November Newsletter 2008

Printable Newsletter November Calendar
Changes In the “Foundations Bible Study	Changes In Evening Worship Service
Due to the changes in our evening worship service on November 2 the Foundations Bible Study will meet on the second Sunday of November on November 9 following morning worship service. The meeting times after November will be announced depending on any changes made to our evening worship service times on a permanent basis.	On November 2 we will be having our evening worship service at 2:15 p.m. Our morning schedule will remain the same and we will have a Congregational Dinner between the services. (Everyone should bring a dish to share.) About half of our church body travels at least thirty minutes to arrive at church. We believe that this change may increase our fellowship and enhance our worship together. This is something of a trial run. Session will meet in November to decide if an afternoon service would benefit the church. We may not change anything, or may have an afternoon service once or twice a month, or every Lord’s Day. We realize that this makes a long day, and that small children need naps, and the increase in fellowship meals is an additional burden. We are seeking your feedback on this possibility. Men of the Church: It is time to step up to the plate, not to eat, but to cook. For the Congregational Dinner on November 2nd the men of the church will provide all the food. We would like food that is completely untouched by female hands. We would also like the men to clean up after the meal. It is time to give our women a well-earned rest. Women of the Church: Your elders would like to meet with you to encourage you after the meal on November 2nd.
MESS Hall and STING Activities
	Nov. 5: Mess Hall will meet at the Scholten’s from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. (During Prayer & Praise time)
	Nov. 14: Mess Hall will meet at the Scholten’s from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Nov. 15: STING will meet 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. (Location TBA) Nov. 21: NOTE THE DATE CHANGE FROM LAST MONTH’S NEWSLETTER. Dust off your dancing shoes! MESS Hall and STING are having a Fall Contra Dance, Friday, November 21. The cost is $5 per person or $15 per family. This dance is for all MESS Hall and STING and their families. (Yes, parents, you get to dance too!) Feel free to wear jeans, jean skirts, and your favorite hoe-down shirts. 6:30 p.m. Arrive, eat and mingle 7:00 p.m. Instructions on the dance are given 7:30 p.m. Dance begins 10:30 p.m. Dance over and clean up begins

Deacon Tidbits
Daylight Savings Time ends November 2^nd. Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour at bedtime on November 1^st. Be on time for church! Can you help? The deacons are seeking an individual or family to furnish the drinks for the meals held at the church. The cost of the drinks can either be donated or reimbursed. Please contact Greg Blasiman if you are willing to serve in this capacity.	The Food Collection Box will be in the vestibule from November 2 through November 23 for you to place your donations in. The canned goods and non-perishable items will be distributed first to any needs within our congregation and the surplus will be donated to a local food bank. If you know of any needs within the congregation please bring it to the attention of one of the deacons. If you would prefer to make a cash donation rather than canned goods please see Greg Blasiman. FREE! FREE!FREE! The Joel Duff Family has an upright freezer they would like to give away to a good home. It is not cooling properly and will need some maintenance. However, it is only seven years old and has a lot of life left in it with some good repairs. If you could use this freezer please feel free to contact Joel and Dawn.
R.U. in a Church Ministry
	Needed: Person to help with audio and church web site If you would be interested in helping with the audio and church web site please see Dave Rastetter. Interested persons should have computer knowledge and be willing to learn Microsoft Front Page.
	WIC
WIC (Women in the Church) will have it’s final 2008 meeting on Saturday, November 8th. Breakfast will be provided beginning at 9:00 a.m. The meeting that follows will have installation of new officers. Also, there will be a devotion on “Women in the New Testament” and a missions update. Watch the vestibule table for a sign up sheet and more information closer to November 8th.
Veteran’s
Veteran’s Day is November 11, 2008. Faith Church would like to honor those members who have served in the armed forces for our country. Please pray for 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. Veteran’s Day is November 11, 2008. Faith Church would like to honor those members who have served in the armed forces for our country. Please pray for 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. (If we have missed anyone in the congregation from this list we are very sorry. Please let the secretary know so we can add you to the list.) World War II: Win Worcester Korean Conflict: Carl Childers Desert Storm: David Rastetter Peace Time: Kermit Best, William Mallett, Randey Richards, Fred Wybenga, George Brown, Susan Brown Don’t forget to vote November 4th! This is a very important election and we all need to exercise our right to vote.
