Living Like Jesus

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

(Philippians 2:3-7).

Welcome Nathan

The Central Church of Christ announces the hiring of Nathan McBroom as Youth Minister effective Sunday, August 5, 2007.

Nathan accepted the position yesterday and is excited to begin his work with the youth at Central. Nathan will be looking for an apartment in Topeka. Any help anyone could provide he would appreciate it.

A big thank you to Scott-Angie Smith, and the Central COC Youth Search Committee.

The Folded Napkin

In the Young Professional Class this summer we are examining "Why" questions from God's Word as well as those "Why" questions that come up during our spiritual walk from time to time.

I read the following article the other day, thought it was interesting:

Why Did Jesus Fold The Linen Cloth After His Resurrection?

The Gospel of John (20: 7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. Is that important?You'd better believe it! Is that significant? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes! In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait,just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, I'm coming back!"

Psalm 95

Psalm 95
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

Newness in Life

I started a new hobby last week. Fishing.

It all started at the beginning of the summer when I told Brian I would go fishing with him. As someone who grew up in the inner city, I’m not the outdoor type. I think roughing it is a night at the Holiday Inn. I don’t care to camp, hunt or fish but thought well I guess I could take him fishing ever once in a while.

Last week we began our fishing experience. My main goal in this fishing quest was to find something to do with Brian this summer when we both had some time off. He doesn’t care to golf so thought it would be fun to do something that he enjoyed.

Our first week was a pretty good one. We have caught several catfish that we have frozen for our 4th of July Family Gathering.

I really don’t know what I’m doing, or how I'm catching the fish, but I am having a good time.

I really have learned something every time I go out to the lake.

I feel so inexperienced but I love the “newness” that it brings to my normal everyday life. I really look forward to our fishing times.

My spiritual life needs newness also. Sometimes I get so busy doing Church that I forget about the Church.

I forget about God.
I forget about the spiritual aspect of my life.
I forget about the heart I need in worship.
I forgot about the responsibilities that I have as a follower of God.

Sometimes we just need new spiritual experiences to keep us fresh and on track for Christ.

Microphones

Many churches are experimenting with changes in worship. From worship teams that lead on stage to groups in the audience that have microphones so you can hear the parts as well as learn new worship music.

Just thought about another concept on Sunday when I was sitting at Central in worship. Did you know that everyone in worship has microphones? We are all on stage and under the spotlight when we give our worship to God. The way you express your heart in worship glorifies God as well as encourages and builds up the people around you.

No More Suits in Church?

By Reuters
Tue, 12 Jun 2007, 09:59AM
TORONTO (Reuters) -

Workers of Ontario: ditch the pinstripes and save the planet.

The premier of Canada's most energy-thirsty province has urged government workers to dress down and leave their business attire at home to cut air conditioning costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

"We're asking everyone to do their part to protect the environment," Premier Dalton McGuinty said in a news release on the go-casual recommendation, which will be in effect through early September.

"Wearing more comfortable clothing during the warmer months cuts down on the air conditioning we use and increases awareness about how important it is that we address the challenge of climate change."

Ontario wants provincial government offices to crank their thermostats up to 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit), from 23C (73F) in previous summers. That should reduce electricity use and ease the need for costly imports.

"When electricity demands rise, often we have to import electricity from the U.S., which often comes from coal-fired plants, which are quite dirty and costly," said Jessica Zippin, from the Clean Air Foundation environmental group.

"Every move toward making people more aware about being more energy efficient is really important ... turning up the thermostat, even one or two degrees is extremely important because that has a cumulative effect."

The Coat Hanger

A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her small daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car. She didn't know What to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that the fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat Hanger and use that to open the door."The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been left on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time had locked their keys in their car. She looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."She bowed her head and asked God to send her help. Within five minutes a beat up old Motorcycle pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful.The man got off of his cycle and asked if he could help. She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?He said, "Sure." He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man."The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison For car theft and have only been out for about an hour."The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!"Is - GOD GOOD - or what!

I Am Thankful For

I am Thankful for…

*The smell of bbq in the air when I walk out of my office each afternoon downtown (my office is right behind a bbq restaurant)

*The health of my family

*Being able to see the sun rise as Debbie and I run each morning

*Hitting one good drive each round of golf

*Unity at Central

*My job

*Family

*The Central Family

*Walks with Debbie each evening

*The dogs walking me each evening

*Root beer Floats at Sonic (Why did I start drinking them this summer?)

*Golf trips with Debbie to Arkansas and Nebraska each summer

*My boys

*Watching young people grow each year in their academic and extra curricular abilities

*My YP Class at Central

*Rex, Bill, Roger, Jerry and Gary

*Playing golf with my dad

*Brian only needing 7 hours to graduate this fall

*Craig realizing his dream

*A God who loves me even when I am not very lovable

When I Fell In Love With You

One of my favorite song writers is Dennis Jernigan. He has powerful words for our daily lives.

