Rev. Jimmy's Page
Messages from Pastor Jimmy
Conversations In Faith
We would like to share with you a new opportunity here at Rock Springs Methodist Church called Conversations In Faith. Beginning on Wednesday 11 April at about 3ish in the Fellowship Hall, Pastor Jim will be leading weekly sessions with anyone who would like to come. This opportunity is focused on helping persons in understanding the Christian faith. It will not be denominationally focused. This is an opportunity to come and learn the basics of Christianity. Some points or areas of discussion can range from current society issues and the Christian faith, discuss world events and the Christian faith, and many other topics as the need or concern may present itself. It should be noted that all of the discussions will be open, honest, and informed by Faith. We will discuss the Bible and how it informs our personal faith journey, how to read and understand it. As our faith is part of our life on a daily basis it naturally leads us to discuss any topic that is or interest or concern. Yes, we will tackle the tough ones as they come up.
Light refreshments will be provided. Regretfully this opportunity is not something we will be able to live stream. So come and see what it is all about and join the Conversation.
Rev. JIMMY"S Message for August 12
To be delivered.
Article 22 July 2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus the Christ!
Last week I shared about our trip to Granite Hot Springs and I hope it was a blessing.
This week I want to share something a bit more personal. As you read this Karie and I will be on a delayed honeymoon. We have been married for seven years! When we got married we had planned on going on a Christian cruise for our honeymoon, however as we prayed about it we felt God leading us in a different direction. Instead of a honeymoon we purchased our 5thwheel RV. Her brother Pat was getting married soon after our wedding and we felt God leading us to go to his wedding in Vail Colorado.
Thus, we bought the RV and planned a westward trip. There was also something else on our hearts as well. For some time, I had felt God calling me west in ministry. I felt God was calling me to Montana, but I wasn’t 100% sure. With all of this on our hearts we began the westward trip to include Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakota’s. We planned on staying in each state and praying on and seeking God’s answer to my and now our call west in ministry.
After we returned home to NC I began the procedure to change conferences. I was offered churches in Montana and Wyoming. After reflection and prayer, we felt certain God was calling us to Wyoming and here we are. Thanks be to God!
Now seven years later we are taking our honeymoon Christian cruise. Rest assured I will share more on this later.
July 15,2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Christ, Peace and grace be unto you.
My brothers and sisters in Christ. As I write this we are at Granite Hot Springs between Pinedale and Jackson. The birds are singing, squirrels are playing, a deer just walked through the camp, and the river runs giving an ever present background. The smells of pine, campfires, and bug spray fill the air. Yes the bugs are present!
God’s wonderful creation seems to have a rhythm and cadence, a harmony, which gives one a sense of peace. Just sitting by a campfire watching it burn is a relaxing experience in and of itself. For a time life seems suspended in time and space. Camping seems to slow things down and give one time to think and reflect. No rhyme or order just random thoughts come and go. Sometimes it is good to set aside busy agendas and just go with the flow.
In our spiritual journey we need to come to a place when being a disciple isn’t about the doing but about the being. Always reminding ourselves that is isn’t what we do it is about what we are, children of God. And out of what we are we do. Nature gives us this wonderful example and I believe God speaks to us in and through His wonderful creation.
8 July 2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Christ!
As I sit down to write this article it is 4 July 2018 Independence Day.
We will be cooking out later with hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, and potato salad. We will go later to see fireworks and remember that, as a Nation, freedom came through conflict. Conflict that took dedication and sacrifice and many lives. It seems that in order to have freedom conflict is inevitable.
As Christians the freedom we have comes to us through the determination and sacrifice of Jesus. What empowered His determination and willingness to sacrifice even His own life was love. A love that was and is willing to give itself to set others free.
For us then it comes to accepting this sacrifice of Christ for our sins. The conflict for us then becomes changing as we accept Jesus as our savior. Yes, I said changing! Not only does freedom come often through conflict but with it comes change. We are not what we once were and thus we have to change. Our guide to this change is God’s word. It is the truth on which we must base our life and build our lives upon. It must be the primary source of direction and the informing of our moral and ethical standards.
All of this seems quite hard and maybe even a bit overwhelming. This would certainly be true if we were trying to do it on our own. However, Jesus does not require us to face these necessary changes alone or in our own strength. We, as believers, also receive the Holy Spirit to empower and lead us in and through these changes and so much more. We should also be part of a Christian community, a church family. This, being part of, is more than just attending some worship services. So, let us trust in Christ by faith and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the word of God as we live into our Independence from sin.
1 July 2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Christ!
Summer is here for sure and with it comes camping, fishing, cookouts, day trips, and vacations. With the briefness of our summer in Wyoming I know all too well how fast it gets gone and how much we want to squeeze out of it.
This is the weekend before one of our largest summer celebrations, Independence Day, 4 July. I would encourage everyone to take some time and read some history about this special time in our history. It is Independence Day by the way. We are celebrating, our breaking away from England, to become our own country. Our Independence came at a very high cost that I feel is now long forgotten. We should remember the cost of freedom is always high. Thomas Jefferson once said, “It become necessary from time to time that the tree of liberty be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Freedom then is costly. We as Christians should be very aware of the cost of freedom! The cost of salvation, redemption, restoration, sanctification and justification for our sins cost the very Son of God His life. Maybe we should recall this cost from time to time. This Sunday we will do this very thing in Communion! So this Sunday as you come to receive please recall the cost of freedom from sin.
Pastors Note 10 June 2018
Greetings in the Holy name of Jesus our Christ!
