Preparing for worship at NRN on February 8 2015

Tomorrow at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene is going be a great day in the presence of the Lord. 


I am praying that God is speaking to many people about the importance of being in church on the Lord's Day! 

Church is the place where we sing together the praises to our great God!  It is in church that we experience the friendship and Christian fellowship of others around us. Every time we gather in church it is an opportunity to step away from the pressures and stress of the world and simply experience a God moment.  Where else can we give an offering to know that it is invested in the work of the Lord with the primary goal of reaching people who are far away from God?   Come prepared for worship in the morning.  Sing the sounds we are preparing as an offering to the Lord.  Bring your Bible and prepare your heart to hear the word of the Lord.

Here is our planned order of worship:

We extend a welcome to everyone present and then stand and sing to the Lord:





Following a time of greeting one another we hear the announcements about the opportunities to grow spiritually;   to serve the Lord and to meet for fun and laughter of friendship!  Then we bring our offerings to the Lord.

We pause in our singing to the Lord to speak directly to Him,  Bring your request to the Lord.  He inclines His ear towards us when we pray.








We continue in the current teaching series:

You’re Only the Manager of Your Money

By Rick Warren              

“Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property. He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip.” (Matthew 25:14b-15 GNT)

Jesus says in Matthew 25:14-15, “Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property. He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip” (GNT).

In those days there weren’t any banks, so when this rich man left for his long trip, he entrusted his property to his servants. When he returned, he asked for an account from his servants; he wanted to know what they had done with his money.

This is called stewardship — the old English word for “manager.” The first law of financial freedom is the law of possession: Everything you have belongs to God. You are only a manager!

We are called to be stewards of our time. We are called to be stewards of our influence. We are called to be stewards of our health, our relationships, and our opportunities. Everything you have you are to be steward or manager of.

You may say, “But wait a minute! I worked for my money, and now you want to tell me it isn’t mine?” Where do you think you got your body to work for your money? Where do you think you got your mind to work for it? Where do you think you got the energy to work for it? Where do you think you got the intelligence to work for it? Everything you have is a gift from God. You don’t really own anything in life; it’s all on loan.

You only get to use God’s money while you’re here on Earth. He’s loaned it to you for 80 or so years. He loaned it to somebody before you, and he’s going to loan it to somebody else after you die. You don’t own it; the Master owns it all. It’s all under management.

Do you know what the sign is that you’ve forgotten the law of possession? When you think your money is yours, you worry about it. You feel a pressure and stress that you weren’t meant to have.

Money management is a spiritual discipline. God is actually watching how you handle his money to see what spiritual riches he can trust you with in Heaven. This might make you feel pressure, but there is actually freedom in the law of possession.

When you remember that God is the owner and you are the manager, you’ll worry a whole lot less and focus more on managing God’s money well.

A review of Football Sunday at NRN!

Last Sunday at NRN we celebrated Football Sunday!

In case you missed it - here is the video message we viewed together:

A thought on prayer - Pray without ceasing.

Constantly, we are reminded in the Word of God to pray continually, without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things.   

 As believers we are to cast our cares on Jesus, so that our lives are not full of anxiety and fear. 

Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:6

New International Version
 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

New Living Translation
 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done

When we approach things in our lives with fear and anxiety, it dulls our spiritual senses and distorts our ability to properly interact with the Lord.  The Holy Spirit speaks to us and leads us by the inner witness on the inside.  Whenever we allow fear and sin to dominate our lives and our conscious, our sensitivity to hear His voice will fade.  Guarding our hearts and keeping our conscious clean is a very important discipline in our relationship with the Lord.

How we pray is just as important as what we pray.  If our hearts are right before God and man then He will hear us when we pray.  Our attitude and interaction with each other weighs in the outcome of our effectiveness in prayer just as much as our interaction with the Lord does.

So commit to praying continually and to give thanks for all things.

 

Join us this evening at 6:30 at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene for our weekly Prayer Encounter.  You are welcomed to seek God's face with us!

A definition of Worship

"To worship is to quicken the conscious by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination with the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God." 

                      

 -- William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Leaving Sunday Behind

          January 18, 2015January 20, 2015 / Christina Embree

It’s Sunday at noon.  Churches are sending their congregants away to a new week.  Children have been picked up, crafts and lesson sheets in tow.  Nurseries have been scrubbed down, sound systems turned off, and toys sanitized.  In a few minutes the once bustling church grows quiet as the people resume their lives outside the walls.

