Auburn Christian Church

By Nate Powell

In yesterday’s sermon we ended with a note regarding reasons that we don’t pray. These reasons were highlighted from Donald Whitney’s book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. I relate to several of them, and I’m sure you will too.  It is good for us to reflect on this list and how many of these currently apply to us.

• We have a lack of discipline. We are not disciplined people and struggle to do anything out of habit.
• We doubt anything will happen. We’ve felt let down by prayer before, and become cynical.
• We don’t sense God’s nearness. We have not read our Bible, been to church, with other Christians. He doesn’t seem present daily with us.
• We lack awareness of real need. We don’t see a real pressing need to pray.
• We have a small awareness of God’s greatness and greatness of the Gospel. We’ve lost sight of the holiness of God and how large he is in power, presence and majesty.

We could feel down about reading this list. We struggle in so many ways. Yet I think that we should take hope in this list. Prayer is not easy. Many of us struggle with prayer. And prayer is a skill that is learned through a lifetime of discipleship … being with other Christians … seeking to grow in the art of prayer.

When Luke records the Lord’s prayer, it begins with the disciples asking Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1) When we hear Jesus’ prayers, we get to sit at the feet of the master. May we reflect upon the good prayers of Jesus, and may we has our savior to teach us to pray.

**If you are looking for an excellent book on prayer, Whitney’s book is great. I’d encourage you to read it.

You may have noticed something different if you’ve been in church over the past few weeks, though very few of you have said anything about it. I’ve asked you to turn to a passage while I’ve been preaching, and you find that what I’m reading doesn’t match up with what you are reading. So what is up with that?

So, the last few weeks, I’ve been preaching from the Christian Standard Bible. It’s the newest translation from a publisher called Holman Bible Publishers. It used to be called the Holman Christian Standard Bible. But in 2017, they did a new edition of the translation and published it under the new CSB label. I’ve been enjoying reading and studying it since I got a copy a couple years ago.

So you might be asking: Are we switching versions again?  Some of you may remember that for years and years, we had used the NIV 1984 translation for our preaching and readings. Indeed, we found that to be a reliable translation for a long time. The problem came with NIV made their changes in 2011. They made a new translation, but kept it published as NIV. It was a new translation, not just a revision. And they eliminated the ability to purchase 1984 NIV bibles anymore. Between this choice and some of the translation choices they made, we determined to change things up.

Faced with the choice of the English Standard Version (ESV, published by Crossway) & New Living Translation (NLT, published by Tyndale). When Corey and I made a choice, we went with the more readable NLT, rather than the more word-for-word translation of the ESV.

The problem we’ve faced in preaching from the NLT is that its translation doesn’t actually carry the weight of the original text in English. I struggled as on occasions I’ve had to spend a bunch of time backwards explaining the translation out of a very loose English translation only to forward translate it in a way that is much closer to original meaning. (I know it sounds confusing, but I won’t bore you with a longer explanation.) In short, the NLT gives me a lot more work to do in cutting to the chase.

Therefore, we are in something of an experimental period this summer. I’ve been preaching for a few weeks from CSB, which is a bit closer to word-for-word (in the vein of the NIV). I also hope to use two versions over the next few weeks that are much closer to word-for word translations: the aforementioned ESV, and the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

I know that some of you use the pew Bibles, and I know some of you bring and study from your own translation. Honestly, I think studying from a variety of translations is a great thing! It gives us a better idea of the nuances that are sometime present in the scripture and brings more scholarly perspectives to the table. Regardless, we’ll be preaching the Word of God, and that is a good thing!

by Nate Powell

I’m feeling a bit that way in my new role. Sometimes a bit of info is all I need to feel a whole lot smarter. Much to the chagrin of everyone in the church, pastors are not psychic! There is a whole lot that we don’t know. We do our best to get a people and ask questions. But there are often some major pieces of information that would help us to do our job so much better. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

• Surgery & Hospital stays: We want to do our best to make sure you have someone pray with you and for you when you have a medical need. One of the best things you can do is to drop a quick phone call to the church office or a text to myself or one of the elders (our cell numbers are listed in the bulletin every week). Or ask a friend to do it if you’re not able to. We want to pray with and for you. That’s what families do: support each other! We’re also well aware of your privacy in these needs, and will only ever share prayer requests to our prayer chain with your permission.
• People needs: One of the best ways to make sure we are caring for each other is to keep an eye out for each other. When you know of another church member or person in our community that you care deeply about, let’s pray for them together and see if we can find a way to help meet that need, or display the love of Jesus to them in some tangible way.
• Email power: Often, there are things that we remember about church or hold to communicate to the pastor only on Sunday. And sometimes we hold these things right until the time of service, either before or after. One pastor I listen to talks about how a lady stopped him 2 minutes before the service to complain about a toilet that wasn’t working. An important problem to be sure, but the gruffness with which she handled the issue made it difficult for the pastor to focus on his sermon and the service at hand. So here’s a tip: During the week, drop an email to the office or to me (or to Janell) and let us respond as we can. It will also help us remember your issue better, as Sundays bring many different things to the pastor: names, tasks, decisions, calls, prayer, the sermon, etc. You can see how all of that can feel mentally overwhelming, especially if you don’t want me to forget what you talked to me about. Email is a great way to do that with non-emergency requests. As well, this is a way to use the Connect cards in the pews to your advantage. I want to spend Sundays focused on the people who are present and on preaching the word. You can help me do my job better.

