Trusting Christ to Provide
VOL. 21 – APRIL 2016
Trusting Christ to Provide
One of the sinful shortcomings of believers is that we love to take matters into our own hands. Whenever we sense that things around us are less than secure, we often allow ourselves to be consumed with brainstorming, seeking counsel and devising plans to “fix the problem.” At other times, we complain to others about what we wish we had and even, at times, blame shift about why we lack what we wish we had. However, we often fail to stop and pray on the front end of whatever need or challenge we are facing. We do this in our private lives and we do it in our ministries in the church. Not that long ago, my sister shared a somewhat cheesy–yet accurate– phrase with me that spoke to this particular issue. She said, “You’ve got to run to the throne, not to the phone.” We are all very good at running to the phone and not very good at coming “boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive grace and mercy to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). It is particularly necessary that we learn to do this as we face the
needs for our service and ministry in the Kingdom of God. Very early on in the Messianic ministry, Jesus taught His disciples the principle of learning to trust Him to provide by sending the 12 out without provisions and by the miraculous feeding of the multitudes. At the end of His ministry, Jesus taught the disciples this principle again by providing the miraculous catch of fish when they had been toiling all night without catching anything (John 21:1-6). Consider how this principle is unfolded in these accounts: When Jesus first sent the disciples out “to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2), He told them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against
NEW COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN NEWSLETTER 2015
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them.” (9:3-4). We inevitably have to ask the following questions, “Why did Jesus give this command to His disciples? Was He teaching them about the value of religious asceticism? Or, are we to understand that men are more effective in ministry when they have nothing?”
and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude” (9:16). Jesus not only miraculously multiplied the bread and the fish, He also gave them to the disciples to distribute. He was teaching them that He would supply what they needed for ministry. Like the symbolic act of washing their feet in the Upper Room, the miraculous feeding of the multitude was a symbolic lesson for the disciples. Astonishingly, the lesson culminated, not in Jesus supplying the provisions to the disciples to minister to the multitude, but in his provision for the disciples themselves. Luke tells us, “They all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them” (9:17). Twelve baskets of leftovers! Jesus provided one basket for each of the disciples.
What Jesus was teaching His disciples is that He would provide for them through the gracious reception of them by those to whom they were sent. Jesus told the 12, “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them” (9:4). In a special way, this is teaching us that Christ has so ordered things in His church that one of the most significant ways in which He provides for His servants is through the joyful reception of them and joyful provision for them by believers. It is the mediated care of Jesus for His servants that is being taught in this passage. Ministers must to learn to trust Him in this—as they must for all things in ministry. Having received the 12 back from their initial mission, Jesus took them “aside privately into a deserted place” (Luke 9:10). The place is said to have been desolate. There were no people or provisions there. It was a place of physical and material barrenness. Nevertheless, the crowd found Jesus and the disciples in that place. After Jesus again taught the multitude, the disciples said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” Luke again places emphasis on the lack of “provisions” and the “deserted” nature of the place. They had no provisions for ministry–and no prospect of getting them any time soon. Instead of heeding their seemingly obvious advice, Jesus gave the disciples this charge: “You give them something to eat” (v. 13). Did He not know that they really didn’t have provisions with which to minister to the crowd? Did He not know how far they were from being able to get provisions to minister to thousands of hungry men and women? Not only did Jesus know that they didn’t have the provisions for ministry, He was intent on teaching them how insufficient they were–in and of themselves–and how sufficient He was to supply them with what was needed. In this sense, we can say that the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 was more about what Jesus was teaching the disciples and less about what He was doing for the multitude. After the disciples informed Jesus that there were only five loaves of bread and two fish present, Luke tells us that “He took the five loaves and the two fish,
