The Citizen, 1998-02-18, Page 19MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
11:00 a.m. - Morning Service
- Sunday School
9:30 a.m. - Belgrave Service
7:30 p.m. - Tuesday Bible Study
2:00 p.m. - Wednesday Bible Study
Wheelchair accessible
Nursery care available
We welcome you to come and worship with us.
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Rev. Christine Johnson - Minister
Church Office 887-6259 Home 887-6540
February 22, 1998
9:30 a.m. Morning Worship
Ethel
11:00 a.m. Morning Worship
Brussels
Monday, Feb. 16 - 7 p.m - "Exploring Rural Theology" Study -
YOU ARE WELCOME!
1\47s
God's Love Is Free
We Welcome You
at
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship
9:30 a.m. Worship Service
10:45 a.m. Christian Education
Pastor Ben Wiebe 887-6388
"Love is Patient and Kind."
1 Corinthians 13:4
PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1998.
From the Minister's Study
Pastor says make personal response to God
By James H. Carne,
Senior Pastor
The Missionary Church,
Auburn
It was his first chance, and, as it
turned out, his last, but the blind
beggar made the most of it. Jesus
would never have again the
opportunity to go through Jericho.
It's fortunate that Bartimaeus was
not given to after-thought, or to
shyness. Had I been in his place I
might have wished for a later
opportunity, with not as many
people around. I like to do things
decently and discreetly.
Bartimaeus seemed to know,
however, that it was now or never,
and, when he learned that Jesus, the
only one who could help him, was
within range, he began to scream
for attention and help and
embarrassed everyone except
himself. Because he did, his life
would be different forever.
"Go," Jesus said, "your faith has
healed you. Immediately he
received his sight and followed
On Sunday, Feb. 15, Pat Pietrek
led the worship service at Brussels
Mennonite Fellowship. Kathy
Procter was pianist and Lena
Siegers led the congregational
singing. Elaine Hiller presented the
children's story.
Pastor David Illman from
Kitchener brought the message
which was based on the fourth
chapter of Hebrews. He spoke
about the invitation each is given to
the throne of grace. However some
may choose not to go.
"We should go to the throne of
grace with confidence. Later we
will be summoned to the throne,
Hundreds of people across
Canada have participated in an
innovative fundraising program by
donating their old and unwanted
vehicles to Kids Help Phone,
Canada's only national, bilingual,
24-hour telephone help line for
children and youth.
Donors call the Kids Help Phone
Vehicle pick-up line at 1-888-350-
5437 and A ADCO Vehicle
Disposal Service will arrange to
have the vehicle towed and
disposed of quickly and properly
through dealer auction or by sale to
a local recycler. Cars, trucks, vans,
snowmobiles or farm motorized
equipment are all accepted in this
program.
The Kids Help Phone Vehicle
Donor Program has raised more
than $35,000 since its inception
two years ago. Donors receive free
towing, an official tax receipt for
the amount of the vehicle's sale,
We preach the benefits
of physical activity...
You
experience
them.
Sharing a Healthier Future'"^ \NJ
with Parmapacnon ®
Jesus along the road." (Mark 10:46-
52)
How does one get the help one
needs from the Lord?
A personal response, based on
that sense of urgent need, is
necessary. In that large crowd of
interested people who thronged
Jesus that day there may have been
many with serious needs, but
Bartimaeus was the only one to
respond personally to his presence
and he was the only one healed.
Most people seem to favour a
corporate response: they like to
repent anonymously and be
forgiven collectively. Not many
respond these days to the ''altar
call"; it requires a personal and a
public, and consequently, an
embarrassing response. Few
submit to being "front and centre",
unless one wants to be married!
Then people, some of whom are
shy and self-conscious, go through
the ordeal of a ceremony that
requires a personal and public
response.
and this is different than being
invited," he said. "When we die,
and are summoned, we have no
choice; we must appear before the
throne."
There are two kinds of judgment,
one for the believer and the other
for the non-believer. The believer
will face an evaluation of his life
because the sins have already been
looked after by Jesus. The non-
believer has already been
condemned.
"Our destiny," he said, "is
determined on this side of death.
Come to the throne now and it will
be the throne of grace, not the
and the satisfaction of knowing that
their vehicle has been disposed of
safely and properly.
