The Fall Feasts: Trumpets

Receive New Member:

We have the joy and the privilege of welcoming a new member into our family today.

As we think about Church membership, we realize it is more than voting at the Annual Business Meeting.

Church membership is an affirmation by the applicant that they agree with and support the church's beliefs and doctrine.

It is not unusual for churches to have attendees who don't fully affirm a church's doctrine.

Church membership, therefore, becomes a statement of affirmation that you identify with both the church and her members in what the church believes.

Church membership is also a commitment to serve.

When you become a part or member of a church, you are affirming the 1 Corinthians 12 metaphor that you will be a functioning member of the body.

Read again verses 12-27 for a clear picture that the body of Christ, the church, is to be comprised of functioning or serving members.

A variety of people will attend church for a variety of reasons.

But those whom God leads to become members are affirming that they have a functioning role in the church.

It is an applicant’s declaration that he or she wants to be a part of the family of New Life.

That they want to contribute to this church accomplishing what God has called it to do.

They are saying: “You can count on me.”

Church membership also shows obedience to Hebrews 13:17 that says:

Hebrews 13:17 (ISV) … follow and be submissive to your leaders, Hebrews 13:17 (NLT) Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.

My joy as Pastor is to bring us all to a place of unity through the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:2–3 (LSB) [Exhorts us] … with all humility and gentleness, with patience, [to] bear… with one another in love, 3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The formal step of church membership goes a long way to help us achieve the goal of peace and unity by taking us from ME-thinking to OTHERS-thinking.

As says: Philippians 2:3–5 (GW) Don’t act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves. 4 Don’t be concerned only about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others. 5 Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 

So, taking this formal step of church membership emphasizes that a light has come on in our thinking.

That we understand and want to obey God’s design for the Christian life — to think about others — to care for others.

i. BIBLICAL Christianity ALWAYS involves individual Christians being a part of a local Body of believers.

ii. The Bible does NOT teach the concept of “Lone Ranger” Christians.

iii. Too many people today have NO community — they live in their own bubble.

BUT, Biblical Christians understand that God has placed them in “Community” in the Body of Christ.

i. Whether or not you make a formal commitment I hope you recognize:

ii. 1 Corinthians 12:18, 27 (NASB95) But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

And then Ephesians 3:10 reminds us that: His [God’s] intent [is] that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.

At its heart, church membership is about being family and relating to each other in such a way that we build one another up in Jesus.

Do I really need to be a member of a church?

Absolutely!

From Acts 2 through Revelation 3, the New Testament is about the local church in one way or another.

Why?

Because the local church is God's plan A for His ministry on earth, and He did not leave us with a plan B.

Bring Members Forward

A. So, this morning New Life Family Church has the privilege of welcoming, loving and COVENENTING WITH 1 new ADULT member.

1. A man who has elected to put down roots not only in Christ, but also in this church.

2. Mark Huber, would you come forward?

3. Please face the congregation.

B. Would the Board:

Madeline, Jay (on vacation), George, Michelle, and Cecelia Funderburk .

Will all of you come and stand behind this new member?

Mark has…

… made proper application and have been approved by the Official Board of the church

I sat down with him and talked to them about what church membership involves.

It was a longer church membership class because Mark feels a call to credentialed ministry!

So, he is now ready to receive the right hand of fellowship by this congregation.

Our new member, and we as a church are going to remind each other of our responsibilities and privileges.

1. It is our FAMILY COVENANT together.

H. I will begin with our newest member:

1. I am going to read a statement and ask that if you agree with it that you say, “I do.”

I. Here goes:

J. Having been led by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, and desiring fellowship with people of like precious faith, and now in the presence of God and this assembly you are entering into a covenant relationship with these members of the Body of Christ.

K. So, do you promise that with the help of the Holy Spirit you will:

1. walk together with the other members of this church in Christian love?

2. work for the advancement of this church?

