EChurch@Wartburg – 10.15.17

Posted on by October 14, 2017avatar

Welcome to a Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg

The TWW community would love to pray for you!

Please include your prayer request in the comment section of this post. 

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=110209&picture=towering-treesRedwoods Reach for the Skies in Muri Woods, California 

Please keep those impacted by fires in California and the tragedy in Las Vegas, as well as hurricane victims, in your prayers.

Here is our Order of Worship

A Morning Prayer by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 C.E.) link

“O God, the God of spirits and of all flesh,
Who is beyond compare, and stands in need of nothing,
Who has given the sun to have rule over the day,
and the moon and the stars to have rule over the night,
now also look down upon us with gracious eyes, and receive our morning thanksgivings,
and have mercy upon us; for we have not ‘spread out our hands to a strange God;’
for there is not among us any new God, but You, the eternal God,
Who are without end, who has given us our being through Christ,
and given us our well-being through Him.
Graciously grant us, through Him, eternal life;
with whom glory, and honor, and worship be to You and to the Holy Spirit forever.
Amen.”

A Prayer by William Barclay link
1907-1978 link

O God, you are our refuge
When we are exhausted by life’s efforts;
When we are bewildered by life’s problems;
When we are wounded by life’s sorrows:
We come for refuge to you.
O God, you are our strength.

When our tasks are beyond our powers;
When our temptations are too strong for us;
When duty calls for more than we have to give to it:
We come for strength to you.

O God, it is from you that all goodness comes
It is from you that our ideals come;
It is from you that there comes to us the spur of high desire and the restraint of conscience.
It is from you that there has come the strength to resist any temptation, and to do any good thing.

And now as we pray to you,
Help us to believe in your love,
so that we may be certain
that you will hear our prayer;

Help us to believe in your power,
so that we may be certain
that you are able to do for us
above all that we ask or think;

Help us to believe in your wisdom,
so that we may be certain
that you will answer,
not as our ignorance asks,
but as your perfect wisdom knows best.

All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

Scripture Reading:  Luke 19:41-44 (NASB Bible Gateway)

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

A Prayer of Relinquishment by Richard Foster link

Today, O Lord, I yield myself to You.
May Your will be my delight today.
May You have perfect sway in me.
May your love be the pattern of my living.
I surrender to You my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions.
Do with them what You will, when You will, as You will.
I place into Your loving care my family, my friends, my future.
Care for them with a care that I can never give.
I release into Your hands my need to control, my craving for status, my fear of obscurity.
Eradicate the evil, purify the good, and establish Your Kingdom on earth.
For Jesus’ sake,
Amen.

A Prayer for Tonight by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 C.E.) link

“Watch, dear Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight,
and give Your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest Your weary ones. Bless Your dying ones.
Soothe your suffering ones. Pity Your afflicted ones.
Shield Your joyous ones.
And all for Your Love’s sake.
Amen.”

Comments

EChurch@Wartburg – 10.15.17 — 17 Comments

  4. Good message.

    Appreciate what Wade said, “The starting point for a new life is often marked by the stains of our tears.”
    A long story, but we (husband and I) recently left a church wanting ‘leaders’ to sign ‘Leadership Covenant’ and members sign ‘membership covenant.’ We refused; red flags all the way around. We managed a food pantry; the new pastor hired some months ago (ed.) is closing it – he had hinted at such in several conversations with him). We left; miss talking to the clients coming in about Jesus, praying for them etc. but know they will find another one to go to.

    I have plenty of tears over how this church turned out and what happened to the pantry.

  6. K@ Kathy:
    Kathy,it seems this is a common tactic of new pastors in order to drive out those with a vested interest in church programs. Now there are fewer people to oppose the takeover.
    I also help run the food pantry at our church. 100+ people once a month get almost a week’s groceries. Started by a lady who grew up dirt poor in South Dakota during the Depression. She, like you and your husband understand “Feed my sheep”. It is showing God’s love by caring for others. Neo-Cal’s can be heartless. It is built into their theology.

  7. Kathy wrote:

    I have plenty of tears over how this church turned out and what happened to the pantry.

    I pray that God is rearranging those of us who are temporarily operating alone or in small groups. God bless you!

  8. Kathy wrote:

    We refused; red flags all the way around. We managed a food pantry; the new pastor hired some months ago (ed.) is closing it – he had hinted at such in several conversations with him).

    Loren Haas wrote:

    Neo-Cal’s can be heartless. It is built into their theology.

