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Service Times
Sunday @ 8am
Wednesday @ 7pm
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409 Memphis St, Medford,Or 97504
Email: thecity@info.com
13
Jun '17
Worship: Oswald Chambers
13
Jun '17
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them. Workmen of God, 1341
08
Jun '17
Passion for God’s Presence: Jack Hayford
08
Jun '17
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. -Jeremiah 29:13
The Lord promises His people “a future and a hope” earlier in this passage. But this promise is based on a passion for His presence. The word “search” suggests an earnestness that borders on desperation, a close pursuit of God with diligence.
The passionate pursuit of anything seems foreign to our modern culture that cloaks itself in a carefree nonchalance. But God’s Word shows us the desire of His people to seek Him. Psalm 84:2 declares, “My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” There is no discovery of the Lord and His delivering power for those who do not passionately pursue it.
The pressure of a sinful world and the unrelenting yearning of our flesh deny entry into the courts of the Lord to those who carelessly attempt to saunter in. But for those whose hearts are on fire for Him, there can be no force of flesh or devil that can prevent our finding the Lord’s grace, which will bring us “a future and a hope.”
07
Jun '17
Going Up the Mountain: Francis Chan
07
Jun '17
A mentor of mine lives in India. Last year, he called me on the phone crying, distraught over the state of the church in America. “It seems like the people in America would be content to take a selfie with Moses. Don’t they know they can go up the mountain themselves? Why don’t they want to go up the mountain?”
When was the last time you enjoyed meaningful time alone with God? Time so good that you didn’t want to leave. It was just you, reading God’s words, in his holy presence.
I was fifteen years old when my youth pastor taught me how to pray and read the Bible alone. Now, more than thirty years later, I still can’t find a better way to start my days. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I didn’t refocus daily by going up the mountain.
It is alone with him that I empty myself of pride, lies, and stress.
When was the last time you enjoyed meaningful time alone with God? Time so good that you didn’t want to leave. It was just you, reading God’s words, in his holy presence.
I was fifteen years old when my youth pastor taught me how to pray and read the Bible alone. Now, more than thirty years later, I still can’t find a better way to start my days. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I didn’t refocus daily by going up the mountain.
It is alone with him that I empty myself of pride, lies, and stress.
Pride: standing before a Person clothed in unapproachable light has a way of humbling you (1 Timothy 6:16).
Lies: speaking to an All-Knowing Judge tends to induce honesty (Hebrews 4:13).
Lies: speaking to an All-Knowing Judge tends to induce honesty (Hebrews 4:13).
Stress: kneeling before the God who causes men to fail or succeed replaces our anxiety with peace (Psalm 127:1).
06
Jun '17
Gladness on Sunday: Billy Graham
06
Jun '17
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
—Psalm 122:1
A lot of people get what I call “Sunday-itis” on Sunday mornings. Do you know what Sunday-itis is? It attacks the victim shortly before breakfast on Sunday morning. It is accompanied by a feeling of weakness and lethargy. Sometimes the victim has a slight headache which is aggravated by the ringing of the church bells in the community. But the disease is of short duration, usually disappearing about noon, when the victim is able to eat a full dinner and play golf in the afternoon. But the symptoms usually appear again about 7:30 Sunday evening, and then disappear until the next Sunday morning.
Prayer for the day
May I always have the gladness that David had, as each Sunday I prepare to worship
You in Your house, heavenly Father.