I want to kind of mix it up a bit this week with several different topics.
By the time you are reading this Annual Conference will be over for another year. While, as I write this, I am not sure all of what will happen at Annual Conference I do fully expect that the Rock Mountain and Yellowstone Conferences will merge creating one Annual Conference. I am sure more discussion concerning the upcoming special session of General Conference will be had during our Annual Conference. The Lat Delegate and I will be giving reports on what we gleam from the proceedings.
The Trustees are making plans to move forward with some significant house cleaning here at the church. Please know that they will respect all items that have been donated over the years, however please also know that it comes time for some things to be replaced or just done away with. This is one of the jobs of the Trustees. They will need our help with this work and will be letting everyone know the work schedule soon.
On June 24ththis Church building will be 50 years old, having been dedicated on this date in 1968. Can you imagine the work and faith it took to accomplish this back then! We will be planning something special for this celebration. More to come…
3 June 2018
Greetings in name of Christ our Lord! Peace and blessings.
This week I want to share some information concerning finances. I am sharing this as I have been asked a few times to address this in a written format so here it goes.
There are two basic areas of giving for our church. Designated and undesignated. Now these get broken down into specific areas, but generally these are the two main areas.
UNDESIGNATED: When money is taken in or received and the giver does not specify a designated area (special use) it becomes a General donation (plate offering). This is then recorded as needed and deposited. Once a month this is totaled and 13% of it is accessed to be paid to the Annual Conference. This is called Tithe Plus and is used for many different things, to many for this space.
DESIGNATED: When money is donated or received and the donor specifies the use of the donation it then falls into the category of designated. This is then distributed as designated. There is NO 13% Tithe Plus accessed on these designated fundsand 100% goes to the designated fund to which it is given. Below is a list of designated giving areas:
(These are typically forwarded directly to the Conference Office to be deposited into designated ministry areas) – Special Sunday’s (UMCOR, World Communion, etc)
There are designated and ongoing for use in our church – Local Designated Giving areas (In Church) Memorials, Scholarship, Local Missions, Technology, Facilities Upgrades, Special Ongoing Projects
13 May 2018
Greetings in the Holy and Sacred name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
I want to depart for this week from my series on the early church and instead turn my attention to the holiday(s) that happen this Sunday. It’s a dual holiday this Sunday, Mother’s Day and ascension Sunday.
Let’s look first at ascension Sunday. Read Acts 1 and you will find the scripture on which this is based. Jesus ascends right before their very eyes. As they stand gazing angels give them the word. That as Jesus ascended in the same manner He will return. In this we find our promise of the return of Jesus. We can also find this in the words of Jesus himself found in John 14. This is significant! Only we, as Christians, have the promise of the return of our savior!
Let’s move now to Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day seeks to honor and give special recognition to all mother’s. Here I want to make a bit of a distinction. Being a mother or for that matter being a father is not a given just because you gave biological birth. You see being a mother is far more than just giving birth. So, I guess here it seems that being a mother is not predicated on giving birth alone. Yes, it is the way it should be, however so many times in the world we live in today it not so cut and dried.
A mother then might be seen a person that puts the welfare and wellbeing of a child or youth as their priority in love! To sacrifice and give of themselves to see the child is loved, cared for, supported, challenged, disciplined, educated, given opportunities, encouraged to do their best, to model for them the role of a mother and most importantly to do all they can so that the child can grow in God’s love and power. You see a mother might come to be the child’s friend later in life but not so much as the child is being raised. A mother is so much more than a friend and the child is not the equal in the relationship until much later in development.
Thus, today we honor all women who have given of themselves in love to see a child or children are loved, cared for, challenged, disciplined, taught, and supported into becoming all they can be in God’s love!
6 May 2018
Greetings in the Holy and Sacred name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
Let us resume where we left off last week: The NT then is rooted in the OT and as such it is necessary for the Church to not only be knowledgeable of the NT but of the OT as well.
The Church was off and running. Meeting in people’s homes and gathering in mostly small groups. Central to what they would do was share scripture, this would have been primarily readings from the Old Testament. Then the Apostles and Luke began writing letters to different groups and to different people. Often these letters would get passed around and read at other places different from the original recipient. These early letters circulated and began to have drastic effects on the early Church as they were from the very hand of followers of Jesus, with the exception of Paul, who became converted and called by Jesus to be number twelve. (More on this is a later series)
As the Apostles died one by one their letters became very valuable to this early and growing movement later called Christianity. It would be about three hundred years before all of the scriptures used by the early Church would be assembled, sorted, validated, and a cannon of sacred writings would be formalized. The Bible we have today is the end result of the early Church father’s dedication and spiritual leadership.
29 April 2018
Greetings in the Holy and Sacred name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
We are back with another section in the series on the birth of the church and the post resurrection work of Jesus. We left off last week at the point of the end of the age of the Apostles. Just a reminder that at the death of the last Apostle the apostleship age ended and there would be no more Apostles.
After the death of the last Apostle we enter into what is referred to as the “Church Age.” This signifies the finished work of the Apostles and the transfer of their mission, authority and teachings to the “Church.” Here the term Church means the body of believers who carry on the work of A Disciple. Remember Jesus commanded the Apostles to go and make disciples. Thus, the work of the church is the making of disciples. The church caries this on today in many different ways and I think sometimes in not so Godly ways. Foundational to the early Apostles teaching was the word of God. For them and for Jesus this meant the Old Testament. Remember they were living and writing the New Testament. When Jesus preached and taught His references were to the Old Testament and when the Apostles preached it was from the Old Testament. Today we also have the writings of the Apostles and their followers that we call the New Testament. Maybe it should be noted the term Testament in this context means covenant. The OT was the covenant of law the NT is a covenant of grace. The writings of the NT were decided to also be inspired by God through the Holy Spirit and thus informative and authoritative for the life of the Church.
