Update September 30th, 2005

Dear Good Shepherd,

This article appeared in the newsletter last year. Given our challenge this fall to carve out daily time for prayer and bible study, I thought it might be helpful to reprint it in this week's Update:

“Please pray for me.” How many times have you made this request? When believers are discouraged, in need, anxious about the future, or insecure about the present a prayer request comes naturally, almost thoughtlessly to our lips. But what do we believe about prayer?

“I think prayer changes us more than it changes God's mind,” said a friend of mine recently. She was right. Nothing we say can change God's mind. God's mind is not limited like ours. God is omniscient; meaning, he knows all that there is to know about all things past present and future. There is nothing you know that God doesn't know already and better. He knows exactly what you are going to say before you say it and he has known it from before the creation of the Universe. As King David says, “Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord.” (Psalm 139:4)

So why pray? I mean, if God already knows what he is going to do in a particular situation and he has known from the very beginning why even make the effort to express our needs and desires?

Well there are three reasons:

First and foremost prayer strengthens your relationship with God. Just like any relationship, communication is key in your relationship with Jesus Christ. If you never share your experiences, your hopes, fears, anxieties or expectations with your wife or husband, then your relationship will never mature. You might live in the same house, watch the same television, parent the same children and call yourselves by the same last name but if you never communicate, if you never share yourself with your spouse, then you're just sharing an address. Jesus doesn't just want to frequent the same building with you every Sunday, he wants to know you intimately and he wants you to know him. A daily personal prayer-time during which you pour out all that is on your heart and mind is the first step to building an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Second, my friend was right, prayer does change you. When you go to God in prayer, you open the deepest part of your being to the Holy Spirit

“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-12)

When you pray, you allow the Spirit of God to work in you in ways so deep and so fundamental that most times you cannot even perceive or imagine what he has done or what he is doing until you wake up one day and realize that you are a completely different person. A consistent disciplined daily life of prayer is a life opened and receptive to hearing God's voice and experiencing God's power. Prayer transforms you. Little by little, through prayer God's perspective, God's desires, God's loves and God's plans are imparted and implanted in your mind, body, and spirit. Your will is slowly transformed to be more and more like God's will. The things you want become more and more like the things God wants for you. And when you want what God wants for you, your prayers of supplication will always be answered positively, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

Third, Prayer is very often the vehicle through which God's plan for you is brought to fruition. This happens in two ways.

One: God has determined that the prayers of his people will be one catalyst for his power on earth. When Peter was thrown into jail for preaching in Jesus' name, the remaining believers prayed that the Lord would come to his aid. In the middle of the night an angel of the Lord unlocked Peter's cell and led him to the very house where his friends were praying for his release (Acts 12:1-17). Prayer is as powerful today as it was back then because when you pray you appeal to the very same God. He can and does intervene in the lives of his people. God restores marriages, provides work, heals physical illnesses, resolves deep interpersonal conflicts, breaks addictions, and overcomes seemingly immovable obstacles all through the prayers of his people.

If you invite him, God will daily intervene in the nitty-gritty details of your life and sometimes in one day, sometimes over many years, will completely transform the material and spiritual landscape in which you live. God does this for all believers because he has determined to use our prayers to accomplish his eternal purposes. What does this mean practically? When you feel the need or desire for something (so long as it is something that is not contrary to God's revealed will in the bible) pray to God and ask him for it. It may be that God has given you the desires you are experiencing in order to drive you to pray so that he could use your prayers to accomplish his purpose. God's plans and purposes, though determined from before time, include your sanctified desires and your prayers.

Two: A second way God uses your prayers is through your ability to listen. Sometimes God will use your prayer time to speak to your heart about something. He may have a mission for you. He may want you to confess and repent of something you've done or are doing. He may want to comfort you after the loss or a loved one. Or, he may just want you to know how much he loves you. He can and will communicate these things to you through prayer. How do you know when God is speaking to you? Well, that's a subject worthy of many more pages. It will have to wait for another article. But if you'd like some guidance on hearing God's voice you might want to get online and check out the sermon series entitled “Knowing God's Will” on the website. Here's the address:

http://www.binghamtongoodshepherd.com/sermons.shtml .

You will find the series listed under sermons delivered in July 2004. If you are not online you can always request copies from the church office.

Your prayers are valuable and powerful in God's sight. They deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ; they open your heart and soul to the transformational work of the Holy Spirit; and they serve as vehicles for God to work powerfully in your life and the world. So pray for yourself, pray for the world and the nation, pray for your friends and family, pray for the Church of the Good Shepherd, and, please, pray for me.

God bless, here's the news:

Update Contents:

THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

THURSDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY

WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY

RUMMAGE SALE

BIBLE STUDIES

SHEPHERD'S BOWL

105th ANNUAL HARVEST DINNER

BEGINNERS BIBLE STUDY

NEW BEGINNERS

ADULT EDUCATION “GOD'S WORD TO YOUR FAMILY”

YOM KIPPUR

BUFFALO BILLS

NEWS

THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS: St. Francis Day is this coming Tuesday, but we are celebrating it Sunday evening at 7:00pm with an animal blessing. God created and loves all the animals and he will one day restore all of creation. For that reason the Church has always blessed and prayed for pets and beasts of burden. At 7:00pm on Sunday evening, all animals of any species are invited and welcome in the sanctuary (along with their owners and their owners' leashes). Given the rather short pet-attention spans it will be a very short service but it's always exciting. Hope to see you there.

The study formerly known as the THURSDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY: Has still not agreed on a meeting time or day. But I have a dream that one day there will be decision. :)

WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY: The Women's Bible Study will meet at 8:00am again this Saturday to make room for the Rummage sale. Instead of the parish hall, the study will meet upstairs in the library. All women are invited and welcome to join in for a great discussion, prayer, and pastries.

