Lane Ward, Rick Meadors, and Will Long  will present an update on their upcoming mission trip to Cambodia on Sunday evening. Their trip into a remote region of Cambodia will last ten days: November 28 – December 8, 2008.  As you can see below, the mission trip objective is clear: “Help these people in their villages with medical care and to conduct evangelism and church formation ministries. The medical care will consist of general medical, pediatrics, dental and optometry. We will work for four clinic days.” These three men participated in the Operation Renewed Hope Boot Camp last June.

Now they have the opportunity to put that training into action in Cambodia. This medical mission trip will be led by Operation Renewed Hope.
ORH.org Codename: 2008 CAM

Cambodia Medical Mission

• Mission Date:
Nov 28th – Dec 8th, 2008
• Mission Location(s):
Phnom Penh and surrounding villages
along the Mekong River in Cambodia

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We have been studying the Psalms of Ascent, sometimes called the Songs of Degrees. Psalms 120 – 134 were used as the “caravan songs” of the travelers who journeyed to annual feasts in Jerusalem. As you read Psalm 120, you see that the Psalmist declares that he dwells among those that hate peace. Picture this group of holiday travelers as they left their homes (often in pagan lands) to travel to up (thus, the designation “ascent”) to Mount Zion.

They probably thought of these Psalms with the same fondness that many people would savor Christmas carols.

With this in mind, I composed a piece of poetry, based on Psalm 123, for the service last evening. Together, we sang these words to the tune of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” to try to capture the “holiday flavor” of the text. But this is not, by any means, a “candy-coated” approach to life.

Here is a real conflict as the travelers remembered the proud scorners who held them in such contempt. How should we crowd such contempt out of our minds for the upcoming holidays? Psalm 123 holds some blessed answers as we learn to lift up our eyes to the Lord and cry for His Mercy on us. As we study this psalm today, we learn what it means to be a Christian among the contemptuous crowds.

Finding Mercy among The Masses

A poem based on Psalm 123

To You, O Lord, To You we lift our eyes,

To Him, Who sits enthroned upon the skies

Behold! my eyes attend to your Hand,

To cry for Grace and Mercy in this land.

Give Grace! Give Grace! Oh Heavenly Lord,

we wait upon your mercy in this place!

Oh Lord, we find such hatred in this land

And all around, contempt on every hand

To You, O Lord, to You we lift our eyes

Oh hear us, Heavenly Lord, oh hear our cries

Give Grace! Give Grace! Oh Heavenly Lord,

we wait upon your mercy in this place!

Until we see Your mercy from above

We serve and wait upon our God of love,

We wait among the hateful scorners here,

Until your work of mercy shall appear

Give Grace! Give Grace! Oh Heavenly Lord,

we wait upon your mercy in this place!

- Pastor Gordon Dickson

“Living for Others’ Victory for Eternity!”

That is what the LOVE of Jesus Christ means for every one of us. In the audio message recorded here we will examine Ephesians 3:19. This is part of the magnificent prayer of Paul which he prayed for all of the believers at Ephesus. It can apply to every believer in every walk of life today.

The message begins with the puzzling phrase, “and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. . .” How can you know something which passes knowledge? In order to understand this phrase, it will be necessary to understand what else this letter to Ephesus tells us about love. Then, the revealed expressions of God’s love (especially in Ephesians chapters 1 through 3) call us to respond in order that we may experience this love which passes knowledge.

Click the icon at left for the message to begin or click the player below.

Last week, we learned what it meant for Christ to “dwell” [settle down] in our hearts. This week, in the message below, we explored what it means to do so “by faith.” The result of this is that we will be “rooted and grounded in love.” This phrase deliberately mixes metaphors. In so doing, it paints a wonderful picture of the “holy temple of the Lord” described in Ephesians 2:20-22. This wonderful, living structure is like a building with roots, or a tree with a foundation.

We continue our study of Ephesians with the next phrases of Paul’s majestic prayer recorded in Ephesians 3:

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory,

to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;

that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be able to comprehend with all saints

what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,

that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

To listen to the entire message, entitled “Real Faith: Real Fellowship”,

please click on the radio icon at right. [display_podcast]

Are you troubled by “false face faith?”

You know what I mean.  We talk about being genuine Christians, but are we “genuine” like Jesus? Is that even possible? And what about the Christians around you? How can you help others “get real ?”

The solutions to these problems can be found in Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3. [display_podcast]

What does it mean to pray that “according to the riches of His glory” we would be “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man?” In this audio message from Sunday morning, September 28, we examine what it means to pray that God’s great ability would work within our “inner man.”  In so doing, we will learn how to “get real!”

Where is the warmth in my Christian life?

What is missing? Why don’t I feel very close to the Lord?

Isn’t there supposed to be more to this “Christian life?”

Perhaps, like many others, you have longed for “something more” in your Christianity. You are not alone. As I noted in this message, Martin Lloyd Jones pointed out that many of the dearest saints of God came to this place. By understanding what it means for “Christ to dwell in your hearts by faith,” we can learn how to deepen our relationship with the Lord.

[display_podcast]

If you know that you are a Christian, but you are tired of a “nominal” Christian life, I invite you to listen to this message from the Ephesians 3:17-18. This is part of our recent series from the Book of Ephesians. In these recent messages, it has been fascinating to learn more about the prayer of the Apostle Paul. Paul prayed this prayer for the same people that he would later exhort about practical matters such as lying, stealing and bitterness. This shows us that these amazing requests (such as “that you might be filled with all the fullness of God!”) are for every Christian who learns the power of this Scripture passage.

“The comprehensive sweep of the Bible, as it looks at history from God’s point of view and then presents the glorious future that awaits the child of God, gives the Christian a life of meaningful activity. It provides a system of values that transcends the materialism of our day, and it gives us a glorious hope of a world to come where there is much happiness.” – John F. Walvoord

On Sunday evening, October 6, I delivered the second message in the series on the Millennium, entitled “It’s Coming: Ten Centuries of Peace.” In this message, I labored to establish the fact that the “thousand years” of Revelation 20:1-7 does, in fact, refer to a thousand years. On the surface, this may seem to be a simple concept, but it has been made complex by well-meaning people of God. During the message, I quoted from an article posted here. I recommend the reading of this article to gain a broad overview of the various views of the millennium. — Pastor Dickson