The NT then is rooted in the OT and as such it is necessary for the Church to not only be knowledgeable of the NT but of the OT as well.
22 April 2018
Greetings in the Holy and Sacred name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
I want to pick up where we left off last week. Continuing a pretty deep and important discussion for the next few articles on things post resurrection. Topics such as the birth of the church, giving and receiving the Holy Spirit, gifts to the disciples/apostles, and cover some terms like “age of the apostles” “the church age” “dispensation of grace.”
We left off last week looking at the FIRST time the twelve disciples received the Holy Spirit. This is significant! Only the twelve would receive this first, and later at Pentecost, a second anointing of the Holy Spirit. Why is this significant? Jesus had hand-picked His disciples and would later hand pick Paul to be Disciple/Apostle number twelve. In church history and in the bible, we find these twelve not only received the two anointings but also special gifts unique to them and their calling.
The distinction of these twelve as Apostles came as a result of the double anointing and the special gifts they received. I need to be very clear here: These twelve were the only ones to receive both a double Holy Spirit anointing and special gifts. This was a ONE-TIME occurrence! After Jesus ascended and the anointing at Pentecost they became known as Apostles. Their gifts and special anointing was done for the birth of the Church. Once these twelve were dead the age of the Apostles was ended. No REAL or TRUE apostles would follow!
Once they were dead we enter what is called the “Age of The Church” or “The Church Age.” This is where we will pick it up next week. Peace and blessings!
15 April 2018
Greetings in the Holy and Sacred name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
I want to begin a pretty deep and important discussion for the next few articles on things post resurrection. Topics such as the birth of the church, giving and receiving the Holy Spirit, gifts to the disciples/apostles, and cover some terms like “age of the apostles” “the church age” “dispensation of grace.”
I realize this all likely seems deep, maybe even a bit intimidating, or maybe boring. However, I encourage you to bear with me as we go through all of this. The topics and subjects are foundational to who we are, what we believe, how we came to believe as well do, and how we live out our Christian faith. These topics are our faith foundation! Let me begin with this passage from John 20:
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
This is the “first” time they, the twelve, receive the Holy Spirit. This is before Pentecost! Look it up and study what you find and we’ll come back to it next week for more discussion.
Rev. JIMMY"S Message for APRIL 8th
8 April 2018
Greetings in the Holy and Sacred name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
Well here we are already one week since we celebrated Easter! How quickly times gets gone.
By now all of Jesus’ disciples had found out about His resurrection. They had began gathering in small groups and Jesus continued His teachings in these small private groups away from the hands of the Romans and the Jewish religious leaders. There was no way He could begin making public appearances again. That time had come and went, it was finished. Now He turned to teaching the disciples to become Apostles. They were, if you will, now in graduate school for about 40 days. Soon this group of about 70 in total would be gathered in the upper room where they would receive another anointing of the Holy Spirit. At this second anointing they would become evangelist and the Church would be born.
Next week I will begin a series of the apostles and the birth of the Church and share what we call “the age of the Apostles.”
NEW FOR Easter 1 APRIL 2018
1 April 2018
Pastors Easter Epistle
Greetings on this Easter Sunday 2018! Greetings in the name of the Risen Lord!!!
For the past few weeks I have been sharing some reflections of the phrase Jesus the Christ and Jesus is Lord. We have pretty much covered these in some depth. Now let us come to the most important aspect of our faith and that is the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15
12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
You see all that Jesus said and did in His life and ministry hinges on the reality of the resurrection!
However we cannot get to the resurrection without the crucifixion. No cross, no death, no burial, no resurrection, no redemption. It was the death of Jesus that paid for the sins of those who would and will believe past, present, and future. It is the resurrection that proves God’s power over sin and death. It proves the ministry, life, and death of Jesus were indeed God’s plan for humanities way out of condemnation into salvation.
Yes, we as Christians, celebrate the resurrection to be sure! However every Christian should celebrate the joy of the resurrection while remembering the cross. This is one major reason the cross is the main symbol in the Christian church today. I would pray that we never grow ashamed of our saviors cross nor worry about it offending others. For the cross of Christ is the greatest symbol of love ever made known to humanity! Amen!
Pastors note 25 March 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus our Christ!
Let us return to where we left off last week. So why should we accept Jesus as both our Savior and Lord?
To answer this, we need to cover a couple important points of information. We often hear someone say Jesus Christ as if Jesus had a last name like we do. Even in the bible it is often written as “Jesus Christ.” We need to remember here that our English version was translated from Greek. In Greek it is properly read and written Jesus the Christ. This is how we should remember it when we read it from our bibles. This – Jesus the Christ – is a very significant point for us to grasp and understand.
