This Sunday is Father's Day.

Find out at 10:30 "How Dad's Win!"

Here's some dad who is really winning. Swinging his daughter, and taking a relaxing nap!

Win + Win = Winning

Come join us for a special Sunday where we placate the gods of Hallmark!!!

Just kidding.

Seriously, God is our Father. We celebrate him this Sunday. And we will probably give a shout out to the dad's in the church and give them some candy bars.
But most importantly, we celebrate this Sunday, the Father we call "Abba." Our beloved and wonderful Father, God Almighty, who is Wonderful to Save!

This Week our sermon  took a brief turn towards the Triumphal Entry and spent the majority of our time on John 10:22
The title of the sermon was "Stones." It was about people struggling to believe in Jesus as the Son of God.

On March 17, 2013 we had a spectacular morning worship. It was Youth Take Over Sunday. We had an awesome day of worship, led by our youth. They did awesome with the skit too! We had the privilege of hearing Skyler Reichert share a message from his heart about contentment in Christ.

Take a listen here! It's short and sweet!

On April 7, we will begin something new at EGCC. It is of great importance to us that we communicate more clearly and widely about the supported missions of EGCC. We will begin with the mission of Tom and Jill Neyhart of Impact Campus Ministry who serve in South Bend, IN.

We look forward to the opportunity to share with you further about this important mission in our area!

On March 10, we continued our study on the Message of Jesus. We studied one of the most famous Parables of Jesus, that of the Good Samaritan. The Scripture text is found in Luke 10:25.

We invite you to take a listen and be challenged to consider the ministry of nearness.


Also, here is a follow-up small group guide:


Study Guide for March 10, 2013

 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Read the Story: Luke 10:25-37

"Neighbor” also means “near.”  In essence, the teacher who was looking to justify his decisions and life was asking, who is near me? Who am I responsible to love?

We know that the answer Jesus gives is very simple, yet incredibly demanding: You are to love everyone.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan becomes this beautiful illustration of a person who, despite the differences, is willing to be near the person in the ditch and help them at a great personal cost of his own.

There are several questions that require our further discussion, they are a bit random, but I think highly beneficial if we take the Parable serious enough to influence how we view others:

1.     The Samaritan is racially different then the person in the ditch, we suppose. How have racial difference affected whether or not you help someone? What sort of racial biases do we have that prevent us from helping someone “different” than us? Or the more general question, should we even have racial biases in light of the message of the Kingdom of God and that Jesus died for ALL people?




2.     How does our culture/world prevent, or get in the way of a ministry of nearness? Or, another way of asking – why do we have a hard time getting close enough to help people? Why do we have a tendency to keep to ourselves?




3.     The Samaritan helped at great personal cost. I am so proud of the generosity of EGCC and know that many are willing to give and help those at great personal expense. I know that many are on a fixed income, yet still consider the needs of others as greater than their own. Thanks for seeking first the Kingdom of God in your attitudes and generosity. The last question is, how can we continue to encourage one another in helping the forgotten? How can we increase communication so that we might be of greater help to others? It’s hard to help someone out of a ditch if we don’t hear his or her cry. Let’s continue to encourage one another – how can we do this?

We follow the Triton School Corporation calendar. Because they have cancelled school today, we also will cancel our evening events. Please spread the word.

Remember our Savior

The other day I was wandering the halls of the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center with one of the youth of our church.  Aside from seeing a whole bunch of bamboo walls and doors, there were two very important landmarks for us.

At one end of the building there was a memorial established for 9/11. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It is a fountain, with a screen that scrolls the names of the lives lost on that day. Next to the fountain wall is one of the last remaining pieces of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

When we arrived at the 9/11 Memorial, I asked the young man if he remembers the event at all, and what he knew about it. He knew some information, but he didn’t remember the event itself. He only knew of what others had told him. I took the opportunity to share with him where I was, how old I was, and where I was at the time. I explained how it changed everything, and how people responded after the events. I talked to him about how important God became for the people of the U.S. who were startled at the acts of terrorism.

