Tuesday Memo

in

Hi Five Oakers,

I have a few things I want to share with you today.

#1- Here are your comments from the weekend.

  • Thanks. Christian = Disciple = Disciple Maker. Go, make, baptize, teach, and obey. Keep on keeping on à great commission church = Five Oaks. 
  • Thank you for today’s message.
  • Thank you for sharing “Kim’s story in your sermon today. We too have a “Kim” at home, who will likely not talk for his lifetime. 
  • I have a hard time hearing the worship leader’s voice – can we up the volume on his voice. I need his leadership! Great last song.  [I know the worship staff is meeting this week to discuss some of the sound issues we’ve been having lately. I know they will come up with some solutions.]
  • Volume was high the entire service. Thanks for the ear plugs.
  • Worship was too loud to be enjoyable.
  • Could not hear Justin’s “low register”. Congregation found it hard to follow/participate. Rest of music was good.
  • It’s amazing how I can show up tired, frustrated and angry and be at peace before the end of the service. 
  • Love, love, love “Be Glorified” song!
  • Goodbye to you all! You’ve been my church family since 2000 and I can’t believe I’m leaving. Thank you for being a part of our family’s lives and for your dedication and work to bringing people close to God. God bless you all!  Andy Yung
  • Thank you for being my church home since 1998! It has been an amazing 14 years filled with a wedding, baptisms and baby dedications! We will miss all of you, the excellent teaching, the leadership opportunities and the challenge to grow. God is moving at Five Oaks.  Jessie Yung [I don’t normal names in this section but I think this is appropriate. Jessie, you came one year after me. It’s crazy to think about. You and Andy have been such impact people in this church. You will be greatly missed. I will miss you.]
  • Thank you for the message, Henry. 
  • The story of Kim was moving, but was perplexed by the mention of the association between autism and doctors malpractice. As a parent of a child with autism, I’ve done research on the topic and know that there is no relationship between autism and what the doctors did or didn’t do. This is contrary to some popular belief. However, I respect Kim’s parent’s opinion. [I’m going to defer to your knowledge on this. I probably  miscommunicated what Miller says in the book. I know there were issues at birth that he recounts and they may have impacted Kim’s development. He may have made the distinction between this and her autism, and I may have missed it. Thanks.]
  • Do we have or could we set up a group for women with partners, husbands who are unbelievers or who believe, but won’t attend church? I frequently attend without my husband (when I do it here.) it would be nice to know that there are others like me and with whom I could look forward to sitting by during services. [Sounds like something you might be able to convene or maybe you can have a conversation with Women’s Ministry leadership.]
  • God is good!
  • Thank you to the nursery sign-in you helped ease any nerves bringing our child there the first time you were all so kind. 
  • I liked the music this week! Good balance between an older offering/song and a new (mystery ) song! [Justin and his team did a great job this week as usual. I appreciated the worship very much.]
  • Thanks for opportunity to help others and involve our kids. – back packs! Great message, Henry! 
  • Really nice worship set and excellent job explaining the response time. Liked seeing Alex on the acoustic guitar! That message really hit me powerfully where I am at – thank you. Great closing set! The spirit was moving. 
  • Very confused by communion and the bread this week. [Might be because we ran out the last service? So either you were there when there was no bread or when they put out the crackers which don’t work for dipping but were better than nothing. That’s my guess.]

#2- No questions this week but I’m going to post the section I cut (for time's sake) from my message. Here it is:

The Bible drives home that just because God’s timing isn’t our timing doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.  Jesus seems to address the delay in bringing justice in this passage but, frankly, it’s a little confusing.

7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.

It seems like he is saying that the days of the Son of Man (the second coming) is coming soon. But it can also mean a couple of other things. He may be saying soon in the sense that our suffering in this world is short compared to the glory we will experience with him for eternity. Or he may be saying that when it comes, judgment will be swift. Both ideas are contained in 2 Peter 3:3-10.

2 Peter 3:8-10: 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

You see that Peter is comparing God time to our time. And he’s saying judgment will come swiftly, like a thief in the night. And you have an added bonus of getting a glimpse into his motive to delay: so that many more will come to faith.

#3 – Some key ideas from the weekend’s message on Luke 18:1-8:

  • Praying is how we stay connected with God. Even if you’re shaking your fists at God in anger while you talk, it’s way better than ignoring him, denying him or being spiritually apathetic or cynical toward God.
  • You read this and think that the secret sauce is in pestering God. In fact, if we can just get a whole army of people to pray together about the same thing, great things will happen. But God won’t be swayed by any number of people praying the same thing. He’s not interested in choreographed prayers. He wants an army of people in tune with him and his heart.
  • His elect means his chosen people. Take away all the theological controversies over election and choosing and you are left with this: If you are his follower, you are his—you belong to him. He is your Father. You are his children. He loves you dearly. He was thinking about you before the earth was created. That’s what he says. And he’s thinking about you now. He cares about you.
  • Your desert—every desert—is caused by the injustice in our world unleashed by OUR rebellion against God. Its root cause is our COLLECTIVE refusal to follow God and his ways. Yet God promises that in the days of the son of man he will make things right. The kingdom will come in fullness and there will be a new heaven and new earth. There will be perfect justice on earth as it is in heaven.
  • God is NOT like the judge. And we are NOT like the poor widow. We are the elect, his beloved, his family. How much more will a good God listen and how much more will a family member be heard! That’s the point of the parable.
  • [Here’s the end of the Paul Miller story from The Praying Life] “…Years later when Kim was about twenty, I was sitting at the dining-room table writing a Bible study on Psalm 121 that I was going to teach to our small group. I had forgotten about Jill’s Psalm 121 prayer. I looked up from the table and said, “Jill, God did it. He kept us from all harm. He did Psalm 121.” We had thought the harm was a daughter with disabilities, but this was nothing compared to the danger of two proud and willful parents. Because Kim was mute, Jill and I learned to listen. Her helplessness taught us to become helpless, too.  Kim brought Jesus into our home. Jill and I could no longer do life on our own. We needed Jesus to get from one end of the day to the other. We’d asked for a loaf of bread, and instead of giving us a stone, our Father had spread a feast for us in the wilderness. Thank you, Jesus, for Kim.”

Love you all, Pastor Henry