The week ahead for Jan 7 – 13 at Zion…
This Week
Monday
1:00 p.m. Zion Staff Meeting
Tuesday
9:00 a.m. Prayer Group
2:00 p.m. Concord Care Ministry
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We will be using the following songs and passages from the Word of God in our corporate gathering this Lord’s Day. Please prayerfully use these resources to prepare your hearts to “come into His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
The Word of the Lord:
Psalm 90:1 – 2
Exodus 20:1 – 18
Romans 8:1 – 4
Psalm 119:17 – 24
Numbers 6:22 – 24
Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs:
Another Year Is Dawning
In Christ Alone
Day By Day
I Love You, Lord
Means of Grace:
Congregational Prayer
Sermon: “Delighted in His Word”
(No communion this Sunday since Holy Communion was served on Christmas Day)
As things get more and more busy closer to Christmas, we don’t want you to forget all the exciting opportunities at Zion during this Advent season!
The office is open tomorrow, so contact us for any final details before a busy week with Christmas!
Friday night, the Jr. & Sr. High are invited for the Midnight Party at church! 
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All Zion activities for Sunday, December 2, 2018 are canceled due to inclement weather. There will be no Sunday school or worship service.
You can find the announcement at KIMT, KIOW, and on our social media channels. Please feel free to share this information with others.
Also, please note that our Advent Party is postponed to a later day and time yet to be determined. We will not be meeting today, but please stay tuned to your email and our website for updated details.
Please trust the Lord and stay safe during this winter time!
Last Sunday, as a congregation we lifted up our voices to a song not found on the CCLI’s “Top 40” – a metrical version of Psalm 107. Ever sung it? Unless you’ve spent time in a church that is being Reformed by the Word of God, chances are you haven’t.
While most Christians think of the Old Testament book of Psalms as important for the worship of Israelites, few Christians think of the Psalms as part of their worship today. Perhaps some realize the importance of praying through the Psalms, or studying the verses as parts of their Bible studies (Psalm 119 gets really long!). But few ever think to sing what was the original songbook of God’s people.
But in Reformed churches, psalm singing is still important. Taking Colossians 3:16 as their cue – “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” – Reformed churches have emphasized taking the inspired Word of God in the Psalms and putting them to meter so they are singable by the congregation.
Last Sunday we were preparing for Thanksgiving, and so the words of Psalm 107 in meter were especially poignant:
O praise the Lord! For He is good,
His mer-cies still endure;
Give thanks to Him, pro-claim His grace,
From sin and death se-cureLet them give thanks un-to the Lord
For all His kind-ness shown,
And for His works so won-der-ful
Which He to us makes knownAnd let them of-fer thanks to Him
The sac-ri-fice of praise!
His works let them de-clare with thanks
In songs our voices raise!Is an-y wise? Then heed with thanks
The mer-cies of the Lord!
And may we grate-ful-ly re-ceive
With thanks our lov-ing Lord!
Clearly, Psalm 107 allows Christians to sing God’s Word back to Him in the form of inspired thanksgiving! Continue reading
Elections are upon us again, and it is always important for Christians to remember something about who they are: we are dual citizens (Ephesians 2:19). As we think about how our citizenship from heaven (Philippians 3:20) teaches us about voting for earthly kingdoms, there are several things we want to consider. Use the following articles and links to grow in thinking carefully about how to vote this year.
The motto, “In God We Trust,” was still embossed on their coins, but they had made covenants with other rulers out of a short-sighted obsession with temporal security. They were no longer concerned about holiness, righteousness, justice, and peace. They had changed, calling good evil and evil good. No longer was God and his kingdom their reference point; instead, they became their own lords and chose rulers who mirrored their own hypocrisy. They refused to raise their eyes to heaven. Israel demanded some political arrangement that would satisfy their narcissism. But there is only one problem, the psalmist registers: pompous rulers die, just like everyone else. Once their breath leaves them, their big plans come to an end.
Continue reading “A Brief Meditation”→
With just a few days to go until Election Day, Americans are increasingly turning their focus to politics. According to the US Elections Project, in 2014 (the last midterm election), approximately 37 percent of eligible voters actually made it to the ballot box. Elections are an important avenue for Americans to register their opinions about the direction of the nation and their local communities.
Given that, I was recently asked how Christians should think about the elections and how we should engage this moment. My answer: Be informed, not ignorant; be discerning about politics, not dogmatic; and dialogue without dehumanizing.
