Thursday, July 28, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thoughts from the Sermon, “Death Beats Money (Every Single Time)” Psalm 49
Thoughts from the Sermon, “Death Beats Money (Every Single Time)” Psalm 49
by Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor
1. Life is uncertain and difficult, full of occasions where you might be manipulated or taken advantage of in some way. Given this reality many look to wealth as the way to ensure that they will be safe and secure. Indeed, having “an abundance of…riches” (Ps 49:5) is for many the key to life.
2. Psalm 49 however tells us that wealth is not the key to life because wealth can’t even guarantee the perpetuity of even your own life much less anyone else’s life. It doesn’t matter how much money or power or fame you have, no one can ensure that their life will go on forever. Eventually we face death and death beats money every single time. This is true for every single person on earth, no matter who they are.
3. It is utter folly then to put your confidence in wealth. Or, for that matter, any of the things that our world identifies as being most significant and important for establishing yourself in this life. Death ultimately swallows up all our best efforts to build up our name and our bank accounts. Death is a powerful guardian to the next life; the glory and power and wealth of this world cannot get by death no matter your best attempts.
4. The only people who won’t be swallowed up by death are the upright, or the righteous. Rather than be conquered by death they will rule even in the midst of death (Psalm 49:14). How do we become part of the righteous? Our only hope is to look to the only one who can beat death – the Lord God. Only he can ransom a soul from the power of death (Psalm 49:15). Indeed God secured souls from the power of death definitively through his one and only Son Jesus. Jesus lived the one perfect righteous life and made the one perfect righteous sacrifice that was good enough to secure eternal life for any who would trust no longer in their own power and wealth but solely in Jesus. Through Jesus we are made righteous so that rather than lose our lives to the power of death we gain them forever. By faith we must believe that Jesus died for us and then was raised for us so that he might give eternal life to us.
5. Believers must reject the false reality of this world. We should not live in fear and anxiety about what we have or don’t have. Those are the false standards of this world, and living by them will only give us false security and false confidence. We will be no better than the common animal (Ps 49:20). Instead we must understand rightly. We must embrace the deeper true reality that is eternal life gained by faith in Jesus Christ. This means that rather than be ruled by fear or anxiety over money we are content whether or not we have money. This means that rather than be obsessed with being successful we live in joy whether or not we have success in this life. This means having boundless confidence and hope, because we understand fully that we have the eternal inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
New Roosevelt Community Church Website!
New Website!
Visit our new website @ http://rooseveltchurch.org
We are the same theologically-driven, missionally-minded and urban-focused church, just with a refreshed digital front door!
Visit our new website @ http://rooseveltchurch.orgWe are the same theologically-driven, missionally-minded and urban-focused church, just with a refreshed digital front door!
Monday, July 18, 2011
How to Listen to a Sermon [Backpack Radio]
How to Listen to a Sermon [07/03/2011]:
The Backpack pastors discuss an issue internal to the church - how to listen to a sermon. Reference: Listen Up - A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons by Christopher Ash.
Run Time: 42:55
Listen Now: Download here
The Backpack pastors discuss an issue internal to the church - how to listen to a sermon. Reference: Listen Up - A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons by Christopher Ash.
Run Time: 42:55
Listen Now: Download here
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Roosevelt Annual Camp Trip
SAVE THE DATES for this annual Camp Trip. This time it's summer camping up north with fishing, lake, etc. at Woods Canyon Lake. Hope you will make it!
Friday, July 22 at 3:00pm - July 24 at 2:00pm
It is reserved for 70-100 people tent camping- you can bring pop up trailers but it is NON-ELECTRIC. Call Kirsten Snyder for any questions - 602-505-0860 or e-mail realtysnyder@msn.com The Facebook event page is here
It is head count time- we need to know by the 17th for food, crafts, etc. Talk to your home groups and sign up :) $30/person, $60/family, donations accepted. Includes site/meals.
Over age 14 needs a fishing license, for this lake they will need to get a "super conservation fishing license". As for kids below 14 no license needed. Just a pole and some power bait or worms. The parents can be with them they just cannot reel the fish in. Its cheaper to pay for the license that to pay the fee for fishing without one. As for fee's we refer you to here
If you are wanting to get husband and wife and kids over family license it is cheaper under the family license section.
Friday, July 22 at 3:00pm - July 24 at 2:00pm
It is reserved for 70-100 people tent camping- you can bring pop up trailers but it is NON-ELECTRIC. Call Kirsten Snyder for any questions - 602-505-0860 or e-mail realtysnyder@msn.com The Facebook event page is here
It is head count time- we need to know by the 17th for food, crafts, etc. Talk to your home groups and sign up :) $30/person, $60/family, donations accepted. Includes site/meals.