As we continued down the building we came across another memorial. We stopped by the statue of St. Joseph. I inquired of how much he knew about Joseph. He didn’t know much about him either. But I explained what made him such an incredible person. He could have legally divorced Mary because of the pregnancy, but he didn’t. And he would take care of Jesus as his earthly Father.

I don’t know if my message sunk in. We had other things on our mind, but hopefully it was a nice distraction for him.

I share this with you, because God frequently instructed his people to construct memorials after momentous events. When the Israelites cross the Jordan River and enter into the Promised Land, God tells his people to set up a memorial. Twelve Israelites, with representatives from the twelve tribes, were to use the stones from the dry riverbed that the Priest stood on while holding the Ark of the Covenant.

They were to do this, ”So that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.”  Joshua 4:6-7

The memorial was a reminder of the faithfulness and power of God to deliver his people. We celebrate a memorial every week as we gather together as a community of believers in Jesus Christ. We remember the work of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross and the resurrection. We do so with the Lord’s Supper. We remember the sacrifice of Christ, his body and blood, broken and shed for us. This month, we will celebrate on March 31, Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We will commemorate and remember the work of God and be reminded again, much like the Israelites, that God is powerful and faithful to deliver his people. In a world ravaged with sin and heartache, we look to the Resurrection of Jesus with hope. His deliverance from death will be our own. We look to Jesus for life.  

It is my hope that you will join us Easter Sunday, and encourage a friend to remember the death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ with you. Let’s join together on Easter, and remember our Savior.

God Bless!

Jordan Ickes, Minister

Does God Get Involved?

Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday:

Asked if they believe God plays a role in who wins, 27% of Americans said yes. Poll results varied among regions and religions: 36% said yes in the South, 28% in the Midwest, 20% in the Northeast and 15% in the West. 1

That might explain why the Southeast Conference in football wins so many games, and why Notre Dame lost to Alabama in the championship game… more people were praying down south.

When I thought about the question, “Does God play a role in who wins and who loses in a sporting event?” I sort of laugh it off. Who really cares, and what difference does it make anyways?

I think the notion though, that 1 in 4 people believe God to play a role (large or small) in a game, speaks to a greater concern about the purpose of God. Is God here to help our plans succeed? Is God in the business of prospering His people? I’m not so sure God exists so that I can have a comfortable life. But a lot of people do.

After all, God himself says in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That sounds an awful lot like God wants to help you win a football game doesn’t it?

I love that scripture. It’s just too bad we rip it from the context of the story of Jeremiah when we make it about our individual prosperity, today. God is calling Israel to repentance and giving His people, the Israelites, hope that they won’t be in exile in Babylon forever. Where we go wrong so often in our Bible reading is the word “you.” English has both plural and singular forms of “you.” We don’t distinguish between the two unless you live in the south and say “You’all.”

In Jeremiah 29:11, the audience God is speaking to is “you” Israel, a nation of people who are in the midst of exile in Babylon. He isn’t necessarily using this passage as a proof text (a text we use to justify our actions/decisions/feelings) for the person in the locker room having doubts about the coach’s game plan.

God is saying, when the time comes, Israel will return to the land He promised them, and in turn, if they call on Him, He will hear them (look at the verse before and after 11). God will continue His plan to bless and prosper Israel for the sake of God’s Promise to Abraham (Gen 12).

A better way to go about applying this passage to our lives might be in the simple fact that in Jeremiah, God reminds his people that He hasn’t given up on His plan for Israel to be a blessing to the world. Despite their blatant disobedience to God, His patience with them is unmistakable, so much so there is a “future” and “hope” for them. Similarly, God’s forgiveness is still a possibility for all of us who struggle with sin and turn our back on God.

I’m 100% certain that God does play an important role in our lives though. Not so much in football games, but in the most important of arenas, Salvation.

Psalm 85:3,5,7 - ”3You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. 5Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations? 7Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.”

God answered the prayer of Psalm 85, in giving us His Son Jesus Christ. Repent, believe and be saved. And know that however far “gone” you might be, God’s grace is sufficient for you!

Your friend,

Jordan Ickes