One Hanging On A Tree - John Newton

John Newton, former slave ship captain, and author of "Amazing Grace," wrote this poem:

In evil long I took delight, 
Unawed by shame or fear, 
Till a new object struck my sight, 
And stopp’d my wild career: 
I saw One hanging on a Tree 
In agonies and blood, 
Who fix’d His languid eyes on me. 
As near His Cross I stood. 

Sure never till my latest breath, 
Can I forget that look: 
It seem’d to charge me with His death, 
Though not a word He spoke: 
My conscience felt and own’d the guilt, 
And plunged me in despair: 
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt, 
And help’d to nail Him there. 

Alas! I knew not what I did! 
But now my tears are vain: 
Where shall my trembling soul be hid? 
For I the Lord have slain! 
A second look He gave, which said, 
"I freely all forgive; 
This blood is for thy ransom paid; 
I die that thou may’st live." 

Thus, while His death my sin displays 
In all its blackest hue, 
Such is the mystery of grace, 
It seals my pardon too. 
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy, 
My spirit now if fill’d, 
That I should such a life destroy, 
Yet live by Him I kill’d! 

John Newton, 1725-1807. 

Reposting Sermon download link

Someone brought it to my attention that the sermons file I had shared was too huge to download from my Livedrive Server.  (I get livedrive from www.boundlesscloud.com -- they're buddies of mine, you should check them out. Cheaper than Carbonite!)

I had made a mistake and included some huge video files in the sermons folder.  So, after removing those, it's down to 130 MB.  Much more manageable.

So here's the new share link: https://okcbiblemethodist.livedrive.com/Item/8505

Enjoy, Brothers in the Gospel!  And don't reference me.  If it's any good, I probably got it from somewhere else.

Trunk or Treat Outreach: Candy Thru the Bible

Last night, our church did a "Trunk or Treat" outreach in our community.  Various families lined up cars in the church parking lot, decorated their trunks, and handed out candy Halloween night.  By all accounts, it was a success.  We had nearly twice the kids we planned for (thankfully, we had some extra candy), tons of good connections, and the guests and their kids all had fun.

Our theme was "Candy Thru the Bible." We served hot dogs while kids came up and got into groups, and when we were done leading one group through, the "tour guides" would come back and get the next group from the hot dog area, and take them through the circle.  Each station would take approximately 60 seconds to tell the story and give the candy.  (Very short version of each story, obviously.)

Below, I've attached my notes from the stations to share with you.  Beware, they are MY notes... they might not be totally complete, but I think they'll be enough for you to take and run with if your church wants to do something similar.

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Notes from 2012 and suggestions for changes:

Ø  We did from 5-7 PM, but business really picked up about 6:30. Next year, suggest we go from 6:30-8:30.

Ø  We had Elizabeth & Darrell do storytelling, which kept them tied up all night and left them exhausted with no voice left -- Get more storytellers; write out script and train them.

Ø  Free up at least one pastor to man the information booth, work the crowd.

Ø  Maybe have one pastor do the Gospel presentation at the end?

Ø  Get some live or canned music on a system during setup, or maybe near the hot dog area.

Ø  We had 210 kids (maybe more), only planned for about 120.

Ø  We did hot dogs ahead of time, for people while they wait.  

Ø  Get 2 parking lot attendants next time, dedicated only managing traffic & counting people, instead of having someone do double duty with a station.

Ø  Get better lighting solutions… some of the displays were quite dark after the sun went down.

Ø   Get someone to specifically take pictures of groups... offer to email or mail them a copy and ask if we can send more info about our church. Post to FB.

Trunk or Treat Stations:

#1: Bit-O-Honey – Big Pulpit Bible set up

Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”  The Bible is God's Word, which means He wrote it from the beginning to the end.

#2: Milky Way – Creation setup

Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” (v.6) he made the stars also)

#3: Caramel Apple Sucker or Gummy fruit snacks – Adam and Eve’s sin

Genesis 3:6 “Eve took the fruit and ate and gave some to her husband and he ate.” Sin entered the world...

#4: Bubble Gum (round if possible) – God’s love goes on and on - promises a Savior would come

John 3:16 or Genesis 3:15

#5: Animal Crackers – Noah’s Ark

Many years passed, and God saw that people had become very evil. One man, Noah, believed in God and did what was right. God told him to build an ark and save himself, and God sent a flood that destroyed everything on earth. Genesis 6

#6: Crunch bar – Joshua and the battle of Jericho -  Joshua 6:6-20

(we changed this at the last minute and went with Samson, who "crunched" a whole building to kill lots of God's enemies.) 

#7: Baby Ruth – Book of Ruth

She made up her mind to serve God, even though she lived far away from God's people... and God was so pleased with how her heart wanted to know Him that she became the great great … grandmother of Jesus.

#8: JawBreaker – Samson 

Samson was a very strong man that God used to defend God’s people from their enemies.  Once he took a jawbone of a donkey and killed 1,000 bad guys with it.  Judges 15:15

#9: Whoppers – David & Goliath

David was just a young man when he killed the WHOPPER of a giant, Goliath. 1 Samuel 17

#10: Smarties – Solomon

Solomon asked God for wisdom to be a good king, to know how to do the right thing.  And God gave it to him.  He was the wisest of all men (1 Kings 4:29-34)

#11: Dum Dum Sucker – Jonah

Jonah was a prophet of God. But when God told Jonah to go preach to Nineveh, he ran from God.  What a dum-dum thing to do!  But the whale swallowed him and took him to the place where God wanted him to preach.

#12 – Kit Kat – Daniel and the Lions Den

Daniel Chapter 6

#13 – Fireballs (3 apiece) – 3 Hebrew Boys

Daniel’s friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).  God protected them and they were not burned.

#14: Lifesaver – The Nativity & Cross

When the time was right, God kept his promise – he sent his Son Jesus into the world.  He was born to a virgin named Mary, who was engaged to a man named Joseph.  An angel told them “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sin.” Matthew 1:21

#15: Now & Later’s – Salvation & Heaven

In the Bible in 2 Cor. 6:2, it says, “Now is the day of salvation.”  If we will believe in Jesus as our Savior and follow Him, then LATER we get to live with him in heaven forever!  (We used a big bag of candy and said, being with Jesus was the “biggest prize of all!”)

OPTIONAL ideas we didn't use:  

> M&Ms – Mary & Martha – friends of Jesus who loved him. He raised their brother from the dead!

> Hershey kisses – Isaac and Rebekah Genesis 24:67 – Isaac loved Rebekah

> Skittles (many colors) – Joseph & coat of many colors - Joseph story – Genesis 37-46

> Caramels – Elijah and Mt. Carmel - Elijah called all the people to Mt. Carmel for a contest to see who the REAL God was. 1 Kings 18:20-38

> Snickers or Laffy Taffy – Abraham and Sarah - God promised they would have a son, whose descendants would bless all the nations of the earth.  Sarah laughed in her heart, but God kept his promise – he sent Isaac, whose descendant was Jesus. Genesis 18:12