Lunenburg United Methodist Charge

 

Antioch UMC                                                           Williams UMC

 

On our walk. . . . .                 

November 14, 2008

Pastor’s Message –

Judges 4:4-9

 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.  She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.  She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor.  I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands. Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."  "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you.  But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

It amazes me that Barak would rather be assured that God was with him than receive credit for the battle. Some might argue that Barak had little faith, and because of this he needed Deborah’s faith to make him feel better.  But I tend to agree more with the great Bible commentary writer, Matthew Henry, who said that Barak refused to go into battle without the assurance of God’s favor and counsel.  Because Deborah represented God’s counsel, he wanted her right beside him in battle.  When she warned him that the honor of the victory would then go to a woman, he did not change his request.  He knew that God’s counsel was more important than credit.  People are notorious for fighting over credit – especially men!


Have you ever gone by a worksite?  What do the signs say?  “MEN AT WORK”!!!  Women aren’t that bad – you don’t walk into a kitchen and pass a sign that says, “MOM’S DOING DISHES.”  Church folks also LOVE to receive credit for stuff.  You spend time looking around churches and on almost every piece of furniture you will find name plates.  Also we worry that we do not forget to recognize someone’s achievements, because if we forget to give credit we might hurt that person’s feelings.  Now I am not saying that a person should not be recognized for doing a fine job, but…  We should be seeking the counsel and approval of God ABOVE our own credit!


If you are working within the house of God, or you purchase something for the house of God, or you have special responsibilities in the house of God –  You should be seeking the approval of God not credit from others!


That is what I believe was Barak’s ultimate motivation for seeking the company of Deborah.  He knew he was going to lose the HONOR of victory to a woman. He decided not to concern himself with who was getting the credit but rather focused on what was important: winning the battle!  Many of us get in fleshly battles over ‘credit’.  We forget that we aren’t at war with one another.  We need to stop wrestling over “who gets the credit” and start standing together unified as Christians against the powers of Satan - AND GIVE GOD ALL THE CREDIT!

                 God bless

 

Upcoming Events – November 15 – November 19

 

Saturday, November 15

   Trip to Raleigh to view  the Dead Sea Scroll @ 9:00AM @ Antioch

Sunday, November 16

   Third Sunday Luncheon @ Williams @ 12:30 PM

   Lunenburg Charge Conference @2:30PM @ Antioch

Monday, November 17

   Bible Study@ Antioch@7:00PM

Tuesday, November 18  

    Bible Study@ Audrey Smith’s @ 10:00 AM

Wednesday, November 19

   Prayer Meeting @ Williams @ 5:45 PM

   William’s Celebration Choir practice @ Williams @ 6:30 PM

   

 

Worship Events—November 15

Service Theme: Being all that we can be!

This week’s reading will be: Sermon Text     Matthew 25:14-30

                                               Hebrew Text      Judges 4:3-9

Pianists:   Leigh Ann Bacon

                Nancy Turner

Communion will be served

 

               

Trip to View the Dead Sea Scrolls

 

We are offering a trip to Raleigh to view the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Museum of Natural Resources.  If you would like to take part in this entertaining and informative event please meet us on Saturday, Nov 15 at 9:00AM.  The cost for the museum is $15 and the cost of transportation.

 

Lunenburg Charge Conference

Sunday will be our annual Charge Conference.  Conferencing dates back to the earliest Methodist Classes in England.  It gives us the ability to be in connection with all the churches in the Charge as well as the District and the Conference.  Conference puts into place the officers for the coming year, establishes the budgets for the churches as well as the charge and informs the District and Conference of the activities of the charge during the past year.  If you want to know what is going on in your church and your charge please join us Sunday at 2:30 at Antioch as we join in conference with our District Superintendent, Jim Tongue, and review the events of the past year and the plans for the coming year.  If you have reports that are needed please see that Rev Ed gets them no later than Saturday so we can produce the Charge Conference Report.

 

 

COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING SERVICE

 

Sunday, November 23 at 7:00PM, Lunenburg Ministers Association, LUMINA, will be holding a community Thanksgiving service at Kenbridge UMC.  The speaker for the night will be Rev Ed DiStefano.  If you are planning to attend they ask that you bring canned goods to be donated to the needy in our community.

 

 

THANKSGIVING FOOD FOR NEEDY:

Thank you for your generosity as we collected non-perishable items for Thanksgiving food baskets for the needy.  Families in Lunenburg County who would not have had a Thanksgiving will now be able to have a great meal because you have reached out to your brothers and sisters in love.

 

Williams Thanksgiving Basket Raffle

Williams will be raffling a Thanksgiving Basket on Sunday November 22nd.  The basket will be filled with enough food to make a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner, plus several other items.  If you would like to purchase a ticket please see a member of Williams UMC or Jane DiStefano.  If you would like to make a donation to the basket, please see any member at Williams or give to Jane DiStefano.

 

Cookbooks are still available.  The Christmas Season will soon be upon us.  A great gift would be the Antioch Cookbook.  If you would like to order one, please contact Earl Callis or anyone at Antioch.  They can get a copy to you for $10 each.

 

Sunday School is available each Sunday morning.  The importance of Sunday School is that, though you may think hearing the word will suffice for you, you really need to be in attendance at Sunday School to gather all the information that you can in an open discussion classroom.  Jesus’ word cannot be totally understood just by listening to a sermon.  You have to interact with it and with other Christians to learn what He was saying to us.  This is a life long study and you should take part.  There is a class for every age so please plan on joining us to learn more about our Lord, Jesus Christ.   Sunday School at Williams begins at 10:45 AM and at Antioch at 10:00 AM.

 

Evening Bible Study. Evening Bible study will continue on November 3 at 7:00PM. We will be reviewing the Book of Job.

 

Morning Bible Study. Morning Bible study will take place this week. We will meet on November 11 at 10:00 AM at Audrey Smith’s house. We will be reviewing the Book of Esther. If you would like to join in the discussion please join us.

                             

If you cannot reach Rev. Ed at the parsonage, you may call him on his cell phone:  252-532-0952.  He can also be reached via e-mail at revedumc@yahoo.com .   If you would like to receive e-mail messages from the pastor send an e-mail to him at revedumc@yahoo.com and we will add you to our list.

 

Please keep the following families in your prayers:

Marjorie Thompson

Fred Harper

Bertha Arthur

Earl "Chuckie” Barnes

Sarah Agnes Callis

Jeffrey Hendricks

Edna & Wilson Bagley

Will Hawthorne

Blue Family

Ezra Hill & Family

Edith Parham

Layton Powell

Elizabeth Biggerstaff

Peggy Walker

Frances Hawthorne

Harry & Margaret Smith

Sheila Cage

 Grace DiStefano

Jean Holmes

Cameron Fowler

Tommy Cage

Becky Eades & family

Bernard Bottoms

Our Military

Kathy Mc Reynolds

Tom Fowler

Cynthia Peebles

David Jones

Joyce Lindsmith

Dee Welch

Will Lewis

Irene Wright

Peggy Thompson

CV & Agnes Thompson

Lennie Whittenmore.

Dorothy Ann Irby

John Besow

Bill Kuhns

Donna Matthews Nunnally

Norman Yerby

 

 

If you have anyone who is in need of prayer, please place their names on the Prayer List and lift up their names in prayer during worship service and throughout the week

 

Remember: Come work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours are long and the pay is low. But the retirement benefits are out of this world.

 

Have a Blessed Week