the Logos

Don't forget that our Church Family Meeting is tomorrow (Monday) at 7:00pm. All members are asked to be present. Mt. Zion, along with a few other local churches, has adopted West Cary Middle. They are asking for our help with proctoring End-of-Grade (EOG) exams. In the first 3 days of the EOGs, they need 65 proctors each day. If you are interested, pick up a flyer with details at the Welcome Center or email me and I'll send you the flyer. We had a special guest with us today, Pastor John from Uganda. He shared with us about his ministry in Africa: 1. Church Planting (By His Grace we have planted 5 Bush Churches which are growing rapidly spiritually and numerically.We have answered The Great Commission Call and continue planting more Matthew 28:19,20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you: lo, I am with you always...

We had great Men's Conference this year! Wives don't be surprised if your husband starts acting more like a prophet, acting priestly, and kingly. Mt. Zion ministered at Cary Health & Rehab Center on Sunday afternoon. In addition, Mini Faith in Action volunteers worked outside in planting and gardening while the service took place inside. I will be speaking at New Destiny Christian Fellowship (in Raleigh) on this Thursday at 7:30pm. Everyone is invited to join us in celebrating their 6th Anniversary. Click through to the blog post if you can't see this video. We are going to donate 10% of our yearly love offering to Churches Helping Churches to help rebuild churches in Haiti. Please give generously to the love offering. Consider how you can sacrifice to give more to the love offering.

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." - Galatians 6:10 The earthquake in Haiti has devastated and destroyed their churches. Pastors Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald took a fact-finding trip to Haiti to get the story of the churches. They returned and preached a message to their respective churches reporting about the death and devastation that they saw. We watched Pastor Driscoll's message on 3/31. If you missed it, you can watch it here. Click through to the blog post if you can't see this video. We plan to watch Pastor MacDonald's message on 9/1. Driscoll and MacDonald formed the organization, Churches Helping Churches . Mt. Zion will be joining these churches across the country to help rebuild churches in Haiti. We will donate 10% of our yearly love offering to Churches Helping Churches. We are asking that you give generously to the love offering. Consider giving m...

Men, don't forget to register for the Men's Conference happening this week, Thursday & Friday (6:30pm-9:00pm) and Saturday (8:00am-12:00pm). The theme is "Prophets, Priests, and Kings." I have the pleasure of being the speaker for the three days of the conference. The cost is $25. All men are invited to participate. Mt. Zion will minister at Cary Health & Rehab Center on next Sunday, April 18th, at 2pm. In addition, volunteers (for a mini-Faith in Action) are needed to work outside in planting and gardening during the time of the service. Volunteers are asked to sign up at the Welcome Center. Bring your gloves, gardening tools, etc. Please note: we only have one hour, so the volunteers that work outside will need to keep time because we'll need to get there ahead of time and be ready to work on time so that when the inside service is finished, we can all leave together. Accompanied by the Male Choir, I will be guest speaker at New Destiny Christ...

The Lenten season and its encouragement to take an extended time to focus on the death and resurrection of Christ provides us with an opportunity to honor God as we prepare for Easter Sunday. Another way to consider the value of recognizing Lent is to consider the ways you currently prepare for Easter Sunday. New clothes for the kids? A flower for mom? A roast for the oven? Candy for baskets? Now, consider if there might be a better and more beneficial way to think about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:16-18 (ESV) Fasting has great spiritual value, but some hypocrites, such as the Pharisees, had turned it into a way to gain public approval. During a fast, they made themselves look pale and disheveled so people would notice and admire them. The Pharisees negated the purpose of their fasting by making sure others knew that they were fasting. Public recognition would be their only reward. When you fast, Jesus said, go about your normal daily routine; don't make a show of it. Then no one but God will suspect you are fasting. Jesus commended acts of self-sacrifice done quietly and sinc...

We are invited to Christ First Christian Fellowship Center's 2nd Annual Easter Musical, "At the Foot of the Cross," this evening at 6:00pm. We are having an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday at 1pm. Join us for the fun and fellowship. Next Sunday, we have our Sunrise Easter Celebration at 6am. That will be our only service. We will not have Children's Church so all families can worship together. We will celebrate Communion and have breakfast right after the service. Invite your family and friends to come and spend Easter with us. Don't forget to join us at Bible Study this Wednesday where we'll watch a message regarding helping Haitian churches and explain how we will be helping. The video is a little over an hour long so we'll start promptly at 7pm. Click through to the blog post if you can't see this video. We're having a big Tailgate Party on October 2nd. During this event the Red Cross will be on site taking blood donations for the local ...

