Pastor Appreciation Month

Pastor Appreciation Month is a special time that congregations set aside each year to honor their pastors and pastoral families for the hard work, sacrificial dedication and multiple blessings provided by these special people. It is also important to remember that appreciation, affirmation and prayer support of our spiritual leaders is appropriate throughout the entire year.

Need some tips? Here are a few:

~ Ask your pastor – Did you get your Sabbath/days off this week?

Sunday October 1, 2017

Here's the notes from Sunday's service.  (Thanks, Jean)

Pastor David Mac Lean

Theme: Proper Speaking, Power in the Tongue

 God does not want us to be angry, sad or depressed. God wants us to walk in a new life of joy, love peace and forgiveness. Satan can only deceive us if we let him. We cannot let bad thoughts come out in our speech. We cannot entertain bad thoughts of bitterness and unforgiveness. If anyone treats us mean we should not let it upset us, we should simply pray for them.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

 Christians today are living far below what God intended for them. We need to be full of the Holy Spirit so that it over flows in our everyday lives. God wants us to be prosperous in our families, jobs and health.

1John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

 When we have the revelation that the Holy Spirit lives within us,  it changes our lives tremendously. We need to be careful we do not speak condemnation on ourselves and others, but to speak edification and love, building up and encouraging ourselves and others.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

September 17, 2017

Sorry, I'm more than a little behind. 

Here's the notes from the service of Sept. 17, 2017.

Thanks, Jean.

Pastor Gamal Hanna

Theme: Christ is our faithful lawyer, advocating our petitions to his Father for us.

Pastor Hanna gave us a report of his ministry and work at home in Egypt. He encouraged all us in the Lord, stating God has called us to be his ministers and to work in his field. We all living in a special time in the Lord. Pastor Hanna told how the church in Egypt is experiencing revival and the Christians in Egypt are very unified, all denominations are working and praying together. Pastor Hanna and his wife have a great ministry to poor families and kids and kids living on the street and many have left a lifestyle of smoking and drinking and are now on the right track in life.

Hebrews 9:24-28

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Verses 24-26 Speaks of Christ as the High Priest, paying for our sin debt through the sacrifice of himself.

Verses 27-28 Speaks of Christ as the returning Bridegroom and reigning King of Kings, to rule and reign for the with a rod of iron and carry out judgement.

Christ did not enter through a man made sanctuary he entered heaven himself and is interceding with the Father for us as he truly knows what we need.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

This scripture speaks of the kind of belief we should have, coming before the throne of grace in all confidence expressing our needs. We need to be courageous when we pray, not hesitant. God cares for our spiritual needs as well as our material needs. Christ knows what we need, he is our true High Priest and advocate, advocating for us before the Father continually. We must be ever ready and look forward with great anticipation to when Christ returns to earth with full Glory and power as the reigning King of Kings forever. If we are faithfully living for the Lord everyday and in fellowship with him we will not fear his coming, but look forward to it with great hope and joy.

Sunday September 17, 2017

NOTICE

For this week only (Sunday September 17, 2017) our service will be at the chapel of the H.C. MacQuarrie Funeral Home 
18 Acadia Ave., Stellarton NS.

Please let your friends know of this change.

See you in church!

Sunday September 3, 2017

This is our retreat weekend. 

There will be no service in New Glasgow Sunday evening.

___________________________________________________


And here's the notes from the service of Sept. 3rd. (Thanks again, Jean)

Dr. Spencer Barclay- Something to Think About

Theme: Darkness and Light

Spiritual knowledge of darkness and the light of truth.

Isaiah 9:2

The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.

 Isaiah’s prophecy is repeated in Matthew 4:16

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”

If we do not have God’s light showing us the way; we as often in the case of human nature, will go our own way, not God’s way and will create our own knowledge and our own form of light. When we do this we are in spiritual darkness. Anything outside of God’s plan of salvation and his law is spiritual darkness. Throughout the bible God warned the Nation of Israel of going off and doing their own thing, compromising and mixing with other religions and he warns us of the same thing today. It is a very dangerous thing to leave the truth and willfully wander off into the darkness of falsehood and sin. The darkness is when people follow their own light, their own knowledge and their own instincts. Today their is great darkness in the world and it seems to be getting darker everyday.

All the more Christ admonishes us to let our lights shine brightly for him and never be ashamed of the gospel message.

Matthew 5:14-16

14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Pastor Caroline Barclay- Theme: Well Done!

