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Serving In The Church

This week was our Carpenters for Christ projects at Eastern Hills.  Because of the pandemic we did not have a trip scheduled so we had local projects.  I always enjoy this week because it gives me an opportunity to help others and in turn serve God through construction projects.

This year we had two projects and we did these projects right here in Montgomery. First, we built a privacy fence for our church on our Green Ridge Road parking lot and second, we renovated an area at Highland Gardens Baptist church where they will minister to the Mixteco families in our community. This is an un-reached people group living right here in Montgomery.  

We read in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God created each one of us with a unique purpose.  He equipped us with special personalities and skills so that we might be able to make an impact for His kingdom while on the earth.  Christians are referred to brothers and sisters of a Family or members of the same body.  Each person does his part in serving so that the entire body might fulfill its purpose of bringing glory to God.  

The skills that God has equipped us with to serve the body of Christ are known as spiritual gifts. I Corinthians 12:4-6 says, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

We all have different gifts, but all of them are equally important in carrying out God’s plan on the earth.

The Carpenters for Christ is only one of the areas to serve here at Eastern Hills. Our church is dependent on everyone serving and using the gifts that God has given them. Without our members volunteering to serve we could not have the many ministries that we have.

There is a lot of work to be done for the kingdom of Christ, but few people willing to do the work.  In Matthew 9:37, Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” So do not be afraid to simply start serving; there is a place for you. As you serve, trust that God will equip you, guide you, and give you joy for the work.  If you would like to find the place here at Eastern Hills to serve, please let us help you find a place to serve.  

Pastor Dan

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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