Ancient Jews usually had only one name, and, when greater specificity was needed, it was customary to add the father’s name or the place of origin. Thus, in his lifetime Jesus was called Jesus son of Joseph (Luke 4:22; John 1:45, 6:42), Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 10:38), or Jesus the Nazarene (Mark 1:24; Luke 24:19). After his death he came to be called Jesus Christ. Christ was not originally a name but a title derived from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew term meshiah (Messiah), meaning “the anointed one.” Passages such as Acts of the Apostles 2:36 show that early Christian writers knew that the Christ was properly a title, but in many passages of the New Testament, including those in the letters of Paul, the name and title are combined and used together as Jesus’ name: Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus (Romans1:1; 3:24). Paul sometimes simply used Christ as Jesus’ name (e.g., Romans 5:6). However, you may find it written keep in mind what it means. Jesus was His proper name that the Angel of The Lord had instructed Him to be named and it represents His humanity.
To be continued…
18 MARCH 2018
Pastors note 18 March 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus our Christ!
Let us return to where we left off last week.
Jesus becomes our Lord only if we let Him do so. So why should we accept Him as Lord?
In order to accept Jesus as Lord we must see Him as a very different kind of Lord as compared to what may be our idea of lord is. As I mentioned last week Jesus “offers” or makes His Lordship available for us to decide to accept or reject. Jesus says in scripture “behold I stand at the door and knock.” Note here He knocks or in other words He makes Himself available to be invited in or accepted. In our word it seems history has taught us that as people become lord’s it seems the more power they get the more power they assume. For Jesus He offers to be our Lord out of humility not power or position. He offers to be our Lord for our own good, wellbeing, joy, and peace not out of His self-gain. You see with Jesus as Lord our lives are changed and the purpose of our lives becomes one of living in love and peace and not merely existing and going through the motions.
You see Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd, but He is also the Good Lord. Yes He challenges us to grow in our relationship with Him and in our mission and ministry, but He never asks us to do any of this on our own or as lone rangers. Earthly lord’s don’t usually want personal relationships with their subjects and they usually do not offer to get their hands dirty in helping their subjects with the tasks they are given.
So why should we accept Jesus as both our Savior and Lord?
To be continued…
11 March 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus our Christ!
As we continue to move through the season of Lent I would like for us to unpack something I have shared with you in various forms for the past few months in my articles. What I want to unpack is found in parts of the introduction above and ones like it I have used for the past few months. I think this will be a great way of touching on some of the most important and basic tenants of our Christian faith.
Let us move now to Jesus as our Lord. Once again, we have to shake off the worlds views and definitions of Lord. It is likely that most of us when we hear that someone should be our lord or that we should treat someone as our lord we cringe. I think that most of us would base our reactions in what we have learned and maybe even witnessed in human history or what happens when one person has absolute power and authority over another person or group. This isn’t without justification as far as human history goes. In human terms it would be hard to find an example of a lord that didn’t exploit their subjects for their own benefit. It is all of this and more that we as believers in Christ as Lord must lay aside.
You see Jesus must be our Lord! In this there should be no fear or hesitation at all, but through trust and in humility we need to accept Him as Lord. Why? Unlike worldly human lord’s Jesus has literally laid down His life for His subjects before they accepted Him as Lord. Quite a difference isn’t it. Just think of it. Jesus died for ALL persons that they may come to know Him as Savior and Lord! Not only did Jesus die for us He also let us have the power of free will to accept Him or not. Jesus becomes our Lord only if we let Him do so. So why should we accept Him as Lord?
To be continued…
4 MARCH 2018
4 March 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus our Christ!
As we continue to move through the season of Lent I would like for us to unpack something I have shared with you in various forms for the past few months in my articles. What I want to unpack is found in parts of the introduction above and ones like it I have used for the past few months. I think this will be a great way of touching on some of the most important and basic tenants of our Christian faith.
Let me begin our unpacking with the two-word phrase “our Lord.”
LAST WEEK: Of course, we will begin with the word “our.”
When we say that Jesus is “our” Lord we are making quite a huge faith claim. It is a statement that is both singular and plural at the same time. When as an individual we make this statement, we are confessing that we are, as an individual, part of something greater than the sum of ourselves. We are confessing that WE ARE individually part and also part with others as part of the larger faith community. The Community who believe in Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life” the only way to God.
THIS WEEK: The next word to unpack is “Lord”
Like the word our it is also a profession of faith, an acknowledgement of who Jesus is or at least should be in our personal relationship with Him. We will address the word Savior next week or the week following, but for now the two words should be looked at with Lord coming first. To say that Jesus is Lord is to say that we are subject to His will for our lives. This is quite a statement to make. However, Jesus cannot be just savior. Our acceptance of Jesus as savior must be accompanied with our acceptance of Him as Lord. You see placing ourselves in the position of subjects of Jesus as Lord brings with it more than our modern minds might conjure up. In our modern interpretation we often have a negative thought of someone being Lord over us. It seems HUMAN history and HUMAN relationships where one was subject to someone as being Lord over them didn’t always go so well.
Here is where we have to clear our minds of the things of this world and put aside the baggage we bring to our relationship with Jesus. You see if we aren’t very careful we will put of Jesus HUMAN traits and not divine traits. While Jesus was fully human He was and is fully divine. Accepting Jesus as savior must also include accepting Jesus as Lord.
Here we have nothing to fear with Jesus as Lord for He is a loving forgiving Lord who never asks of us more then we can (with His help) accomplish. I guess more on this next week as it seems I am out of space for this one.
25 Feb 2018 Bulletin Article
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus our Christ!
As we continue to move through the season of Lent I would like for us to unpack something I have shared with you in various forms for the past few months in my articles. What I want to unpack is found in parts of the introduction above and ones like it I have used for the past few months. I think this will be a great way of touching on some of the most important and basic tenants of our Christian faith.