Our visit to Phoenix Assisted Care today was canceled due to sickness among the residents and the staff. The staff has asked that we pray for them. Don't forget that we will have only 1 service on Easter at sunrise. Following the service we will celebrate community by having breakfast together. Please invite family & friends to spend Easter with us. Mt. Zion will be joining churches across the country to help rebuild churches in Haiti. Join us at Bible Study on Wednesday, 3/31 where we'll watch a message regarding rebuilding Haitian churches and explain how we will be helping.

Often the money that is saved from giving up something for Lent can be given to help the poor and oppressed (giving of alms). As we fast, we are reminded that we have a Savior who is rich in mercy. In response to this mercy, we follow the pattern set by the One who became poor for our sake, so that we, by his poverty, could become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV): "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." As we give of our resources (time and treasure) to those in need, we remind ourselves of Jesus' self-giving mercy and we demonstrate to those in need the kind of Savior we serve.

The controversy over Bishop TD Jakes is whether he denies the Trinitarian nature of God (that God exists in three distinct persons: the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit). Jakes appears to be a Oneness Pentecostal (or Modalist). Oneness Pentecostals deny traditional Trinitarian doctrine, while affirming their belief that God took on flesh in the man Jesus Christ. Like Trinitarians, Oneness adherents believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. However, whereas Trinitarians believe that "God the Son" (a being whose existence is denied in Oneness theology), the eternal second person of the Trinity, became man, Oneness adherents hold that the one and only true God—who manifests Himself in any way He chooses, including as Father, Son and Holy Spirit—became man. Oneness believers view "Father", "Son", and "Holy Spirit" as titles, reflecting different manifestations of the one true God in the universe. Oneness Pentecostals are regarded by ...

Where are the men who are not ashamed to proclaim the Gospel in front of millions?! This is a great response from Steve Lawson on the uncertainty of Joel Osteen. Here's the referenced Larry King interview:

We are extremely proud of some of our youth who attended a purity conference called Silver Ring Thing and committed to abstain from sex until marriage. Let us as a church family continue to encourage them as they face great pressure from the culture to have premarital sex. For Easter this year, we want to do something special. We will have only 1 service at sunrise (6am). We will celebrate Communion as a family and following the service we will celebrate community by having breakfast together. Invite family and friends to spend Easter with us.

The following comes from "Why Bother with Lent?" by Elliot Grudem & Bruce Benedict Fasting and prayer are two traditional focuses of Lent. Fasting, joined with fervent prayer and reading of Scriptures, is a spiritual discipline of humbling ourselves in abstinence before God to turn away some tragedy, or for obtaining of some special blessing. Fasting is traditionally the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a limited time. Some people give up a certain behavior or habits during the season. We fast (not just during Lent) because Jesus told us to do so (Matt. 6:16, Mark 2:20). We fast because we continue to see the pattern of fasting practiced in the church (Acts 13, for example). We fast because it is one of the means God uses to break the power of sin in our lives, prepare us well for prayer, and humble us before him (for unlike God, we need food to live). The act of self-denial can be a helpful tool in your Christian growth. There is n...

Just a couple of items... Don't forget our Drive for Change to raise funds for the purchase of our church van. We are also actively seeking volunteers to provide transportation for those who are without transportation on Sundays. Anyone interested in working in this ministry is asked to please contact the church office. Ladies: The Women of Worship is having the 'Sweet Life Cafe' conference on Saturday, March 27. Conference cost is $40. Stop by the registration table today to sign up and make a deposit.

As adults, we get pretty excited about a lot of things. Some get excited about new cars, homes, clothes, etc. Personally, I get excited about computers, gadgets, turtles (the candy not the animal), and chocolate cake! But do we get excited about sharing the Gospel to others? Here's a wonderful story from one of the parents at my church about the excitement her son had to share the Gospel with a classmate... When I picked up Dominic last week from school he was running down the sidewalk as fast as could to get to me. Out of breath, he says with great excitement, "I had the best day ever at school, Mama!" I ask why and he proceeds to tell me that he and his friend got to share the Gospel with another classmate on the playground. They talked about Jesus and what Christmas is really all about, Passover, Easter and "on and on" he tells me. Then he says to me "Mama, I don't know if he believed me or not but I'm excited I was able to plant the seed!...