3. help it pursue holiness and a deeper knowledge of Jesus?

4. promote its prosperity and spirituality?

5. sustain its worship, doctrines and disciplines?

6. contribute regularly and cheerfully to the support of its ministries and activities?

7. If so answer: I do.

L. Do you promise to:

1. maintain your personal devotions?

2. seek the salvation of the lost?

3. avoid sin by avoiding the very appearance of evil?

4. seek that love which thinks no evil?

5. If so answer: I do.

M. Do you further promise to:

1. watch over the other members of this church in Christian love?

2. to remember them in prayer?

3. to aid them in times of distress and sickness

4. to be courteous and forgiving to them even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you?

5. If so answer: I do.

N. Church, please stand. Do you promise to:

1. watch over Mark in Christian love?

2. to remember him in prayer?

3. to aid him in distress and sickness?

4. to be courteous and forgiving to him even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you?

5. If so answer: I do.

We therefore, as the Church of Jesus Christ and members of His Body, now receive you, into our fellowship and communion, recognizing that God has already added you to His Church. And we pray that the blessing of the Lord be upon you always.

Prayer with the Board.

ALL come and welcome!

Sunday message:

Prayer & Fasting

Before I deliver a short message that will prepare us to partake of the Lord’s Supper, I want to talk about our week of prayer and fasting.

I believe it is incredibly important for the church to commit to seasons of not only prayer, but also of fasting.

We started the year with prayer and fasting

We observed the national Day of Prayer in May

From thew first of June through July 4th we prayed for our nation for 30 days.

And now, we embark on another week of prayer accompanied by fasting.

For 2000 years fasting and prayer have been an absolutely vital part of the Christian church.

Just because this is the 21st century doesn’t mean we have no need for prayer.

Neither does it mean we have no need for fasting.

We recognize and affirm the truth of :

Psalm 20:7 (NIV) Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

We may not trust in chariots or horses — but do we trust in technology, human ingenuity and the psychology of marketing and advertising instead of the Name of the Lord our God?

May God forgive us as we hear Him say in Hosea 1:7 (LSB) “… I will have compassion on the house of Judah and save them by Yahweh their God, and I will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

Just as God will not save Judah by human instrumentality, so God will not save us in that manner.

But rather as an angel told Zechariah in Zechariah 4:6 (LSB) … “This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel [and us!], saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says Yahweh of hosts.

In order to tap into the Spirit we pray and we fast.

These two disciplines go hand-in-hand.

We fast and pray not just to plead with God to pour out His blessings.

But to acknowledge that we are SERIOUS about HIM.

That we DESIRE Him even more than we desire His blessings.

When Jesus went into the wilderness after His baptism in the Jordan River AND before He began His public ministry, He fasted.

After 40 days when the devil tempted Him to turn stones into Bread, Jesus said: Matthew 4:4 (LSB) … “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”

In this way Jesus affirmed that God and His Word are just as important and food.

It is fitting that we set aside food in order to seek God and His Word.

When I was a young Christian, a teenager, I learned to fast all food for weeks at a time — only drinking water.

I was young and healthy and could do that without putting myself at risk for death.

I can’t do that now, due to the shortfalls of this older body.

But I can still forgo all but one meal in a day.

Or, I can modify my meals to what some call the Daniel fast — no meat, no wheat, no sweet.

I can certainly fast other things: social media, television, etc.

Everyone here can fast in SOME way and then spend that time in prayer..

In the day in which we live, God’s people need to get serious about seeking Him.

Let’s act as if the future of our families, the future of this church, the future of our nation depends on His mercy and grace …

Because it absolutely TOTALLY DOES!

Rosh Hashanah

And I ask us to fast and pray with the knowledge that Friday, at Sunday, begins the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah.

This Jewish feast is given in:

Leviticus 23:23–25 (LSB) Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a memorial by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 ‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh.’”

