Archives for January 2018

The last couple of months have been busy here at Phelps Chapel as we have celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s! Woven into and between these celebrations have been many mission and outreach opportunities.

We held our quarterly blood drive to benefit the American Red Cross on December 7^th. This is always a great opportunity to help our neighbors by giving blood and also a great witnessing opportunity to the community. Our next blood drive is scheduled for February 1^st from 1:00 – 6:00pm.

December 10^th was the collection date for our Christmas “socks” in which we each placed money on special days and holidays throughout the year. We collected nearly $500.00 which was divided and distributed between two local police departments for their Christmas gift programs.

Our annual ringing the bells for the Salvation Army was on December 16^th. This is always a wonderful way to interact with the local community as well as helping raise funds for those in need.

Each month we collect food items for our local food bank. For the month of January, they are requesting 16oz. jars of peanut butter; February, boxed chicken noodle soup; March, 1 lb. bags of egg noodles; April, 1 lb. bags of rice and May, 16oz. jars of peanut butter. These items can be brought to any of our Sunday morning services and we will deliver them to the food bank at the end of each month. Thank you in advance!

On January 12^th, we handed out 250 handmade fleece scarves from our “Warm & Fuzzy” program during our local food pantry’s food distribution. The next time we will be giving out scarves at the food pantry will be on January 26^th.

Although mission is a very important part of Phelps Chapel, it is not the most important work that we do. We are instructed to go out into the world and make disciples for Christ. We are a Christ centered church and believe that the Bible is the Word of God. The most important decision you can ever make is to accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. If you have not already asked Christ into your heart, I urge you to do so now. We are all sinners and need a Savior. Jesus Christ is that Savior. He loves you so much that even though He was without sin, He died a horrific death on a cross to save you from your sins. He arose three days later and now sits at the right hand of God. He desires that you have a personal relationship with him so you will spend eternity in heaven with him and not an eternity in the lake of fire. If you are ready to accept him, just say this simple prayer:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I need you in my life. I confess my sins to you and believe that you died on the cross for me. I accept you into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior and ask that you guide my life so that I live for you. Thank you Jesus for all that you have done for me. Amen.

December 3^rd, was our Hanging of the Greens service. This special service consisted of Bible verses, Christmas hymns, and readings depicting the origin of various Christmas traditions and symbols such as the Christmas tree, bells, candy cane, poinsettia and the nativity to name a few.

The children’s Christmas program was held Sunday morning, December 17^th during the children’s message portion of the service. The children along with some adults provided us with a wonderful and thought provoking skit to the message of the song “Where’s the line to see Jesus?” Santa even paid us a visit for the skit and stayed for the service.

Our annual candlelight Christmas Eve service was very beautiful and moving as always. It starts on the outside of the church as we have luminaires lit along the roadway leading up to the church and around our parking lot. At the end of each service, we each light a candle in the darkened sanctuary starting with Pastor Cody and then progressing through the congregation all the while singing “Silent Night”. The visual of all the lit candles and all the voices joined in song, makes for a roomful of goosebump laden arms. You must come visit us some Christmas eve and experience this for yourself.

Also during the Christmas Eve service, we took up a special collection to benefit our “Backpack Program” which provides food items for our local school children to utilize over the weekends. Because of these generous donations, we raised $500 for this program which will go a long way in helping to provide food for the school children. Thank you! We meet every other Wednesday evening to pack the food items to be delivered to our local schools.

We are now in the beginning days of a new year. Have you ever thought about where we get our 24 hour days from? When did a day begin and how long has it always been? The Bible will tell me so:

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” AV

As we have seen before in this series the Authority of Scripture shows us that God created the heaven and the earth, when did that happen? In the beginning! God is eternal and exists outside of time so time didn’t exist until he created it in the beginning. So that is when a day came into existence.

So how long was that day when God first started creating?

Now here is where some believers and unbelievers stray from the Authority of Scripture either by influence of the secular world or under the influence of the prince of this earth and try and prove that the days of creation were billions of years old or there is a gap of billions of years between chapters of early Genesis. Why the deception occurs is because Satan tries to undermine God’s word like he always has even from the beginning in the Garden of Eden.

The first chapter of Genesis was written by Moses through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Those words were written in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for day is “Yom”. In every occurrence in the Bible when a number is associated with the word Yom it means a 24 day. Just like the day you are experiencing as you read this. During the creation week God said that there was evening and morning of the first/second/third/fourth/fifth/sixth Yom! God from the beginning associates an evening and then a morning as a day. The Hebrews began their day in the evening and ended it 24 hours later as God stated the evening and the morning were the day. Turn it around and when you experience a morning then an evening and are back to a morning did you just experience a 24 hour day? Yes you most certainly did.

What proof is there from the Scripture that Yom is 24 hours?

Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” AV

The Bible can be read and understood plainly. There are no secret codes or meanings so everyone can understand Scripture as it is written.

Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night: he made the stars also.” AV

The plain reading shows that God made the greater light (the sun) to rule the day or half a Yom – 12 hours and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the other half of a Yom – a 12 hour night. In proper math (not new so called math) 12 + 12 = 24!

Exodus 20:11 “for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” AV

Moses wrote the above verse and clearly states a week of Yoms, remember real math: 6 + 1 = 7!

And from the ultimate authority God himself:

John 11:9 “Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.” AV

So Jesus stated Himself that the day ruled over by the sun is 12 hours! Add in a night, 24 hours!
Our seven day week has no basis in astronomy or superstition or anything else except God’s blessings. A month is the time the moon orbits the earth. A year is the time that the earth orbits the sun. The week? Provided to us from God so we work six days and rest on the seventh. The creation week!
In conclusion, in this new year of days resolve to have a personal relationship with your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. At the end of days, you will have eternal life with God on the new earth.

God Bless, Phelps Chapel

 

Recommended below is a short list of links to articles from Bible believing organizations for a more in depth study of our topic:

https://answersingenesis.org/age-of-the-earth/what-a-difference-a-day-makes/
http://www.icr.org/article/2107
https://creation.com/the-meaning-of-yom-in-genesis-1