Tomorrow we celebrate the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. We are focusing on Jeremiah 28:9 where Jeremiah states: "But the prophet who prophecies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true!" With predictions of the end of the world a little over a month ago, changed now to November??, it is understandable that people like myself who want to see prophecy alive and well in the 21st Century church cringe at these false prophets!
Jeremiah had a real difficult task, telling people the truth when the false prophets were telling them what only what they wanted to hear. Why is it that people think that telling the truth has to be negative. If we look at history the truth could have been a great help to the people in Jerusalem. They may not have rebelled against Babylon again and ended up with everything destroyed in 586 BC. I am not a fan of "positive thinking" which overlooks the truth, but I am a great fan of "thinking positive" which takes into account the truth of what is happening but remembers that the Lord is king and we serve him!
May the world have less false prophets who tell people what they want to hear and more prophets like Jeremiah who reluctantly told people the truth, sometimes in dramatic fashion, to point them to repentance, life with God and freedom in the truth of redemption!
May we all honor God first and let everything else fall into the right place in our life! May we look at the world with truth as our perspective and Christ as our lens!
May we all be one who is truly sent!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
June 12, 2011 Pentecost Sunday & Confirmation Celebration
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Tomorrow is Pentecost!! I can't wait to see what our God, through his Holy Spirit, will do! Tomorrow is also Confirmation and we rejoice with the Angela Knickelbein and her family, as well as Randall Schliebe and his family on this very special day!
Pentecost is the special festival, 50 days after the Resurrection, 10 days after the Ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God. In the Hebrew history of Exodus 19, Pentecost, the festival of weeks, harvest or firstfruits is 50 days after the great Sabbath of Passover. The first Pentecost is 50 days after the Sabbath because it is 7 Sabbaths after the first day following Passover. This is the the giving of the Law! It is the time in Exodus 32:38 we see 3000 rebel against Moses and God and at Pentecost we see 3000 given the Holy Spirit.
This is a great day and I expect wonderful things. Confirmation is the affirming of the gifts given to us in Baptism. It is the public confession of what happened in our Baptism. Last Sunday our newest son: Bryan Emanuel Noah was given the gift of faith, eternal life and the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. When he was Baptized, as we were, he received the Holy Spirit like the Apostles received the Holy Spirit in John 20:20-23 "19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Even though they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Resurrection, the day of Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit has them! We pray over our Confirmands and ask that the Holy Spirit gets a hold of their whole life and that they live for him each day!!
Please join us to partake in this great and awesome celebration! We will be praying over Angela and Randall, as well as asking the Holy Spirit to manifest his presence and gifts among us, his family!
If you are away you will find the announcements @ www.crossandres.org
Also a note: We will have the 12:15 service again starting next Sunday! Many talked to me, following Matthew 18, sharing their concern that this is unique service and so we will continue it through the summer.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan
Tomorrow is Pentecost!! I can't wait to see what our God, through his Holy Spirit, will do! Tomorrow is also Confirmation and we rejoice with the Angela Knickelbein and her family, as well as Randall Schliebe and his family on this very special day!
Pentecost is the special festival, 50 days after the Resurrection, 10 days after the Ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God. In the Hebrew history of Exodus 19, Pentecost, the festival of weeks, harvest or firstfruits is 50 days after the great Sabbath of Passover. The first Pentecost is 50 days after the Sabbath because it is 7 Sabbaths after the first day following Passover. This is the the giving of the Law! It is the time in Exodus 32:38 we see 3000 rebel against Moses and God and at Pentecost we see 3000 given the Holy Spirit.
This is a great day and I expect wonderful things. Confirmation is the affirming of the gifts given to us in Baptism. It is the public confession of what happened in our Baptism. Last Sunday our newest son: Bryan Emanuel Noah was given the gift of faith, eternal life and the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. When he was Baptized, as we were, he received the Holy Spirit like the Apostles received the Holy Spirit in John 20:20-23 "19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Even though they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Resurrection, the day of Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit has them! We pray over our Confirmands and ask that the Holy Spirit gets a hold of their whole life and that they live for him each day!!