'When I Fell In Love With You'

When I fell in love with You
I fell hard, what else could I do
You took the old and left me new
Then I fell in love with You
My heart broken, all hope lost
Cold and hard, ravaged, wounded, tossed
Heard Your love song from the cross
And then I fell in love with You

Chorus
When I fell in love with
YouYou swept me off my feet
Washed me clean and made me new
In You I was made complete
When I fell in love with You
My heart embraced what You already knew
When I fell in love with You

Sin had bound me through and through
With every failure the darkness grew
Your love fell down with crimson hue
And then I gave my heart to You
You were waiting, Your love true
Me, debating just what to do
My heart was healed when You broke through
And then I fell in love with You

Repeat Chorus

Order of Worship

Order of Worship
Sunday, June 10, 2007

Welcome:

2 We Praise Thee O God (Verse 1, 2 and 5)
27 Blessed Be Your Name
72 Blessed Be The Lord God Almighty

Prayer:

Oft We Come Together

Lords Supper

Contribution

Scripture: Matthew 9:36-38 (Read Kurt)

639 Rescue the Perishing (Verse 1 and 2)
650 Send the Light (Verse 1 and 4)

Message Evan Burdan

Invitation 701 My Jesus I Love Thee

Announcements

Video

Closing Prayer

Run the Race

"let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart"



Hebrews 12:1-3

Unity

[Jesus prayed] "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father — that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me." (John 17:20-21 NLT, Ed. 1)

Unity, empowered by love, is that ever-elusive characteristic that Jesus prayed would define his followers (John 13:34-35; John 17:1-26). Jesus' prayer for his follower’s unity emphasized two primary results of that unity.

First, Jesus prayed that the world would believe that the Father had sent Jesus to earth (John 17:21).

Second, he prayed this unity would show that the Father loved both the Son and his followers (John 17:23). Jesus prayed his prayer for unity and protection for his followers shortly before being arrested, falsely tried, and crucified. In other words, this unity was the great passion of his last few hours before his death!

We should not be surprised, then, that the great battle in the early life of the church was for unity. The collision of a faith born in Judaism and the heritage of the Old Covenant of God with Israel as the Jesus movement transitioned into the Gentile world of paganism must not be underestimated. The future of the Jesus movement — his passion for unity for his followers — all hinged on the hugely important meeting of Jewish Christians, their elders, the apostles, and other church leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-41). What would be the basis of unity? Did the Gentiles have to keep the Law of Moses? Would the signs and symbols of Judaism be required of them? What would faithful Jews have to give up to maintain this fellowship? How could these widely differing peoples who all called themselves followers of Jesus share common table fellowship as well as the weekly fellowship of the Lord’s Supper? These and a host of other practical questions were on the line as they met. And, what can we learn from this meeting?
I’d like to share some things I believe I’ve learned about maintaining unity from this crucial event in the life of the early church.

The whole discussion was handled in the open with church leaders and church members — nothing was hidden and there were no “backroom deals" by a group who considered themselves the powerbrokers of the church (Acts 15:6; Acts 15:22).

The issue was discussed respectfully. Each group listened to the others and they focused on what God had accomplished among them and the implications of these things (Acts 15:12-13).
The truth of Scripture was honestly used to evaluate what had happened (Acts 15:13-18).
The conclusions, while definitely believed to be God-inspired, were shared with genuine humility (Acts 15:19; Acts 15:23-25).

Seriously work toward this passionate desire of Jesus! The conclusions were clear and simply articulated, requiring certain moral standards and certain social accommodations to the Jewish way of life learned from Moses by Gentile Christians while calling on Jewish Christians to welcome their new brothers and sisters in Christ into God’s family without them having to fully become Jewish proselytes (Acts 15:19-21) (It is clear that the sexual morality focus was universally required in the new life of all Christians, but that the food restrictions were applied primarily in the regions where Jews and Gentiles regularly had fellowship with one another in the early days of the church — I believe that a careful reading of 1 Corinthians 6:1 — 10:33 andRomans 12:1 — 15:13 gives similar, but not exactly the same guidelines on these matters in regions mostly characterized by Gentile Christians.).

In addition to a letter to explain the basis of fellowship, real people representing both "sides" of the concern were sent with this letter to communicate and demonstrate this unity in person (Acts 15:22).

There was great joy in the celebration of a clear foundation for unity among believers with radically different backgrounds who built their new lives together in Jesus (Acts 15:30-31).
Unity doesn’t mean, however, that we will always agree on everything all the time. Paul and Barnabas' sharp disagreement on missions strategy that centered on the use of John Mark is a great reminder that unity does not mean uniformity in everything (Acts 15:32-41). Paul’s respect for Barnabas (1 Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 2:1-9) and Paul’s later use of John Mark (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11) all testify to the importance of seeing ourselves as friends and partners in the Lord even after we have disagreements over strategy, procedure, and people.

