HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-04-20, Page 231pril 23: ,Acts 4:32ff
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Church of Canada
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
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SUNDAY, APRIL 23
Li 1 Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels
9:30 a.m. 11:15 a.m.
The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273
Blyth United Church
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Sunday, April 23
Worship Service, Sunday School & Nursery
11:00 a.m.
Guest preacher: Tom Dunbar
Minister: Rev. Robin McGauley
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Office: 523-4224
Sanctuary
Peeade 70ta 6€4 €"/"A
Sunday, April 23
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 coguallnitY Chilreli of
1101
0041
,„,AND_ "The Church is not a
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0 It is People Touching 2 People"
Sunday 9:45 a.m. - Power Hour Circus
(Ring of Relationships)
11:00 a.m. - Worship Service
Mid-week Bible Studies
Phone 440-8379 308 Blyth Rd. E. - Pastor Les Cook 523-4590
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
Sunday, apftit 23
11:00 a.m. - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
9:30 a.m. - Sunday Belgrave Service
Wheelchair accessible
Nursery care available
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
Outdoor service
Rev. Cathrine Campbell led members of Melville
Presbyterian Church in an early Easter morning service at
Maple Street in Brussels. (Vicky Bremner photo)
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BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, April 23
Ethel United Church
9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
MISSIONARY CHURCH
SING A SONG OF
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Auburn - 526-1131
PASTOR DAVE WOOD
9:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
7:30 p.m.
7:15 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
- Family Bible Hour
- Morning Worship Service
- Evening Worship Service
- Jr. & Sr. Youth Bible Study
- Olympians
- Adult Bible Study
Sunday
Tuesday Tuesday
Wednesday
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2006. PAGE 23.
From the Minister's Study
Pastor talks of the message of the cross
By Pastor Dave Wood
Huron Chapel Evangelical
Missionary Church
The cross!
It rests on the time line of history
like a compelling diamond.
Its tragedy summons all sufferers.
Its absurdity attracts all critics.
Its hope lures all searchers.
As Paul writes, "the message of the
cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God."
My, what a piece of wood! History
has idolized it. And despised it, gold
plated it and burned it, worn it and
trashed it.
History has done everything to it
but ignore it. That's the one option
that the cross does not offer. No one
can ignore it! You can't ignore a piece
of lumber that suspends the greatest
claim in history: A crucified
carpenter claiming that He is God on
earth!
The cross.
Its bottom line is sobering: if the
account is true, it is history's hinge.
Everything, I mean everything, is
centred upon it!
If it is not true, it is history's
greatest hoax. (Max Lucado Six
Hour One Friday)
But my friends, I believe it is true!
I believe in the evidence for it, the
power behind it and the result that it
continues to make in lives
It may be as Paul pens, a stumbling
block for some and foolishness for
others but to us who are being called,
this Christ of the cross is the power
and the wisdom of God!
And yet, not all understood, not all
believed.
The Jewish leaders had been
scheming and lobbying the city
against Him.
In the middle of the night He was
arrested by the mob in the Garden of
Gethsemane, dragged before Annas
the High Priest, then before Caiaphas
and the Sanhedrin.
All this examining and cross-
examining took place through • the
early hours of the morning (Jesus
hadn't slept for at least 24 hours).
Then, when they felt it was a
.reasonable enough hour of the
morning, Jesus was brought to
Pontius Pilate [the Roman Governor)
for his rubber stamp approval on
what the Jewish leaders had
determined should happen.
The accusations they made before
Pilate were that Jesus was plotting
against Rome - treason punishable by
death. Pilate was reluctant - he could
smell a rat.
He said: "I find no fault in this
man". But finally he relented to
appease the locals, and crucifixion
was ordered. By late afternoon Jesus
was dead.
Who was responsible for Jesus
dying on the Cross?
Lig* 1111atet -
Maim relialtaiiip
6,1
Mondays 6:45 pm Junior Girls
Mondays & Tuesdays 7:00 pm Small Group
Wednesdays 6:00-8:30 pm ALPHA
Fridays 700 pm Youth Group
Pastor Ernest Dow - 523-4848 /
getlivingwater.org
Perhaps you say it was us! All of
sinful mankind - for if it weren't for
our sin He would not have needed to
die.
Truly, there were many hands that
had a part in holding the hammer,
which pounded the nails in Jesus'
hands. But what I'm asking is: Who
was ultimately responsible for Jesus
going to the Cross?
Look with me at these amazing
facts that the Word of God declares.
I. God sent his Son into the world.
John 3:16.
It all began with God. God saw our
plight; that we were helplessly and
hopelessly lost in sin. We were cut off
from any kind of relationship with
Him. So He took radical action.
He sent His only Son, the Prince of
Glory, into the world on a dark but
vital mission, behind enemy lines to
purchase the captives of earth back to
Himself.
So, from the palaces of Heaven's
glory to an obscure stable, God sent
His only begotten Son into the world,
that the world through Him might be
saved.
2. God prepared His Son for the
mission - Isaiah 53:2a. "For He shall
grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground."
Like a gardener, God planted His
own seed in a virgin's womb, and
watched Jesus delivered - the babe of
Bethlehem.
And He watched Him grow
through childhood, into adolescence,
into manhood He grew up strong and
holy.
And all the while, God Himself
was preparing Him for what He must
do. He was preparing the tender plant
to be cut down. Lamb.
Ali through life, for 33 years, God
was preparing His Son for the
mission.
3. God drew his S011 to the cross:
- When the time was right - when
the sacrifice was ready - God
summoned Jesus to Jerusalem.
As He and His disciples travelled
there He began to speak about dying.
They didn't understand it, but Jesus
knew that He was being led by God
into the final, all-important, conflict.
The Father led Him into a garden for
the final 'briefing' - an agonizing
night of wrestling with the task
before Him and summoning strength
in communion with the Father. Then
the Father led Him on to trial, and to
the Cross. It was the Father who led
Him up the Via Dolorosa ('the way of
suffering'), carrying His own Cross.
God drew His Son to the Cross
4. God places His Son on the altar.
If you have any doubts about who
sacrificed Jesus' life, read Isaiah 53:
4, 6, 10, I I. Listen to the worlds of
these verses.
He bore it all. All our shame, all
our condemnation, all our grief - it
was put on Him. And. in that moment
the Father turned away. (Jesus cried
out, "My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me?" - that may well
be the cry of every soul in hell. Jesus
cried it once for all who would put
their trust in Him.)
Finally, Jesus cried out once more:
"It is finished". The mission was
accomplished. What a saviour! Now
let me ask: why.
For love. "God so loved the world .
. ." Such a love that makes all other
loves pale into insignificance beside
it!
Our Response'?
The Cross makes a two-fold call at
Easter.
You must come to the Cross!
Jesus said that "No man may come
to the Father except through Him"
The price Jesus paid does not count
for you. The penalty still has to be
paid, and you must pay it.
But today, there is opportunity. The
Saviour. Jesus, is standing with arms
wide open receiving any and all who
will come.
This is the wonder of Christmas,
the Babe grew up.
The cross is the true wonder of
Easter, the Man became the Lamb
that takes away the sins of the world.
And as we gather, as we consider
the depths of the love of God it is
fitting, it is right, that we search our
hearts, and come to the cross.
For the joy that was set before Him
He endured the cross. For the love
that the Eternal Father has for us,
Jesus died. God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself.
And this same God invites us to
come.
10:30 a.m. - Worship & Sunday School
at Blyth Public School.
smrner of King & Mill