“What thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinner’s gain; mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ‘Tis I deserve thy place; look on me with thy favor, vouchsafe to me thy grace” Bernard of Clairvaux
Join us this Good Friday, April 14, 2017 at 7:00pm at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Russellville for a joint Service of Readings and Hymns. For directions, click here. For more information email us at pottsvillearp@gmail.com.
One difficulty in theology is the creation of categories which are too neat and tightly defined. Theologians often speak of the obedience of Christ in terms of His active obedience and His passive obedience. We must guard, however, against relegating any particular aspect or action in the life of Christ to one category or the other since His active and passive obedience are often exhibited simultaneously. The trial and crucifixion of Jesus offer prime examples of this.
Jesus is a sacrificial victim, but not a hapless victim. He is not victimized in His trial and crucifixion. He lays His life down of his own accord and takes it up again. No man takes it from Him. At every moment during the trial and crucifixion Jesus actively obeys the will of the Father. With every twist and turn of the action, Satan finds an opportune time to say to Jesus, “if you are the Son of God then….” With unbelievable resolve, Jesus exerts His active obedience in the midst of the most intense temptation imaginable. He, who spoke with authority and whose razor sharp wit had untied all of the Gordian knots thrown at Him on the Tuesday of this passion week, had the power to undo the schemes of Pilate and the Sanhedrin with the powerful and effective Word of God. He had the power to come off the cross and destroy his taunters. He had the power over every creaturely element that held Him there on the cross. Yet, in the midst of passive obedience as a sacrificial victim, He obeyed actively at every nano-second to triumph over powers and principalities and disarm the powers of hell and death. What an incredible Savior!
How prophetic were the taunts of his enemies – “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.” Join us this week in worship at Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian as we meditate upon this great truth and rejoice that in refusing to save Himself, our Lord saved us. We meet for worship at 10:45 am this and every Lord’s Day on the square in Pottsville.
Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)
Choices Pregnancy Resource Center is making a difference in the lives of families in crisis here in the River Valley. For over 25 years they have been about the work of saving lives — making a difference one life at a time.
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 the Choices Pregnancy Resource Center will hold their annual Fundraising Gala at First Baptist Church in Russellville, Arkansas. We want to encourage you to attend and to give generously to this important ministry in our community. To register go to the Choices website. We will see you there!
A Memoria
l Service will be held for Lila Jean Viner at 2:00pm on Saturday, February 25, 2017 at the Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church with a reception to follow in the Fellowship Hall. Lila Viner went to be with the Lord, January 29, 2017 after a long battle with Alzheimers. We rejoice in her healing, but weep with one another. Please join us on February 25 as we gather to remember her life.
Her obituary is available at Roller-Ballard Funeral Home.
Lila Viner went to be with the Lord on the Lord’s Day, January 29, 2017 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. No longer does she see through a glass darkly, but now she knows as she is known. We rejoice in her healing, but weep with one another. Please be in prayer for her family — her children Paul and Melissa, her brothers Bill and David, and all her extended family.
Her obituary and service details are available through the following link to Roller-Ballard Funeral Home.
Get the 1-15-2017-bulletin and listen to “Take Courage”
Get the 1-8-2017-bulletin and listen to “Answering the Enemies of the Gospel”
Get the 1-1-2017-bulletin and listen to “Learning to Walk”
Get the 12-25-2016-bulletin and listen to “So Great A Salvation”
Get the 12-18-2016-bulletin and listen to “Unwrapping the Gospel”
Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 