Whatcom New Life Assembly Archive

Do I have everything God wants for you?  Before the fall, God hung out with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.  He walked with them.  They talked about things and relationship was pure.  That is God’s plan for our lives.  However many of us, maybe most of us, don’t draw into that relationship; we are satisfied with a limited amount of the presence and power of God.  This happens because we have not known or perceived something better and are satisfied with our very limited opportunities.  We’re closer to God and close to the old life, but we never find out what God really has for us.

Come hear what Pastor Mike Rody has to say about hanging on to God to receive what God has for us.

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September 28 we had Dave Ogren with us representing IRR/TV.  In his early days of ministry he served as Associate Pastor here in Ferndale when we were known as Bethel Temple.

After sharing about the ministry of IRR/TV, Dave brings us to Luke chapter 19. In Luke chapter 19:41 and following, Jesus prophesies over Jerusalem and began to weep over Jerusalem because they didn’t perceive what could save them though he is right in front of them.  Soon Jerusalem would experience disaster because people have made choices to reject God’s way.  Yet he weeps because His desire is for the hearts of the people.  His desire is that they would return to him for healing and freedom.  It is God’s desire that we would turn from those errant choices and return to God for healing and freedom.  He doesn’t relish the punishment.  He relishes restoration.

Jesus’ people need to have the same eyes as we look at the world around us.

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We’re moving ahead with our siding and painting project. We’ve accomplished alot in the past few weeks. Watch the video and see what we’ve done.

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Let the peace of Christ reign in your life.  God’s intent is that we have peace.  Believers are reconciled to God and to himself.  We are not to be in conflict with one another and in fact we are not to be distressed over our lives.  We worry because we put ourselves in control when as Jesus followers we need to live with Jesus in control.  So lets consider together how to work this out in our lives as we look at Colossians 3.

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After last Saturday it appears we are half way sided. The weather wasn’t pretty but the siding sure looks good. We had a lot of help from a lot of people who showed up despite the rain and uncomfortable conditions. Here are a few pictures and we’ve included a link to a video we made.

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Did Jesus come to explain the rules or to reconcile man to God?  Most people think that Christians are all about rules.  Sadly  many Christians are but Jesus Christ was not.  He wasn’t a “rules” guy.  It is the fear of those rules that keeps many people from hearing Jesus offer of a “spring of living water” that will not run dry in the dessert of their life.

Everywhere Jesus went he had compassion on people and offered them relationship with him.  No rules.  Just a relationship with our father who dearly loves us and does know what is best for us.  Listen and see what the Bible says as Pastor Mike Rody leads us through Colossians Chapter 2.

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What a day. We started our workday with 4 eager souls waiting in the parking lot before 8:00AM. That alone was exciting and probably a first in the 8 years I’ve been here. We started them out digging. Our first project was to take out our “grass garden”. Our front beds have been waiting for serious landscaping for about 2 years. In the mean time the grass grew with a vengeance. We’ve totally removed the grass about 3 times now. This time however we found the grass was not well rooted and it came out much easier than before. It seems persistance has paid off. Now we’ll lay down casseron, plastic and bark on top for a long lasting grass free bed.

Our primary goal for the day was to do siding. We did very well with that. We now have the North facing wall of the sanctuary covered in siding. It was a very good effort from a lot of people. We have pictures of several here, though not all. One of the great things about today was that 6 or 8 people now have experience siding. That should make next weeks work day even more effective as we can set up several crews and do multiple wall sections at a time.

We had a great lunch, thanks to Gabi Bailey. Unfortunately there are no pictures. The potato salad and boiled corn were fantastic with hamburgers. We’re so glad Fred came. He was able to set up chairs and tables as well as shuck the corn. One might overlook that contribution, but for those that ate it was very much a blessing.

Once the grass was dug out, we moved the diging crew on to an all important job: Skunk Abaitment. Yes, for you who have not been here on one of those odiforous Sunday mornings when a frightened skunk has taken refuge under one of the cement slabs near our doors, skunk abaitment is a very important task. We have found concrete is the best method. We especially appreciate the efforts of Jerry Holcom saw the project through to the end. As you can see in the pictures, a trench was dug. Rebar was pounded into the ground and the trench was fulled with cement. We’ve had some success with this method at the parsonage, except where the scunk burrowed out through the wet cement, and hope it will work here. Aparently some lucky little guy even got to write his name in the cement. Some kids get to do all the cool things. His dad would have never let him do that. Thank you Jerry.

All in all it was a great day. We’ll pray the scunks to try to break in or out tonight and we’ll start preping on Monday to so we can put up siding on the south side next weekend. Please join us Saturday, September 20 for our next siding party. We look forward to seeing you here.

-P. Mike

When we put our faith in Christ we are saved. When we continue in our faith God wants us to grow. He wants us to stretch our faith, but he also wants us to stretch our mind. God has a lot for us to understand and his assumption is that we would desire to learn about what we believe. Lets consider together Gods desire for us to know what he wants us to know.

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You often here the line “what a difference a day makes.” Today was the day for our facility. We now have new siding on the building. The old is gone (well, actually going) and the new has come at least in small measure.

We really appreciate Jim Fox for his long work day Saturday. I’m sure he didn’t want us taking his picture but it is here anyway. Thanks to Jim’s excellent supervision, patience and direction, we were able to start applying the siding and what a difference it makes. I don’t think these pictures do justice to the transformation that’s taking place on our building. If we had been able to do the whole church overnight, some of our people would have driven right by not knowing it was there.

