Audio Recordings of the Service

Today I would like to share with you two links to Zion's last two worship services. The internet has opened a wide range of opportunities to us to share God's message of love and grace with our members and the people of our community. So I am placing these links to our last two Sunday worship services on in this blog. While this is a test in some respect, your feed back will also allow us to improve how we present this and what we make available to you. Bridging the gap and making connection with people so that they might see and know for certain what our Savior is really like is our goal.

Sunday, February 7, 2010 Worship Service can be found at this link: http://chirb.it/7O90br

Sunday, February 14, 2010 Worship Service can be found at this link: http://chirb.it/Gd1F1r

Thank you for reading this blog and taking the time to give us some feedback.

Thanks for listening.

Blessings & Peace,

Pastor John

Do you Look Forward to the Sermon?

Sermons account for a large portion of the time in worship. However, do people look forward to listening to the sermon? According to a BBC News article found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8467504.stm most people do. The article states, "Researchers at Durham University found 60% of churchgoers felt sermons gave them a sense of God's love." I think it would be nice if we could get a better idea of what people read do take home from our sermons. Sometime we get very little feed back from members so we wonder about the effectiveness of our messages. Having said that I think was also need to remember slow growth comes over time so we may not see nor understand the effect of a message for some period of time. What do you listen for when you listen to a sermon. Do you listen to hear the Law and how it impacts our lives? Do you wait expectantly to hear the healing grace of the Gospel? I think we must remember that both are vital to our healing and growth. With out proper diagnosis the doctor does not know what to treat or how to treat it. And once the doctor knows what the condition is, then he or she can treat it with the right kind and amount of medicine.

Blessings & Peace as you listen to God's Word,

Pastor John

Hebrews 13:20-21

Church “Membership”

How do people see their church membership? Is my church membership critical to my life? In order words, is it a priority or just a preference? I would like to take some time to think about my relationship to "the church". Does the pattern of my worship mean anything? Does it say anything? If I worship only sporadically, even thought I have no legitimate reason for not joining with my brothers and sisters in worship, does this conflict with my words about loving Jesus? If I truly love Jesus, than isn't taking time to worship an indication of that love? If I love Jesus than isn't taking time to study His word an indication of that love and commitment? Are others watching what I do? What happens when what I say is in conflict with what I do? Will they believe what I say or what I do? The other side of this coin is that attending worship does not necessarily equate with a deep and abiding faith in Jesus. I could attend, and sometimes I even do, when I'd rather be somewhere else. If I am not engaged with what is happening on Sunday morning, things like singing the hymns, praying, reading along, listening carefulling and meditating on what is being said and done, than am I truly worshipping? Am I showing my love for Jesus?

What did Jesus mean when He said, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words." John 14:23-24 Or as John writes in His first letter,"If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." 1 John 4:20 What would happen if every person who said they loved Christ and were thankful for what He did personally for them were motivated and committed to show that love by growing in their understanding of His Word, worshipping as regularly as then attend to their occupation and showed a loving attitude toward their brothers and sisters starting with their own spouses and children and parents? Like you I need to examine the ways in which I am putting my faith into action. If I am truly a member of the body of Christ then what should my participation in "church" look like? If the U and R are missing than is it really a church any longer?

Thanks for listening.

Blessings & Peace,

Pastor John