I am sitting in the middle of hundreds of pastors and church planters.  It is a conference about following God as he leads us in a church planting movement around the world.  A guy by the name of Francis Chan is sharing about his journey, from when he was first getting the spark from God to start a church to where he is now – leading a larger church that is all about planting other churches.

I am here with three other pastors from NJ at the invitation of our District Superintendent.  We have been praying together and dreaming about what this would be like starting in NJ.  Some of the presentations have been about the roadblocks and possible discouragements – disunity in your church, criticism from members, few people stepping up, lack of outward focus, feeling alone, lack of vision, etc.

And I don’t see that in our church.

Yeah, we make mistakes and we don’t always agree but I love our church.  We have vision and we want to make a difference in our communities and the world.  We have a great staff and we expect God to work in us and through us.  We have tons of volunteers working in youth and children and He Cares, We Care ministries.  I started to feel really great about our church and then I thought…

We don’t have an excuse.

If churches with all those problems are supposed to step through them and be the world changing church that God calls all of us to be, then what about us?  If we don’t have to overcome this stuff then what is keeping us from doing great things for God?

We don’t have an excuse.

We should be leading the way.  And why can’t we?  What if we believed that we can grow and expand in a lousy economy?  What if we believe we can bring hope to crumbling marriages and families out of work?  What if 48 baptisms a few weeks ago are only a fraction of those that God will lead us to this year?  What if we plant a church?  What if we actually raise twice the $250,000 that we pledged for missions?

What if God gives us one big dream that only He can fulfill and we will all know it when it happens?

Francis Chan is telling us to use all the “systems” and ideas you can find but make sure you sit down with the Bible and the Spirit and let God speak to you through the Word.  It’s about the Holy Spirit and his reign in our lives.  He’s right.

I don’t want an excuse.  I want a mission.

Tonight, come be a part of our mission…bringing hope.  Do you or your neighbors need hope about our economy?  Town Hall for Hope is a live simulcast with Dave Ramseyto bring clarity and direction for these challenging times.  Don’t miss the hope, tonight, at 8:00pm in the sanctuary.

There is a reason they call it Passion Week.

The word passion comes from the Latin meaning “to suffer” or “to endure.”  Originally, the word was designated to refer only to Good Friday, to Christ’s sufferings on the cross.  Eventually, it was used to describe the entire week beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter.  Christ’s endurance was not simply demonstrated on that Friday but throughout the five days leading up to it.  And the victory that ensued on the following Easter Sunday serves as the fruit of that endurance.

But there is another meaning to the word passion.  It means to do something with great emotion and intensity.  That too describes Jesus in this week that so many around the world will commemorate.  He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with resolute purpose.  He faced death on Good Friday with courage.  He rose up on Easter morning to complete the reason for which He came.

Clearly the word passion describes our Lord.  What we need to consider is if it describes his church.  Is the word applicable to us?  As we come together on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter, do we do so out of duty or with passion.  Are we excited and moved by the commemoration of Jesus’ coronation, his sacrificial death and his incredible victory over death?  I hope so.

Check out the web or the weekend worship folder for all the Passion Week activities and times.

I hope to see you at all of them.

What a great weekend!

I think the services this past weekend represent who we are.  God is a God of first and second chances.  It was great to see those come forward who got a grasp on that.  Find Jesus.  Find life.  And that was only the first part of my thrill.  It was exciting to see how many of you came forward to pray for those who sought prayer.  At the 10:30 service alone 45 people were prepared to pray for others.  I don’t think I ever remember a weekend where so many were prepared to pray for other people.

Yeah.  That’s who we are.

And remember, we have designated the section in the sanctuary over by the stairs as the prayer mat.  After every service from now on you can pray and be prayed for there where the prayer banners will be stationed.

Actually, this weekend I was not there for every service.  I left to join Living Hope Alliance Church in Trenton for their service.  I had not visited them since they moved into their new building.  This is a building that the city donated to them free of charge for the good will they have brought to Trenton.  Amazing.  God does the incredible.  They have a building, a parking lot, and a yard that is large enough for two soccer fields.  Pretty cool.

