MIDWEEK MESSAGE #173
Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #173. I appreciate you taking some of your valuable time to read the Message. I’d like to say it is the “happening place” for all things OVCF but that would be overkill. ☺ However, I do say thanks for reading.
I’d like to remind you to pray for Karen Fisher this week as our School related prayer. Karen is the bookkeeper at OVHS and she and her husband Bruce are part of our OVCF family.
Also, please remember to pray for Caylan Akerson, our college student of the week. Caylan is a student at IU, majoring in Accounting and Finance. She is married to Alec and is Wayne and Valarie’s daughter-in-law.
After a rather uneventful summer, things are starting to pick up at OVCF.
- Last Wednesday, the 6th, Deeper started back up for the school year. Deeper-which is for Middle & High school students-meets at the East homestead from 4-5:30 every Wednesday. If your student would like to attend, but doesn’t have a ride, please let Pastor Ryan know.
- This past Sunday, the 10th, ROOTS, the Sunday night program for Middle & High school students began meeting again after their summer hiatus. ROOTS meets every Sunday night from 5-7:00. If you would like to provide snacks for the teens (and yes, they like to eat) there is a sign-up sheet on the info table.
- This Wednesday, the 13th, “66” starts. The last couple MMs have told you about that study. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. We meet from 6-7:00.
- Ladies Bible Study also starts this week on Thursday nights from 6:30-8:30. For more info see Sally Carlson, Macy Carlson, Marilyn Hill or Hope East. The study is The Names of God taught by Melissa Spoelstra.
Focusing on our college students again this week, here are a few more to pray for:
- Emily Bray- Ivy Tech, Nursing (Emily is Caylan Akerson’s sister)
- Meilynn Dow- USI, Major in Nursing
- Mary Rose Farmer- ISU, Major in General Ed with Phys Ed as her specialty.
- Cayden Paquette- Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL. Major in Business Management and Marketing/Minor in Coaching.
I will give you the full list next week and will include their mailing addresses if you would like to send them a note that you are thinking of them and praying for them.
I mentioned in last week’s Midweek Message that Josh Henson would be at the shelter house after both services selling mums. In spite of the Apple Butter Festival this weekend, he has made arrangements to be here this Sunday after the second service if you would like to purchase a mum from him. Cost: $10 each
This past Sunday I gave a list of my sermon titles for the next five weeks. I had several thank me for the sermon and tell me they cannot wait to hear the rest. That honestly makes my heart feel good. As I was giving the sermons for the next five weeks, I saw several writing furiously trying to get them all down. Just in case you missed them or were unable to get them all down, here is where we will be going for the duration of this series:
- September 17- Our Unchanging God– Heb.13:8; James 1:17; various others
- September 24- Our One True God– Deut. 4:15-40
- October 1- God is Great…God is Good?– Romans 8:28-29, 31-32; James 1:16-18
- October 8- The Good Father– Matthew 6:9; Mark 14:36; Ps. 103:13
- October 15- The God You Can K.N.O.W.– Psalm 18
- October 22- Pastor Ryan preaching while Jo and I take a Sunday off
I hope that helps you in preparing for the next few weeks. The sermons during the months of November and December will follow the theme of the season-Gratitude and Christmas.
Now to close on a more serious note: it should not have escaped you the importance of this past Monday: 9/11. I seriously doubt there is anyone of us who could ever forget what we were doing or where we were when we heard the news of the planes hitting the towers; the plane going down in the Pennsylvania cornfield or the plane hitting the Pentagon. Conversely, I doubt any of us can forget our emotions and actions of the next several days as we watched, cried, and stared in disbelief at the pure hatred exhibited and reckless abandonment of caring for human lives that unfolded. Twenty-two years later we still can see the towers burning. We still hear the ramifications of those actions. For those who lost loved ones, the pain will always be there.
But let’s take a twist from something said Sunday. Bobby Anderson gave a communion thought on the love of Christ and he talked about dying for his child, his wife, even his friend. But which one of us would die for one of the terrorists of that morning, or ever since? I am hard-pressed to raise my hand. But I know ONE who did. “But God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). I have no doubt that probably all of us would die for a family member or a friend, but die for an enemy, someone with that much hate? Probably not. AND YET, that is exactly what Jesus did. And that was one of the great points from Bobby’s meditation Sunday. The love of Christ led Him to the cross, as well as, to stay on that cross.
So…never forget what happened on 9/11 and remember to show your appreciation for those who sacrificed and those brave men and women who stand in line behind them. But more than that, allow yourself to ponder the great and magnificent love of Jesus lived out in the shadow of the cross.
Have a great week. I love you all.
Pastor Bill