Forsyth United Methodist Church News
	21 November 2004

This Weeks Scripture:

I Chronicles 29:1-22

Gifts for Building the Temple

¹ Then King David said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LORD God. ² With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God-gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble-all of these in large quantities. ³ Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: ⁴ three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, ⁵ for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD ?"
⁶ Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king's work gave willingly. ⁷ They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. ⁸ Any who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the LORD in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹ The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD . David the king also rejoiced greatly.


David's Prayer
¹⁰ David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,

"Praise be to you, O LORD ,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
¹¹ Yours, O LORD , is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD , is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
¹² Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
¹³ Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.

¹⁴ "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. ¹⁵ We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. ¹⁶ O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. ¹⁷ I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. ¹⁸ O LORD , God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. ¹⁹ And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, requirements and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided."
²⁰ Then David said to the whole assembly, "Praise the LORD your God." So they all praised the LORD , the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.


Solomon Acknowledged as King
²¹ The next day they made sacrifices to the LORD and presented burnt offerings to him: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams and a thousand male lambs, together with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. ²² They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the LORD that day.
Then they acknowledged Solomon son of David as king a second time, anointing him before the LORD to be ruler and Zadok to be priest

This Weeks Sermon:

PTL Christians

I was worried that we were in for a lesson on Jim and Tammie Faye; hopefully not including Jessical Hahn in front of the children! So I was happy to hear about the "Praise the Lord" story from the old testament. There are certainly lean and mean times in the world that we face today. The way to beat the blues is to rejoice in singing to the Lord. We celebrate by giving our best to God so that His kingdom will be glorious on earth. On Christ the King Sunday, we are reminded of the hope of the future. Ken also gave a wonderful message on prayer. If you follow the acronym "ACTS" you will give a wonderful and organized prayer. The acronym stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

Word of the Week:

Doxology

In general usage, a short statement of praise, glory, and thanksgiving to God. It is often a short hymn designed to be sung by the worshiping congregation. The doxology most familiar to United Methodists is the hymn "Old 100th" with the opening line, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." In many United Methodist churches, this is listed in worship bulletins as "The Doxology" and is sung by the congregation as the offering is brought forward.

Prayer of the Week:

Lord of All, we are thankful for all that you have created. We are thankful for the many blessings in our lives. We are thankful for each other. We are thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. Help us to remember to give thanks all throughout the year. Amen.

Question of the Week:

Why are there different colored altar cloths?  What do the colors mean?

 

“The Christian year contains two cycles: the Christmas Cycle (Advent-Christmas-Epiphany) and the Easter Cycle (Lent-Easter-Pentecost). Within each cycle are a preparatory season symbolized by the color purple and a festival season symbolized by the color white. After each cycle there is an ordinary time of growth symbolized the color green. Thus there is a sequence of seasons using purple, white, and green in that order twice each year.”

Traditionally purple, representing both royalty and penitence, is used during Advent and Lent.
Blue symbolizes hope and may also be used during Advent.
White and gold are used at Christmas and Easter to symbolize joy and festivities.
Red symbolizes the color of fire to represent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and times when the work of the Holy Spirit is emphasized.  During Holy Week it represents the blood of Christ.  Red is also used for ordinations, church anniversaries and civil observances such as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.
Green represents growth and is used during Ordinary Time (the season after Epiphany and the season after Pentecost.)

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