SYATP

SEE YOU AT THE POLE 2016

Join Us! Wednesday, September 28

See You at the Pole
See You at the Pole

WE CRY OUT
A generation seeking Him!
SYATP.com
Power in Prayer!

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah. Psalm 24:3–6.

In the U.S., school-sponsored prayers in public schools have been found unconstitutional, but prayers organized by students themselves are allowed and protected by the right to free speech.

If.
SYATP. (2013).

Calm My Soul

Calm My Soul

Be still, and know that I am God. Ps. 46:10.

American Niagara Falls at Sunset
American Niagara Falls at Sunset

While attending a concert, my thoughts detoured to a troublesome issue that came to the front of my mind and demanded my attention. Thankfully, the distraction was short-lived as the words of a beautiful hymn began to reach deep into my being. A men’s a capella group was singing “Be Still, My Soul.” Tears welled up as I listened to the words and contemplated the restful peace that only God can give:

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side! Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; leave to thy God to order and provide; in every change He faithful will remain.

When we keep our minds on Jesus, He keeps our minds at peace.

When Jesus was denouncing the unrepentant towns where He had done most of His miracles (Matt. 11:20–24), He still had words of comfort for those who would come to Him. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened … learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matt. 11:28.

This statement is striking! Immediately following His strong words for those who were rejecting Him, Jesus extended an invitation to all to draw near to Him to find the peace we all yearn for. Jesus is the only one who can calm our restless, weary souls. – Joe Stowell. Daily Bread.

Prayer: I come to You now, Lord, in need of rest for my heart. Help me to trust You and be confident in Your love.

When we keep our minds on Jesus, He keeps our minds at peace.

Our passage today comes on the heels of Jesus denouncing the cities where most of His miracles were performed. Matt. 11:20–24. Bethsaida, one of the denounced cities, literally means “fisherman’s house.” It was a village on the north side of the Sea of Galilee and could have been the birthplace of three of the disciples: Andrew, Peter, and Philip.

Be Still My Soul.
Kathrina Von Schlegel. (1750).
performed by Naturally 7. á cappella.
Vocal Play Album. (2010). Lucerne, Switzerland.

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Calm My Soul
Airborne Films. Brain Wave Entertainment.
Soothing music.
https://youtu.be/3Eez7KQblgE

For further reading: The Lord Is My Shepherd at discoveryseries.org/hp952
Study with David Roper as Teacher:

Click to access the-lord-is-my-shepherd.pdf

Natural Healthy Inflammation Reduction

Natural Healthy Inflammation Reduction
Pastor Cathy Hanus presents Addressing Inflammation with Nutrition and Natural Healthy Food Selection Support at Spirit’s Got Health and Wellness Activity.
Healthy Nutritious Free (Sweet!) Lunch is Served to All Interested Participants!
Pastor Michael leads Exercise in Response to Inflammation after lunch.
Fellowship and Future Planning follows.

Natural Inflammation Reduction
Natural Inflammation Reduction

If you are interested in volunteering for or sponsoring events in the community,
Please contact Pastors Michael and Cathy Hanus at minister@spiritofpeace.us

Golden Living Rocket Science Celebration

Golden Living Rocket Science Celebration

Spirit and AcademyScience.us joined together in bringing Rocket Science to Golden Living with Rocket Design, Build and Launch Celebration. STEM Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics can be educational and FUN for All ages!
We are getting our Missional Community Service Fellowship on as we visit Golden Living residents to Celebrate the Spirit Among Us with Activity, Prayer, Song and Fellowship!
The Prize Winning Rocket Performance flew more than three hundred feet! Excellent! We can not wait until the next Big Day!

Golden Living Rocket Celebration
Golden Living Rocket Celebration

If you are interested in volunteering for or sponsoring events in the community,
Please contact Spirit of Peace Pastors Michael and Cathy Hanus at minister@spiritofpeace.us

Courage to Change

Courage to Change

Page 274.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Serenity Prayer.

Serenity Prayer
Serenity Prayer

Serenity Prayer
Recovery involves change, and change means doing things differently. The problem is, many of us resist doing things differently; what we’re doing may not be working, but at least we’re familiar with it. It takes courage to step out into the unknown. How do we find that courage?

We can look around ourselves at NA meetings. There we see others who found they needed to change what they were doing and they have done so successfully. Not only does that help quiet our fear that “change, any change” spells disaster, it also gives us the benefit of their experience with what does work, experience we can use in changing what doesn’t.

We can also look at our own recovery experience. Even if that experience, so far, has been limited to stopping the use of drugs, still we have made many changes in our lives-changes for the good. Whatever aspects of our lives we have applied the steps to, we have always found surrender better than denial, recovery superior to addiction. Our own experience and the experience of others in NA tells us that “changing the things I can” is a big part of what recovery is all about. The steps and the power to practice them give us the direction and courage we need to change. We have nothing to fear.

