November Newsletter 2007


November 2007 VOL. XXIII No. 8 Pastor: Mark Scholten Asst. Pastor: James Kobb
Veteran’s Day is November 11, 2007. Faith Church would like to honor those members who have served in the armed forces for our country. Please pray for all our soldiers in the military who are risking their lives for our freedom. To all veterans and current military personnel let us give a hearty "Thank You" to them all. World War II Win Worcester Korean Conflict Carl Childers Desert Storm David Rastetter Peace Time Veterans Kermit Best William Mallett Randey Richards Fred Wybenga George Brown Susan Brown
Women in the Church...Coming soon...an opportunity to hear Elyse Fitzpatrick speak on "Developing Christian Contentment." This conference will be held January 25-26, 2008 at Four Points Sheraton in Cuyahoga Falls and is sponsored by Grace Presbyterian Church. There are many options available for this conference. If you would prefer not to spend the night, but do not want to miss out on this great opportunity you may choose for the day price, which is as follows: $25 for Friday (includes one meal and one session) $25 for Saturday (includes lunch and two sessions) If you want a great two-day get away you may choose the entire package. The following prices include a room, three meals and three sessions. $168 per person for a single, private room $108 per person for two people in a room $93 per person for three people in a room $83 per person for four people in a room Registrations are due November 16, 2007. Please contact Avone Blasiman for a registration form.
WIC (Women in the Church) All ladies of Faith Church, members and regular attenders, are invited to come to the last WIC meeting of 2007 on Saturday, November 10^th. Breakfast will be provided and will begin at 9:00 a.m. Following breakfast there will be a time of fellowship, missions reports and the installation of new officers for 2008. All ladies, young and old, are welcome and encouraged to attend.
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS Don’t forget Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, Nov. 4^th. So, Saturday night don’t forget to turn your clocks back one hour. (Spring forward...fall back...remember?) Be on time for church Sunday! Dear Faith Family: Thank you so much for all your generous help to us our last few months with you. From the food, to the babysitting so we could pack, to the help on moving day...we are thankful for it all and will long remember your love and patience with us during our stay with you. We are beginning to settle into our new situation, enjoying our new home and church, and the beautiful area. But, we do miss you all and are thankful for your prayers. The Buchanans
Volunteers needed in Uganda for two weeks... Rev. Chris Copeland of the African Bible College in Kampala, Uganda needs two computer experts to come to Uganda and set up their new computer lab. Their letter states, "We now need someone to come and configure our new twenty-two computers and set up a file server. We expect the task probably will require two people to work for about two weeks. The job needs to be finished by the end of January. Because of the resources involved we want to invite volunteers who can undertake this challenging task in the role of qualified, experienced professionals." Accommodations and meals will be provided. You will need to raise all of your own funds and arrange all the details for your travel to Uganda. If you wish to stay longer than two weeks the Copelands will help you plan some inexpensive "sight seeing" trips. For more technical and detailed information please see the Copeland’s letter on the table in the vestibule or call their USA office in Jackson, Mississippi or go to www.abcuganda.org or www.missionarycopelandfamily.org
Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 3. What is the word of God? A. The holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, the only rule of faith and obedienceThe 66 books of the Old and New Testaments comprise the word of God. Not words of God, but word of God. Revelation is a unified whole, not a collection of random pieces. God, and his ways with men, is the main character in the Bible. Redemption is the main theme and covenant is the central concept. Taken as a whole, and rightly understood and applied, the Bible is our only standard for what we should believe and what we should do. This applies not only to "religious" themes, but to all of life. Looking through the Scriptures we can rightly understand and subdue all of life to the glory of God. We should not drive a wedge between the Old and the New Testaments. "The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.’ There is continuity between the Older and the Newer Testaments. The New did not replace the old, it fulfilled it, brought it to completion. (Matthew 5:17-20) The safest hermeneutical rule is to assume that the OT stands unless the NT alters it. (Take for example the unclean laws (Acts 10:9-16, Mark 7:19) or the ceremonial law (Hebrews). The Bible, rightly understood and applied, is the only rule for faith and practice. "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." (Isaiah 8:20) The law and testimony here are words and prophecy of Isaiah (see v 16). "No dawn" is literally no morning or no light. You have heard of the regulate principle of worship. This is the regulative principle of life. All of life is must be lived according to the law and testimony. Our orthodoxy and our orthopraxy, our doctrine and our life, what we believe and what we practice, come from the word of God. "‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ " (Matthew 4:4, NASB95) Q. 4. How doth it appear that the Scriptures are the word of God? A. The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the word of God, by their