Soul Care Training #1 - 2016-17

This is first of six weekly Soul Care training posts.
After you have viewed each of these three videos, email soulcare @ emmanuelbaptist.com
The first two videos are approximately 2 minutes each and the third is approximately 6 minutes.

Post #1 is designed to remind us of the purpose of Soul Care and introduce us to the Onward study.

The Purpose of Soul Care in three videos:

Video #1:  from Camp Patmos.

To watch the video of this information, scroll down.

Hello!  I thought this would be a great place record our first training 2016 training video.
Here at the lighthouse at Camp Patmos.

And I want to begin with telling you about a movie called THE FINEST HOURS.

This amazing, powerful true story is about the biggest small boat rescue in the history of the coast guard.

In the story there men on the sinking boat and on the shore who make some difficult decisions and face some strong opposition.  (HERE is a link to the movie trailer.)

BUT because they were concerned about people’s lives, they did what needed to be done to save lives.  This is not a spoiler alert:  the crew is saved.

After watching the movie I realized our Soul Care ministry is a rescue ministry.

With the power of The Holy Spirit, God’s Word and the church, we come  alongside one another to encourage one another to grow more and more in Christ.

Over the next couple of weeks I want to remind you how God has been using Soul Care at Emmanuel and I want to challenge each of us to prayerfully consider how you can help others glorify God as worshipping, growing, loving disciples.

Please check back here every Tuesday for through August for some specific training information.

There will be information posted on the church blog this week!



Video #2:  A clip about the Onward study that explains why we are doing this study at this time.




Video #3:  an explanation of Soul Care given in the service on July 3rd.

We want to get a small group of people to come together to encourage one another and help one another grow.

For a timeline sketch of what we are going to be doing to promote Soul Care in August, click HERE

Pray for Returning Leaders and New Leaders

We are excited about what God can do when Holy Spirit empowered Christians meet for the purpose of encourage one another to live out God's Word!

Please join me in praying for this fall's Soul Care leaders and assistant leaders.

Pastor Duke and I have talked about the nature of our fall study may encourage more people to sign up.
This past year we had 23 groups meeting.
This upcoming year, we have set a goal of 30 groups.

Here is what I would love for you to pray with me.

God would allow us to help even more people grow even deeper in their relationship with God.
We would love to see 30 Soul Care groups because we believe that would help this happen.
This goal of 30 groups is not the ultimate goal though.

The ultimate for our Soul Care ministry is more God-glorifying disciples who are worshiping God, growing in the Lord and loving others.

Pray for more discipe-makers willing to lead a group of people into a deeper relationship with God and others.

ONWARD with Soul Care in 2016

Here is some information about Soul Care and the ONWARD study.

GENERAL INFO ABOUT SOUL CARE:

It is my prayer that each of you would understand that Soul Care groups are   

a small part of this churches ministry.  God wants to do so much more in your life then just have you sign up to get together with a group of people. 

At the same time our Soul Care groups play a MAJOR part in Emmanuel’s ministry.  We genuinely believe that being in a smaller group than this here, discussing with others how to live out God’s word individually and together and praying with others will help you treasure Jesus and encourage others to do the same.  

GOAL for the Fall of 2016 

• 30 groups.  This past year we had 24 groups.

SPECIFIC INFO ABOUT THE ONWARD STUDY:

• Title:  ONWARD;  Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel
• Click HERE for information and several videos about this study.
• Click HERE for a post containing 20 quotes from the book.
• Think about this quote below for your Soul Care group and our church this year.  You can share it on facebook by clicking below.

Summer Prayer Time: Praying for Gospel Growth!!

This is going to be on the church website tomorrow.
I want to encourage you to invite your Soul Care Group to these prayer meetings.
You will be getting an invite/encouragement from a pastor to attend at least one specific night but I want to encourage you come every night.

"A praying church is a church that admits its dependence upon God."  (Megan Hill)

We are going to have 5 weeks of prayer meeting starting next week (July 13) from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.

This church-wide prayer time is going to focus our attention on God 
as we pray that God would continue making us into a church that is 

• Growing closing and closing to Him (July 13)
• Praying in a way that show dependence upon God not merely His approval of our plans (July 20)
• Giving generously from what God has given us in order to glorify God (July 27)
• Serving one another and the community to help others grow closer and closer to Him (Aug 3)
• Shining the love of God to the world around us (Aug 10)

Reflections on a Changing America

By Rick Phillips

For Christians, the issue of patriotism is always complicated by our citizenship in two realms, one earthly and one heavenly.  The Bible teaches that we have duties to our earthly nation, including obeying laws, paying taxes, and honoring our leaders (Rom. 13:1-7).  At the same time, we are subjects of the eternal kingdom of Christ.  Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”  (Mt. 22:21).  This dual citizenship presents serious complications when the civil and the divine authorities strongly conflict.  This was the situation the early believers faced in Jerusalem, resulting in their persecution.  Peter told the Jewish leaders, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), and for his disobedience he was beaten and later threatened with execution (Acts 5:40; 12:1-6).

While our “two kingdoms” citizenship always warrants biblical reflection, the situation facing Christians in America today demands special wisdom and grace.  Throughout our lifetime, there have been two competing Americas, one theistic and the other atheistic; one which more or less respects our Christian heritage and upholds general biblical values, and one which aggressively opposes biblical morality and a godly outlook on life.  The pagan agenda, which is apparently pursued by roughly half of America, seeks by all means to change our laws, institutions, and moral consensus in a radically secular and sensually permissive direction.  With the assistance of a radically motivated media establishment, pagan America has made steady gains during each of the last several decades.  But in the few years marked by the election of our current President, an aggressive use of raw government power is effecting an exponential shift in our society.

