Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Jan. 17, 2019, edition 1 / Page 11
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The Chronicle January 17, 2019 B3 Religion Submit to God in Christ Scriptures: Philippians 1:12-21 By the end of this lesson, we will ♦Analyze Paul's circumstances spreading the Gospel despite other's responses. *Decide to be faithful and forgive others. ♦Rejoice in opportunities to do God's work in the world through Jesus Christ. Background: Philippi was the first town in Macedonia where Paul established a church. Philippians was written while Paul was imprisoned in Rome (A.D. 60-62). Though a prisoner with constant guard, he was allowed visitors and had the opportunity to preach the Gospel. Paul had several purposes in writing to the church at Philippi. Here we examine his thanks to the saints for their prayers and his expressions that circum stances all work in God's favor. Lesson: Paul informs us that his imprisonment is explicitly for the furtherance of The Gospel. He proved that his imprisonment was no hindrance to spreading the message of salvation. The Gospel can be spread even in oppressive and adverse situations. Paul's powerful wit ness to The Gospel even as a prisoner demonstrated God's faithfulness to His children in any circumstance and encouraged others to be bold and not fear imprison ment (verses 12-14). There were two spirits at work in reaction to Paul's circumstances, one of goodwill and love toward him and the other of envy, rivalry and selfish ambition. Paul's view on this was that they both preached Christ. His supreme desire was to see Christ’s gospel spreading. He trusted that God would work out His plan of salvation regardless of motive. The effect was the same in both cases...new believers were added to the church (verses 15-18). Paul states, “This shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (verse 19) He had confidence in the Spirit and trusted that whatever the outcome of his incarceration, it would result in the glory of God. His awareness of constant union with Christ emboldened him in his preaching, knowing if he was enabled to speak well Christ would be exalted in him, whether he lives or he dies (verse 20). “For to me to live in Christ, and to die is gain.” For Paul, his emotional balance and his whole range of values were entirely gov erned by his union with Christ. Christ was his reason for being (verse 21). (The UMI Annual Commentary 2018- 2019, the MacArthur Study Bible and the Oxford Bible Commentary). For Your Consideration: We often say “all things work together for good...” but does our perspective in bad situations reflect what we spout? “Christ is life” ... does that fact affect how we live? Application: Living in Christ does not free us from problems, difficulties, persecution, or adversity. Think about your life. Consider your suffering, the suffering of others in your family and those around you. Consider the suffering and imprisonment of persecuted Christians over the world. How do we respond? As Christians we should see God at work in our suffering, our daily life and societal interactions and in adversity. Our response should not be one of passive joy, but of resistant joy like Paul. Our life is guaranteed in Christ and our experiences have a greater purpose. Christ is the totality of a believ er’s life. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” (2 Peter 1:3) Ministers’ Conference gives stance on statue BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE A hot button topic per meating through the streets of Winston-Salem recently has been the relocation of the Confederate Monument located at Fourth and Liberty streets downtown. Last Sunday, January 13, supporters from both sides of the topic were face to face with one another in front of the stat ue, in a scheduled protest. The Ministers’ Conference of Winston- Salem and Vicinity (MCWSV), along with the Winston-Salem NAACP chapter, have been working in conjunction to have the statue moved for some time. They recently released a joint statement that read: “The Ministers’ Conference of Winston Salem and Vicinity and the Winston Salem NAACP support the work of the City of Winston Salem and the Winston Courthouse, LLC to address the impor tant community concern, of the Confederate Monument located at Fourth and Liberty streets downtown. These statues were erected as a source of racial terrorism. The toler ance of these statues is not consistent with the spirit of diversity of Winston Salem. These statues and the racism they represent, must be eradicated imme diately. The City of Winston Salem has advised the owner of the monument that the city will seek a hurtful symbol of racism and the oppression of the African-American peo ple.” agreed upon will bring some actionable results, which is the removal and relocation of the A local resident in support of the removal of the Confederate statue from down- town Winston-Salem during the rally last weekend. court order if necessary, to have the monument removed due to concerns about public safety. It appears the course of action being pursued should result in the reloca tion of the monument to a more appropriate location. For that reason, the Ministers’ Conference and the NAACP are not going to engage in any protests or demonstrations at this time. However, it should be clearly noted that the Ministers’ Conference and the NAACP have commu nicated to the mayor and city manager that they expect the city to be vigor ous in pursuing all actions possible to remove this Pastor Tembila Covington, president-elect of the conference, said the conference wants to respect everyone’s position on the matter of the statue, but chose not to participate in the protest for the safety of those involved. Covington said she knew there were already conversations to “get something going” so they wanted to avoid any potential violent acts such as those that took place in Charlottesville, VA in 2017. “From communications that have been ongoing from the city manager, the mayor, the NAACP and the Minister’s Conference, that have insured that what was Confederate Monument,” said Covington. “We are expecting to