North Stafford Church of Christ

081116 - Romania Trip - Clayton, Marty, & Joel

Nov 16, 2008.  Download here or listen with the player below.

The Office - A Spoof

Farmers Branch Church of Christ

Something to Think About - Something Old, Something New

Charles Jackson
Nov 18, 2008

"Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.  'Follow me,' Jesus said to him.  Levi...left everything and followed him.  Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  ...The Pharisees and the teachers complained, ...'why do you eat and drink with...sinners?'  Jesus answered, 'it is not the healthy who need the physician but the sick.'"  (Luke 5:27-32)

Levi, the tax collector, an assumed sinner, has believed in Jesus.  He gives a party, invites Jesus and other friends.  The self-righteous asked, "why do you eat and drink with known sinners?"  Sharing a meal in the Mid-East means more than in Western Culture...it binds you to the other as friend.  Eating together was similar to forming an agreement.  This is the reason Jesus instituted a meal with his people. 

Jesus saw sinners as desperately sick, needing a physician.  Actually, sickness is an excellent depiction of sin.  There is a secret invasion, a period of decline and usually a sudden failure.  Some sicknesses are obvious (tax gatherers,etc.) and some are not (religious leaders).  The fact is the only difference is the expressed symptoms.  

Two stories follow the one written above.  The first is about a wedding...a major social event and a time of feasting and rejoicing.  Marriage is a love relationship.  The point is that the Christian life is a wedding feast not a funeral.  Jesus eats and drinks with sinners because life is a celebration not slavery and misery.  

The second story that responds to the question, "Why do you eat with sinners?" is regarding new wine in old skins and patching old garments with new cloth.  The parallel thought is Jesus transforms the old so that it is fulfilled in the new.  One can destroy an acorn by either smashing it or by planting it.  If the latter, it becomes an oak tree.  But, Jesus says you cannot mix law and grace or Moses and Christ.  If tried, both are destroyed.  

How does the physician heal the body?  By helping it heal itself.  All healing is by the body renewing itself...the new comes out of the old.  Jesus came to transform from the inside out.  The end product is something new.

Charles is a retired but busy missionary and preacher of the Gospel.  Charles and Mary live in various places (depending on the time of year) but are surrounded in love and respect by family and friends from all over the world.  Charles is a mentor to and supporter of those associated with mission work at NSCofC.  Charles and Mary will be with us at our 2009 Romania-Albania Missions Conference on Jan 9-11, 2009.  Charles likes to tell stories just like Jesus liked to tell stories.  We reprint with permission.

Another Reminder - Tues Night Outreach Inreach (TNOI) 7PM

As another reminder...

Matt Brandt opens up at NSCofC every Tues evening at around 7PM for people to come by, drink some coffee, talk, and help each other with understanding and preparing and administering World Bible School (WBS) and World English Institute (WEI) Bible lessons.  What a great opportunity to learn how to share Jesus with people in many other foreign lands.

Matt has been meeting for the past few weeks at NSCofC on Tues nights with others.  Now he would like to see you.  Stop by to say hello.  Enjoy a few minutes.  But think about getting involved in WBS or WEI.  You can do either program by mail or online (WBS on-line and WEI on-line).  Your choice.  You can be given random Bible students, you can focus on people you know, or you can work with many selections of countries of people in the world.  It is up to you.

Some of our current WBS and WEI teachers at NSCofC have students from the U.S., Myanmar, Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Japan, the Philippines, Austria, Indonesia, Macedonia, and Iran, to mention a few.  These methods of teaching open amazing doors.

Be with us.  Don't you have the time?

Elders & Minister Retreat Nov 21-22

Our elders and minister will be going into retreat and seclusion on Fri and Sat, Nov 21-22.  This quiet time away is for prayer, discussion, Bible study, and mostly to be away from telephones, email, and information-overload.  The weekend will be about spiritual refreshment and listening for God.

The elders and minister serve you day and night all the time.  They deal with the seemingly small (nothing is too small) issues to the seemingly earth-shattering (and who doesn't think their issue is earth-shattering?) issues.  Clayton and Fred, as our elders, and John, as our minister, are good men and do the best they can with God's help and direction.  Can you support them and pray for them and give them your assistance and care in love?

2009 promises to be a big and busy year for NSCofC.   Each member of NSCofC will need to step up and be accountable, spiritually sincere, and concerned for those who don't know Jesus.  Pray that God will give our pastors and minister the wisdom and foresight to lead us in 2009, in Christ's name.