majesty and purity; by the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God; by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation: but the Spirit of God bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man, is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very word of God. If we place such a great weight on the revelation that God has provided of himself (it is the owner’s manual for all of human life), how do we know for sure that the Bible is the Word of God? The Scriptures are self-attesting. They claim to be revelation from God. We have reasons to believe them to be the word of God. We could state, for instance, the Bible’s lofty theme (glory of God in the redemption of creation), by the unity of the Scriptures (even though they were written by many men over thousands of years), the purpose (to bring glory to God), their power (to change and comfort the hearts of men and conform them to the image of God). We could mention the astonishing perseveration of the Bible, the historical, archeological accuracy, prophetic fulfillment, or that Christ believed it. But unaided reason alone will not bring a man to believe the Scriptures are the word of God. We must be convinced by the Spirit of God that they are the word of God. "Unless this certainty, higher and stronger than any human judgment, be present, it will be vain to fortify that authority of Scripture by arguments, to establish it by common agreement of the church, or to confirm it with other helps. (Institutes I.viii.i)
Understanding Our Great Salvation: Jesus Saves We have heard the bad news, that we are helpless, guilty sinners. And we have heard the beginning of the Good News, that God has decided to save some. But now the question is how can God save? What will God do to clean up the mess that our sin has caused? Today’s Good news is that Jesus saves. When Joseph found out that his fiancée, Mary was pregnant, and he knew that he was not the father, he decided to break the engagement quietly. Then an angel appeared to Joseph to encourage him to marry Mary. The angel instructed Joseph to name the special child Jesus. Matthew 1:21: "You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." This whole series of meditations is summarized in that verse. We are entangled in sins and we cannot free ourselves. God has chosen to save His people from their sins, and now he has sent Jesus to save them from their sins. Jesus saves. He does all the work, he cleans up all the mess caused by sin. He suffered on the cross to pay the price for sin. Like the old gospel hymn says, "Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow." Many are confused on this very point. They think that faith saves. They think that when they make a commitment to Christ, or when they publicly profess their faith, when they accept Jesus, that that faith saves them. Your faith does not save you. Jesus saves you through faith, or by the instrument of faith. Remember the bowl of cereal in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"? The shrunken children were wallowing around in a bowl of soggy Cheeriosâ. When the father finally noticed them, he scooped them out with a spoon. Now, would the children thank the spoon, or the father? So, too, with faith: it is the spoon that the father uses to save us. Faith does not save; Jesus saves through faith. We call Jesus the Savior with good reason. He saves his people from their sins. Jesus has not died to make salvation possible, but to make it certain. "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him." (John 17:1-2) Jesus came to save his people from their sins, all of his people from all of their sins. And Jesus has achieved that objective; he has truly saved his people. When he uttered from the cross, "It is finished," (John 19: 30) he meant what he said: the price for our salvation had been fully paid. We cannot add anything to the perfect salvation of Christ, nor do we have to. Jesus has paid it all. Salvation is a complete gift; nothing needs to be added. We don’t add our goods works to Christ’s death for our salvation. Christ’s death is our entire salvation. When I ask my young children to clean the dishes, I check their work and I often have to add a little work of my own in order to finish the job. If you check into Jesus’ work, you will find nothing that you have to add. His work was done well, and it is complete. Jesus saves. We don’t even add our faith to the work of Jesus on the cross. Rather, faith rests in what Jesus has done; it doesn’t add a thing. Faith, as Francis Schaeffer has said, is the open and empty hand by which we lay hold of salvation that is freely offered in the gospel. You need a savior, a complete savior. All those whom God has chosen to save from sin Jesus has come to die for. When Jesus died on the cross he had the names of all his people engraved on his hands. "You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Christian, rejoice that all your sins were paid for on the cross, that Jesus saves his people from their sins.
Don’t forget to vote! Mark your calendar for Tuesday, Nov. 6^th. Don’t forget how important it is to go exercise your right to vote!
Our annual food collection box will be in the vestibule from Nov. 4^th through Nov. 18^th. Please place your canned goods and non-perishable items in the box. All collections will be given to anyone in the congregation with a need and the surplus will go to a local food bank. Anyone wishing to give a cash donation rather than canned goods may do so. Please see Greg Blasiman with your request.
Beth Bogue will be speaking to the Sunday School classes on November 11^th to update all of us on her work in Scotland.

Faith Presbyterian Church
2540 South Main Street Akron, Ohio 44319-1137 (330) 644-9654
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