger cities)
So, what do we do during these frequent periods of standing around in line, or sitting in a ‘waiting room’?
Over the years, I have always taken a book along with me when I anticipate such times of waiting. Sermon preparation is a never ending process, and by doing a little study in such situations I can make use of otherwise wasted moments. I’m sure that most of you do something similar to this.
To be a bit more open about it, engaging in something useful while waiting helps keep my level of (sinful) frustration in check. And as I have so frequently witnessed in my own soul, frustration is a sin that never travels alone. It seems always to breed and expose additional wickedness. Perhaps few things serve to sanctify us so efficiently as does this common and unpleasant experience of waiting.
All of this makes it rather remarkable that, according to Scripture, waiting is a vital component of our walk with Christ.
One place in the New Testament where this is spelled out with explicit clarity is in the Epistle authored by James, our Lord’s own brother. In the fifth chapter of his letter, he exhorts us to:
“ Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains” (v. 7).
It’s as if we are presently in the Great Waiting Room, anticipating the sudden blast of the last trumpet and that inexpressible moment when our Sovereign King and Redeemer shall appear for a second time to judge the living and the dead. In fact, this is precisely what James declares in verse 9: “ behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”
Waiting, then, is a critical part of our service to the Kingdom of Heaven. And yet, the necessity of waiting is such a challenge to our hearts, an assignment that is terribly difficult for all disciples of Jesus.
But James gives us some wonderful insight into how we should spend our time in the ‘waiting room.’
He exhorts us in verse 8 to “ establish” our “ hearts” as we pass the time. That is, during these days of waiting on our Lord’s return, we must strengthen or stabilize our souls. We have something specific to do while we are ‘in the queue.’ We are not to let these moments, days, and even years be wasted or turn into an opportunity for sin to blossom in our souls. Rather, our “ hearts” are to be made stronger instead.
But what, exactly, does this mean? How do we strengthen our souls?
Well, the answer is to be found on the farm!
As we have seen in verse 7, James directs his readers to consider “ the farmer.” Here, the Lord’s brother is comparing us to one who raises crops. Each day the farmer actively engages in the many tasks and duties which are required by life in the country. And as he works, he trusts in God’s providence; that the Lord will indeed supply the rain, both in the right amount and at the right time. He waits, but that does not mean just sitting around. It means faithfulness in doing what must be done right now.
But there’s more to this as well.
As the farmer waits on the Lord to provide the proper conditions for the growth of the produce, he trusts in the faithfulness of his heavenly Father. Implied in these words is the truth that our hearts are made strong as we work and reflect. We are to engage in those duties that we have been called to perform. And as we go about accomplishing our assigned tasks, we set our minds firmly on the character of our God.
In other words, we don’t spend our lives, our time of waiting, doing nothing. And we don’t wait upon the Lord’s return with minds that are disengaged, wandering all over the place, daydreaming as it were. To the contrary, we faithfully and obediently do what today requires while focusing our minds upon the unfailing nature of our Lord and His Word.
Today, we wait. We are anticipating the moment when the door between heaven and earth opens and our King suddenly appears. And as we pass the time, we are patient but not inactive, trusting and not becoming frustrated or fearful. His return is surely “ at hand” (v. 8).
Perhaps now we can grasp a little more of the meaning of Isaiah’s magnificent promise made to each of us who love the Savior:
“ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Before I introduce our sermon for this coming Lord’s Day, I want to share some very exciting news with you.
As of September 1, Jack Cooper has assumed a new role as Church Finance Manager. After many years of serving faithfully as our full-time Church Administrator, Jack has stepped into this new part-time position. He will now oversee all of our finances, including such things as managing our bills, contributions, payroll, and insurance, and many other related duties.
Also as of September 1, Tim Cummings has taken the position of full-time Church Administrator. Tim has assumed all of the duties of administration which Jack has previously performed. In other words, everything that Jack did (with the exception of overseeing the financial operations of the Church) are now being carried out by Tim.
We are thrilled at how the Lord has brought such a wonderful team together!
I hope that you will express your appreciation to Jack for his years of service, and also welcome Tim to his new role. Please pray especially for Tim as he begins his duties.
Thirteen Sermons for the Price of Twelve!
This Lord’s Day we will take our sermon from the words of Romans 12:18-20. Following last week’s message (dealing with our response as believers to persecution from the enemies of the Gospel, vv. 14-17), I have sensed very strongly a need to add one more message to our series on this great twelfth chapter of Romans.