Please join us to partake in this great and awesome celebration! We will be praying over Angela and Randall, as well as asking the Holy Spirit to manifest his presence and gifts among us, his family!
If you are away you will find the announcements @ www.crossandres.org
Also a note: We will have the 12:15 service again starting next Sunday! Many talked to me, following Matthew 18, sharing their concern that this is unique service and so we will continue it through the summer.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan
Friday, June 3, 2011
June 5, 2011 The 7th Sunday of Easter
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This Sunday we rejoice in joining with our High School group of youth as they lead the Worship Service!
At the beginning of the 10:15 Service we look forward to the Lord bringing Bryan Emanuel Noah Schindel (Ben) into his family through Holy Baptism! Please plan to join us for great cheesecake following the Service.
For the months of June, July and August we are NOT going to have a 12:15 Worship Service. I personally will miss this amazing time of worship but we hope everyone who is around, and not at the lake etc, will attend the 10:15 Service! It is important even when it so nice out to spend time in Worship and partake of the Lord's Supper.
Check out crossandres.org for the Announcements for those who are away! I am asking everyone to pray for Paul Knickelbein, Drew Maybee, Johannes Stauffer, Jeff and Marsha Comella who are in London and Sheffield England this week. Please pray for safe travel and a great immersion experience as they join other believers in seeing what the Lord is doing and reaching people with message of his salvation, love and power in a very secular culture! Sheffield has been blessed by having an exciting renewal of the Acts church in a former blue collar mining and milling area that has transformed to a multi-cultural, high tech and university area. Sounds familiar to where the Lord has placed us, so I am very thankful that when these 5 return on the 10th we will have had 12 people immersed in what the Lord is doing and asking what the Lord has in store for us in the future!
NEXT Sunday we rejoice in having Angela Knickelbein and Randall Schliebe affirming what the Lord did in them during their Baptism and being Confirmed into the Church. Yesterday we celebrated Ascension Day and so we are counting down the 10 days that our Lord Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Power that he would give them. Next Sunday it is Pentecost so please join us to experience the Holy Spirit and His Power!
Love in Christ our Risen Lord and Savior,
Pastor Bryan
This Sunday we rejoice in joining with our High School group of youth as they lead the Worship Service!
At the beginning of the 10:15 Service we look forward to the Lord bringing Bryan Emanuel Noah Schindel (Ben) into his family through Holy Baptism! Please plan to join us for great cheesecake following the Service.
For the months of June, July and August we are NOT going to have a 12:15 Worship Service. I personally will miss this amazing time of worship but we hope everyone who is around, and not at the lake etc, will attend the 10:15 Service! It is important even when it so nice out to spend time in Worship and partake of the Lord's Supper.
Check out crossandres.org for the Announcements for those who are away! I am asking everyone to pray for Paul Knickelbein, Drew Maybee, Johannes Stauffer, Jeff and Marsha Comella who are in London and Sheffield England this week. Please pray for safe travel and a great immersion experience as they join other believers in seeing what the Lord is doing and reaching people with message of his salvation, love and power in a very secular culture! Sheffield has been blessed by having an exciting renewal of the Acts church in a former blue collar mining and milling area that has transformed to a multi-cultural, high tech and university area. Sounds familiar to where the Lord has placed us, so I am very thankful that when these 5 return on the 10th we will have had 12 people immersed in what the Lord is doing and asking what the Lord has in store for us in the future!
NEXT Sunday we rejoice in having Angela Knickelbein and Randall Schliebe affirming what the Lord did in them during their Baptism and being Confirmed into the Church. Yesterday we celebrated Ascension Day and so we are counting down the 10 days that our Lord Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Power that he would give them. Next Sunday it is Pentecost so please join us to experience the Holy Spirit and His Power!
Love in Christ our Risen Lord and Savior,
Pastor Bryan
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