Just for Today: I welcome change. With the help of my Higher Power, I will find the courage to change the things I can.
(c) 2015 NA World Services,

Serenity Prayer
Reinhold Neibur.
Rhythms of Grace.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.

H.P. as Guide

H.P. AS GUIDE
See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. – ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164. A.A. Big Book.

Higher Power
Higher Power coin

Having a right relationship with God seemed to be an impossible order. My chaotic past had left me filled with guilt and remorse and I wondered how this “God business” could work. A.A. told me that I must turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand Him. With nowhere else to turn, I went down on my knees and cried, “God, I can’t do this. Please help me!” It was when I admitted my powerlessness that a glimmer of light began to touch my soul, and then a willingness emerged to let God control my life. With Him as my guide, great events began to happen, and I found the beginning of sobriety. – Daily Reflection. © 1990. Alcoholics Anonymous World Services.

Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

“Higher Power” is a term given significance in the 1930s in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and is used in other twelve-step programs. It is also sometimes referred to as a power greater than ourselves and is frequently abbreviated to “HP.” The term refers to a spiritual supreme being.

“I rely on My Higher Power to give me what I need and I am grateful I do not get some things I deserve.” Shirley. (2016).

“Higher Power” is one of three new songs Boston recorded for their Greatest Hits album. This track features their original lead singer Brad Delp. Boston leader Tom Scholz wrote this with bass player David Sikes. The “Higher Power” is a concept in Alcoholics Anonymous to help participants deal with their addiction. In this song, Delp sings about looking beyond himself for guidance. We hear Serenity Prayer right before the guitar solo.

Higher Power
Boston (1997).

Hey, my higher power
Yeah, give me the power

Let me love you
Take me home to your religion for the night
Let me touch you
Teach me how to see your vision through my eyes
Turn the pages
Tell my story, let me face another day
Safe embraces, I feel it comin’ now
My captain’s on his way

Hey, my higher power
The world is spinnin’, but I’m not afraid
Yeah, give me the power
It’s the beginnin’, the beginnin’ of another day

Yeah!

Let me hold you
Take me back into the secrets of my mind
Let me know you
Come and save me Lord
Don’t let me cross the line.

Hey, my higher power
The world is spinnin’, but I’m not afraid
Yeah, give me the power
It’s the beginnin’, the beginnin’ of another day.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
And may your love shining down, amen.

Shining Service Celebration

Shining Service Celebration
for the Community.
Modern Song Focus on Contemporary Church Artists
performing hymns of traditional foundation.
Everyone is Welcome!

National Back to Church Sunday.
Back to Church Sunday (B2CS) is the largest local-church invitational initiative in the world. It is based on the simplest and shortest step in evangelism: inviting a friend to our church. Sounds simple enough. Let’s do it!

Shining Service
Shining Service

The song is a simple appeal to God to come and help those in need.

Kum ba yah, my Lord.
African Spiritual. (1920s).

Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya
Oh lord, kumbaya.
Someone’s singing lord, kumbaya
Someone’s singing lord, kumbaya
Someone’s singing lord, kumbaya
Oh lord, kumbayah.

Introduction:
Jeremiah 8 tells us grieving must happen so it can help our natural emotional process deal with the hurt.
Jesus Christ loves us, died for us; and asks that we might live for him. Jesus buys us salvation with His blood. Today we pray: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! Ps. 79:9.
In Timothy today we conclude what we started earlier: our Christian faithfulness reflects our capacity for high moral character, we elect to choose strong leadership to strengthen our goals of high moral character, yet we live to serve the Lord and our neighbor rather than exalt ourselves given our moral character.
Luke gives us a lesson in social economics to consider with the moral character we recognize in Timothy. The example of an unscrupulous apparently self concerned business manager in the parable assists us in getting the moral of the story.
This week we put on our shiny Service hats to go into the community and choose our behaviors wisely.

O for a Closer Walk with God
William Cowper (1772).
Olney Hymns.

O for a closer walk with God,
a calm and heavenly frame,
a light to shine upon the road
that leads me to the Lamb!

Scripture:
My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Jer. 8:18.
Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name. Ps. 79:6.
For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all. 1 Tim. 2:5.
No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Luke 16:13.

Prayer:
God of power and justice,
like Jeremiah you weep over those who wander from you,
turn aside to other gods, and enter into chaos and destruction.
By your tears and through your mercy,
teach us your ways and write them on our hearts
so that we may follow faithfully the path you show us. Amen.

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
Edward Mote (1834).
Sovereign Grace.

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,

Prayer:
When joy is gone and hearts are sick, O Lord God,
you give us Jesus Christ as our healing balm.
He came in human flesh that he might give himself
as a ransom for our salvation and
anoint us with the Spirit of consolation and joy.
Hear the cry of your people,
that we may rejoice in the richness of your love
and be faithful stewards of your many gifts. Amen.

All to Jesus I Surrender
Judson Van de Venter (1896).
Vineyard.