Our Truth Project small groups start this week. Remember if you can't attend the group that you registered for during any given week, you can attend another group so you don't miss any lessons. I'm really looking forward to my small group. If you are not able to participate this time, there will be more small groups starting in the Fall. Don't forget if you need prayer and can't come or don't want to come during the altar call, you can get prayer on Tuesdays during our Prayer Meeting between 6 and 8pm. Someone from our Deliverance Ministry will be glad to pray with you. Starting next Sunday, I'm starting a sermon series entitled "Makarios". This is the Greek word for "Blessed". We will look at how Jesus defines being blessed which may challenge most of our thinking regarding this topic. Join us for this exciting series and bring a friend to church with you.

This is last week to drop off your donations for Haiti. After this week, we will take our donations to Cary Church of God who is serving as an authorized Haiti Relief Donation Center for Eastern North Carolina. Flyers are available at the Welcome Center with the list of needed supplies . During Lent, I will be sharing information on fasting and prayer on this blog. These posts will also show up on Facebook as Notes. But I know some of you are fasting from Facebook, so I encourage everyone to subscribe to my blog. I'll send info on how to subscribe to my blog to the church's mailinglist. You can subscribe to the mailinglist by sending an email to mailinglist-subscribe@mtzionmb.org. We are waiting on our new giving envelopes (with our new logo) so we have some temporary ones. Please write in the category and amount of your contributions.

Our 2010 Adult Christian Education Curriculum is available (download from website & we'll post on church bulletin board). New classes will be offered like "Defending Your Faith" (currently started) and "How to Study the Bible" (starting in March). Take advantage of these new course offerings to continue in your spiritual growth. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday which begins the Lent season. Immediately after Wednesday Bible Study, we will anoint with ashes. I'm calling for a church-wide fast for Lent. Prayerfully consider doing one of the three types of fasts . During this fast, there are three areas that you can pray for: Repentance (confess & repent of the sinful areas in your life: pride, apathy, selfishness, etc) Haiti (especially during the rainy season that is about to start) God's will regarding the sell of our old church property Next Sunday during our worship service, we will have our Gift of Heritage program to celebrate Black His...

The Couples Ministry is partnering with The Flower Shuttle . This ministry reuses & repackages flowers left over from events to deliver to hospice, nursing homes, hospitals, meals on wheels, etc. We can help by donating mugs, small vases, and flower pots. The Couples Ministry will set up a table in the front near the welcome center to collect these items. There's another opportunity to help Haiti. The Cary Church of God is serving as an authorized Operation Compassion Haiti Relief Donation Center for Eastern North Carolina. They will be receiving materials until 2/28. Starting this week we'll be collecting donations to drop off at Cary Church of God. Click here for the list of needed supplies. Fliers are also available at the Welcome Center. Mt. Zion along with other area churches is adopting West Cary Middle School (WCM) . We are looking for volunteers to help tutor, mentor, proctor exams, etc. If you are interested, please get a volunteer packet at the Welco...

On Monday, we had our first Church Family Meeting of the year. Here is the Huge announcement from the meeting. There will be a 2010 PARENT AWARENESS SESSION on Friday from 6:00pm to 8:30pm for all parents and their children up to 17 years old. Please sign up at the Welcome Center. This Saturday (1/30) we will be volunteering at With Love from Jesus (WLFJ) ministry in Raleigh. This fulfills our vision of spreading the Gospel, serving the community, and partnering with others for the cause of Christ. WLFJ serves the needy in our community by provided groceries, furniture, etc. And most importantly, they pray and share the Gospel with many people. They ask area churches to volunteer their time to come and serve at their location. Let's again put our faith in action and take a BIG group from Mt. Zion to help out. This upcoming Sunday is our first Youth Contemporary Service of the year at 4:00pm. Pastor Mark-Anthony Middleton of the Abundant Hope Christian Church in Durham ...