Let me begin our unpacking with the two-word phrase “our Lord.”
Of course, we will begin with the word “our.”
When we say that Jesus is “our” Lord we are making quite a huge faith claim. It is a statement that is both singular and plural at the same time. When as an individual we make this statement, we are confessing that we are, as an individual, part of something greater than the sum of ourselves. We are confessing that WE ARE individually part and also part with others as part of the larger faith community. The Community who believe in Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life” the only way to God.
We are also making a claim that is one of a personal relationship. The word “our” is just such a claim and a profession at the same time. You see our relationship with Jesus is both personal and communal at the same time. Being a Christian means being part of all of those who have accepted Christ as savior. The Holy Spirit links us as one just as surely as our sin is common and our need of salvation is common.
Indeed, thus we see our as both plural and singular at the same time. As we are all different and as we all have different gifts according to God’s will and plan we are united together by faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the heart of our salvation is the greatest of gift of all and that gift is divine love. God’s love for us exemplified in Jesus and it is this very love that we receive and that we can share. It is this very love that can overcome all the troubles of this world.
BILLY GRAHAM
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus!
This week saw the passing of the great evangelist Bill Graham at the age of 99. I met Billy on several occasions as we did construction of his campus of The Training Center at The Cove in NC. He was always a gentile man and one could feel God’s hand on him when in his presence. He will be deeply missed and so many can recall giving their life to Christ under his preaching and teaching. Thanks be to God for this gentle servant!
Well here we are in the season of Lent. It has finally turned winter in our part of the country. It’s hard to believe that Easter is not very far away and coming fast.
Lent? Just what is Lend anyway? It is strange as I think about this just how many Christian faith communities don’t observe Lent. Sure, they celebrate Easter, but not Lent. How can we really fully experience Easter without Lent? Lent is about looking within in light of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and evaluating our faith journey. Remembering that by grace we are saved and not by works. Lent gives us times like Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Palm Sunday. How can we just jump to the Easter resurrection celebration without the crucifixion?
We should always celebrate Easter and the significance of the resurrection! However, we should remember that if there is no cross, no crucifixion, no death, no burial then there would be no resurrection!
My we not so quickly jump to the resurrection and ignore, trivialize, or just skip over the significance of the season of Lent as a time to reflect and remember the cost of our salvation. It was love that held Jesus to the cross not nails. It was His love for us and in His love, we know salvation.
Grace amazing marvelous grace!
Special Message on Florida Shooting
15 February 2018
My dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,
Once again, I sit down at my computer to write a response to yet another tragedy. Yesterday, Valentines Day, a young man entered a school in Florida with a heart intent on harm. When he left the school early reports of seventeen dead and numerous others injured. The investigation is ongoing speculation as to why is all over the news.
I ask first that we pray for the families, the community, and all of those involved in this tragic event. I would ask that we pray for the young man accused of this horrific violence. I would also ask that we pray for his family as well. I would also encourage us to not jump on the speculation wagon and let the investigation results inform us of what happened. It is, it seems, that inanimate objects get blamed for the actions of people. I am amazed how many people will blame an object that has no way to act on its own for a tragedy. It is like blaming a pencil or pen for misspelled words.
I believe we as Christians need to look at the real reasons things like this happen not at what was used, but why. Early reports indicate he communicated, via social media, some troubling things. It is a reality today that so many people communicate via social media rather than in person.
As Christians we are called to live in love and truth. We need to look as this kind of tragedy, violence of one person against others and ask the deeper question of why not what. If we want to curb and stop this kind of violence we must be vigilant in prayer and willing to get personally involved in the lives of other people. I don’t believe this kind of tragedy can be averted without changing the hearts and minds of people through love and by the grace of Jesus Christ. We cannot legislate morality, compassion, concern, forgiveness, mercy, or love. The answer to this kind of tragedy isn’t another law or legislative governmental action, but a call to all Christians to get involved in the lives of our children and to live out the tenants of our faith in real concern, heartfelt compassion, and radical Christ like love!
Peace and blessings Pastor Jim
Pastors note 18 February 2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Christ!
Over the past few weeks I’ve been discussing spiritual disciplines and the things we should have in our Faith Journey Travel Kit. Coming up soon I will be doing an in-depth teaching in adult Sunday School covering spiritual disciplines. This week I want to share a few random things, thoughts, and just Preacher stuff.
Last Sunday we did our very first live Sunday School Facebook broadcast. The really good thing is the live video will stay on FB and even if you missed the live feed you can view the video of the live feed later. This is definitely a learning growing experience! Even after the first run we see several things we want to improve on as we move forward. Another positive aspect is several persons joined the live feed and several more have watched and commented on the video. This is what we hoped would happen and to be honest it exceeded our expectations! God is good and to Him we give praise and thanks. After we get through this initial learning experience we will be stepping it up a bit. We will give you the option to also join us via an interactive version where you can actually see us and we see you and you can interact with us in real time. We’ll keep you posted on this. In addition to doing these Sunday School classes I will begin doing regular short live devotions and or scripture lessons. We will announce these via FB and also on our web site.
Here is where I ask for your help. If you have ideas, questions or topics you would like me to address or cover via this media please let me know and we will try to make it happen. Just write your suggestion out and give it to me, email it (jchrisawn@gmail.com) text it to my cell phone, or message me on FB.
Next is Pastoral home visitation. Much has changed since I started in ministry over 20 years ago. This may be a huge understatement. I really want to do more home visits however there are some guidelines I am required to follow. Please let me know first if you would be open to me visiting, when would be a good day and time. If you live alone there would need to be someone there as I cannot visit men or women if they are by themselves.