God Saves Sinners by Dr. J. I. Packer “The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine of salvation] in the form of five distinct points (a number due, as we saw, merely to the fact that there were five Arminian points for the Synod of Dort to answer) tends to obscure the organic character of Calvinistic thought on this subject. For the five points, though separately stated, are inseparable. They hang together; you cannot reject one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which the Synod meant them. For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners. “God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing. “Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. “Sinners – men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners – and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedalling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen.” J.I. Packer, “Introductory Essay,” in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen (London: Banner of Truth, 1959)
Proclamation of Thanksgiving
By the President of the United States Abraham Lincoln October 3, 1863 The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union. In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [Signed]A. Lincoln
Thanksgiving Trivia
1. Which President was the first to establish Thanksgiving as a legal national holiday to be held the 4^th Thursday in November? 2. What is the name of the famous rock credited to where the Pilgrims first landed? 3. The Indians who were invited to the Thanksgiving feast were of the Wampanoag tribe. Who was their chief? 4. It is believed that how many women survived to celebrate the first Thanksgiving in 1621? 5. According to the Butterball Turkey company...they recommend that you thaw a wrapped turkey in the refrigerator how long per four pounds of bird? 6. What was the name of the ship the Pilgrims came over on and it’s captain? 7. In what year did the first Macy’s Thanksgiving parade take place? 8. The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was believed to have lasted how long? 9. Every year the President of the United States pardons a turkey and it goes to a public farm called Frying Pan Park in Virginia. Which President is believed to be the first to pardon a turkey and start this annual tradition? 10. Historians have proven that the Pilgrims didn’t really wear those funny hats and buckles on their shoes. True or False?
Joy Beyond the Cross by Walter Chantry "And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." (Luke 18:29, 30) Confronted with the unrelenting demands of the cross, some begin to think of Christianity as a grim and undesirable existence. When a truth lies ignored and forgotten, great emphasis must be given to it. But emphasis on "daily" self-inflicted pain sounds austere if not gruesome. Gospel calls to take up one's cross may seem to be an invitation to take pleasure in self-abuse. It must then be made manifest that our wise Lord's demands cast no bitter pall over the Christian life. Mention of self-denial is essential if we are to be faithful to any who are attracted to the benefits associated with trusting the Lord Jesus. Danger lurks for those who do not carefully count the costs of forsaking this present world to follow him. Enchanted with the bright prospects of the kingdom of God, some receive its announcement with JOY. But "when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by they are offended' (Matthew 13:21). To avoid misrepresentation and to turn men from apostasy our Lord must clarify the reality of losing one's life to enter his kingdom. Still, in our Lord's view, his own cross was not all bleak. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that he "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross." Even when his soul was troubled from taking full measure of the terrors of Golgotha, the only Saviour of sinners never lost sight of the joy beyond. Travail of soul would bring satisfaction. He would gather great spoil by his cross (Isaiah 53:11-12). "Wherefore (because he became obedient unto the death of the cross) God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (Philippians 2:9, 10). just so, the only lasting and fully satisfying joys for any man lie on the other side of a cross. Luke 18:18-30 preserves an outline of our compassionate Lord's interview with the rich young Ruler, and of a subsequent discussion occasioned by it. "Come, take up the cross and follow me" were Jesus' final words to the seeker (Mark 10:21). Abhorring the cross of denying self its beloved riches, the young man sadly abandoned the great Prophet. This inquirer would not inflict pain on himself in order to find eternal life. He desired heaven and all the pleasures of earth too. Then, it seems, the disciples sensed Christ's disappointment with the departure of the sinner. As if to encourage our Lord, who himself was feeling the painful cross of spurned love, Peter spoke. "We have left all, and followed thee." Some men do not snub the cross, but will deny themselves, esteeming companionship with Christ a great boon at any price. Peter meant to console our noble Lord. But a selfless Jesus turned the occasion into an opportunity to comfort his disciples. Attention was given to the blessedness of those who suffer for the kingdom of God's sake. Not one man has ever sacrificed for his Lord without being richly repaid. If the cross is only contrasted with earthly