    Even though I don’t subscribe to the traditional teaching (over the centuries via the medievals through present day fundagelicals) of hell, I still believe that there will be a reckoning one day…

  10. We were serving up to 100+ in our pantry, many of them elderly.

    I love researching, thus how I found this site. Among others.
    This new pastor kept talking about discipling and tithing from the pulpit. Then invited all leaders of ministries to a meeting with him where he presented us with the covenant to sign. Red flag as we read it and listened to him talking. That’s when I started doing research. I had no idea there were so many ‘movements’ in the Christian world.
    At first I thought maybe the church this new pastor came from was associated with 9Marks. (Found some info about them doing research).
    Then remembered which church he was associated with before coming on board. That church is associated with Acts 29.
    Is Acts 29 a Neo-Calvinist?

  11. @ Kathy:
    I am so sorry to hear that another church has been taken over by these ‘bullies in the pulpit’.

    I have to admit that I chuckled when I read your question “Is Acts 29 Neo-Calvinist”?

    IMHO they are Calvinists on steroids!

    Your story sounds eerily similar to what happened at Countryside Church, which we discussed in depth nearly four years ago. Here’s the link to the first installment:

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/12/06/replanting-countryside-acts-29-style-a-personal-testimony/

    This part of the story sounds just like what happened at your church:

    “Then in fairly short order, the cool dude pastor ‘canned’ the food pantry by shifting this ministry to other churches in the area.”

    Thanks to Rebecca, who attended Countryside, we were able to cover what happened at this church in depth. Additional posts are listed below:

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/12/09/is-this-church-discipline-acts-29-style/

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/12/11/countryside-defaults-where-is-the-acts-29-leadership-in-these-situations/

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/12/13/wwcnc-could-theological-dishonesty-have-contributed-to-the-downfall-at-countryside/

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/12/16/christ-church-its-locale-and-leadership/

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/12/18/countrysidechrist-church-a-case-study-in-a-church-replanting-failure/

    Here is another post I wrote about Acts 29 that might be helpful.

    http://thewartburgwatch.com/2015/06/05/church-planting-a-la-acts-29/

    I am so sorry that your church has been taken over by Acts 29. Feel free to send me an email if you’d like to discuss this further.

    deb@thewartburgwatch.com

  12. Thank you everyone for your input.

    Deb, I may just do that. Will check out those links.
    I may have read a few of them already when researching.

    One of my friends not associated with this church goes to a church she says is an Acts 29 church and she says her church isn’t that way and that I’m probably ‘over-generalizing’ what happened.
    She has no clue what happened there.

    I hadn’t carried my research that far in researching ‘Neo-calvinist.’ That is a new term I recently ran across.

  13. Dear Wartburgers,

    Augustine of Hippo was a confused man. He promoted his “Just War” theory which pretty much gave free license to Christians to kill others in government sponsored battles. Augustine helped the Popes to justify their crusades.

    You quote him as praying: “Graciously grant us, through Him, eternal life”.

    Why ask for that which God has already granted us? John 3:36, 1 John 5:11.

  14. Kathy wrote:

    A long story, but we (husband and I) recently left a church wanting ‘leaders’ to sign ‘Leadership Covenant’ and members sign ‘membership covenant.’ We refused; red flags all the way around. We managed a food pantry; the new pastor hired some months ago (ed.) is closing it – he had hinted at such in several conversations with him).

    So how did this pastor get hired in the first place? Did he misrepresent himself on his resume and during interviews? If he wasn’t honest then it seems he should be shown the front door and told not to return.

    The closing of the food pantry may or may not be a bad idea. But a reason needs to be given for closing the food pantry and an explanation provided for how those served by the food pantry will continue to be served.

    It may sound like I’m blaming the victim, the congregation. I can’t believe the congregation can be that naive as to not inquire about membership covenants and the continuation of existing church programs when they search for a new pastor. If they didn’t make such inquiries, then it seems there needs to be a lot of education.

  15. Kathy wrote:

    I hadn’t carried my research that far in researching ‘Neo-calvinist.’ That is a new term I recently ran across.

    We have been researching this movement for over 9 years. Based on what I have discovered about Acts 29, there’s no way I could ever attend an affiliated church.

  16. ___

    Wartburg,

    Respectfully,

    To place Enid Emmanuel Baptist Church Pastor Wade Burleson beyond a reasonable criticism, a proper complete, and thorough examination of his words is unwise and unscrupulous regardless of his position; furthermore it is unscriptural. (1)
    ___
    (1) “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

    – –

  17. @ Sòpwith:

    Respectfully,

    If you are so deeply disturbed by Wade’s interpretation of Scripture, perhaps you should refrain from listening to his messages. Dee and I have no intention of changing anything about EChurch. It ministers to me personally, and I am grateful that Wade and his church allow us to share his sermons each week.