 

 

And therein lies the challenge. What happens the rest of the week?

 

And no, I’m not referring to a midweek service.  I’m referring to the part of the week where you aren’t “in church.”

A recent study that looked at church attendance found that for most kids, regular attendance (being at church 3 out of 4 Sundays a month) is no longer a realistic expectation.  In fact, the majority of churched kids only found their way into the church building on average 2 Sundays a month.   That’s 24 hours each year.  That’s one day.  1/365th of their life.  That’s a lot of time not in church.

Simply put, that’s not enough.  This same study show that these kids will spend as many hours engaged in media in two days that they will in church all year.  Youths will be in their classroom 60 times longer than in church and spend over 280 hours participating in sports activities over the course of a year.

Maybe you know all this, maybe not. But whether this is a reminder or a wake-up call, I urge you to consider, are you okay with these numbers?  Are you satisfied that we are preparing the next generation to carry our faith forward?  Are you content that as a church we are doing our best to disciple and mentor our youth and kids?

If you are reading this blog, I would guess that you are not okay, satisfied or content.  But you might be lost.  Lost as to what to do.  Lost as to what to say.  Lost as to where to go. Consider these things you can do in order to bring about a real change in the culture of the church and the heart of the home.

MINISTERS

Equip Your Parents – If the parents/caregivers in your congregation grew up with a traditional Sunday School model, they may not have the tools to use for faith formation at home.  Equip them for the call!

 

Engage the Congregation – Your church will have to move the focus from Sunday and Wednesday nights to times of relationship-building and faith formation outside of the church walls.  The children aren’t in church because often Mom and Dad aren’t in church.  If no one is talking to them on the off weeks, our faith has become compartmentalized to a time and place rather than a walk of life.

 

Encourage Your Leaders – If you have a staff, volunteer or paid, who serve the children and families of your church, take time to thank them for their service and encourage them to consider how they can reach out in love all week long, not just on Sunday.  Write a note, send a text, say a prayer and share a hug so that they can go and do the same.

PARENTS/CAREGIVERS

Get Plugged In – If kids aren’t in church, it’s often because their parents/caregivers aren’t in church.  Maybe you legitimately can’t be there, but if you can’t, you need to find somewhere (a small group, a prayer group, Bible study, or fellowship group) where your kids can see you growing in your faith. You are the single most powerful influence on your kids – what you model, they will follow.

 

Get Excited – There is nothing more exciting than an active growing life of faith.  It’s more exciting that a good grade, a goal scored, or a tooth lost.  Showing love, being kind, extending patience, choosing obedience and living gratefully should be celebrated and acknowledged.  What makes you excited will tell your kids what is important in life.  What do you cheer loudest for?

 

Get Together – When a family serves together, prays together, and studies together they also grow together.  Kids link actions to concepts.  If you want your child to grow up as a disciple of Christ, disciple them.  If you want them to be a worshiper, worship with them.  If you want them to pray, then pray with them and if you want them to believe the Bible, share it with them. Do this life of faith together.

Church may never “look” the same.  Sunday morning and Wednesday night may not be what it was 20 or 30 years ago.  But that doesn’t mean that we must lose the next generation.  Our faith is bigger than our church walls.  It’s time we realize that and we engage with Christ in the everyday.  It’s time for change.

 

 

 

Footbal Sunday at NRN - even for the non - football person.

Today at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene we had a great time of worship featuring communion and lifting our voices in praise to our Great God.  Then we did something quite different - we took part in a Football Sunday 2015:




This evening we gather for a time of fun - food and football.  We begin with our annual chili and soup cook-off.  Others are bringing chicken wings - meat balls - and desserts. We will watch the game on the big screens and plan to have a great time. 

One big draw to watch the game has absolutely nothing to do with football.  For all of you who are non-football people - enjoy some great commercials:

The XEROX Monks 1977 Super Bowl commercial:

One of the famous Coca-Cola commercial in history featuring Mean Joe Green in 1979:

 

Clint Eastwood Super Bowl Commercial 2012 Chrysler     It's Halftime in America:

 

 

And a couple we will see this evening:







Hope you will come and laugh with us this evening at our annual chili and soup cook-off!