Well I guess that’s enough for this week. I hope and pray you have a wonderful and Christ filled week!
Pastors note 11 February 18
Greetings in the name of Jesus! Peace and blessings.
Back to our Faith Journey Traveling Kit and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit IS a gift that is very unique and this I feel is an understatement. The Holy Spirit is not a thing or item, but a person. One part of the Trinity. Thus, it is a gift of and from God of Himself and Jesus at the same time. Told you it was a unique gift!
The Holy Spirit IS a gift to ALL who believe in Jesus as their savior unto salvation and as Lord of their lives. The gift of the Holy Spirit is unique in and of itself, but the uniqueness doesn’t stop there. The gift of the Holy Spirit is unique for each believer. As we are all in some way different and our lives will go down different paths on our journey, so thus is this gift from God different for each believer. You see God knows us inside out and even better than we know ourselves. God knows where our path will take us and what will happen along the path. God then gives us this miraculous gift so that we can have the power and strength, in Him, to live out our faith.
Thus, His gift is custom tailored for each individual believer. This means that no matter what happens your unique gift from God, given out of a love for us we might never come to fully understand in this life, is permanent! As nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, so nothing can steal this wonderful gift away.
For me, and I hope for you, this is great comfort and encouragement on my journey. To know that no matter what may happen God is with me and you and nothing can separate us from the Holy Spirit and God’s amazing love!
To be continued…
Pastors Note 4 February 2018
May this note find you knowing God’s grace and blessings in your life!
Thus far we’ve covered a few items for our Faith Journey Travel Kit (FJTK) We have only briefly covered Prayer, Worship, Praise, Bible study, and Christian fellowship/friendship. Let us move forward…
In our kit we need to add something that should give us direction, comfort, power, and sustenance for our faith journey. No journey can be undertaken successfully without this important part of the kit. Let us be reminded that this is a FAITH JOURNEY! It’s the ultimate life journey and like all life journeys there are times when all goes well and then there are times when it seems nothing goes well at all. There are times when the direction is clear and times when it seems the way is lost. This next thing to be added is something that God gives to ALL who believe by FAITH in Jesus as the Son of God and their personal Savior and Lord. Some may know this gift well and yet others may not know it at all or at least they might not think they know it, but more importantly it knows them and it knows God. This gift that gives us direction, comfort, power, and sustenance on our journey isn’t a secret and I bet by now you have it figured out…
The item, thing, or better described as a person is quite unique. While we can’t usually always take a living human friend or other believer on every part of our journey this person never leaves us. Well of course I’m talking about the Holy Spirit. You see this is the gift of God given because of Jesus to every believer. Yes, every believer! Now that we’ve uncovered this most important part of our FJTK it will become our main discussion in next week’s bulletin note.
To be continued…
28 January 2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior!
Our Faith Journey Travel Kit {FJTK} (continued from 21 January):
Last week we covered these necessary items for our FJTK: Prayer, Worship and Praise, and Bible Study.
Bible Study 2: Along with reading your bible and praying before you read it one important thing is to have a version that you can read and enjoy. I would recommend the following: New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New King James Version. I feel sure finding one of these translations would not be a problem. In addition to your bible I would suggest a good bible dictionary. Most of us spend money on some kinds of books, magazines, or news paper subscriptions why not do the same for your FJTK. While electronic versions of these are fine, but for me when it comes to reading the bible itself I really like to have it in hand. Remember to pray for insight and understanding before beginning your reading. I would also encourage you to bring your bible to church and yes, it is fine to make notes in your bible!
The next thing for your FJTK would be something you can not easily always have with you or take with you. It is a good Christian friend or friends. These would be persons with whom you share your journey, your struggles, joys, and with whom you can find unquestioned support not judgement. In turn you would do the same for them and you both would challenge each other along the way. It is so very important to have someone to share your faith journey with and it is really good if one of those is your spouse or even grown children, however this isn’t always possible so let God lead you to this person(s).
To be continued…
21 January 2018
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Christ! Peace and blessings
Last week I covered, very briefly, the sacraments of our faith community. I have had a lot of people ask me different times about the following article ideas. This week I would like to begin looking at some things, topics, hints, helps, and ideas for further study and reflection. I also want to give a few brief suggestions on prayer, bible study, and using devotional reading(s) for personal spiritual growth. I think I will begin with the later.
Our Faith Journey Travel Kit
Prayer: As Christian Disciples there is no more powerful tool in out faith journey kit than prayer! It is our direct line connection with God. It is our lifeline if you will or maybe our hotline, but it is far more than an emergency connection. I think sometimes Christian’s only pray when something is stressing or challenging. If this is the case then I would contend you are only accessing and using maybe 10% of this resource, maybe less. More on prayer after we look at a few more items that should be in our Kit.
Next Would Be Worship and Praise: Worship begins in humility and gratitude of heart. Expressing this to God. It then moves to thanking God and giving Him praise (credit) for all the blessings and good things in our life. It is also praising and thanking Him for the difficult things in our lives. For God is with us through them and strengthens us in them. Write it, speak it, sing it, but do it!