Over age 14 needs a fishing license, for this lake they will need to get a "super conservation fishing license". As for kids below 14 no license needed. Just a pole and some power bait or worms. The parents can be with them they just cannot reel the fish in. Its cheaper to pay for the license that to pay the fee for fishing without one. As for fee's we refer you to here
If you are wanting to get husband and wife and kids over family license it is cheaper under the family license section.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Break Free @ Roosevelt Community Church
Have a look at some video from the recent breakdancing event at Roosevelt, Break Free.
Break Free @ Roosevelt Community Church from Roosevelt Church on Vimeo.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Mortality: the essence of the human condition?
Great Quote Relating to this Sunday's Upcoming Sermon on Psalm 6
Mortality is of the essence of the human condition. In a life filled with uncertainty and an unknown future, there remains always one certainty, that one day we shall die. But whereas the healthy person knows this, yet learns to live with an awareness of mortality, the sick person may find that equanimity dissolves and the awareness of death becomes more vivid. Health is normal and it may result in praise, but sickness is a reminder and an anticipation of death. Life itself is no longer so good, for it is marred with pain, and the experience of imperfection in living evokes awareness of that ultimate enemy, death. In sickness, the body does not function properly; in death it ceases to function altogether. Thus it is that the psalms conceived on the sickbed are marked by a profound pathos, for though they contain the words of the living, they are haunted by the shadow of dying.
The sense of anguish and trouble which permeates this psalmist’s words was experienced by Jesus, and indeed influenced his words (v 4; cf. John 12:27); we perceive the pathos of the psalm most clearly when it is read in the context of the Passion.
SOURCE: P.C. Craigie, (2004). Vol. 19: Word biblical commentary (2nd ed.). Word Biblical Commentary (89–96). Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson.
Mortality is of the essence of the human condition. In a life filled with uncertainty and an unknown future, there remains always one certainty, that one day we shall die. But whereas the healthy person knows this, yet learns to live with an awareness of mortality, the sick person may find that equanimity dissolves and the awareness of death becomes more vivid. Health is normal and it may result in praise, but sickness is a reminder and an anticipation of death. Life itself is no longer so good, for it is marred with pain, and the experience of imperfection in living evokes awareness of that ultimate enemy, death. In sickness, the body does not function properly; in death it ceases to function altogether. Thus it is that the psalms conceived on the sickbed are marked by a profound pathos, for though they contain the words of the living, they are haunted by the shadow of dying.
The sense of anguish and trouble which permeates this psalmist’s words was experienced by Jesus, and indeed influenced his words (v 4; cf. John 12:27); we perceive the pathos of the psalm most clearly when it is read in the context of the Passion.
SOURCE: P.C. Craigie, (2004). Vol. 19: Word biblical commentary (2nd ed.). Word Biblical Commentary (89–96). Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thoughts from the Sermon, “The First Temptation” Genesis 3:1-7
Thoughts from the Sermon, “The First Temptation” Genesis 3:1-7
by Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor
1. The original origin of every temptation is spiritual attack.
There are spiritual forces opposed to God all around us, the chief of them being Satan. He was the one behind the first attack against mankind and he and his demonic forces continue to use the powerful weapon of temptation to attack mankind.
2. The beginning of every temptation is a lie.
What makes temptation so insidiously powerful is that it almost always comes to us as a lie with a few truths mixed in. The demonic forces want us to accept a reality apart from God and downplay the consequences for us accepting this reality.
3. The hook behind every temptation is desire
Temptation encourages us to let our desires go out of control. We let them become obsessions that we must satisfy, even if they go against God’s word. These obsessive desires can never be fully satisfied; they demand more and more from us all the while slowly emaciating our souls.
With Eve we see her crave to have a certain experience of pleasure (Gen 3:6 “the tree was good for food…it was a delight to the eyes”) and to achieve a better status in life than the one she currently had (Gen 3:6 “the tree was to be desired to make one wise”). Unfortunately she gave in to her cravings. Adam soon followed her in her sin. And the consequences for this were devastating for them and indeed for all humanity.
4. The only one who beat every temptation is Jesus
Jesus is the new man, the second Adam, who faced every temptation but defeated them all so that through him we also can defeat temptation. We can now with confidence come to God and receive all the grace we need to beat back and even overcome every temptation we face (Hebrews 4:14-16).
The fundamental key to this is building a life that is characterized by a simple, no reservation commitment to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). We must strip away all our excuses and dedicate ourselves to following Jesus and obeying his commands above all things, knowing that real joy and peace can only be found through him.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Top Regrets of the Dying
This article should make you think. Bronnie Ware, a palliative care expert, lists the five most common regrets expressed by dying people.
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
The full post is worth reading.
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
The full post is worth reading.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Before God Made…Family Was...
Great post from Dennae on the significance of the Trinity
for our understanding of God's adoption of us into his family.
http://www.togetherforadoption.org/?p=10784
HOSTED AT TOGETHER FOR ADOPTION
for our understanding of God's adoption of us into his family.
http://www.togetherforadoption.org/?p=10784
HOSTED AT TOGETHER FOR ADOPTION
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