MARCH 22, 2024
Don't forget about the retirement celebration for Carl and Jeanie this Sunday evening! I encourage everyone to come out to evening worship at 6:00 and then to the Gym at 7:00 to honor the Kalberkamps for their long service among us. It is a rare privilege to have a pastor stay so long.
Think about it: not only has POPC not had to form a senior pastor search committee since 1994 (thirty years and counting!), but Carl has poured himself into multiple generations of families over these years. The impact of that sort of generational ministry is ultimately known only by the Lord and those families, but we all benefit from the fruit of faithfulness.
I'm so thankful that Carl and Jeanie will still be among us even after he retires. Pray for them as they transition into a new stage of life and service to the Lord!
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Our officer nomination period will begin this Sunday and run through April 14. I know it feels like we just did this, since our ordination service is in late January and we do nominations in April of each year. But because we want to know who will be in the training before the Summer holidays roll around, the calendar works out this way.
We see the pattern of God's people nominating men to serve as officers in Deuteronomy 1:13, Acts 1:23 and 6:3. Officers are not selected by existing officers, or by the senior pastor, but by the whole congregation. Nominating and electing its officers is the primary way members of a congregation exercise the power that Jesus has given to them.
Please be praying about whom you might nominate to the office of elder or deacon. Meditate on I Timothy 3, Titus 1, and Acts 6:1-7 to see the sort of men the Lord wants to lead His church. Be looking for men who are already exhibiting the gifts of shepherding and teaching (for potential elders), or serving and administration (for potential deacons). Most importantly, you want to nominate men who are growing day by day in the fruit of the Spirit and are involved in the life, worship, and ministry of the church.
After informational meetings in late April/early May, the nominees will begin reading for the officer training classes, which run from August through November. That month, the Session will approve a slate of men to stand before you for election in January. God has been faithful to give us godly men to serve our congregation over the past 46 years, so let's be praying for the Lord to continue His mercies to us.
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This coming Sunday morning we have the privilege of witnessing the sacrament of baptism. Presbyterians believe that all who profess faith in Jesus Christ ought to be baptized, as well as their children. Why the latter? Because they are members of the covenant community by birth to believing parents and therefore have a right to the sign of the covenant (Romans 4:11).
When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, He commanded Abraham to circumcise himself and his sons after him (Genesis 17:9-14). Circumcision was a picture of cleansing and being set apart as God’s special possession.
In the New Covenant initiated by Jesus Christ, baptism has fulfilled circumcision as the covenant sign; believers are said to have been circumcised in Christ “with a circumcision made without hands…having been buried with Him in baptism” (Colossians 2:11-12). Like circumcision, baptism points to our cleansing from the guilt and the power of sin, by the shed blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who indwells us (Acts 2:38; Titus 3:5). It is a better sign than circumcision, though, for it is unbloody, and it is for both males and females. Just as Abraham circumcised his infant sons, so we baptize our infant children.
But just like our forefathers in the faith, we do not believe that our children are automatically guaranteed salvation or are magically born again by the external sign – not all who are baptized are given the new birth according to God’s sovereign grace; “they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel” (Rom. 9:6).
But as members of the church, the children of believers possess privileges and responsibilities that set them apart from the children of the world (Paul calls them “holy,” i.e., set apart, in I Corinthians 7:14). Indeed, their greater privileges will result in a greater judgment if they refuse to embrace the Lord Jesus as He is offered in the gospel.
So let us be praying that the gospel realities signified by the waters of baptism would accompany the sign in due time, and let us exhort our children to embrace the Savior, who alone can save them from the judgment their sin deserves.
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Our Good Friday service is next Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. Join us as we meditate upon our Savior's suffering and death. Through Scripture and song our hearts will be inundated with the gospel of Christ crucified, as we anticipate the joy of resurrection!