Then Bible Study: This is more than reading your bible, but includes reading your bible. While bible study may be done at different times and for different reasons and purposes it is also something that can be done individually or in groups. I suggest for our Kit a good bible that is easy to read (NIV) I never recommend a paraphrase such as “The Living Bible” or “The Message” by Eugene Peterson. Stick with a version translated from original text. I suggest daily reading and re-reading of your bible. Begin daily reading with the gospels, read a chapter of Proverbs daily, a Psalm, and an Old Testament reading daily. Read it even if you do not understand what you have read! Before you read your bible always pray for insight and understanding.
To be continued…
7 January 2018 - Happy New Year!
Greetings with grace and peace in the name of Jesus our Christ!
Today is a Sunday full of significance and celebration!
Of course, it is the first Sunday of the month (Communion) and it is also the first Sunday of the New Year. It is also the Sunday in the Christian calendar on which we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus or The Baptism of the Lord Sunday.
Maybe it would be a good article to refresh or reflect on these significant, to us as Christians, celebrations.
Let us begin with Holy Communion:
For us, as Christians, we come to the Lord’s Table to participate in Holy Communion. We come to remember the Last Supper Jesus had with His Disciples, but we should remember so much more. We should remember more about that night: Jesus would be betrayed by a Disciple He had chosen, falsely accused by religious officials, wrongly tried by a hastily gathered few, unjustly presented by the High Priest before Pilate, chosen by the mob for death over a horrible criminal, savagely beaten, ruthlessly mocked, and forced to carry the very cross on which He would be put to death. He would be crucified between two common thieves. Before dying He would suffer even more physical pain and humiliation. For the Jew there was no more humiliating way to die than crucifixion. Yes, we come to the table of the Lord in Celebration of all of this? Some people don’t want to think of all of this. They feel it is to horrible to even imagine and indeed it is horrible to imagine. Yet we must! We must realize, remember, and reflect on the true cost of our salvation! If we do not realize, remember, and reflect we could cheapen grace and diminish the depth of love and compassion of Jesus to endure all of this for sinners all!
It begins with His Baptism by John. His baptism wasn’t for any sin He had committed. The Baptism of Jesus was the beginning of His public ministry and if you will His journey to the cross!
So why do we celebrate such horrible things that our Jesus endured? Well we don’t celebrate the horrible things, we remember them to put it all in proper context and to give proper perspective for the depth of His love for us. The world has never know such amazing love as was poured out on that cross for us! Thus, we celebrate God’s great love for us in the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus!
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Christmas Eve Bulletin Article
Greetings and blessings in the name of Jesus our Christ! Welcome this Christmas Eve Sunday!
I wanted to tie together the four themes of Advent that we observe in the lighting of the Advent Candles: Love, Joy, Hope, and Peace.
While we observe, recognize, and celebrate them on different Sunday’s they really come as a package when we become Christians by believing in Christ by faith unto salvation. For Christians, our concept of and understanding of, these four themes is a bit different from the way non-believers (the world) views and defines them.
For the non-believer these are attached to some THING, but for believers they are attached to SOMEONE. For the non-believer they are things to work for and achieve through different means. For believers they are gifts from God as a result of believing by FAITH. For non-believers they come and go because of circumstances and experiences. For believers circumstances and experiences cannot cause them to come and go. You see, for non-believers, these four depend on temporal circumstances that ever change. For believers they are dependent on the eternal and never changing God! For non-believers these four are earth bound, but for believers they are heaven founded! Food for thought.
In closing this morning I would like to share with everyone some sad news. As of 31 December 2017 Sue will be stepping down as our Minister of Music. After many years of sharing her gifts, talents, and abilities with us here at RSFUMC she has decided to make some changes in her life. We support her in her decision with sadness and a sense of loss, but pray for her as she moves into and continues to follow God’s call in her life that she continues to know God’s blessings. Yes we are saddened by this, however we let her leave our midst with all of our love, appreciation, blessings, and support.
In honor of her time and service with and among us we will be having an appreciation luncheon following her last Sunday with us the 31st of December. Please plan to stay and share in this time of fellowship. The ladies will be giving more information on this special luncheon.
26 Nov 2017
Greetings in the name of Jesus!
I really hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Well in a few weeks we will celebrate the birth on Jesus. Most people now call Christmas, but some are really trying to even change this. If there had been no Jesus there would be no Christmas!
As I find myself in the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas I have found it to be a good time to reflect on the year that will soon end. I like to do this during this time because it seems very uplifting to look back and see all God has done in my life. To look back and see His blessings and see how He has worked in different situations. I like to keep a journal that I just put some random thoughts in along with some special prayer concerns. I date it and during this time of year I look back through it and it helps give me perspective on how God has worked.
I would encourage you to do the same. Next week I will be sharing some thoughts on the different themes of Advent.
6 Nov 2017
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
As I sit down at my computer to compose this brief response to the shooting yesterday at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas my soul is heavy and my heart saddened. How horrible it must have been to be in a place called sanctuary worshiping God one second and the next literally fighting for your very existence.
Details are still unfolding concerning this tragic event. We do know that 26 people have died and 20 or so were physically injured. A lot of speculation and jumping to conclusions will likely go on for a long time as investigators piece it all together. However, none of this will change the simple truth of what a senseless tragedy this is!
Some will be hunting something to blame to help make sense of this event. If we or they decide to blame something I am afraid we will then never really know why and if we never really know why we will never be able to even begin figuring out how to prevent this from happening again.
Sure, I think most people will begin asking the correct question of how could someone do something like this? This is the real question, not what did they do it with. The what isn’t the real concern, but the why! Now is the time for calm, composed, and thoroughly thought through honest reflection before action.
