The Citizen, 2004-03-11, Page 16Cornerstone
Bible
Fellowship
Ethel
Sunday: 9:45-10:30 - Communion
11:00 • 12:00 - Family Bible Hour and Sunday School
Wednesday: 7:00 • 9:00 pm - Youth (ages 12 & up)
Friday: 7:30 pm - Home Bible Studies
John 14:6 - Jesus said. "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, no
one comes to the Father, but through Me."
Call Pastor Andrew at 887-6123
St. Michael's
it Roman Catholic Church 13
254 Drummond St. E., Blyth
Saturday Night Mass
at 7:00 pm
Father John Johnson, Pastor
357-2435
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Joan Golden - Diaconal Student Minister
Church Office 887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wcl.on.ca
March 14
Ethel United Church
9:30 a.m.
Worship Service & Sunday School
Brussels United Church
11:00 a.m.
Worship Service & Sunday School
Peeetze ea Oft ateved4eit
Sunday, March 14
Morning Worship Service - 10 a.m.
Evening Worship Service - 7:30 p.m.
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible
Monday
Wednesday
Sunday 9:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
7:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
- Family Bible Hour
Morning Worship Service
Evening Worship Service
- Sports Night
- Crusaders - JK to Grade 6
- Youth
- Adult Bible Study
Community Church
80/kNN
Of ry
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"The Church is not a
04, Building, 'et ,:; It is People Touching
2
Sunday 9:15 a.m. - Prayer Meeting
9:45 a.m. - Sunday School
11:00 a.m. - Worship Service
Several mid-week events
Phone 523-4875 308 Blyth Rd. E. - Pastor Les Cook 523-4590
001),ANDEks
People"
HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
MISSIONARY CHURCH
SINIGASONOF
XDraiSe Auburn - 526-1131
C.::-/C3"I'D PASTOR DAVE WOOD - 523-4941
BLYTH UNITED CHURCH
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Sunday, March 14
Worship Service & Sunday School - 11:00 am
Lent Ill
firee 7Veleaose
Minister: Rev. Dr. Eugen Bannerman
Office: 523-4224
Blyth United Church is a welcoming community of faith.
We celebrate God's presence through worship and study, and through
responding to the needs and gifts of each other.
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
11:00 a.m. - Sunday Morning Service
- Sunday School
9:30 a.m. - Sunday Belgrave Service
Wheelchair accessible
Nursery care available
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
2vezetweed vacc to entice awl eocnatelz (*ter% ad
MARCH 14
HOLY EUCHARIST
THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels
9:30 a.m. 11:15 a.m.
The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273
PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2004.
From the Minister's Study
RRSP: Relate, Resonate, Surrender, Pray
By Pastor Ernest Dow
Living Water Christian
Fellowship (EMC), Blyth
(Prompted by chapters 8-14 of
Rick Warren's best-selling book,
The Purpose-Driven Life)
Christians commonly refer to what
we gather to do on Sunday morning
as "worship", but worship is far
broader than that. Worship comes
from the root "worth-ship", that to
which we ascribe value or
importance. To what do Canadians
ascribe value these days?.The news
recently reported that -February was
the best month in four years for
Registered Retirement Savings Plan
sales; we've been pouring billions of
dollars into RRSPs.
Everybody's trying to save up a
"nest egg" for their old age. But this
life is not the end; some day we will
choose to value what God values,
and to grieve over the things He
grieves over. Our heart will be
resonating with His, vibrating in
tune with His passions. A
worshipper desires to know God
above all else; the Psalms use words
like longing, yearning, thirsting,
hungering.
(That's why Jesus offers living
water!)
Meditating on God's Word is
helpful in learning His mind and
approach on matters, teaching our
mind to resonate with His wisdom.
Rick Warren writes, "When you
think about a problem over and over
in your mind, that's called worry.
When you think about God's Word
over and over in your mind, that's
meditation. If you kr— lit* to
worry, you already to
now we're pulling in tandem with
God, we've stepped into yoke with
Christ. William Booth once said,
"The greatness of a man's power is
in the measure of his surrender."
In Mel Gibson's box-office smash
The Passion of the Christ, the devil
is portrayed as a ghoulish being with
a pale face that follows the
proceedings at a distance, delighting
in the destruction that is about to
befall the Son of God. But it's Jesus'
perfect submission and surrender
that mysteriously changes the plot
from demonic destruction to the
Suffering Servant's salvation.