On Sunday I will try to deal with some of the practical questions we have that develop from Paul’s instructions. For example, is it ever justified for Christians to resist persecution, even to the point of using force against our adversaries? Are Christians allowed to arm themselves and, if so, when may deadly force be employed? Are believers permitted to defend their families, homes, and property? And what about our duty to protect others in our family, Church, an community?
Then, the Lord willing, on September 12 I will finish out our summer series with a look at Romans 12:18 and our duty to live peaceably in the world.
I really appreciate your prayers, especially for this Sunday’s message as we try to faithfully apply God’s inspired Word to some very complicated issues.
Finally, don’t forget that Sunday School begins at 9:30 AM on September 12.
Our Adults will be studying the Song of Solomon, and our main commentary will be The Song of Songs by Iain M. Duguid.
May our Lord richly bless and keep you, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!
I love you all,
Mike
Announcements:
Worship Time and Sunday School:
Starting next Sunday on September 12, we will be returning to our normal schedule, with Sunday School classes for all ages beginning at 9:30 AM, and our service of worship beginning at 10:30 AM.
Youth Group:
Fall Youth Calendar
September 12th – Youth Group
September 19th – Youth Group
September 26th – Youth Group
October 3rd – Cookout and College Care Packages
October 17th – Youth Group
October 24th – Youth Group
November 7th – Youth Group
November 21st – Youth Group
December 5th – Youth Group
December 12th – Christmas Party
*All dates are Sunday evenings. Youth group is from 4:30 to 6:30.
Sunday School
Youth Sunday school will meet at the church house each Sunday morning. The middle school will meet downstairs and the high schoolers will meet upstairs.
How can I help with youth this Fall?
1 – Middle Sunday School Teachers – I am still looking for several individuals (or couples) who might be willing to teach/facilitate our middle schoolers this school year. Are you interested in having an opportunity to teach and minister to our youth? You do not have to come up with the curriculum, just prepare and present. I aim to have several people share the teaching load so that it does not rest on one individual. Email if you are interested!
2 – Cookout and College Care Packages – We are looking for a family that might be willing to host our cookout and college care package night. The evening’s focus is on helping our youth learn to serve by helping those who have graduated and are away at school. We are in need of a home that could support a number of students and possibly have a bonfire (s’mores) and cookout. Let me know if you would be willing to open your home in this way!
3 – Additional Adult Supervision during Youth Nights – Some have expressed interest in being present with middle school during youth nights. I would love additional help for those evenings if you are a warm body and willing to be present for several youth meetings throughout the semester.
Take care …
Matthew K Elliott
Children’s Ministry:
We are now gearing up for fall programming at CPC!
We are looking for preK to 5th grade Sunday school teachers for fall. Please email Ashley to serve our children in this way. We can’t do it without support from the congregation!
Please register your children using the link below. This will allow us to see how to divide up our classes and how many volunteers we need.
We have also updated the nursery volunteer sign up through the end of the year. As a reminder, we invite any Christ Pres woman, teenage and up, to serve our families with young children by volunteering in the nursery on Sunday mornings. Please consider helping us fill this need and see the sign up genius link below for further details. This is a huge blessing to our young families and a great opportunity for our church body to invest in the lives of our little ones.
The 9 AM, Tues, Sept 7 Breakfast and 10 AM Discussion on Issues Facing the PCA (led By Pastor Mike) are cancelled due to COVID concerns. The next Senior Fellows Breakfast will be 9 AM, Tues, Oct 5. The Discussion on Issues facing the PCA will now be 10 AM, Tues, Nov 9.
Women’s Ministry:
Monthly Lunch: Our next monthly luncheon will be on October 7 beginning at 11:30 at the Timbers Edge Clubhouse located at 1 Timbers Main, Brownsboro. It’s potluck – feel free to bring a dish or just yourself.
Fall Bible Studies:
The fall Bible studies will launch the week of September 6, meeting for 11 weeks through November 17.
The Tuesday study for mothers will be on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 AM. We will be watching a 10 week video series together by Nancy Guthrie on Saints and Scoundrels in the story of Jesus. I think it will be a very interesting study. You don’t have to purchase the book but if you would like to, here is the link.
We will of course have the most important group discussion and prayer time afterwards.
Let Amy Schnorrenberg know if you will be joining us and how many little ones you need nursery for.