Be praying for and with these men while they are in seclusion and cloister.

081109 - NSCofC Missions - Fred Zumwalt

Nov 9, 2008.  Download here or listen with the player below.

"The Shack" Discussion Group

Beginning on Mon, Nov 17 and lasting for as many weeks as we like, we will be discussing The Shack by William P. Young.   Our evening sessions will begin at 7PM.  Not quite sure where we will meet at NSCofC but show up and we will work something out, for sure.  This is an open discussion on the book - the only "rule" is that you have read completely or have been mostly through the book.  No fair showing up without having read the book.  The book  is widely available both locally at book stores and on the Internet.  A brief NSCofC review of the book is here.  A website with much more information and resources is at The Shack.  Young has a blog at Wind Rumors.

In holding this discussion, we are neither endorsing nor condemning this book.  In much wider circles, this book has garnered unprecedented praise and unprecedented criticism.  See Faith Emergence (a chapter by chapter synopsis with generally positive regard) and Deceived by a Counterfeit Jesus (a overarching complaint of the whole book) for a vivid difference in views on the book.  Beware...spoiler alerts if you look at either of these links!

How much have you read?  How does the book touch you...or not?  Does the book make you comfortable or uncomfortable?  Can you relate to the main character or not and why?  What impresses you the most (negative or positive) about the book?

Be with us Mon night.  It will be interesting. 

Hosea Panel Nov 30

On Sun, Nov 30, for our assembly service we will convene a "panel" of CARE Group members who, in their own respective groups for the last month or so, have been discussing and studying the Book of Hosea.  Our group representatives will share their findings and then possibly take questions or comments from the greater assembly on points from Hosea.  The idea here is to not only discuss the literal Book of Hosea but to, especially, make application of the concepts and higher meanings presented by this minor prophet.  The Book of Hosea is so loaded with principles, truths, and ethical and moral declarations that application can easily be made to many, many current day situations, challenges, and difficulties.  We can come away from this study amazed at how such a small book in our Bibles can be so full of God and his nature.

Your CARE Group leaders have been asked to work with you and your group to designate, before Nov 30, one or two individuals from each group who will participate and share on our panel. 

This will be great for all of us to participate in, listen to, consider, and share with others our best understandings of Hosea.

Be with us on Nov 30.

DNA & Organizing

Old Rag 2008

Something to Think About - Where Are the Nine?

Charles Jackson
Nov 11, 2008

"...Ten who had leprosy met him.  They stood at a distance and called out, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us!'  ...Jesus said, 'Go, show yourselves to the priest.'  And as they went, they were cleansed.  One of them, when he saw that he was healed, ...threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him---and he was a Samaritan.  Jesus asked, 'Where are the nine?'"

We'd do well to make this man's acquaintance.  When we first meet him there is nothing to distinguish him from his companions, aside from his being a Samaritan, considered a mongrel race. He forgot to leave us his name.  

The ten who come to Jesus share the common tragedy of leprosy.  They are monotonously ugly.  They are being buried piecemeal.  They are outcast...shut out of public worship, away from both home and friends and abandoned as human wreckage.  However, these ten are determined to live and will not meet death half way.  In their battle for life, they go to Jesus.  With some doubt within, they search out this amazing physician.  They do not ask regarding what they might deserve but their appeal is..."Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."  

All ten equally obeyed and were healed while going to the priest.  In transit, all found healing from their living death.  

Here the sameness of the ten ends.  Only one turned back ALONE, fell on his knees, giving thanks.  I'm sure the nine had solid excuses for not expressing gratitude.  One might have said, "I haven't seen my farm for a year."  Another, "I haven't hugged my wife and children for two years."  But, the question is, why was one grateful and the nine not?  Maybe the nine were grateful but just did not give expression.  Maybe they became absorbed in their gift and forgot the giver.  Or, they just took their healing as a matter of course.  Again, arrogance and conceit might have made them incapable of gratitude.   Some of the above might be suggested by the fact the nine who gave no thanks were all Jews.  It was only their common misfortune that compelled them to associate with the Samaritan. 

The grateful Samaritan, by saying "thanks" enriched both himself and Jesus and added joy to his healing.

