Photo by Timothy Ramsey
Pastor Tony Jones and his wife, Tiffany Jones, personally thank Karen Abercrombie for her message during
the Fellowship Church's Mother's Day Celebration.
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room was silent." According to
Abercrombie, by the time she made it
home, the phone was ringing and
when she answered, they offered her
the role.
Abercrombie said she thought of
her aunt, who was a prayer warrior,
and an elderly childhood neighbor as
inspiration for the part.
Abercrombie started her message
by telling the story of Rah^b the har
lot and how she eventually became a
"mother in the bloodline of the
Messiah." Her message was it
doesn't matter where you come from,
God takes great joy in using any will
ing vessel to bring glory to his king
i
dom."
She went on to spekk about the
gifts that all of us have inside and
said, "You are here because you were
chosen, so be encouraged."
For Abercrombie, her faith in the
Lord kept her strong throughout the
years. She told the story of David and
Goliath to tell everyone in atten
dance, "No matter what the giant is in
your life, you have to trust in the Lord
that he is what he says he is.
"You have to leave it in the
father's hands because he will do
what he said he will do," she said.
"Be clear on who you are and what
you mean to him, so much so that he
gave his only begotten, perfect, and
pure son because he wanted to spend
an eternity with you."
Fellowship Church Pastor Tony
Jones reached out to Abercrombie
through a mutual friend. "It was a no
brainer when I knew she was avail
able and to do it on Mother's Day, it
just fit like a hand and glove."
Jones just finished with a series of
sermons entitled "Dangerous
Prayers," where he asks those to not
pray safe prayers, but reach outside of
their comfort zone. Jones said having
Abercrombie here was a fitting end to
the series because our focus has been
on prayer.
Abercrombie's message was very
uplifting and said prayer has to be
paramount in our relationship with
God. For those who do not pray as
they should, she posed the question,
"How can you have an intimate rela
tionship with someone you don't
spend a lot of time with?"
Lesson __
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and others despicable.
Case in point: the
Pharisee, who observes
religious ceremonies
and practices, adheres
to oral laws and tradi
tions, and believes in an
afterlife and the coming
of the Messiah ... or a
sanctimonious, self
righteous hypocrite.
Then there is the one he
considers despicable,
the publican or tax col
lector who is employed
by Rome and collects
taxes from all who owe
and is not always honest
in his profession. These
two go up to pray, pre
sumably for forgiveness
of sin or transgressions.
In this parable Jesus is
targeting a specific
audience - namely those
who were spiritually
smug and compulsive
about their pious behav
ior. In the parable Jesus
points out how the
Pharisee prays about
himself out loud in the
public to gain the peo
ples applause (Luke
18:11). He wanted oth
ers to note his clean and
upright lifestyle, but the
prayer lacked sincerity.
ine rnarisee ianea to
understand that no mat
ter how good he thought
himself to be, he fell
short of God's perfect
moral standard (see
Romans 3:23). The tax
collector, on the other
hand, had hit an emo
tional and spiritual low.
He may have been over
whelmed by deep con
viction and no doubt
remorse for the greed
that consumed his life.
In his praying he stood
away and would not
even lift his eyes to
heaven as he prayed,
? but bowed his head. He
perhaps out of shame
did not want to be heard
and maybe ridiculed by
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the standers-by. He
rather beats his chest
over his shortcomings
and asks only that God
grant him mercy even
though he was a "sin
ner." He was owning up
to his many transgres
sions and asking God to
turn from them (Luke
18:13). Then who went
home justified? Jesus
states that the tax col
lector did. Why?
Because he humbled
himself. Humility in the
Greek was thought to be
a sign of weakness and
lack of worth or dignity.
But Jesus made humility
a cornerstone of
Christian character (see
Matt 18:4, 23:12; Luke
18:14). Scriptural
humility involves the
absence of arrogance ...
knowing that all we are
and have we owe to
God. .
For Your
Consideration: Why do
you think , some people
are self-assured about
their presumed devotion
to God? What are some
ways we can grow in
humility? (David C.
Cook, Bible Lesson
Commentary, 2015-16)
Life's Application:
We are to remain hum-.
ble before God and in
the way we relate to
others. We should
strive to see ourselves
as God sees us and
without pretense foster
respect in our relation
ships to others. Just as
the Pharisee needed to
he^r this, so do many
leaders in our churches
today. Whether we
know it or not, leaders
in church and other
areas of life are role
models for those they
lead. Christians espe
cially must lead as Jesus
did, by example.
CHAMPIONS
THE RAMS
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