Challenging 6 Week Sunday School Class for Lent, This One Is HOT

Beginning Sunday February 26 in Office Building

Join a six week exploration of the hot button topics facing the church today. Each week a new topic will be explored, using articles by experts on both side of each issue. These scholars will make well-reasoned and reasonable explanations for their positions (no bomb throwers or rhetoric flingers will be used). Discussion based on these articles will follows, exploring whether either side changed or challenged your point of view. Exciting topics, lively discussion, different Sunday School format, and possibly even small revelations!

Five of the six topics explored will be:

·       Do Christians really believe in redemption?

·       Should Christians and their churches be involved in today’s politics?

·       Was Jesus a “socialist?”

·       Is homosexuality a sin?

·       Should Christians be saving souls or lives?

Sixth session topic to be revealed later!

Come and join us. You are most welcome.

Lenton Devotions 2012 Available

ECBC's own Rev. Richard E. Rusbuldt has written a new lenten devotional series with daily devotional messages allowing readers to follow Christ's journey to and beyond the cross. The series begins on February 22 and ends April 6. Here is one series you are encouraged to pick up for Lent, rather than giving something up. As Rev. Rusbuldt states, "Today, we hear references to 'give up something for Lent'; the possibilities are many. In some churches, however, there is a greater emphasis on penitential practices and private devotions. It is the latter to which you are invited. You don't have to 'give up' anything -- you are invited to do something, namely, a forty-six day walk with Jesus -- to the cross and the tomb."

This devotional series is available through Spiritual Journey Press E-Book (Adobe Acrobat Reader Format) at http://www.spiritualjourneypress.com/ebooks.html

A Spanish language translation is also available.

To give you a head start, the first devotional Bible reading is John 1: 1-3: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

Let your journey begin. 

A Valentine's Day Gift of Love for You from ECBC and the Bible

The Bible has a lot to offer. Among its many wonders are some powerful love verses to be found in the Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon). Here is proven romantic verse that has stood the test of time for thousands of years. Use these verses today on someone you love!
Song of Solomon 2:16
My lover is mine, and I am his.

Song of Solomon 8:6
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

Song of Solomon 8:7
Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Song of Solomon 2: 10-13
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away;
for now the winter is past,
   the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
   the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
   is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
   and the vines are in blossom;
   they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away.   

Moving on to the apostle Paul and his great verses on love:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails ...

Happy Valentine's Day! May it be blessed! 

Weekly Bible Verses: Mark 1:40-45: He Went Out and Began to Proclaim It Freely

Mark 1: A leper^* came to him begging him, and kneeling^* he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ ⁴¹Moved with pity,^* Jesus^* stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ ⁴²Immediately the leprosy^* left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, ⁴⁴saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ ⁴⁵But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus^* could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Authentic Discipleship

Here is a moving message about discipleship for leaders in the faith from Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III. May this message give you encouragement as you head down the path to the river.

Loving Your Neighbors: How?

The Bible tells us the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself. The second commandment gets tricky. How do I love my neighbor (to answer another question ... everyone is your neighbor)? Here's one way:

Not long ago, I was standing in an airport security line waiting for my turn with the X-rays and security team and noticed the older woman behind me. She looked nervous. We were in one of those long, snaking, back and forth lines you see in amusement parks a good many minutes back from our appointment with emptying pockets, removing belts and shoes, and throwing stuff in plastic bins. I figured I knew the reason for her anxiety and asked, "How long until your flight?" It was less than 30 minutes until takeoff. No doubt the early boarding calls were already underway. So, I told her she could move in front of me. It was a small kindness but I was happy to extend it. I believe kindness and goodness grow with use. Then the guy in front of me, overhearing our conversation, added, "Here get in front of me too." He and I had both been to the same ABCUSA Christian conference and heard the same sermons about reaching out into the community to find God among the people there. Then, my fellow conferee one-upped me. He was standing in just the right twist and turn in the line to remove the strip from between the posts at one end and say, "In fact, why don't you just go through here." Suddenly, that anxious woman was three people back from the very head of the line. "Thank you both," she said, relief flooding her face. For just a moment she was nervous again, wondering if someone near the front of the line would tell her to go back to her place. Nobody did. Everyone around us had overheard the conversation and apparently wished her well. It was wonderful to see a little kindness grow like that in a crowded airport full of harried people on tight schedules.

That is one simple way to love your neighbor ... extend small kindnesses whenever you are able. Each kindness will have a ripple effect and the second great commandment will spread further in this very simple way. Have a blessed week full of small kindnesses ... extended from you towards others and from others toward you. 

Weekly Bible Verses: Mark 1:29-39: Proclaim the Message There

Mark 1: ²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. ³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.