For now, as investigators go about putting the pieces together, I would like to ask all of us to be in prayer for those who lost loved ones, those who were wounded and injured not just of body, but of mind. We need to also pray for those who will be helping and ministering to the victims of this tragic event for a long time to come. Let us pray!
In God’s mercy and grace!
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Greetings in the name of Jesus! Peace and blessings.
As I sit down at the computer to write this note I have to admit it is with a heart heavy laden.
The details, numbers, motives and more concerning the shooting in Las Vegas are still unfolding. So far over fifty people were killed and over five hundred are injured.
The news of the devastation from hurricanes is still unfolding and it only seems to be getting worse. We hear of what our government should do to aid these areas and YES, we should help in every way we can, however I have heard no news of insurance companies coming to the aid of their customers.
Protesters fill our streets, hate speech fills the air, and now even the flag of our nation and our national anthem, which have stood for freedom and liberty for all, seems to be a source of offence to some. Yet it is the government protected constitutional freedom they are deploying in protest that these two national symbols represent.
I look a bit closer and see these are great tragedies to be sure and I see in them the clear handy work of Satan. Never miss using good tragedy to stir up hatred and division.
However, if you take an even deeper second look at all of this, as tragic as it truly is, you can also see God at work in and through wonderful people. People risking their very lives and careers to get involved to make a difference.
I truly wish the main stream media would give us a few more of these encouraging examples to help people see there is hope for humanity. I would encourage you to look deeper to see, while it is tragic, that good is being done, lives are being changed, and God’s grace is being spread! I encourage all of us to be in prayer and fasting for God’s love and grace to be what people accept as hope in the midst of what seems like hopelessness. For where God is there is HOPE!
Prayerfully Pastor Jim
9/17/2017
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Christ! Peace be unto you in His name, amen.
As I mentioned briefly in my article a couple weeks ago. Over the next few weeks we will be doing some significant visioning, as a church, on several areas. I want to spend a bit more time on this and ask for your prayers, input and thoughts. Before I get into the different areas we will be looking at I want everyone to know this does not mean things are totally wrong or going bad. It’s just time to have a look at and evaluate some ministry areas. If you remember when I came here this is one of the things I said we would do from time to time. If you noticed we have been making some subtle changes over the past few months and as we have done this we have discovered it was time to look a bit further. We have gotten our web site up and running and keeping it up to date, we have added microphones, replaced microphones, added other things to our sound system to make it better, and we have changed our bulletin style and size.
Some of the areas we will be looking at are as follows:
Worship – is it time to make some changes? Worship is our first point of real live contact with each other and visitors.
Community – how are we involved in our community or how can we be more involved in our community?
Mission, Outreach, Children and Youth ministry…
If you would like to be part of this Visioning Team or have ideas for us please let me know ASAP. We haven’t organized a Team yet but are in the process of doing so thus the reason for this article.
May you have a great week filled with amazing opportunities to serve our Lord and know His peace and blessings!
9/10/2017
Peace and Greetings in the name of Jesus!
We invite all persons who worship at Rock Springs First United Methodist Church to attend our Church Administrative Board meeting on Thursday July 20th at 7:00 pm. You are being requested to attend because we will be making decisions that will affect our entire congregation.
Last year we had two special Church wide meetings to address the way in which the Discipline applied to the election and appointment of clergy in the Methodist Church. At that time, a vote was taken on our position concerning the election and appointment of our current Bishop, actions in which we felt the Discipline was not followed. A letter was sent to all concerned at the Conference level expressing our position.
Recent developments around this issue have brought us back to this concern. In light of this and the information received from our three Delegates to Annual Conference we feel it is time to revisit our position and discuss further action.
We seek your prayerful support, discernment and attendance at this meeting.
July 2, 2017
A note from the Pastor:
This week we will celebrate the birth of the United States of America. A nation founded on the idea of a free Republic: A Nation guided by the people and for the people. This wasn’t some idea dreamed up in a vacuum. There was much that led to this idea and to the revolution it began. The idea of being free from the rules/laws of the King/Queen imposed at will by a higher class. This is not the first time in human history that a people sought freedom.
In a way Christianity is a freedom movement started by Jesus a bit over 2000 years ago. This time He came to truly set humanity free! Free from sin! Sin that divides people, sin that divides nations, sin that creates oppressors, and is at the root of all that is evil and bad that plagues humanity.
Like the Revolution that brought about the birth of our Nation, freedom comes at a cost. Our Christian Freedom movement began at the sacrifice of the very life of God’s only Son Jesus! Many wonderful followers of Jesus have given their very lives to share in this Freedom movement!
Today the cost is still the same, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25
As we celebrate the birth of our Nation let us not forget that, as Christians, we are part of a revolution, a TRUE Freedom movement!
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, grace and peace be unto you.
I think we can all agree that we live in interesting times. Some chose to see this as a time of trial and difficulty and some see it as a time of great uncertainty. However, we as Christian Disciples should have a different view!
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV)
As a community of faith we should see all things working to/for the will and purpose of God. While it is true that sometimes, even as Disciples, find ourselves like others in our communities; uncertain or unsure of where things are going.
Let us rest assured that God is still on the throne and the sky isn’t falling!
Let us as Christian Disciples, see every challenge and uncertainty as a opportunity for God to work for good. Let us live as those who have a hope beyond the hope of humanity, but trust in Gods unfailing love and grace. May we know that God is love and that God wants good for us!
Let us NOT be divided, but let us come together in Christian love to help, encourge, and strengthen one another as Christ has called us! Amen!