Matthew 25:21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

 We serve Christ not out of duty, but out of love for God. We can trust the Lord that he will give us the time and strength to serve others. Christ came to serve and not to be served and we are to follow his example. When we serve God we put our own agenda aside and we put God’s agenda first. If we want to serve God we must trust as Moses did when he struck the rock

Exodus 17:6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

We have to have faith and trust wholly in God and rest in his strength and not our own. Each day when we pray we need to ask God who he would wants us to serve and trust he will lead us to the right place and the right soul. Christ showed us the greatest act of serving with his death on the cross.

Luke 22:42 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

When we do good works for the glory of mankind and not God, we will become broken, weary and disillusioned. When we serve God with a pure heart he will taken care of us and see us through, just like the heroes of the bible, such as Moses.

Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.

Sunday August 27, 2017

Sunday's notes.  (Thanks, Jean)

Dr.  Barclay-Something to Think About

Theme: Always be humble and seek the Lord regardless of our position in life.

If we do not learn from the lessons of history we are all bound to repeat them. As David became King and powerful, he lost that close connection he had with God, such as in his days of being a shepherd and playing the harp to calm King Saul when an evil spirit troubled him. The Lord had blessed David and had taken him from great heights; from the days of being a shepherd and taking bread and cheese to his brethren, to now being the ruling King of Israel. However the benefits of power and fame came with consequences, David took full liberty with Bathsheba had an affair with her and sent her husband Uriah to the front lines of battle during war and was assuring his death would follow, which it did. David later repented after being confronted by the prophet Nathan and David went to write many of the wonderful psalms we read and sing today. We as Christians in the Western world have gone astray like David, material wealth and comforts have taken away our need for God. Today we see people leaving the church in large numbers, Europe and North America, they are finding pleasure in material things, worshipping themselves and making themselves happy.

2 Timothy 3:2-4 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—

Sadly many people leave the church and never come back, it is those who maintain the faith steadfast and loyal that God will reward.

Revelation 22:12-13 12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Pastor Caroline – Theme: Trust in the Lord and obey his law for he is faithful.

Psalm 25:4-10

 To be bitter is to live in a place of darkness. If we live in Christ’s righteousness and humility, God will be faithful to us and we can trust we will be under his love and protection. We are Christ filled people and we need to remember, the world is watching us. The world is watching our behavior and lifestyle and how we react to the heartbreaking situations in life. God always extends his mercy and his grace in our times sorrow loneliness and hurt. The Christian can always be confident in Jesus. We are only human and our knowledge is limited and humans will fail. Therefore our full confidence and assurance needs to be in Christ and Christ alone, Christ will never fail us.

Philippians 4:13 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Sunday August 13, 2017

Notes from Sunday's Service.  (Thanks, Jean)

Dr. Barclay - Something to Think About

Theme: Iniquity thrives, when man says I will take the place of God.

Looking at the world today we often think there is no true leadership anymore. That applies not only for the political, national and international realm, but often there is no true leadership in the church as well. Man often thinks he can solve the world’s problems, through human means such as money and weapons and control of natural resources.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of  themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Babylon was the main superpower at one time, ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4:24-34

Daniel received a vision of Nebuchadnezzar living like an an animal and eating grass on all fours, like oxen. This vision came true, his body took on the form of a beast, hair like feathers and nails like claws and he ate grass on all fours like an animal. Nebuchadnezzar learned a lesson from this experience and was humbled.

Daniel 4:34 And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever:

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.

Throughout history, from the time of the Babylon empire till present, we have seen the perils of human arrogance repeated over and over again. We must always remember human leaders will fail us from time to time and political and government systems are put together by man’s laws and ideas and are never perfect. There is only one true righteous leader and that is Jesus Christ and he is the one,  we are to place our sole trust in and he will never let us down. His law will last forever and his kingdom shall have no end.

Pastor Bill Annis

Theme: We must trust and obey, for we never know what blessings God has planned for us down the road.

Never get upset about your setbacks. They just might be a setup for something wonderful- an unexpected blessing God has for you.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Paul was a zealous Pharisee, who persecuted the followers of Christ. Through the power of God his life was transformed and he became a true convert of Jesus Christ. Now, that is the power of the gospel, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. When the will of God is on your side, nothing is impossible. The will of God is always for us and it always brings peace, never fear or anxiety. We cannot let circumstances dictate to us, because in our human understanding we cannot fully know what the will of God is. In every circumstance in life Jesus is Lord and he is in charge. We are the beneficiaries of grace and peace.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

We are in the world, but not part of it, nor it’s political system. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. Our blessings from God and are not tied to material things, they are just the resource, God is the source. Jesus is the answer and his will is always for our good.