Because He surrendered in every
detail, He provided the perfect
sacrifice that was prophesied
centuries before, the divine plan to
redeem mankind; for us, the
Destroyer was defeated.
PRAY: What would a relationship
be without communication? Best
friends can tell each other anything.
Brother Lawrence was a lay brother
in an order of Carmelites in Paris,
where he served in the kitchen as a
lowly cook for the monastery. He
found he was able to turn even the
most commonplace and menial
tasks, such as preparing meals and
washing dishes, into acts of praise
and communion with God. He said
the key to friendship with God is
changing your attitude toward what
you do: what you normally do for
yourself, begin doing for God,
whether it is eating, relaxing, or
taking out the trash.
If we have felt cheated or
disappointed in certain areas of our
life, we may need to confess some
hidden anger and resentment at God.
We harbour resentment toward God
over past hurts and unanswered
prayers until we mature enough to
understand God uses everything for
good in our lives.
People often blame God for hurts
caused by other; this creates what
William Backus calls "your hidden
rift with God". Instead, develop
candid honesty like the book of
Psalms in which we find ranting,
raving, doubts, fears, and
resentments (along with a lot of
good stuff) all poured out to God in
passionate prayer.
Get real with the Lord — He can
take it!
When Brother Lawrence lay on his
deathbed, rapidly losing physical
strength, he said to those around
him, "I am not dying. I am just doing
what I have been doing for the past
40 years, and doing what I expect to
be doing for all eternity."
They asked, "What is that?"
He replied: "I am worshipping the
God I love!"
Though just a poor helper in an
obscure monastery, he had
discovered the best possible
investment of all time. A better kind
of "RRSP".
Have you seen the movie
The Passion of the Christ yet?. 3
Now showing in Goderich
10:30 a.m. - Contemporary Worship
1:5-1 3
Pastor: Ernest Dow - 523-4848 k
www.tcc.on.ca/-dowfam 1wwp...0.50.www.
at Blyth Public School, ‘ corner of King & Mill
"You were
formed for
God's Family"
Sunday, March 14
die, and at that moment our savings meditate! You just.,...
won't be able to do a thing for us. Is your attention from:,,
there a better investment — the Bible verses."
witch
ilems to
dividends of which will last beyond SURRENDER: If truly
our funeral? worship God, we'll yield to Him,
The Bible tells us the most give in to His guidance. But rather
valuable thing in the universe is than giving up the fort, God puts us
God. Valuing and treasuring Him is a in charge of it, on behalf of Him!
far better investment than temporary There's a blessing that comes with
RRSPs. Worship can be understood surrender; it's actually a freeing
using the acronym "RRSP": Relate, sensation.
Resonate, Surrender, and Pray. Suddenly I'm not in charge any
RELATE: Worship is about more (as if I ever was!); my destiny
relationship, God created us to be is God's business, not mine. That
able to relate to Him and enjoy relieves our shoulders of a devilish
friendship with Him. We were responsibility they were never
planned for God's pleasure. God designed for in the first place.
designed humans in particular with Surrender strengthens us because
heart, soul, mind, and strength
having the potential to love and
enjoy relationship with Him.
A chief way God intends for us to
relate to Him is through worship.
There was a problem, though: our
sins had separated us from God and
made us disgusting to His sense of
pure holiness. You wouldn't want to
stop after you'd just cleaned and
vacuumed your car and take a
freshly dead skunk from the side of
the road and put it on the seat beside
you. And that's not even an iota of
how abominable sin is to the
Almighty. That's why Jesus came:
He became sin for us, smashing
down the dividing barrier that
separated us from God.
When we receive Him and realize
the forgiveness His blood offers, our
Heavenly Father imputes or
accounts the Son's righteousness and
purity to us, so suddenly we're
acceptable in heaven.
RESONATE: Spouses or best
friends may discover that, the more
you hang around with someone, you
start to be able to know what they're
thinking, how they'll respond. Close
relationship makes it possible to
resonate, to think and act similarly.
Worshipping God likewise tunes us
in to His agenda, His purposes,
understanding and taking to heart
what the Kingdom is all about.
If we truly worship God, we will
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