Zion E-News (11-1-2018)

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A few weeks ago, I shared I was receiving a free book. Free may have been an overstatement as I had to read the book in two weeks and then give a review on Amazon and post about it on social media. But, it was mostly free. If you are at all concerned with the tenor of conversations in our nation, I highly urge you to read Christians in the Age of Outrage by Ed Stetzer.

Late in the book (pages 189-191), Ed shares some research on Christians prayer habits. Following are some key statistics of what Christian prayer for:

  • 42% pray for their sins
  • 41% pray for people who mistreat them
  • 37% pray for their enemies
  • 21% pray to win the lottery
  • 20% of people pray for people in other faiths or no faiths
  • 13% prayed for their favorite sports team to win a game
  • 5% prayed for someone to get fired

Read those over again. While the numbers weren’t shared, the vast majority of people primarily prayed for their family and friends. But notice how many people prayed to win the lottery and for their sports team to win. And then notice the one in between. 20% of people pray for people of others faith or no faiths. 20% of people pray for people who are far from God to come to know God. Just a few less than those who pray to win the lottery and only 50% more than the number of people who pray for a sporting competition.

I wonder what God could do with a people who prayed for others to come to faith? I wonder how my life would change if I prayed consistently for people I know to come to faith? How might our church change and our communities, if Christians were more concerned with winning hearts to God than winning the lottery?

Will join me in praying for people to come to faith? Let me challenge you to not juts pray generically, but make a list. Who do you know who doesn’t know God? Who has left the faith? Can we pray for them together?

If you have someone for whom you would like me to pray, shoot me an e-mail with their name and I will add them to my list.

Connect to God
After God rescues the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt, he brings them to Mt. Sinai where he gives them the law, which includes the 10 Commandments. These commandments are not guidelines for all humanity, but a call from God to live as a counter-cultural community. They produce a people who in our daily lives live as a sign, a signal, and a witness that God has not left the world to its own devices. Instead, God has come to rescue, save, and restore all that has been broken and marred by sin. This eighth week of our series, we consider the command to not steal in light of the parallel call to seek the common good of all.

If you would like a copy of the worship service, you can receive a complete copy by contacting Tom Verbrugge or you can find the weekly messages on our website.

Grow in Community
Thank you to everyone who came out on Monday to support our Middle School students at their Culver’s Fundraiser.

At our High School fundraiser earlier this fall we raised: $931.93

On Monday, for our Middle Schoolers, we raised: $1434.80.

We were only $120 in total sales away from the 15% kickback.

Zion continues to come through for our students and support them in their service. Thanks you to all who came out Monday!

Serve the World
On Tuesday next week, our nation will once again go to the polls to elect local, state, and national leaders. While not specifically related to any evangelistic or church ministry, voting is important as Christians. Not so we can claim political power, but in order to influence our country to choose the “good life” as defined by God and not the competing idols of our world. You can read a slightly longer argument on why we should vote here. The short answer is that we should vote because our government asks us to do so and God has placed our government in authority over us. So, as a believer, pray for our leaders every day and go vote on Tuesday.

Administrative Details
Our next Leaders Meeting will be tonight from 5-7 pm. We look forward to a great evening of fellowship, worship, and some training. Each of our ministry teams will have some specific training and discussion centered on their work together and then as a whole we will think together about Living with Limits as followers of Jesus. We will talk about setting boundaries, sharing the load, and the gift of limits as we served a limitless God. Its going to be a great night. Including children, we have 100 people planning on attending Sunday. Come and join us! You can still sign-up through the Connection Cards on Sunday or by sending an e-mailhere.

We continue to thank God for his provision of all of our needs and for the generous support of our congregation with their time, talent, and treasures.
Fiscal Year to date budget: $239,254.40
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $238,920.85