Most importantly, proceeds from
this program benefit Kids Help
Phone. As Canada's only national
telephone helpline for children and
youth, Kids Help Phone's profes-
sional counsellors spend thousands
of hours counselling troubled
young people from every province
and territory 24 hours a day, seven
Bartimaeus's need was so great
and so personal that he thought
nothing of reading of himself a
public spectacle by his personal
response.
He made, also, a specific request.
when Jesus invited him to state his
need, his response was immediate
and to the point: "I want to see."
Two men went up to the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the
other a tax collector. The Pharisee
prayed in very general terms but
the tax collector got results wnen
he prayed humbly and specifically,
"God be merciful to me, a sinner."
I tell you, that this man, rather than
the other, went home justified
before God. (Luke 18:9-14
Having made a personal response
and stating a specific request,
Bartimaeus discovered an adequate
resource. No one else in all of
Israel could do for him that which
he needed, and he knew it, but
Jesus could and did. Go, said
Jesus, "your faith has healed you."
Immediately he received his sight
throne of judgment. Grace occurs
when we are given what we don't
deserve. Justice occurs when we
are given what we deserve. Mercy
occurs when God withholds what
we deserve. In God's eyes there are
no good people. We are all sinners,
but those who come to the throne
of grace have been saved."
On Tuesday evening the ladies
will gather at Garlands for the
monthly fellowship meeting. The
youth have planned a bowling
activity at the Molesworth Bowling
Lanes on Friday evening, as well as
the weekly Bible study on
Wednesday evening.
days a week. During 1997 Kids
Help Phone received calls from
over 2,851 different communities
across Canada. Kids Help Phone is
there when children at risk have
nowhere else to turn.
For more information about the
Vehicle Donor Program or Kids
Help Phone and its services, visit
the Kids Help Phone and Bell
Online website at http://kidshelp.
sympatico.ca
and followed Jesus along the road.
The hymn-writer asks, "What can
wash away my sin? Nothing ... but,
the blood of Jesus." Bartimaeus
knew where to go to get results.
I had dealings, recently, with a
"Bartimaeus". This chap and I
worked together in a trucking
outfit. At that time he had little
evolvement in anything religious.
After his retirement he began to
attend a church and became very
involved in community service. He
learned, then, that he had a serious
physical problem and he asked me
to visit him in the hospital.
In a remarkable moment of
revelation he realized that, in spite
of all his good qualities and
community involvement, he really
was not sure about h.s personal
relationship with God.
Now, at that point, some would
have taken their chinces and hoped
for the best, but he wanted to be
sure, so, like Bartimaeus, he made
a personal response and a specific
request and discovered an adequate
resource: he was heard to say, "My
name is in the phone book" of life.
(Rev. 30:15)
It was his first chance, and his
last, but he made the most of it: a
couple of weeks later, he died.
P. Pietrek leads service
Old cars help kids
You are Welcome at the
BLYTH COMMUNITY CHURCH OF GOD
9:45 a.m. - Sunday School for Children and Adults
11:00 a.m. - Morning Worship
Bible Studies - Wednesday 10 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Phone 523-4590 McConnell St., Blyth
HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
MISSIONARY CHURCH
PASTOR JAMES H. CARNE AUBURN 526-7515
ASSOCIATE PASTOR - YOUTH - JEREMY SHUART 523-9788
Sunday 8:30 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
10:00 a.m. - Family Bible Hour
11 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
8 p.m. - Evening Service
Monday 7:30 p.m. - New Hope Support Group
Wednesday 7:30 p.m. - Prayer & Bible Study
Friday 7:30 p.m. - Youth
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
You are welcome this Sunday
Rev. Nancy Beale
FEBRUARY 22 - LAST AFTER EPIPHANY
MORNING PRAYER
Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels
9:30 a.m. 11:15 a.m.
Wheelchair accessible
Pancake Suppers - from 5 to 7 p.m.
In Blyth & Brussels on Tuesday, February 24
Please join us for worship this Sunday
Sunday Morning Service - 10 a.m.
Evening Service - 7:30 p.m.
"You are worthy, Our Xgrd and God to receive glory and
honour and power, you created all things, and by your will
they were created and have their being."
kevelations 4: 11
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
Rev. Adrian A. Van Geest
Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible