Sermon Report

 Yesterday's sermon was preached by Pastor Christopher Engelsma. The text was Acts 1, the beginning of a planned series through the book of acts. This passage relates the story of what happened after Jesus's death and resurrection was discovered and also records the story of Jesus's ascension back into heaven. The book of Acts was written by Luke, who we can assume was a gentile due to Paul listing him separately from the Jews in other books. Paul also indicates that Luke was a physician, which may explain why Luke accompanied Paul on some of his missionary journeys, as it appears that Paul may have had some kind of medical condition. In fact, Luke may have met Paul when Paul became sick and was forced to stop at an unnamed city to recover. 

Excerpt from The Time of Tears First Draft

 

Epilogue Part 4 - The Oathbreakers

The Dawnguard was shattered, for they had broken their oaths. A knight was supposed to have honor, and the Dawngaurd was the purest a knight could ever imagine being. And yet, the Dawnguard, all of them, had forsaken their keep, Ritholon, the Fortress of Light. They were oathbreakers, all of them. Arnon sat on an old log, staring into the flames of his company's cookfire, a picked-over chicken bone in his hand. He had never been very pensive, but lately, he had become thoughtful when night reigned. What was a man without honor? The rest of his company stood nearby, bedrolls stretched out near the fire, keepsakes and supplies kept close by in their packs. They had left everything behind, wife, children, kin, and perhaps their honor. Arnon hadn’t entirely decided if every knight here could be blamed for it. One thing he knew for certain. He could find no honor in himself roaming the countryside like a pack of bandits. They unintentionally threw any town they came near into terror. They had accepted what they thought were gifts until they realized they were simply bribes to make them go away. They avoided castles and cities, and larger settlements whenever they could. They didn’t want trouble. They traveled slowly, the knights taking up odd jobs, chasing away bandits, and taking part in a few minor skirmishes between nobles. The Basthians were quarrelsome people and often took to settling disagreements with their swords. Arnon thought that was why they called themselves a republic, with kings being nominated and ratified by the cities. Although they never seemed to be able to do that without besieging and sacking a city or two. It was a perfect land for a mercenary, but Arnon was no mercenary. A shocking number, to Arnon at least, of knights had left the Dawngaurd and become mercenaries. There was no honor in that, in fact, it lessened a man’s honor to become a sell-sword. Still, hunger would drive a man to do almost anything. The stories had always said love was the most powerful emotion, and Arnon had once agreed with them until he had tasted hunger. Even now his stomach gnawed at him. 

“High Captain,” Aedelon’s voice broke into his thoughts as Aedelon himself came closer to the firelight. The knights around them ceased eating, whittling, or merely staring off aimlessly into the darkness. 

“High Captain of what?” Arnon said bitterly. Aedelon sighed and said nothing, as he looked around himself. “Look at us, Aedelon,” Arnon stood, his voice rising. “We have become like deer roaming in the wilderness. We have no home, no king, no honor. Our oaths have been broken.”

“Yet still, the sun rises,” Aedelon looked to the east, where the sky was gray. “We have not given up our honor Arnon.”

“We killed the king,” Arnon shouted. “We swore to protect him, and we allowed him to be slain.”

“Sometimes, doing the right thing is easy,” Aedelon said softly. “And sometimes, it can be hard to tell which is right and which is wrong. Oaths can be sworn for the wrong reasons, and then they become dishonorable. We are defined by the paths we take, not mere words.” 

“But we killed him when he could do nothing,” Arnon turned, staring into the darkness with hate in his eyes. “How can you call that honorable?”

“I did what had to be done,” Aedelon’s voice came with weariness. “The king served himself, not Valos. He was corrupt, and he gathered corruption around like an untended wound gathers rot. He was tearing Arthlien apart.”

“But he wore the crown!” Arnon raged. “We swore to defend him with our very lives!”

“I always used to wonder what made a man worthy to be king,” Arnon looked to the sky, as orange, red, and pink light began to spill over it. “Was it his father’s honor, or his own? I do not wonder any longer.” 

“We are starving,” Arnon turned and looked into Aedelon’s eyes. “The Dawnguard will die if we do not do something.”

“I know,” Aedelon whispered, tears springing from his eyes. “That is why I came.”

“Are we going to return?”

“No. I have found the Firstborn Paros told me to look for. The boy is with him. He is the one that was prophesied.”

Arnon drew in his breath. “The Secondborn has come? A new Soulkeeper?”

“Aye.”

There was silence as all the knights looked to their captains. 

“Where is he?”

“North, he is in the north. In Elbanon.”

Beyond Belief to Convictions

 The author of this book felt called to preach to teenagers and young people, however, his zeal did not impress the leaders of the organization he belonged too. They assigned him to start a Unversity Mission... in South America. Later he found out the leaders had intended this to be an unofficial exile. His mission was so successful in South America that when the organization got new leaders they called him back to America to nip in the bud the community movement in the universities, just as he had done in South America. 

Sermon Report

 Yesterday's sermon was preached by Pastor Chris Engelsma at Covenant URC. The text was Acts 6. In this chapter. the Apostles accidentally overlook the needs of the greek widows in the early Church because of how busy they are. To solve this problem, they appoint seven "servants" or deacons, to take over the mercy ministry. These seven were likely all greek and allowed the Apostles and the Elders to focus on teaching and prayer. 

Sermon Report

 Yesterday's sermon was preached by Pastor Chris Engelsma at Covenant URC. The text was Acts 20:28. This passage chronicles Paul's journey to Jerusalem. He wants to get there quickly so that he can celebrate Pentecost there and to make it he skips going through Asia. However, he summons the Elders of the church of Ephesus to him in order to teach them a little about how leadership in the Church should work. The early Christian Church had two levels of authority: Apostles and Elders. Apostles had to have witnessed Jesus, so there are no real apostles in the modern church. The modern-day church has Elders, Deacons, and Pastors (Which count as a kind of elder). Elders are given the authority to lead and teach the church. 

Chuck Colson 2

 Chuck Colson served Richard Nixon in both elections, helping the former president gain victory in both elections. He was ruthless, and much of his strategies were underhanded, like much of that administration's policies. Eventually, the law caught up to them and Nixon pinned it on Colson. Colson left politics and began to rebuild his law business. Eventually, as watergate unfolded, the prosecution went after Colson. However, at this point, due to the intervention of Colson's Christian friends, he had given his life to Jesus. Instead of plea bargaining and lying to save his own skin, Colson pled guilty, and was convicted and given prison time. 

Chuck Colson

 Chuck Colson was born during the Great Depression. Despite this setback, his parents were ambitious and got him into a school that aimed at sending its students into the Ivy League. They succeeded with Colson, and after graduating he served as a marine in Korea. Once the war was over, he returned to America and studied law, graduating with honors, and keeping his excellent academic track record. After this he began getting into politics.