Pastor Don's Message

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=40 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="387785a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Center Bethel Church of God, Alverton, PA</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Center Bethel Church of God, Alverton, P"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Visitors Page"><U>Visitors Page</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events News "><U>Events & News </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Library"><U>Church Library</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Camp Sonrise Mt. and Grove Manor Homes"><U>Camp Sonrise Mt. and Grove Manor Homes</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daily Devotional"><U>Daily 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<div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events News "><U><B>Events & News</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U><B>About Us</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Library"><U><B>Church Library</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Relevant Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Youth Page"><U><B>Youth Page</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Camp Sonrise Mt. and Grove Manor Homes"><U><B>Camp Sonrise Mountain</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23_grove_manor_homes.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Camp Sonrise Mt. and Grove Manor Homes"><U><B>Grove Manor Homes</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Resources"><U><B>When Life is Difficult</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Steps to Peace with God"><U><B>Steps to Peace with God</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daily Devotional"><U><B>Daily Devotional</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21_contact.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=440 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="51c64643.jpg"> <div> <I>Sunday Services</I></div> <div> <I><IMG SRC="51b20460.jpg" border=0 width="288" height="326" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="12" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="worship_services"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>8:00 and 10:30 am </B><B>Worship</B><B> Services</B></div> <div> Announcements</div> <div> Invocation</div> <div> Congregational Praise Hymn or Chorus</div> <div> Receive tithes and offerings</div> <div> Children's Message</div> <div> Congregational Prayer Hymn</div> <div> Prayer Requests and Prayer</div> <div> Special Music <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >(*Choir 10:30 Service)</FONT></div> <div> Scripture Reading</div> <div> Pastor's Message</div> <div> Congregational Hymn</div> <div> Benediction</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="sunday_school"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>9:00 - 9:30 am  - Coffee Time</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>9:30 am Sunday School</B></div> <div> Classes for Nursery, Kindergarten, Primary and Primary 2, Jr. High, Sr. High,</div> <div> Ladies and Men's (all ages),  Three Classes for Singles and Couples (All Ages)</div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="cgya"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>6:00 pm </B>(except Summer) <B>Jr. and Sr. SHEMA (</B>CGYA Church of God Youth Association)</div> <div> Two age groups for youth activities.</div> <bR> <div> <B>*Our Choirs:  Sr Choir</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B> (ages 18 yrs+)</B></FONT><B>, Youth Choir</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B> (ages 12 - 18)</B></FONT><B>, God's Choir</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B> (ages 6 - 11)</B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="pastors_message_1_1_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="5389da00.jpg" border=0 width="157" height="160" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="9" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>When you read the Bible, do you expect to hear God?</B></div> <bR> <div> There are many views on the Bible, but most church people associate it with God.  Still the range of reliance on the Bible is great.  For me, the Bible is God's Word and is our only rule for faith and practice.  This understanding does reduce the number of Christian organizations that I would fit.  The Churches of God hold to this understanding of the Bible.  With this view of the Bible, do we expect to hear God every time we read it?</div> <div> For many this question would puzzle them.  It is difficult to answer a question when they don't have much personal experience in the area.  It is unfortunately true that many people in the church seldom open the Bible and read.  They lack the experience with the Word of God to know whether they would hear God from the text.  We would expect a person who claims a relationship with God would want to get to know Him better and have Him speak to them.</div> <div> For some this question would need qualified to be only when it supports what they want to hear.  We have all experienced having conversations with people who have selective hearing and filter out whatever they don't want to hear or admit.  These types treat God the same way.  They filter everything they read in the Bible through their own understandings and desires, and ignore anything that doesn't agree.  They get excited when God's Word tells them what they want to hear.  Some even rejoice that God supports their view that they memorize and return often to that segment of Scripture.  A few will even bend the Word of God to say what they want.  They selectively take phrases out of context to make the Bible serve their purposes.  The Bible was not given to us by God to serve us, but for us to know and serve God.</div> <div> For others this question would need answered on a passage by passage basis.  This group would expect to hear God when reading familiar or encouraging passages like John 3:16 or Psalm 23.  But these familiar and encouraging passages are only a small portion of the Bible.  These people may read the entire Bible, but see much of it as dull and tedious with passages that are difficult and confusing.  Most pastors will admit that there are certain passages that they teach and others they tend to avoid.  In</div> <div> general, we tend to think that large segments of Scripture don't apply to our situation or time.  Pastor Rob Bell in an interview with <I>Leadership Journal (Winter 2010)</I> shared that at Mars Hill Bible Church they assume every text has something for us.  In the first year and a half of this mega-church, Pastor Rob Bell taught through Leviticus verse by verse.  Most would admit that the Book of Leviticus contains many segments that are difficult to read and may be considered tedious.</div> <div> Since we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, what should we expect?  We should expect that the Bible is worth the time to read it, not just once but continually.  We should expect that God will speak to us through His Word in a way that challenges us.  God isn't going to always agree with our desires and understandings, but expects us to develop His.  God has given us the Bible to help us get to know Him and His will, but also to encourage us to grow toward maturity in Christ.  We should expect that God has something for us in every passage of the Bible.  God gave us the whole Bible to use in our lives.  If we don't see something from God in a passage, shouldn't we ask Him to reveal something to us?  </div> <bR> <div>                               Pastor Don</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>FOOD FOR THOUGHT….</B></div> <div> <B> If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!</B></div> <div> If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.</div> <div> If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope…</div> <bR> <div> <B>Why Go To Church?</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> A Churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I've gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. However, for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”</div> <div>  </div> <div> This started a real controversy in the `Letters to the Editor' column much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher. “I've been married for 30 years now.  In that time, my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. However, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. However, I do know this…they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.  If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”</div> <div>  </div> <div> When you are DOWN to nothing…God is UP to something! Faith see the invisible, believes the incredible and received the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!</div> <div>  </div> <div> All right, now that you're done reading, send it on! I think everyone should read this! When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, “Jesus, could you get that for me?”</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Center Bethel Church of God, Alverton, P"><U>Home</U></A>    <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Visitors Page"><U>Visitors Page</U></A>    <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events News "><U>Events & News</U></A>    <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>    <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Library"><U>Church Library</U></A>    <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Relevant Links</U></A>    <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Youth Page"><U>Youth Page</U></A>    <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Camp Sonrise Mt. and Grove Manor Homes"><U>Camp Sonrise Mountain</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23_grove_manor_homes.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Camp Sonrise Mt. and Grove Manor Homes"><U>Grove Manor Homes</U></A>    <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Resources"><U>When Life is Difficult</U></A>    <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Steps to Peace with God"><U>Steps to Peace with God</U></A>    <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daily Devotional"><U>Daily Devotional</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>