Interestingly, this is the same lesson that Jesus taught the disciples at the end of the Gospel records (John 21:1-6). Leading up to his restoration by the Savior, Simon Peter decided to go back to doing the only thing that he knew how to do–fish. After telling the other disciples, in a downcast manner, “I am going fishing,” the other ten disciples said, “we are going with you.” Having spent the entire night fishing without catching anything, Jesus appeared to them. He met them with the following exhortation: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” John then records that “they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.” Jesus was teaching the disciples again that even what they thought they could do they couldn’t do without Him. How kind of the Savior! He first sent the disciples out without provisions to learn that He would care for them through His people, and then provided for their ministry and persons through the miraculous multiplication of the bread and fish. He continued to teach them this valuable lesson after His resurrection–thus emphasizing the dire need we have of learning it. While we do not look for the miraculous multiplication of food, we do look for supernatural provisions from the Savior for life and ministry. We must constantly learn to trust the Savior with every interaction, personal need and ministry opportunity or lack. When we come to difficult or trying experiences in ministry, we must learn to cry out to the all-sufficient One to supply what we lack. We cry out to the One who gives liberally and without partiality to those who ask in faith. We must all learn to trust Christ for all the provisions of life and ministry. - Rev. Nick Batzig
NEW COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN NEWSLETTER 2015
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Missionary Update : The Weeks Prayers Answered • Doris is recovering from her latest bout with malaria. Pray for continued healing and that she would be vigilant to watch for recurring symptoms. • The Weeks were able to host a “Farming God’s Way” conference at the end of February. Praise God for the opportunity to teach Biblical principles as well as technical and management Skills to small farmers in the Congo. Prayers Needed • That rain would come quickly to their area. The Weeks’ well ran dry recently and they have had to employ someone to carry all their water for drinking, cleaning, bathing, etc. from another source. • That the Lord would sustain Ron and Doris physically, emotionally, and spiritually and that He would give them new energy and refreshment to continue their work. • That God would raise up members of New Covenant to go on the June 2017 missions trip to the Congo. Pray for much courage and wisdom for those who will commit to the trip and that the Lord would provide for every need according to His purposes.
APRIL SERVICE SCHEDULE
Date
Nursery
Nursery Welcome
Visitor Welcome
Morning Greeters
Evening Greeters
4/3/16
Candice Crump, Vicki Hitt, Donna Grout
Candice Crump
Aubrey and Chris Ward
Ethan and Josie Lesondak
Jack and Lee Ann Koon
4/10/16
Susannah Grete, Mary Peacock, Jane Jones
Jane Jones
Don Dunn and Amy Burdan
Marissa Ellsworth and Cindy Warnock
Don Dunn and Amy Burdan
4/17/16
Donna Walters, Debbie Usher, Marissa Ellsworth
Marissa Ellsworth
Danielle Peacock and Maggie Carr
Donna Walters and Debbie Usher
Terry and Susan Logan
4/24/16
Robin Scobee and Scobee Girls, Anna Batzig
Robin Scobee
Jack and Lee Ann Koon
Jane Jones and Marissa Ellsworth
Steven and Robyn Kretschmar
NEW COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN NEWSLETTER 2015
PAGE 4
WEEKLY MEETINGS
The men will continue their study of “Let’s Study the Letters of John” by Ian Hamilton | For more information or if you would like to join the book study, please contact Bobby Wise at [email protected].
Sgt John Cain Comeback Charity Challenge 5k | April 8 | 6:30 PM | At J.F. Gregory Park | The session would like to encourage everyone to take part in this race in order to raise support for the Cain family. For more information and to sign up, please visit: https://runsignup.com/Race/GA/RichmondHill/SgtJohnCainCOMEBACKCharityChallenge5K. Additionally, if you are unable to attend the race but would like to support the Cain family you can do so by visiting John's "Go Fund Me" page over at https://www.gofundme.com/ukhtgr8c. An anonymous donor would like to help fund anyone from New Covenant who is wanting to run the race but is unable to afford it. For more information about scholarships please email the church office. Additionally there is a need for volunteers who would be willing to arrive at 4:30pm to pass out registration packets and for volunteers willing to "man" water stations throughout the race. Please let us know if you are interested and we can get you more information. Dinner and Devotion | April 24 | 5:30 PM | At the City Center | The congregation will meet for a brief season of devotion and to share a meal together. | Dinner will be provided by the City Center.