Charles is a retired but busy missionary and preacher of the Gospel.  Charles and Mary live in various places (depending on the time of year) but are surrounded in love and respect by family and friends from all over the world.  Charles is a mentor to and supporter of those associated with mission work at NSCofC.  Charles and Mary will be with us at our 2009 Romania-Albania Missions Conference on Jan 9-11, 2009.  Charles likes to tell stories just like Jesus liked to tell stories.  We reprint with permission.

What if Starbucks Marketed Like the Church?

Foreign Missions Committee Presentation

Annual Old Rag

"To My Daughter at Fifteen"

From Real Live Preacher:

Beloved daughter, we have arrived at the time of life where I cannot give you everything you want and need. We have come to the time where you must learn to walk alone. That is hard for me, but it is right and good. It is the way things should be.

Listen to me now, for there are things I want to tell you as you stand, trembling, on the edge of womanhood.

I know that boys have become fascinating and mysterious to you. They live in a strange world of their own, the world of young men. It is a world of new muscles and deepening voices. It is a world of astonishing energy and physical movement. I know your eyes are drawn to them. I know your heart beats faster when you watch them. And I know you dream of a boy who will love you.

I also know there are girls at school who giggle and fawn over the boys. They lean in close, laughing hysterically at something he said and letting their shoulders bump. They know how to let their hand rest gently on his shoulder or his thigh, just for a moment. Just long enough. No, I do not know where they learned to play this game so well.

Now, my young woman. Now have come the days of your choosing. You are both discovering and deciding what kind of woman you will be. You are deciding what of your life will be hidden and what you will show. Choose carefully, for what shames you now may serve you one day. And what serves you now may one day make you ashamed. Many girls will lose themselves in this time. They may find themselves again someday, but many years will be lost.

Hear me now, daughter, for my place in your life grows smaller every day. And I would give you a blessing while I am able. Come to me, because I know you. I know that you still sleep with your blanket. I saw the Dr. Seuss book laying beside your bed. I know you have one foot in each world. Come to me now and receive my blessing.

You are a strong young woman. Your mind is strong, as are your opinions. Strong and well-formed. You have not traded what is precious for what is fleeting, though life these days would have been easier in some ways if you had.

You are a tender young woman, compassionate and kind. You believe in goodness and work for it. You care about the feelings of others. You are a loyal and faithful friend. You are brave enough to trust others, and others are not afraid to trust you.

Your faith in God is not simple or falsely stated. Your understanding of God is a growing, hurting, questioning, struggling thing. This too is as it should be.

You are a young woman who knows what love is. You have been loved and are loved. You understand love and will settle for nothing less. You will accept no facsimile, reasonable or otherwise. Listen to your heart when it comes to love, because your heart is as soft now as it was when you were young and your heart rested gently in my hands. I guarded that heart as long as I could.

Those are the things I know about you. Here is what I think you should do:

Walk the halls of your school with your head held high. While others may worship at the altars of camouflage, conformity, and compromise, you stand above those shortcuts and soul slayers. Rise up, young woman, and do not be afraid. Rise up and be true to yourself. Let the strength of your presence transcend hair and clothing and music and boys. Let your true colors show in the halls and know that many in high school have scales on their eyes. They only see what they want to see. Many will not see you. There will be times when you walk the halls and feel invisible.

But here is a secret that I know. One boy will see you. He will see you in the middle of the noise and the energy and the hype and the crowds. He will see your strong walk and your eyes. He will listen to the answers you boldly call out in class. He will hear your voice and know your power. He will watch you until he knows you, and then his heart will fall into his stomach, for he will understand that there is only one like you.

Look for him. He is the only one that matters. Do not listen to boys who say they love you. Instead believe in the boy who wants to cherish you. If you hide now, ducking into the crowd like so many others, dressing and looking and acting and praying for safety, you might indeed be safe, but the only boy that matters will miss you. He will miss you because he is looking for a girl like no other. And you will have become just another girl in the crowd.

Your heart now rests in the hands of those who might hurt you. That’s hard for me, but it could not be any other way because you would not leave your heart in my hands. If I must give up your heart, then listen to my words.

Stand up. Stand out. Be smart and strong. It may be some time before you find the one who can appreciate who you are. So be it. Settle for nothing less. Because if your heart must rest in the hands of another man, I want him to be a man strong enough to love a strong woman.

Go into the world, my string of pearls. Go into the world and make me proud.

Daddy

081102 - Youth & Adults Speak About Dreams & Goals

Nov 2, 2008.  Download here or listen with the player below.

081102 - Philippians #4 - John Cook

Nov 2, 2008.  Download here or listen with the player below.