see the reloca tion take place by January 31 or soon thereafter.” The large turnout for the protest says that people have begun to take notice that history cannot repeat itself, said Covington. “In order for that not to be repeated, we have to do something and we cannot allow people to do it alone,” she said. “It’s not a matter of looking at it from a progressive nature, I think it’s more of a human istic perspective. People are not anxious to go back wards, but are anxious to see greater things ahead and the only way we will do that is together.” Ministers’ Conference prepares for MLK scholarships BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE It’s that time of year again for the Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity (MCWSV) to crank up their fundraising efforts for their annual scholar ships. The scholarships are awarded to local seniors in the area heading to an institution of higher learning. It has been a mission for the conference to invest in the lives of the local youth for many years now. Hundreds of students have benefited from the scholarships over the years. The conference receives funds from many of the member churches, along with holding the Martin Luther King Jr. service where they take a special collection for the scholarships. Since 2013, the conference has given away a total of 57 scholarships totaling $50,500. To collect more funds and reach their goal of $15,000, Rev. Dr. Dennis Leach, second vice-president and former treasurer of the Ministers’ Conference, says the confer ¬ ence has been discussing making an appeal to the public for more funds. “Bishop Fulton and I have been talking about making an appeal, so that others can contribute to the scholarship fund,” said Leach. “We have averaged over $10,000 in scholarships over the last few years and we want to keep that momentum going.” Leach spoke to the fact that when he came to the Ministers’ Conference years ago, the partnership with the conference saved the scholarship fund, so to speak. He says that year, without the donations from The Chronicle; the conference would have only been able to give out one or two scholarships. “The scholarship was really in decline, it really was, so it was a good partnership,” Leach said about (he part nership between the Conference and The Chronicle. Over the years, Leach says it has been a tremendous blessing for the conference to help so many of our local youth. He feels the best part of the scholarships is when the recipients come back and speak with the conference during the scholarship service to speak about how much help the scholarship provided them. “The good thing is that we have been able to get them to come back at our services to talk about the impact the scholarship has made,” Leach continued. “It is signifi cant, and the students are very appreciative.” Leach went on to talk about the guidelines that the conference has for the scholarships, but says they routine ly go outside of those to assist more students when extra funds are available. For those who may be interested in donating to the scholarship fund, you may send donations addressed to the Conference to Emmanuel Baptist Church, 1075 Shalimar Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27107, or visit Mechanics and Farmers back on MLK Drive. All funds are welcome to help advance the lives of our local youth. Calendar Jan.20 Family and Friends Day 2019 Family and Friends Day will be held at St. James AME Church, 1501 N. Patterson Ave., on Jan. 20. The Theme for the day is “A Time to Remember.” Church school will begin at 8:45 a.m. Service will begin at 10 a.m. The preacher will be The Rev. Dr. Steven L. Lyons, former pastor of St. James. Currently, Dr. Lyons is the pastor of Mt. Zion AME Church, Hillsborough, NC. Jan.20 Pastoral installation services Rev. Frederick L. Barnes, Jr. will be installed as Antioch Baptist Church new Pastor on Sunday, Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. The service will be held at Phillips Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, 132 N. Glenn Ave. Rev. Chad R. Armstrong will be the speaker. The public is invited to attend. Jan.20 12th Pastoral Appreciation service Christ Temple C.M.E. Church, 2935 N Glenn Ave., will celebrate the 12th Pastoral Anniversary of Pastor Nathaniel PJ Williams Jr., & Co-Pastor Wanda J. H. Williams on Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. The guest speaker will be Bishop Melvin Wilkins of Greater New Generational Praise and Worship International of Winston-Salem. Jan.20 Twin City Choristers’ concert Grace Presbyterian Church, 3901 Carver School Road, will host the Twin City Choristers’ 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20. The event is free, although an offering will be received during the intermission. A reception will follow. For more information, call (336) 725-4105. Jan.21 39th Annual MLK commemoration The 39th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Noon Hour Commemoration will be held at Union Baptist Church, 1200 Trade Street, NW in Winston-Salem, NC. Doors open at 11 a.m. to the general public without charge or reservation. An offering will be lifted. The pro gram will conclude by 2 p.m. Jan.21 MLK Interfaith Service Saint James Presbyterian Church, 820 Ross Ave., Greensboro, NC, will host the annual Martin L. King, Jr. Day Interfaith Service on Jan. 21 beginning at noon. There will be a free lunch following the celebration. For more information, contact the church office at (336) 273- 6658. Feb.16 Benefit Gospel concert New Gospel Tabernacle Holiness Church of Winston- Salem, a beacon of light and a pillar of hope for countless hundreds down through the years, was burnt to the ground last April. Travest Hunter Global Ministries, LLC and Pixel Pushas are partnering to host a Benefit Gospel Concert “Music in the Village.” The concert is slated for Saturday, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m., and will be held at Second Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 1751 New Walkertown Road.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Jan. 17, 2019, edition 1
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