Worship in the Greek

When we come together to worship our Lord, we ought to be approaching Him with a desire to humbly bless Him. It’s an opportunity and privilege He’s given each of His children. In response to the Holy Spirit moving upon our hearts, we can bless our Lord and that is what we seek to do when we gather for worship. The word “worship” in the New Testament is most often the translation of the Greek word, proskuneo. This word occurs in the New Testament sixty times. Considering this, we ought to come to the conclusion that it must be a pretty significant word. And it is! Proskuneo can have a variety of similar meanings. Pros means “towards”, while kuneo means, “to kiss”. And so it’s appropriate that the word is translated “worship” because isn’t that what we do when we worship? We worship God, expressing our love for Jesus (Who is God) and our gratitude for His continued kindness and mercy upon our lives. This sort of adoration used to really concern me. As a kid I used to watch my grandma and aunts, along with my mother, greet each other with a kiss whenever we got together as a family. I never understood it, but now I think I’ve got it. They had (and still have) an appropriate affection for one another. So they often express that with a kiss or an embrace. Not because they worship each other but because they truly love the others. We do that too as we come into God’s presence and greet Jesus with our worship. He’s already placed in our hearts the desire to bless and worship Him by His Spirit, so we simply respond to His leading and give Him our adoration. He’s worthy of our affection and He’s worthy of our worship, so let’s continue to give Him our lives as offerings of devotion to His Majesty and we’ll be blessed while at the same time being transformed by His Spirit. God Bless as you seek to worship Him with all your heart! —Pastor Graham

Attributes of a Godly Woman

In our Women’s Bible Study, we have been looking at the attributes of a Godly woman. The most important quality the world needs to see is our love. If we love God, as we should, we will love others and the fruit of that love will be evident to all. Matthew 22:37-39 “Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” Recently, one of the ladies I have been sharing with told me she was not sure if she really knew how to love others from the heart, deep down from within. A Godly love. Her relationship with her mother had had many bumps, and her mother was unwilling to make it smoother. After much prayer my friend called her mother and told her that she felt bad about the little things hindering their relationship and invited her to be part of a family gathering. She laid aside her own personal desires, her selfish desires, and included her controlling motherwho could be very difficult in a special weekend. I continue to share with my friend about having a right relationship with Jesus. We cannot, we must not carry an un-Christian like attitude or feeling toward others, no matter what the other person has said or done. As a Christian, we need to remember that love is forgiving and giving. —Wilma Kimball, Countryside Women's Ministries

Revelations, The Movie: Stick with the book

I am always suspect whenever I hear someone refer to the last book in the Bible as “Revelations.” True, sometimes it’s a cultural or geographical thing (I tease my dad all the time about the state north of us having an “r” in the spelling, as in “Warshington.”) But sometimes it reflects ignorance, or worse yet, mockery of the very words of God. Such appears to be the case of NBC’s current mini-series Revelations, which seems to have ignorance and mockery all wrapped up in one, six-hour, commercial-laden package. While trying to cash in (cash being the operative word) on the successes of “The Passion of the Christ,” and the “Left Behind” series of books, reviews by Believers who have seen at least portions of the thing have revealed many of the other bottom-lines of what is sure to be an interest-sparking wink at spiritual-ness. Tim LaHaye, the creator of the Left Behind series and a prophecy scholar, described the show as “unbiblical” and “weird.” “This story is based on some writer’s imagination about the Book of Revelation,” LaHaye said. “However, the writer clearly has not studied the book or maybe even read it.” There’s going to be a lot of this stuff gang. “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “The Da Vinci Code,” and even what could be considered slams by those who are really believers but have a different take than perhaps you or me on the end times like “The Last Disciple,” are gaining ground, influence and mentionability. No, I haven’t seen it. No, I don’t intend to. But, I also don’t need to. You see, Revelation (singular), chapter one has this great promise in it: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3) I have a great idea! Let’s just read it! —Pastor Terry

Spring Cleaning

Grab your brooms, rakes and gloves! On Saturday, April 16th we will be gathering at the Fellowship for a day of spring-cleaning. Join us at 10:00 a.m. to pull weeds, plant flower baskets, clean roofs and much more. We look forward to the sweet fellowship that we can have as we serve the Body and bless the Lord.

For Unto Us a Child is Born...

Welcome to the Fellowship young man! How blessed we'll be to watch you grow in the love of the Lord. Mason Lee Son of Steven & Karen Roybal Born April 8, 2005 And the Lord added to their number daily... — Acts 2:47

My Hero

I’ve been reflecting on our study together last Sunday morning on the realization, the ultimate truth that Jesus is our hero. If there is anything that our study of Judges will show, it’s that every day, and in every way, Jesus saves, changes, lifts and blesses. We’ve already begun to see the Judges’ “Cycle of Sin.” Over and over and over again, the people came back to sin. Like a pig to mud, they returned to sin from salvation and service in the shadow and power of the judge, the hero, which God had raised up. Wow! Even those raised up judges were a bit off their rockers at one time or another. When the writer of Hebrews looks back at the 'heroes' of the Old Testament book of Judges (Hebrews 11:32, Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah) we have to be amazed to find them extolled in any way. How could this be? Well, God had planned something better for them so that they would be made perfect. The plan? “God had planned something better for us (we’re the us) so that only together with us (that’s still us) would they (that’s them, the judges) be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:40) You see, in time, the Father would not raise up another judge, a hero for his people. In time, in fact at exactly the right time, our hero would be lifted up. Jesus would be lifted up and would call all men to Him. How blessed we are to be in the midst of salvation, serving in the shadow and power of our hero, Jesus Christ. — Pastor Terry

Cleaned-up movies without all the junk

Pastor Terry has made mention of a place where he and his family are able to rent DVD movies (most all of the current titles), that have been edited and made free of language, sex, gratuitous violence and other offensive material. If this is something of interest to you, email us at movies@countrysidefellowship.com and we'll send you information and a free 30-day trial.