Others might have panicked at the drab color. I kind of like the color myself, though with out the smudges of caulk. and the impact marks from hammer strikes. This is just the color of the siding as it comes off the pallet. We have done nothing to it and it already looks pretty good.

The new horizontal patterm is very nice. The shingles really look great under the windows. I hope everyone will be as pleased as I am. We have really been blessed to see this come about. There’s a lot of work to go still, but praise God for His provision. May we see an equal transformation in the many lives the many people we touch daily as a church.

You say your a Christian but do you know what you’re putting your trust in?  To really extend ourselves in faith as God desires we need to know Christ.  We need to know what God has done for us through him.  We need to understand how God has changed our lives.  Lets see what God has told us.

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This week we started more noticeable work. Saturday, Jim wrapped and trimmed a window on the north side of the Sanctuary. It was somewhat of a proof of concept job. It seems to have worked well. Now we need to wrap the whole building (the part being resided) and trim all the windows. It is our desire to do this in a timely manner but we want to follow quickly with the siding. We don’t want to leave the building wrapped and unsided for a long period of time. Now we have to schedule capable worker and get the job done.

How do you know what to do?  In most parts of life we think things out and make the best plan based on what we know and can see.  When it comes to business or vacation planning that works real well.  Sometimes, however, there is no knowledge or foresight that can give us enough direction to know what to do.  God’s plan is that he will fill you with all “spiritual wisdom and understanding.”  In Colossians chapter 1 we see that God really does want for us to know what to do and how to go about life.   God doesn’t hide his plans for us, instead he teaches us even in the small things and he wants us to grow in that knowledge.  Come and see what God wants us to know.

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This week we used expanding foam to seal the gaps created by the lapboard laying over the channel siding. It may not be very noticeable in our picture but you can see the old siding has a channel pattern that drops down behind the lapboard.  It appears there is some yellow goo that has bubbled out.  That’s the foam. If siding were installed over the channel and the gap left unsealed, it would create an inviting environment for various bugs and critters to build homes and nests.

If that explanation doesn’t make sense to you just go out and look at the white board and see the foam that fills the gaps at the bottom of the channels. Remember bugs and critters like to climb up from below so this foam will keep them out, like the cork in the top of a bottle. This will extend the life of our siding and the rest of the building.

In addition to the foam job, there was more work done on the “Z” metal flashing. This is a strip of metal that sits atop the lapboard and will eventually channel water out over the board and away from the inside of the wall structure.

None of this was highly demanding work, but it needed to be done and took about 12 hours of work.

If you are interested in volunteering for jobs of this nature, please speak with Jim Fox. He will be the one who knows what jobs are coming up and can be done with more or less training, experience or skill.

What to do about colors.  As we started this project the board and the building team all agreed, we are not the ones to pick out color options.  So we’ve recruited a few people to help us find those options.  Our first selections are in.  We’ll give a few more people the time to look.  When all the suggestions are in, we’ll get the group together to sort out 3 or 4 options.  We’ll set up some samples for everyone to see and give some input.

As I said in our recent letter, it’s amazing how color choices can become so divisive.  As we go through this process, please remember that not everyone’s preference will be selected, but we will get the church painted and it will look nice.  In the end our priorities must be that of Christ and the Kingdom of God.

Tony Philips, one of the members of our church brought a message contrasting the modern version of tolerance and God’s requirement to love the world.  We are to recognize falsehood and truth.  We should always seek truth and reject falsehood.

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It seemed our siding project was stalled a few weeks as people tried to get work done and just ran out of schedule able hours.  Rather than wait for who knows when we contacted some workers to help us get going again.  This weeks project was putting up a lap board trim at the bottom of the wall.  Jim pre marked the wall for the the placement of the boards last week.  Before leaving on vacation he explained the job to Nathan who brought some help and go the work done well.  Thank you guys.

The first picture gives a great image of the work involved.  The church was measured and lined all th way around.  This took Jim most of a Saturday.  Then a 2×8 of white wood was installed all the way around with a few 2×10s and 2×6s through in to make it a bit more complicated.  It was topped off by a piece of “Z” metal flashing.  The metal will keep the water from getting behind the boards after the siding is installed.  The seams and nail heads were all caulked and the job was done.  Sound easy, but it was a lot of work.

The last picture shows some of the detail involved in the project at the corner.  You can see the caulk in the seems and on the nail heads as well as the corner work on the metal.  Even though we had to pay for the work to be done we were very pleased to get it done.  There are a few small things that need to be finished on this phase, but then we can start moving up the wall with the siding.

Too many people think God’s out to crush us.  He really could if He wanted to, but our experience with Jesus shows us that God really wants to make peace with man and reconcile people to Himself.  God loves to restore people to himself and restore people to real life.  Jesus showed this as he told a story about the guy we call the “Prodigal Son”.   Join us for this ride to restoration and reunited love.

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We take communion in church on a regular basis.  Some churches take communion every time they gather together.  We believe that communion is powerful and important but often forget to reflect on that power.  Pastor Mike Rody describes the very power and symbolism of Communion.

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Don’t you love it when all falls apart? What do we do when we can’t see things getting any better. 2 Timothy chapter 4:9-17 shows a picture of a man who cannot see the way but has full trust in the one who knows the way to bring him through. People who were formally with him are leaving. People around him are seeking his death. Most people who cave in. But this man, he has already seen that there is one in whom he can put his trust. Who would you trust in a situation like this? How would you make it through? Lets look together at the difficult life lived in faith.

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Our Missionary Alan Ambrose came to share about their ministry to college students in Austria and to challenge us to reach our world as well.

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