Shippensburg First Church Of God Blog Site: What do you see? SFCOG updates for 4/28

Sunday is Coming!

What do you see in this artwork?

A butterfly? Flowers? Snakes? Something else? We might all view something like this differently.

However, since this was created by one of my own children, regardless of what it resembles, I see it with eyes of love as something beautiful.

As Christians, we are called to see the world differently, through eyes of Love, just as God sees us.

This month, we've been reviewing our mission as a church -- "Loving God, Loving His family, & Loving Our Neighbors."

We've considered how we are seen and loved by our God, and because of this, we can allow God's love to overflow into the world around us.

We've been talking about how the first step to loving others is seeing them as God sees them.

This weekend we will focus on how we see and love our neighbors – this is all about how we serve our community & our world both as individuals and collectively as a church. We might refer to this with a lot of different terms, like "evangelism" or "missions" or "outreach" or "benevolence" --all of these can fall under the category of "loving our neighbors."

This must all be rooted in seeing people and loving people the way that Jesus sees and loves.

Reading the Gospels, it becomes apparent that Jesus sees people differently. He views the world differently than us.

As his disciples, we want to learn to see the way that our savior sees. This takes spending time with Jesus our savior, observing him as he interacts with others—we can do this by reading about him in Scripture. On Sunday we will look at a passage from Matthew's Gospel that is full of little "snapshots" of how Jesus views others.

Our starting point will be the end of chapter 9 which is a familiar passage often used when discussing "evangelism" or the "theology of missions" – That's a fancy way of saying it offers a great summary for us of how Jesus sees others:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

--Matthew 9:35-38

Ponder today: Do we see the needs around us? Do we see the crowds with compassion? Do we see the harvest? Do we pray for workers?

This passage is even more remarkable when you look at what has happened in the chapter prior to this. About 9 times in Matthew 9, Jesus sees a need and responds, and then ends with this summary of Jesus seeing the crowds with compassion.

We will consider some principles we can learn from Jesus about how to engage our world, both collectively as a church, and also as individuals. We will be challenged with the knowledge that if we call ourselves disciples of Jesus, he is sending us out as workers in the harvest field. Jesus will also grant us power and authority to help meet both spiritual and physical needs in the world around us, proclaiming 'The kingdom of heaven has come near' (Matthew 10:7).

As Jesus says, "Freely you have received; freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

This Sunday

Both services will have a brief update about Camp YoliJwa by the new Program Coordinator, Luke Britcher.

8:30 –We will Praise the name of our Savior

Praise The One Who Breaks The Darkness #293

How Sweet The Name Of Jesus Sounds #123

At the Name of Jesus #766

O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing #21

11:00 –We will Magnify our Savior with some favorite songs of worship

Be sure to give a listen to our Contemporary Team Spotify playlist to prepare your hearts for worship:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7E8YRF1NCIGbFoMNYNPn9K?si=ZivXqX5MRWe3nIDG1nx_qw&pi=u-Y90v2ygGSTKK

Photo Highlights from this past Week

Shippensburg University Choir & Madrigal's Concert

Community Night Closing Program

Youth Group '9 Square' in CRS

Spring Congregational Meeting

May 5, 2024 at 6:00

Plan to join us for a celebration of the growth we have been experiencing, a financial update, and a report on council actions since the November Congregation Meeting. The meeting agenda was posted on April 21, in accordance with our Constitution and Bylaws. Minutes and Agendas will be available in your church mailboxes and at the meeting.

Upcoming Opportunities

Even though Community Night is ending, there are a lot of opportunities to stay connected through our Sunday School Classes, Bible Studies, and Care Groups. Our youth will be meeting in some different ways, and our Children's Ministry is already looking ahead to VBS in July 23-27. See the FYI newsletter for more information about many of these activities.

This Wednesday, May 1, at 6:30 in the Annex, we will be starting a special seminar to help you discover your SHAPE! SHAPE is an acronym for Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. This special 4-part class will help participants learn how God has uniquely designed each of us to serve the world for His purposes! Sign-up sheets are located around the building. *Childcare is available, but prior sign-ups will be appreciated to help us properly prepare.

We are planning a Wild Game Dinner for Saturday, May 18 at 5:00 in Crossroads Station. This event is designed as a night of fellowship and outreach for sportsmen (and sportswomen) and will feature food from the field and some interesting programming and giveaways.

Communications Updates

The May edition of our "FYI" Newsletter will be available this weekend. Look for it at the Welcome Desk or in the center section of the Sanctuary.

If you have information you would like to communicate, communication request forms are available from the church office or in the Gathering Place.

We are now on Instagram! Follow us @ShipFirstChurchofGod

Let us continually worship our Savior who Sees us!

Pastor Rodney Bistline

Shippensburg First Church of God

seniorpastorbistline@shipfcog.org