And this weekend is baptism.  Come prepared to rejoice.  Come prepared to here how Jesus is relevant today.  And some of you should come prepared to get wet.  Just wait and you’ll see what I mean.

Whew!  See you this weekend.

Hope you got to know someone a bit better at the service last weekend.  It was fun to see the synergy from up front.  And it was as boisterous as an energetic song!  A couple of you did venture to share you ideas with me.  Stay in contact with your new-found partner in planning and let me know if you decide to pull anything off.

We are entering into the final two weeks of our Ecclesia series.  We will be looking at the two sacraments practiced by the Protestant Church - communion and baptism.  Communion symbolizes the doorway to the church.  Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paves the way for personal cleansing and a relationship with God.  Josh will be sharing this weekend and I ask that everyone be praying for a clear message and call concerning the sacrifice of Christ and the elements of communion that facilitate our remembrance of that event.  We trust some will make a decision this weekend to enter that door they have only previously gazed at from a distance.  Then we hope they will be baptized the following week.  We have several young people scheduled for baptism on the final weekend of the series and we would love to have more of you participate.  Matt will be bringing the message and I will have the privilege of baptizing everyone.

Let me ask.  Have you made a decision to follow Christ?  Have you followed it up with baptism?  These next two weeks could be excitingly crucial for you in taking a significant step forward in experiencing life to the fullest.

See you this weekend.

If you are following the 40 day Scripture reading schedule that we made available on our website, then today you will read Jeremiah 1:1-10.  God used those verses in 1983 to call me to Thailand.  I was asked by CMA leadership to consider Thailand as a place of service but had decided I was too young and inexperienced at that time.  I needed a few more years under my belt.  It was late one evening, the day before I was going to call the CMA and tell them “not yet.”  I opened my Bible to Jeremiah 1 and read this in verses 6-8:

“Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”  But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Pretty clear, huh?  I called the next day and 6 months later I was in Thailand.

I trust the daily readings are a source of encouragement to you.  The Word speaks today as it did when it was first written.  It is a living and powerful thing, inspired by the Spirit and designed for our direction and correction.  Make the effort.  Its worth it.

And speaking of Thailand, please continue to seek God for your part in partnering with the mission vision of PAC.  Checks made out to Princeton Alliance Church should include the letters “GCF” in the note section.  Pray for Timothy Jeng and Vision Thailand 2010.  Pray for David and Cindy Peace in New Delhi.  Ask God where he might want you to join in forming a team to go overseas this year or next.  This could be something big for us and for his kingdom.

Men, see you this Saturday morning at the breakfast.  Everyone else, see you this weekend.

We were packed out at our first Ash Wednesday service.  It was so good to see everyone come out for an evening of reflection on God’s grace and our need for it.  If you went home without one of our cards giving a Scripture reading each day until Easter, you can download a copy here.

Ash Wednesday was nicely placed between the first two weeks of our series on the church entitled, Ecclesia.  Last week we started the series with Christ as the head of the church.  Ash Wednesday allowed us to continue in reflection of Christ and how real repentance and new life starts with us as the church.  Then this coming week is about elders.  Now that we acknowledge Christ as our Lord, who helps us stay on track?  I hope you can come and hear what the Bible says about the office of elder this weekend.

Then next weekend we will talk about the mission of the church - the Great Commission.  We will have a guest speaker from Thailand, one of our three focus countries.  Timothy Jeng has served the church in Thailand for 30 years and is a personal friend of mine.  I am sure that you will have a greater understanding of that country, and even more importantly a greater passion to partner with Timothy there, after meeting him the weekend of March 7-8.

Don’t forget to faithfully bring your Faith Promise funds.  What you pledged in December for the current year’s mission fund is critical in supporting the work in Thailand.  We can’t give it until you do.  Just mark your check GCF (Great Commission Fund) when you make it out to Princeton Alliance Church (check bulletin for details).

See you this weekend.