The blueprint for the pagan conquest of America seems was discovered in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, which forced abortion on an unwilling society.  Prior to the Supreme Court imposing its will on the people, a clear majority of Americans opposed abortion on demand.  Over the years, the sheer force of public policy and unrelenting media misinformation has shifted public opinion so that the nation is now roughly split on the issue.  The same strategy is now succeeding with homosexuality and the redefinition of marriage.  The secularist control of the higher courts has imposed an alien morality on the people and the radical media has used propaganda to confuse minds and control opinions.  Last week’s Supreme Court decision to overthrow the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a classic example of this strategy.  The majority explanation did not even attempt to establish a constitutional basis for the judicial overthrow of this law.  Instead, in flagrant violation of the balance of powers that has kept America free for over two hundred years, the Supreme Court justices simply imposed their personal opinion on the nation, overthrowing the will of the people as expressed through the national legislature.

Let me suggest some conclusions that Christians should draw from recent experience

1. We face explicitly anti-Christian forces who are determined to paganize America and are completely unrestrained by concerns of integrity, fairness, or democratic process.  As Justice Scalia wrote of last week’s DOMA decision, the only thing that will restrain the liberal assault on America “is its sense of what it can get away with.”
2. There is mounting evidence that the current administration will use its vast coercive power to unjustly persecute its opponents.  From the National Security Agency’s sweeping violations of privacy, to the Internal Revenue Service’s harassment of conservatives and Christians (to cite only the most notorious examples), the vast power of federal agencies is being employed not for the general good of the nation but for the secularist overthrow of American institutions.
3. Contrary to the rhetoric they have long employed, the forces of pagan America do not merely seek tolerance for their own values and practices but the exclusion and removal of Christian dissent, opinion, and participation in civil society.  It is difficult to see how this agenda can fail to result in the official persecution of Christians and the denial of civil rights to those who wish to proclaim the Bible’s message of salvation and godliness.
4. Given the aggressiveness of the liberal powers, it seems likely that the years immediately before us – 2014, 2015, and 2016 – will be historically significant in terms of their assault not only on Christians and their values but also on the very freedoms that have marked our nation since 1776.

If these reflections are even generally accurate, it will be important for Christians to respond carefully and biblically both as citizens of America and as citizens of Christ’s kingdom.  Let me first offer counsel on how Christians must respond as Americans:

1. We must continue to love our country.  Nothing would more please or serve the radical secularists than for Christians to jettison their patriotic impulses.
2. We must speak out boldly and pointedly as Christians even if we are publicly derided as hatemongers or dangerous religious extremists.  We must refuse to surrender our rights under the Constitution and we must be prepared to pay the price of persecution to uphold them.
3. We must joyfully love our neighbors and serve our communities, including those who vigorously oppose us in the culture war.  It will serve little for Christians to argue a biblical morality if we are not willing to demonstrate biblical grace and truth in action.  By all means, there must be no violence, personal abuse, or vindictive spirit in the Christian defense of our national heritage.  Our calling as Christian Americans is to “overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21), even if our virtues are slanderously labeled as hate.
4. We must support godly elected leaders and some of us will be called to serve in the political process.  This will be especially important at the state level in the upcoming years, since God charges lower civil leaders to protect the people against the tyranny of higher civil leaders.  We will need to pray for and support our godly leaders at the state and local level, fortifying them with the courage and wisdom they are going to need.

Even more importantly, we must be faithful to Christ in the midst of these troubles.  The Bible has amply warned us to expect such upheavals (1 Pet. 4:12).  So let us be neither dismayed nor distracted from our primarily calling as disciples of Jesus.  This means:

1. We must steadfastly refuse to violate God’s Word, either in obeying ungodly government requirements or in opposing them.  This is our absolute duty to the Lord and the source of our moral authority among men.
2. Our churches must stop dancing to the world’s tune.  We must no longer measure church success in secular terms – attendance, buildings, and cash – but in the biblical terms of truth, godliness, and evangelistic zeal.  Our pulpits must resound with the biblical message of law and gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.  While many churches (especially many prominent mega-churches) may capitulate to the pagan agenda, ours must stand with the Lord through faithfulness to his Word.
3. We must commit ourselves to prayer.  Francis Schaeffer lamented a generation ago that American Christians care mainly for “personal peace and enough affluence to enjoy it.”  The truth of that statement is the cause of many of our woes.  We must now rally as Christians around the source of our true power, the throne of grace in heaven (Heb. 4:16).  If the prayer meetings of Christian churches do not fill in the coming months and years, then James 4:2 will explain the loss of our country.
4. We must rise up with renewed zeal in taking the gospel message of Jesus Christ to our neighbors.  If troubled, we must proclaim Christ.  If persecuted we must proclaim Christ.  If jailed, we must follow Paul’s example by proclaiming Christ.  Our pagan neighbor is not primarily our culture-war enemy but a sinner in bondage who needs the loving message of salvation through the grace of Christ.

Christ is reigning over this year’s Fourth of July.  The startling troubles before us are as much an opportunity as they are a threat, but only if Christians rise up to our calling as servants of a triumphant gospel in the midst of a sin-broken world.

@ www.reformation21.org/blog/2013/07/fourth-of-july-reflections-on.php