RUMMAGE SALE REMINDER: The Rummage Sale is scheduled for THIS SATURDAY October 1st .

second note BIBLE STUDIES: All of the study groups (except for the Thursday evening group) have resumed for the fall. For an updated description of the various studies, see the following webpage: http://www.binghamtongoodshepherd.com/biblebtudies.shtml

SHEPHERD'S BOWL: Since I've put out the call, a number of you have volunteered to help out at the Shepherd's Bowl. THANK YOU for signing up to donate your time and work to this important ministry serving the people of the South-side. We are doing much better but we still need a few more volunteers. If you are interested in joining a team and serving the hungry of the south side one night a month please contact the church office at 723-8032 or by email .

THE 105th ANNUAL HARVEST DINNER: Is coming up on Wednesday October 19 th . It seems that all of the leadership roles have been filled! Thank you to everyone who volunteered for this so early. Now all we need is some Indians for all of these chiefs. If you are interested in lending a hand, please sign up on the sheet in the parish hall.

BEGINNERS BIBLE STUDY: Last week we continued studying Daniel and covered chapters 4-5. And we began talking about how to do an in-depth study and meditation of a particular passage. Asking: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, as you are reading the passage is the first step toward interpretation. If you can answer as many of those questions as possible, you will begin not only to understand the meaning of the text in itself, but you'll begin to understand its application as well.

Next week we'll take a look at chapter six and begin a discussion of the first chapters of Ezekiel. Asking the following questions:

1. What does this passage tell me about God?

2. What does this passage tell me about humanity?

3. What is God telling me in this passage?

For homework I assigned chapters 7-13 of Ezekiel to be read only (don't worry about answering the three questions, just read).

NEW BEGINNERS: The beginner's bible study is almost complete. In three more weeks the current class of beginners will graduate and what is presently the Beginner's Bible Study will morph into a regular bible study on the same night. The beginners are no longer beginners. They now have a solid basis of knowledge that will enable the to begin reading and understanding the bible by themselves and in a regular bible study.

I light of the success of this program, I am going to organize a new beginners bible study for a new crop of students. If you are interested in the beginner's program and would like to participate, please let me know. If you were a member of the first beginner's bible class but had to drop out for any reason, you are invited to join this one. If you'd like to join either email me at lambeth@flash.net , or call me at 723-8032 (leave a message if no one answers).

Hope to see you there.

ADULT EDUCATION: “God's Word to Your Family”

Last Sunday we wrapped up our discussion of the differing values and needs of men and women in a marriage and we started to go back to the scriptural analogy for marriage, found especially in Ephesians 5:22-33, the analogy of Christ and the Church. The bible provides principles and guidelines for husbands and wives that help couples not only deal with the differences between men and women but to turn those differences into blessings. The first and most important of these guidelines has nothing to do with your relationship with your spouse, but rather your relationship with Jesus Christ.

When each partner in a marriage has his or her priorities in order: 1. God 2. spouse 3. family 4. work; and each is finding fulfillment and satisfaction in Jesus Christ first and foremost, then they each posses a reservoir of love and strength that enables them to move from asking, “How can my wife/husband please me?” to “How can I please my husband/wife?” In fact, if Christ is first in your life, a very strange thing begins to happen. Bringing joy to your spouse will begin to please you as much or more than your spouse's efforts to please you.

This week we'll talk about some other basic biblical guidelines and principles as well as move on to discuss troubleshooting. Is fighting healthy? How much is too much? Whose responsibility is it to make peace? How to forgive your spouse? What are some of the recurring issues and difficulties that arise in healthy marriages? What to do if your marriage is simply unbearable? We'll be discussing all

of these questions and more in the coming weeks.

If you are married, going to be married, know married people or have been married this is the class for you. Hope to see you there: 9:15am on Sunday morning. 

YOM KIPPUR: The Jewish Day of Atonement is coming up on Wednesday October the 12 th . Rabbi Ron Goldberg, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi (A Messianic Jew is a Jewish person who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior), has asked to lead a Yom Kippur service that night for other Jewish believers in the area at Good Shepherd. And he'd like to extend an invitation to the people of Good Shepherd to join them. This is a wonderful opportunity to worship our Lord Jesus Christ along with our elder brothers and sisters in the faith (which is how Paul describes the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. We Gentiles are to consider and respect Jewish believers as elder siblings in Christ) The service begins at 7:00pm.

BUFFALO BILLS: Don Dean has volunteered to lead a group from Good Shepherd to a Bills game this fall. He has already purchased 15 tickets for the November 27th Buffalo Bills v. Carolina Panthers game in Buffalo. If you'd like to go along you can buy a ticket from Don for $50.00. Sounds like a great deal. First come first serve.

GOOD NEWS FOR THE WEEK: “These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing morethan you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations…just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 2:19-29)

Don't forget to....BRING A FRIEND TO CHURCH!

Daily Schedule for the week of Sunday October 2nd, 2005

Monday:
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer

Tuesday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
9:00 a.m. Tuesday Morning Bible Study (2nd John and Chapter 1 of 1st John)
7:00 p.m. The Bible for Beginners (Ezekiel 7-13)

Wednesday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
Anne's in the office all day; my study day

Thursday
8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer
5:30 p.m. Shepherd's Bowl
7:30 p.m. Thursday Evening Bible Study (still on hold)

Friday

6:30 a.m. Men's Breakfast/Bible Study (Romans 6)

8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer

my sermon writing day

Saturday:

10:00 a.m. Women's Bible Study

Sunday October 9th: Proper 23 year A
8:00am Holy Communion II and Sermon

9:15 Christian Education for All ages
10:30 am Holy Communion II, Music and Sermon

God bless you all!

In Christ

Matt+