Numbers 29:1–6 (LSB) ‘Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets. 2 ‘And you shall offer a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to Yahweh: one bull from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old without blemish; 3 also their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. 5 ‘And offer one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you, 6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon and its grain offering, and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their legal judgment, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahweh.

This feast celebrates a number of things, but in particular it is a celebration of the civil New Year.

In fact, Rosh means “head”, ha means “the”; shannah means “year.”

So, Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year.”

We Christians are also looking for, longing for — not a new year — as much as the beginning of a new season.

We’ve been talking about that season on Wednesday nights.

We’re looking for the Blessed Hope spoken of in Titus 2:11-15.

As Brother Barry explained when he was last able to preach…

There are 4 spring feasts that the Jews celebrated.

They happen pretty close together.

They speak of the coming of Jesus…

Of His suffering

Of His death on the Cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Of His victory over hell and the grave.

That He rose again.

The last of the spring feasts is Pentecost.

It tells us that Jesus has ascended to the Father’s right hand because the Holy Spirit has been poured out.

Then there is a relatively long gap between the Spring feats and the first of the Fall feasts.

Many theologians see that gap as symbolic of the Church age.

The pause in between Daniel’s prophesied 69th and 70th week.

And then we have the first feast of Fall — the Feast of Trumpets.

God likes trumpets. It was His instrument of choice for multiple occasions:

Moses’ trumpets that called the people to worship

The trumpets that sounded the supernatural defeat of Jericho as its walls fell down flat

Gideon’s 300 trumpets announcing God’s defeat of Midian — not those 300 men, NO!, God.

We hear the trumpet that announced the coronation of King Solomon

The angelic trumpet blast that Jesus said will announce the gathering of all Israel from the 4 winds in the last days

The seven trumpets that will warn of seven judgments of God during the Tribulation.

Oh, but the trumpet for which we long to hear is the one that announces that Jesus has come for His Church.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (LSB) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

We know that trumpet could sound at any time.

It might just happen Friday at sundown, if not before.

Are You Ready?

Of course the reason we look forward to the blast of the trumpet is because we are saved.

If you are not saved or born again.

If you have not repented of your sins and surrendered your life to Jesus.

I urge you to do so right now.

How?

By praying, asking God to forgive you of your sins as you turn from away from them.

Asking God to take control of your life — because you unconditionally surrender to Him.

Prayer for those who want to turn to Jesus.

If you have repented and surrendered to Jesus, please come see me after the service.

If you did so while watching this service online contact me through the information on our website:

www.NewLifeBlairsville.org

The Lord’s Supper

This morning we commemorate our salvation by partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.

According to 1 Cor 11:26 we do this until Jesus comes and takes us away to be with Him.

But, before we partake of the bread and the cup, let us prepare ourselves.

1 Corinthians 10:14–17 (LSB) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to prudent people. You judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one [loaf].

1 Corinthians 10:21 (LSB) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 11:27–31 (NLT) … anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

PRAYER

This morning let us resolve to give all the glory to Jesus alone as we partake of the Lord’s Supper together.

Let us give Jesus glory for the sacrifice He made to redeem us from the curse of death.

We are using the bread of Passover, called matzos, because that is the bread Jesus used when He instituted His Supper.

This morning we will each break a piece off of one loaf and then take one of the cups.

Jesus used matzos because, as you see ...

It is a bread without leaven (yeast) — Jesus was sinless.

Hebrews 4:14–16 (NLT) So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Matzos is a bread that has stripes:

It is a bread that has holes.

All of this reminds us of the prophecy in: Isaiah 53:5 (LSB) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our peace fell upon Him, And by His [stripes] we are healed.

Each of us will break off a piece without touching the rest of the loaf.

Receive Emblems:

Worship Team please come.

Bread

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 (LSB) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Brother George Huber

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Cup:

1 Corinthians 11:25 (LSB) In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Brother Joe King

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Jesus IS coming back!

1 Corinthians 11:26 (LSB) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.