Trusting Christ to Provide
One of the sinful shortcomings of believers is that we love to take matters into our own hands. Whenever we sense that things around us are less than secure, we often allow ourselves to be consumed with brainstorming, seeking counsel and devising plans to “fix the problem.” At other times, we complain to others about what we wish we had and even, at times, blame shift about why we lack what we wish we had. However, we often fail to stop and pray on the front end of whatever need or challenge we are facing. We do this in our private lives and we do it in our ministries in the church. Not that long ago, my sister shared a somewhat cheesy–yet accurate– phrase with me that spoke to this particular issue. She said, “You’ve got to run to the throne, not to the phone.” We are all very good at running to the phone and not very good at coming “boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive grace and mercy to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). It is particularly necessary that we learn to do this as we face the
needs for our service and ministry in the Kingdom of God. Very early on in the Messianic ministry, Jesus taught His disciples the principle of learning to trust Him to provide by sending the 12 out without provisions and by the miraculous feeding of the multitudes. At the end of His ministry, Jesus taught the disciples this principle again by providing the miraculous catch of fish when they had been toiling all night without catching anything (John 21:1-6). Consider how this principle is unfolded in these accounts: When Jesus first sent the disciples out “to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2), He told them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against
NEW COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN NEWSLETTER 2015
PAGE 2
them.” (9:3-4). We inevitably have to ask the following questions, “Why did Jesus give this command to His disciples? Was He teaching them about the value of religious asceticism? Or, are we to understand that men are more effective in ministry when they have nothing?”
and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude” (9:16). Jesus not only miraculously multiplied the bread and the fish, He also gave them to the disciples to distribute. He was teaching them that He would supply what they needed for ministry. Like the symbolic act of washing their feet in the Upper Room, the miraculous feeding of the multitude was a symbolic lesson for the disciples. Astonishingly, the lesson culminated, not in Jesus supplying the provisions to the disciples to minister to the multitude, but in his provision for the disciples themselves. Luke tells us, “They all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them” (9:17). Twelve baskets of leftovers! Jesus provided one basket for each of the disciples.
What Jesus was teaching His disciples is that He would provide for them through the gracious reception of them by those to whom they were sent. Jesus told the 12, “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them” (9:4). In a special way, this is teaching us that Christ has so ordered things in His church that one of the most significant ways in which He provides for His servants is through the joyful reception of them and joyful provision for them by believers. It is the mediated care of Jesus for His servants that is being taught in this passage. Ministers must to learn to trust Him in this—as they must for all things in ministry. Having received the 12 back from their initial mission, Jesus took them “aside privately into a deserted place” (Luke 9:10). The place is said to have been desolate. There were no people or provisions there. It was a place of physical and material barrenness. Nevertheless, the crowd found Jesus and the disciples in that place. After Jesus again taught the multitude, the disciples said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” Luke again places emphasis on the lack of “provisions” and the “deserted” nature of the place. They had no provisions for ministry–and no prospect of getting them any time soon. Instead of heeding their seemingly obvious advice, Jesus gave the disciples this charge: “You give them something to eat” (v. 13). Did He not know that they really didn’t have provisions with which to minister to the crowd? Did He not know how far they were from being able to get provisions to minister to thousands of hungry men and women? Not only did Jesus know that they didn’t have the provisions for ministry, He was intent on teaching them how insufficient they were–in and of themselves–and how sufficient He was to supply them with what was needed. In this sense, we can say that the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 was more about what Jesus was teaching the disciples and less about what He was doing for the multitude. After the disciples informed Jesus that there were only five loaves of bread and two fish present, Luke tells us that “He took the five loaves and the two fish,