Continue reading at the Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission→
You may have noticed that everyone has an opinion about which candidate evangelical Christians should support. I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated when I overhear brothers and sisters in Christ describe one candidate as inherently superior to another…
At the end of the day, even the breath of the best politicians will depart and return to the earth and all of the promises they made and the plans they had will fade away with them. This is true for all of us. But it is not true of King Jesus. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Trust not in presidents.
Continue reading at Core Christianity→
The Family Leader wants Christians to remember to make this election count by honoring God. It can start with something as practical as finding out where your precinct/polling place is. It is knowing why Christians ought to care for this responsibility. And so much more!
Continue reading at The Family Leader’s HonorGod 2018→
As Christians, who in God’s providence reside in the United States, we should have a desire for God’s will to be done here on earth as it is being done in heaven (Matt. 6:10). As citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, we need to keep in mind that we are strangers and exiles in this world who are looking for a heavenly country (Hebrews 11:13-16); nevertheless, we do reside here in the United States for now as ambassadors of Christ, representing King and country. So, like every other earthly citizen in our nation, we have a responsibility to be faithful citizens.
As we consider Tuesday’s elections, we must remember that this world is passing away (1 John 2:17). Our mission is not to establish Christianity as the state religion through elections; nor is it to impose Christian doctrine through legislation. Our mission is to proclaim the glorious gospel of Christ so that people may be transformed by the power of God’s gospel to become true worshipers of Jesus Christ and citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Continue reading at Zion Resources→
As the holidays approach, we can think about our abundance as a blessing to share! Operation Christmas Child is just one way we can be a blessing to others, as we have been blessed in Christ.
The shoeboxes that we pack are due to the church building by November 14th. Need details/instructions on packing a shoebox? Here are instructions on how to pack a shoebox. Please bring your shoebox along with a check to Zion, and bring the check to either Brenda S. or drop it off in the church office. Reminder: the drop off due date is Nov 14th!
One thing we ask particularly – do NOT pack your shoebox without praying! It is easy to make an OCC shoebox one more task on your list; resist this urge and turn it into a spiritual act of service through prayer! Pray for the child who will receive the box, pray for Samaritan’s Purse, and pray that God’s glory would be declared to all nations through efforts such as these! Interested in more? See how OCC can lead to evangelism, discipleship, and the multiplication of believers and churches. Pray that the Lord would make our hearts soft to the needs of others, to the urgency of the Kingdom, and that generosity would replace covetousness in our hearts.
If you have questions, Brenda S. is the point person, or contact the church. May the Lord declare His glory in Jesus through you this holiday season, and to many who do not yet know the sweetness of the Savior!
On the first Sunday in November, Zion Evangelical & Reformed Church will call its annual meeting for the congregation. Following worship on November 4th, the meeting will be called to order based on the members present.
According to Zion’s constitution & by-laws, this meeting must be announced at least two Sundays prior. On October 21st, the president of Consistory rose to address the congregation before our worship service to announce the meeting. This online notice is to help remind folks of this important meeting as well.
The Annual Report has been available for the past two weeks in the sanctuary. (There is no electronic version of the file available.) If you have not picked yours up yet, please make arrangements to get yours as soon as possible, or contact us to line this up.
Following the Annual Meeting, the whole church family is invited into the Fellowship Hall for our love feast. Circle 4 will be serving the meal.
History recounts that on October 31st, 1517, an Augustinian monk came to the castle door of Wittenberg, Germany. There, he nailed notes for disputation to the door to debate issues rising up within the Holy Catholic Church.
The monk was Martin Luther, the notes were his 95 Theses, and the rest is the story of one of the greatest religious changes in history, in the Protestant Reformation.
We Christians at Zion consider ourselves the blessed recipients of this Reformation, and on the last Sunday of October want to pause to thank God for His work in our history. We want to invite you this Sunday! Continue reading
We will be using the following songs and passages from the Word of God in our corporate gathering this Lord’s Day. Please prayerfully use these resources to prepare your hearts to “come into His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
The Word of the Lord:
Deuteronomy 12:7, 11 – 12
Romans 7:21 – 24
Romans 7:25 – 8:4
II Thessalonians 1:3 – 10
Numbers 6:22 – 24
Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs:
Rejoice the Lord is King
Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed
Leaning On the Everlasting Arms
I Love You, Lord
Means of Grace:
Congregational Prayer
Sermon: “The Cross Before The Crown”
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