The Wednesday studies will meet on Wednesdays at 10 AM and at 6 PM. I am thrilled to study the first 18 chapters of Exodus together, using the study guide God of Deliverance by Jen Wilkin. From the study promotion:
The exodus of the Israelites shapes our understanding of the whole Bible, its themes reverberating all the way to Revelation. Exodus is the birth narrative of a nation unmistakably guided by the Great Deliverer. In this 10-session verse-by-verse study of Exodus 1–18, Jen Wilkin shows us that Israel’s story is our story: the same God who delivered Israel also delivers all those He loves from slavery to sin and from service to the pharaohs of this world. He lifts our eyes to the promised land He has prepared where we dwell with I AM and worship Him as the one true God.
Please order your study guide before September 8. You may order from Lifeway ($15.99) and Amazon ($16.79). Click either link: Lifeway or Amazon. No preparation is required for the first meeting.
Lastly, please RSVP if you plan to participate in this study. You may email me at maryleemc7@gmail.com. (for the morning study)
The skinny:
Wednesday Mornings from 10:00 – 11:30 am or Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30 pm in the fellowship room
First meeting: September 8
Order your book ASAP
RSVP to Mary Lee McKee
I PROMISE this will be an invigorating, worship-inspiring endeavor. I can’t wait! Thank you!
Men’s Ministry:
We would like to invite all CPC men to our Fall Bible study series!
Title – Knowing the Times: A Look at Contemporary Works on Race, Social Justice, Wokeness and Christianity
Description – The church has always grappled with competing worldviews, issues of race, and alternate systems of morality. In modern society, we acutely feel the shifts in our society with our increased accessibility to information at our fingertips at all hours of the day. We would like to invite our men to our Fall study on issues of CRT, wokeness, and the response of the evangelical church. Led and taught by Dr. Mike Calvert, we will take several contemporary Christian works as starting points for our study and discussion. Among these works include Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe and Owen Strachan’s Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel.
Time – Friday from 11:30 to 12:30. Please bring a bag lunch to enjoy while we study and discuss.
Locale – Church fellowship hall
Schedule – We will meet a total of 10 sessions with our first meeting on Friday, September 24th. Our final meeting will be on Friday, December 10th. skipping Friday, October 8th for Fall break.
Please make plans to join us for this important study! If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Elliott at matthew@christpreshamptoncove.org.
Career/Singles:
The weekly bible study and fellowship for career/singles meets at 5:30 PM Sunday evenings at the home of Jim and Sharon Daughtry.
Prayer Requests:
Healing: Please pray for the health of the following individuals: Suzanne Nimon, Lincoln Ely, Dave Angotti, Zig and Virdia Jastrebski, Ramona Edwards, Bill Dent, Jacky Haynes, Steve Terry, Bill Cowley, and Elizabeth Holton. Expecting: Please pray for the Prinzingers and Passeurs, both expecting in November. Ministries: Please pray for the following missionaries and ministries: Seth and Jessica Lewis (Ireland); Steve and Rita Williams (New Zealand); Noah and Karleigh Stephens (Thailand); Vinnie and Molly Athey (RUF at UAH); Amos and Jessica Williams (RUF at Alabama A&M); Ken and Angie Burnett (FCA); Franky and Alaina Garcia (church plant in Canada); Dieter Paulson (church plant in Scottsboro, AL); Gannon Miles (seminary student); The Huntsville Pregnancy Resource Center.
Online Donations:
If you would like to give to Christ Presbyterian, you can do so at the following link:
Have you ever heard the expression ‘Lick the calf over’?
My grandmother Hays would say it all the time. Country folk used it (and still do) when a job needed to be done over again, or a decision needed to be reconsidered in the light of changing information or circumstances.
Well, your Session would like to have a ‘do over’ (a ‘mulligan’ as we say in golf) regarding our previous decision to change the order of Sunday School and Worship.
In the last couple of days we have received some very helpful and much appreciated feedback that has caused us to rethink this proposed alteration in our schedule.
Added to this, we have also sensed among us a growing concern that such a big change may not be best for our Church family at this time.
Over the last 19 months you have faithfully endured many hardships and stresses related to the COVID virus, the political upheaval in our land, and other circumstances beyond our control that have placed significant burdens upon all of us. Given this, we believe it is best to keep our normal schedule in place and not add to the difficulties we are presently facing.
Therefore, on September 12 Sunday School will start at 9:30 AM and end at 10:15 AM. Worship will begin at 10:30 AM.
We recognize that this is a last minute decision, and we hope that it does not create any hardships for anyone. But our motive is simply that of doing what we feel is best for the body of Christ.
We love you all so much, and we are greatful for your understanding and patience with us as we seek to care for you in the way that Scripture commands.
So, let’s ‘lick the calf over’ and trust the Lord that He will lead and bless us.
What a joy it is to serve you, and to serve our King with you!