Thank you for your patience as I ease into my new role. I hope that over time, we will grow in the skill of good communication, and help each other know a bit more about Jesus and about the needs around us than we did yesterday!

What Paul was doing is something that is so important and is perhaps even a lost art among the young and old today: the art of testimony. It’s the art of storytelling and passing on the tales of how you have seen God work in your life.

Asaph, one of the psalmists, reminded us that this is our important duty: to remember what God has done and pass on those tales to the next generation. Hear his words in Psalm 78:1-7:

“Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;     incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable;     I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known,     that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children,     but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,     and the wonders that he has done.

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers     to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,     so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

For all who call themselves Christian: Every one of us have a story, a testimony, to share with all who come after us, to remind them of the goodness of our God. These stories remind them that God wasn’t just good or moving in lives during Bible times; He does those things now.

So what is your story? You might not get to take a long trip like Paul and his grandsons; but you can make plans to tell your family of God’s goodness to you. We ALL have a story. Let’s not let them go to waste.

by Nate Powell

In this past week’s sermon, I said the following:

“This book is not going away. There are some in the current Christian community that question the helpfulness or the use of this OT text we were given. We must stand on Jesus’ words here and believe him firmly. We will treasure all of God’s words. They stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).”

I wish we had more time to examine in the sermon last week about what we know of the trustworthiness of the text of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus said it best last week: “Neither the smallest letter, nor the smallest stroke of a letter will pass away.” (Matt 5:18) As we said, neither the Iota or the Yod (the two smallest letters in Greek and Hebrew) will pass away.

The question can come: How do we know this is true? How do we know that the biblical text didn’t get doctored up over time? I’d love for you to read this great article on the Dead Sea scrolls and how their discovery points us toward the truth of what Jesus said … This Word endures. Check out this excerpt:

“One of the most important Dead Sea documents is the Isaiah Scroll. This twenty-four foot long scroll is well preserved and contains the complete book of Isaiah. The scroll is dated 100 B.C. and contains one of the clearest and most detailed prophecies of the Messiah in chapter fifty-three, called the “Suffering Servant.” Although some Jewish scholars teach that this refers to Israel, a careful reading shows that this prophecy can only refer to Christ.

Here are just a few reasons. The suffering servant is called sinless (53:9), he dies and rises from the dead (53:8-10), and he suffers and dies for the sins of the people (53:4-6). These characteristics are not true of the nation of Israel. The Isaiah Scroll gives us a manuscript that predates the birth of Christ by a century and contains many of the most important messianic prophecies about Jesus. Skeptics could no longer contend that portions of the book were written after Christ or that first century insertions were added to the text.

Thus, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide further proof that the Old Testament canon was completed by the third century B.C., and that the prophecies foretold of Christ in the Old Testament predated the birth of Christ.”

Click here to read the whole article. The Dead Sea Scroll discovery was certainly a monumental find in assuring us that was the Bible says is true. It is God’s word, and as Jesus told us, it is unbreakable. (John 10:35) 

By Nate Powell

When we made some changes to the worship service at the beginning of 2019, the church was informed that we would make several changes to the service, and that we would solicit feedback, and then evaluate what we should do moving forward toward a service that includes more prayer, rearranged order, and streamlined timing to fit everything into the service.

We asked for feedback, and there was one consistent thing we heard, time and time again: Communion time needs work. We need more quiet music for meditation. Less singing while we are taking communion. And so, we have heard you, and now that we are through with staff transitions, we are ready to make some changes that I believe we will all be on board with.

Starting this Sunday, communion time will be moved back to the time proceeding the sermon. The bread and juice will continue to be passed from the back, as the deacons have been doing. But we will sing a song focused on the cross leading into that time, an elder will prepare our hearts to take communion and reflect on Christ’s sacrifice, and we will have quiet music playing so we can pray and meditate while the bread and juice are passed. But we will do one thing different: we will hold that meal individually until everyone has it, and we will then take, eat and drink together.

Why make this change? I do want you to know that it does have a scriptural purpose and is not simply change for the sake of change. When we read Paul’s reflections on communion in 1 Cor 11, we see him helping a church move from a trivial serving of the meal to a significantly deep demonstration of communal faith in Christ. How did they do this? 1 Cor 11:33: “So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s supper, wait for each other.” Four key words: wait for each other. In doing this, we don’t just take and eat. We stop and reflect on what he did and why our sin put him there. Our few minutes to take a pause before makes us reflect more deeply on His greatness & our sin problem. The taking in unity reminds us that he didn’t just do it for me, but he sacrificed himself for all of us. I would encourage you to reflect on this 1 Cor 11 passage.

It will take a bit of time to adjust to this change. But in the end, it will help the believers here at ACC reflect deeply on the love displayed on the cross and sin that nailed Jesus there. I have been at and served at churches that do communion this way. I will be leading us through this change in the month of July, and then some of the other elders will join me in August. I’m looking forward to experiencing the Lord’s Supper over the course of the next few weeks with all of you.