Interestingly, this is the same lesson that Jesus taught the disciples at the end of the Gospel records (John 21:1-6). Leading up to his restoration by the Savior, Simon Peter decided to go back to doing the only thing that he knew how to do–fish. After telling the other disciples, in a downcast manner, “I am going fishing,” the other ten disciples said, “we are going with you.” Having spent the entire night fishing without catching anything, Jesus appeared to them. He met them with the following exhortation: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” John then records that “they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.” Jesus was teaching the disciples again that even what they thought they could do they couldn’t do without Him. How kind of the Savior! He first sent the disciples out without provisions to learn that He would care for them through His people, and then provided for their ministry and persons through the miraculous multiplication of the bread and fish. He continued to teach them this valuable lesson after His resurrection–thus emphasizing the dire need we have of learning it. While we do not look for the miraculous multiplication of food, we do look for supernatural provisions from the Savior for life and ministry. We must constantly learn to trust the Savior with every interaction, personal need and ministry opportunity or lack. When we come to difficult or trying experiences in ministry, we must learn to cry out to the all-sufficient One to supply what we lack. We cry out to the One who gives liberally and without partiality to those who ask in faith. We must all learn to trust Christ for all the provisions of life and ministry. - Rev. Nick Batzig
NEW COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN NEWSLETTER 2015
PAGE 3
Missionary Update : The Weeks Prayers Answered • Doris is recovering from her latest bout with malaria. Pray for continued healing and that she would be vigilant to watch for recurring symptoms. • The Weeks were able to host a “Farming God’s Way” conference at the end of February. Praise God for the opportunity to teach Biblical principles as well as technical and management Skills to small farmers in the Congo. Prayers Needed • That rain would come quickly to their area. The Weeks’ well ran dry recently and they have had to employ someone to carry all their water for drinking, cleaning, bathing, etc. from another source. • That the Lord would sustain Ron and Doris physically, emotionally, and spiritually and that He would give them new energy and refreshment to continue their work. • That God would raise up members of New Covenant to go on the June 2017 missions trip to the Congo. Pray for much courage and wisdom for those who will commit to the trip and that the Lord would provide for every need according to His purposes.
APRIL SERVICE SCHEDULE
Date
Nursery
Nursery Welcome
Visitor Welcome
Morning Greeters
Evening Greeters
4/3/16
Candice Crump, Vicki Hitt, Donna Grout
Candice Crump
Aubrey and Chris Ward
Ethan and Josie Lesondak
Jack and Lee Ann Koon
4/10/16
Susannah Grete, Mary Peacock, Jane Jones
Jane Jones
Don Dunn and Amy Burdan
Marissa Ellsworth and Cindy Warnock
Don Dunn and Amy Burdan
4/17/16
Donna Walters, Debbie Usher, Marissa Ellsworth
Marissa Ellsworth
Danielle Peacock and Maggie Carr
Donna Walters and Debbie Usher
Terry and Susan Logan
4/24/16
Robin Scobee and Scobee Girls, Anna Batzig
Robin Scobee
Jack and Lee Ann Koon
Jane Jones and Marissa Ellsworth
Steven and Robyn Kretschmar
NEW COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN NEWSLETTER 2015
PAGE 4
WEEKLY MEETINGS
The men will continue their study of “Let’s Study the Letters of John” by Ian Hamilton | For more information or if you would like to join the book study, please contact Bobby Wise at [email protected].
Sgt John Cain Comeback Charity Challenge 5k | April 8 | 6:30 PM | At J.F. Gregory Park | The session would like to encourage everyone to take part in this race in order to raise support for the Cain family. For more information and to sign up, please visit: https://runsignup.com/Race/GA/RichmondHill/SgtJohnCainCOMEBACKCharityChallenge5K. Additionally, if you are unable to attend the race but would like to support the Cain family you can do so by visiting John's "Go Fund Me" page over at https://www.gofundme.com/ukhtgr8c. An anonymous donor would like to help fund anyone from New Covenant who is wanting to run the race but is unable to afford it. For more information about scholarships please email the church office. Additionally there is a need for volunteers who would be willing to arrive at 4:30pm to pass out registration packets and for volunteers willing to "man" water stations throughout the race. Please let us know if you are interested and we can get you more information. Dinner and Devotion | April 24 | 5:30 PM | At the City Center | The congregation will meet for a brief season of devotion and to share a meal together. | Dinner will be provided by the City Center.