pleasures lost, it may seem hard and threatening. But when the cross is weighed in the balances with the glorious treasures to be had through it, even the cross seems sweet. As Samuel Rutherford wrote, "Christ's cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbour." Or as the self-denying apostle wrote, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). Perhaps the most astonishing part of our Lord's teaching to the disciples on this occasion was his reference to "this present time". Blessings for the cross-bearing servants of Christ are not all reserved for another world. Though their great inheritance is "reserved in heaven" for them (1 Peter 1:4), God has granted his people a foretaste of heaven "in this present time". A clear comparison is drawn, "manifold more in this present time", "more" than was left behind of houses, lands, parents, brothers, wife or children! The man who has denied self for Christ can never say he is a loser by it, even if the comparison is merely between benefits in this world as compared with losses. Careful auditing of each Christian's ledger arrives at confirmation of this balance: "manifold more in this present time". Though the pains of self-denial are nonetheless real, the fraternity of the cross is a bright and cheery society even now in life on earth. Often our Lord grants manifold more in kind. More is given of the very object sacrificed. Peter had left all to follow Jesus. He had left a quiet fishing village for a tumultuous life of constant pressure by the crowds. He never again returned to the tranquil life of a fisherman. Yet he received a peace which the world cannot give (John 14:27). Peace with a reconciled God, peace concerning the future, and peace flowing from the assured presence of the Son of God, filled his soul. Peter was severed from a beloved father and other relatives. Many Christians have lost the affection of parents in confessing Christ. Some have been cut off from brothers, sisters and friends. Yet who are more deeply loved in the church than those who have paid the dearest price to declare their faith boldly. Saintly old men become fathers and older women mothers to the cross-bearer. What a vast number of brothers and sisters await him at the Lord's house! How many have found fellowship in the assembly of the redeemed more intimate and gratifying than a home lost for Christ's sake. We are replete with "manifold more" in this present time. Some Christians have found that a financial cross awaits them. It was this expectation which the "Good Master" had set before the rich young ruler. His actual loss of gold would have been felt. But had he taken up the cross, thereby losing houses or lands, he would have received 'manifold more'. This is not a crass materialistic promise that our Lord will eventually multiply the bank account of any who follow him. But "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24:1). And the God of all the earth has promised to add food, clothing and all other needs to those who seek first his kingdom (Matthew 6:33). Rich men have seen their riches take wings and fly away. Some who once were wealthy are at this very moment destitute. But David could say, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Whatever your losses '"for the kingdom of God's sake" it will not take much imagination to discover "manifold more" in kind given to you. With that in the background our Lord adds even greater bliss, "and in the world to come life everlasting." Ah! the world to come! Ugly as the cross appeared in Gethsemane, do you think our Lord Jesus regrets his cross? While he sits upon the throne of God, around which many angels, the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders and thousands of spirits of men render perfect worship to him and sing "Worthy is the Lamb", can there be any fretting over the cross? Do you imagine that those who live in his glorious presence complain of crosses? When Stephen walks in his resurrected body in the heavenly Jerusalem where God himself shall dwell with him, how light an affliction will his stoning seem to be! If in this life Paul could say, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18), then a thunderous "Amen" will brush aside crosses as nothing in glory. Count it as a profound truth which Christ taught: '"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Matthew 5:11,12). Some become hypnotized by crosses. Their eyes are riveted on the cost of self-denial. Or they grumble that others have not such heavy crosses as they. Then comes the temptation to abandon the cross as the rich young Ruler did. Our Lord counsels, "Rejoice and be exceeding glad"— think of your reward in heaven! You have joined the noble ranks of the prophets. joy in his kingdom comes with a cross. Most of those who fail to experience the joy of the Lord have refused to take up a cross! – Taken from The Shadow of the Cross
Thanksgiving Trivia Answers:
1. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill in Congress making it ALWAYS the fourth Thursday in Nov. Abraham Lincoln simply PROCLAIMED IT (ha...tricked you with the article on page 4 huh?) 2. Plymouth Rock. 3. Massasoit 4. Only 5 women survived...and those five cooked the whole meal! 5. One day for every four pounds (breast side up). 6. The Mayflower. Captain Christopher Jones. 7. 1924 8. Three days. 9. President Truman (1947). 10. True. No one knows how this Pilgrim image look began.