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

Prayer:
O Lord God, you call us to embrace both
you and the children of this world with unconditional love.
Give us grace to discern what your love demands of us,
that, being faithful in things both great and small,
we may serve you with an undivided heart. Amen.

You Gotta Serve Somebody
Bob Dylan

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

We are all stewards spreading the Word of Jesus’ blessings for His people.
Picnic Fellowship Activities for the Entire Family!

Of course lively discussion and activities will be available!
Perhaps you may prefer to sit and visit!
Please Contact Us with Special Requests!

Filling the Emptiness

Filling the emptiness

Page 269.
“We think that if we can just get enough food, enough sex, or enough money, we will be satisfied and everything will be alright.”

Basic Text, p.80.
In our addiction, we could never get enough drugs, or money, or sex, or anything else. Even too much was never enough! There was a spiritual emptiness inside us. Though we tried as hard as we could to fill that emptiness ourselves, we never succeeded. In the end, we realized that we lacked the power to fill it; it would take a Power greater than ourselves to do that.

Emptiness
Emptiness

So we stopped using, and we stopped trying to fill the emptiness in our gut with things. We turned to our Higher Power, asking for its care, strength, and direction. We surrendered and made way for that Power to begin the process of filling our inner void. We stopped grabbing things and started receiving the free gift of love our Higher Power had for us. Slowly, our inner emptiness was being filled.

Now that we’ve been given our Higher Power’s gift of love, what do we do with it? If we clasp that gift tightly to ourselves, we will smother it. We must remember that love grows only when it is shared. We can only keep this gift by freely giving it away. The world of addiction is a world of taking and being taken; the world of recovery is a world of giving and being given. In which world do we choose to live?

Just for Today: I choose to live in the fullness of recovery. I will celebrate my conscious contact with the God of my understanding by freely sharing with others that which has been freely shared with me.  – (c) 2015 NA World Services.

Step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we try to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. – N.A. Twelve Steps.

Emptiness (Phir Suna).
Gajendra Verma.
performed by Rohan Rathore (2012).
https://youtu.be/HJrBDRagkFw

Oh, love of mine
With a song and a whine
You’re harsh and divine
Like truths and a lie.

But the tale ends not here
I have nothing to fear
For my love is yell of giving and hold on.

If emotions have sound, that will be called music. This is the belief Gajendra Verma grew up with. Gajendra was born in a small town Sirsa in Haryana. He is blessed by a musical family and that is how music is imbibed in him.
During Gajendra’s journey through life he had his share of bittersweet experiences in the competitive world of Music, where every new tune is as precious as a pearl in the sea. Gajendra’s song “Emptiness” also known as “Tune mere jaana” got leaked on internet with a fake sympathetic story of a dying IIT student named Rohan Rathod and had instant liking by 3 million music lovers across the nation. This was followed by Gajendra going through the process claiming his right to the song. This became big news.

Healthy Nutrition Presentation

Today we come together to learn from Pastor Cathy’s healthy nutritious presentation on home-made soup from vegetables grown our community garden. We enjoy lunch and fellowship together, then engage with Pastor Michael as he leads us in exercise. Great Day!

Join us for #GotHealth #Nutrition #FreeLunch #Exercise #FreshBread #Local #Grains
#Healthy #Nutritious #Soup #Fresh #Garden #Vegetables
@SpiritofPeaceCh

Healthy Garden Vegetable Soup
Healthy Garden Vegetable Soup

 

Bend with the Wind

Bend with the wind

Page 265.
“We learn to become flexible.. As new things are revealed, we feel renewed.”

Bend with the Wind Fred Rogers
Bend with the Wind Fred Rogers

Basic Text, p.102.
“Flexibility” was not a part of the vocabulary we used in our using days. We would become obsessed with the raw pleasure of our drugs and hardened to all the softer, subtler, more infinitely varied pleasures of the world around us. Our disease turned life itself into a constant threat of jails, institutions, and death, a threat against which we hardened ourselves all the more. In the end we became brittle. With the merest breath of life’s wind we crumbled at last, broken, defeated, with no choice but to surrender.

But the beautiful irony of recovery is that, in our surrender, we found the flexibility we had lost in our addiction, the very lack of which had defeated us. We regained the ability to bend in life’s breeze without breaking. When the wind blew, we felt its loving caress against our skin, where once we would have hardened ourselves as if against the onrush of a storm.

The winds of life blow new airs our way each moment, and with them new fragrances, new pleasures, varied, subtly different. As we bend with life’s wind, we feel and hear and touch and smell and taste all it has to offer us. And as new winds blow, we feel renewed.

Just for Today: Higher Power, help me bend with life’s wind and glory in its passing. Free me from rigidity.  – (c) 2015 NA World Services.

Blowin in the Wind
Bob Dylan (1962).
performed by Peter Paul and Mary

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

“Blowin in the Wind” poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. The refrain “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind” has been described as “impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind”.