Working toward unity among Jesus’ followers today is an awesome and seemingly insurmountable challenge. As denominational brand name loyalty continues to diminish, I pray that we can turn back to Scripture and seriously work toward this passionate desire of Jesus for his followers. Clearly other Scriptures must be applied to these principles (e.g.,Ephesians 4:1-16; the book of 1 John); we must commit to share the passion of our dying Savior for unity. In a world increasingly without Jesus, there will not be enough light to illuminate the darkest corners if we do not find a better way of living out unity our Lord so much desires to see in us, his followers.

"I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are — I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you've given me to be with me, so they can see my glory. You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began!" (John 17:22-24)

Phil Ware
Heartlight

He Knows My Name

HE KNOWS MY NAME

I love to watch people. I don’t mind just sitting in a shopping mall or airport and wonder about where people are going and the stories of their lives. Many challenging lives. Happy people, angry people and many hurting people.

While I was in the airport a few weeks ago I saw a father and his son. The father was placing his 10 year old boy on an airplane by himself to fly him back to his mother for the week.

The boy looked very sad.

The boy never said a word as the dad kissed his son on the head and sent him on his way.

Immediately as the boy got to the gate to board the plane, the dad got on his cell phone to tell his ex-wife that the boy was on the plane.

As the dad walked away the boy at the gate turned and looked at his dad.

I might never forget that look the boy gave his father as he walked away being left alone to board the plane with 150 strangers.

I was thinking afterwards that our Father never walks away from us. He holds us and is always close as we need him to be.

I am thankful that I have a Father that knows my name.

Sometimes I have a difficult time with names.

With 125 staff members, 700 kids, parents, my church family, community of Osage City I sometimes forget names.

But God knows us all individually.
2 Timothy 2:19
Says the Lord knows those who are His.

Psalm 147
If he can number the stars and knows them by name surely he knows us individually and all the concerns that we have in our lives.

Many times when we are going through tough difficult times we feel alone. We feel neglected, totally cut off from God. We don’t feel the presence of God. But He is with us if we open our eyes and really look for the blessings He has promised.


In the movie Chariots of Fire it was a classic tale of Eric Liddell, a missionary and a runner who was competing in the Olympic trials. Most aspiring moment in the movie was when after all his physical work to get to this qualifying race he fell running the race. Most runners would have been finished. They would have stayed down. What did he do? He got up and started to run. He ran so fast that he began to pass each runner one by one until he crossed the finish line in first place.

He was determined.

We have a God that is determined to watch over us in all the good times and all the difficult times.

Deuteronomy 20:4
“For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory”

I’m glad he knows me personally.

Remember He knows our name.

He knows our every thought.

He sees each tear that falls and he hears us when we call.

God will not give up on you.

He loves you very much.

He is determined to watch over you today and every day if you allow Him to be part of your life.

Elders Meeting

May 23, 2007

Scripture-Eph. 4:11-16.

key theme..UNITY

Prayer-Gary Souder


Discussion Items..A) David met with Scott Smith, Josh Yoho and LeAnn Valerius to plan summeractivities/schedules for our youth. Much progress made.
B) Bill and Roger visited with Ammaji and Rao Gandu Monday night andencouraged them during her battle with cancer.C) Paul Clark and Gary S visited with the Merryman's and loved on them fortheir faithful service and 65 years of marriage..WOW!!!!!!!!D) Gary and Ruthann also visited Bill and Evelyn Higgs. They also havebeen married 65 years..WOW 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!E) Barry Bergstrem will speak July 15 concerning the prison effort atEllsworthF) Jerry talked with Richard McClellan at Northside about their prison workat our Topeka Women's prison on SE 6th st. They need helpers and Richardwill talk with us in the next 3 weeks about the requirements, needs, etc.G) We rejoiced again about the baptisms of Samantha Goodrich and AliciaNegrete. Alicia is in the process of deciding whether she will worship withus at Central or the saints at California Acres.H) Dave Jamieson has offered to facilitate a personal evangelism classbased on a format he and Braunice used successfully in California. We willtalk more with him about this ASAP.J) We spent much time addressing personal matters of the members andcongregation that will not be listed here.Roger Hamm led the closing prayer with mention of restoration of friends,travel safety for many over the Memorial Day Holiday, spiritual growth ofthe congregation, asking for continued blessings on our Youth and Children'sMinistries, peace and unity for all as we re-dedicate to be moreevangelistic and apply our ABC's and a clear sense of God's leading of usall as we go about our daily lives.

Respectfully Submitted, Jerry Myers