Dear Fellow Children of God,
This week, as members and friends of St. John worship in
Palmer, Jamie and I and some other adults will be leading our Confirmation
students in a retreat at Victory Bible Camp. For over 20 years now we have taken
Confirmation students on a retreat because these are such good opportunities to
learn and grow. This year will be using
the movie, “War Room” to discuss the power of God in our lives in answer to
prayer.
Something else happens when Jamie and I are in retreat
with our middle school aged children. We
get to relate to the students in one-on-one situations. This is important because, even in small
classes, different people receive a message in different ways.
In Stephen Ministry this past week our Stephen Ministers discussed
how people can receive the message of sermons differently. There are times that I have been asked to
preach and give God’s direction on difficult issues. Often when I have spoken on such issues from
God’s Word I have many people thanking me for such clear teaching. But, there are also often people that I only
hear about later who might have had another experience, and perhaps hear this teaching
from God’s Word differently than others.
Sometimes people have even been hurt by what was said.
I share this because our confirmation students come from
many different backgrounds. Their family
situations and home situations, their physical and mental development, make
each person unique. Yet, whether a
student is a 6th grader, or in 8th grade, whether they
are a boy or a girl, whether they are out-going or shy, whether they are
athletic, or not so athletic, each one of
our students is a child of God that Jesus loves and died for. So, we want each of our students to know and
grow in the love the God has for them in Jesus.
This is not saying that truth of God’s Word is not
true. God’s Word is always the best
direction for our lives. (Psalm 119:105,
2 Timothy 3:16-17) But, since each
person hears and experiences God’s Word differently, sometimes it helps for God’s
people to visit in one-on-one situations, or small groups, rather than in large
groups or classes, so that the truth of God’s love becomes clear. That is what often does happen in these
retreats. Our young people learn about
God in a camp setting is ways that have not quite hit home in a classroom at
church on Wednesdays or Saturdays.
God tells us about His church through St. Paul, “The body
is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are
many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. . . Now you are the body of
Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27)
In Scripture we see Jesus showing compassion for many
different kinds of people. He was loving
toward leaders, and towards outcasts.
Jesus showed compassion to the religious and to those confessing their
sins. Jesus shared the kingdom of God
with men and women, Jews and Samaritans, those in need and those who were well
off. The love that Jesus showed is
summed up in the truth that He is God’s promised Messiah, the Savior of the
World, who came to bring forgiveness and eternal life to a fallen world, and to
each person caught in the slavery of sin.
In other words, God wants the whole world, and each individual, to know
His love in Jesus and to receive it by believing in Jesus as their Savior.
Please pray for our Confirmation retreat. Our young people face challenges their
parents and grandparents never faced.
But just like their parents, they too need the truth of God’s love in
Jesus for their lives.
A Child of God, Praying for our Young People to Grow in
God’s Love,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. I did not go fishing last week. I took my wife, Kathy, for surgery on her foot. The doctor said Kathy is healthy and the foot
should heal well. Thank you for all the
prayers.
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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE
PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to
all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly
adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this
e-mail for the first time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this
e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for
this message.
****
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