Divine Hours
This a form of prayer at specified times to be used by individuals or groups. The Divine Hours includes morning, midday, vespers (evening) and compline (before retiring) offices, having roots in the biblical tradition from the period of Israel in the Old Testament to the church in the New Testament period and beyond. Coasters are encourage to utilize this ancient spiritual discipline to order their walk with God and to join with the whole church in offering to God praise and petitions. Go to www.annarborvineyard.org for guidance as well as the prayers for each period of the day.
This Week's The Gathering
This Bible teaching time on Wednesdays, 7 PM, at the Coastal Ministry center is currently focusing on the teaching of Jesus that we must be born again. We are answering questions such as: What is the new birth? Why do I need it? What do I lose if I am not born anew? How does the new birth happen?
John Piper will be speaking at Park Street on Sunday April 19, 6 PM, as one of their guest preachers during thier bicentennial year. Coasters will be worshiping at the 6 PM service to receive ministry of the Word. We will be leaving the Ministry Center at 3 PM to take the T and have supper downtown. And then it's off to Park Street for soul food.
The Good Friday service will be at 7 PM, April 10.
In this Easter Week service the death of Jesus the Christ comes into central focus. Though this day speaks of a death, it is a "good" death, for through it the payment for sins was made for all those who believe and receive the offer of salvation. The worst act of betrayal in the world becomes the greatest act of rescue the world has ever witnessed. Come and sit and kneel before the Savior of our earth.
Seven Daily Sins: Facing the Hurdles that We Meet Everyday - A New Message Series
Pastor Don will begin a new messge series following Easter Sunday on April 19. This message series finds its origin in the most famous sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount spoken by Jesus. In this message series the seven great virtues of Christian character (humility, mercy, mourning over sin, meekness and peacekeeping, hunger and thirst for righteousness, purity of heart and the bearing of persecution) meet the seven deadly and daily sins (pride, greed, envy, wrath, sloth, lust and gluttony). These aren't things we do on occasion face. We carry them around 24/7. They are the "sins that so easily weigh us down," to borrow a phrase from another book in the Bible. It's time we got back into the battle, refusing to give up or to give in, and finding God's help in our time of need.
Operation World
Coasters (and guests) are invited to go to www.operationworld.org to pray each day for a nations of the world. At the OW website they select a country for each day for which to pray along with specific prayer requests and updates. See the OW "Pray Today" as your browsers opening page so you can be reminded to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.
An Evangelical Manifesto
Representative leaders from the Evangelical movement issued in May a document titled "An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment." The word Evangelical is much in the news this year as politicians court votes and make promises. This manifesto seeks to answer two questions. First, what is an Evangelical anyway? Second, what does mean this for our role in the public square? These questions are particularly crucial because many of those who self-identify as Evangelicals are confused to the point that Evangelical is no longer a clear identity and its character has been obscured. In fact, for many the very term is not used in a positive way, and many wonder whether the term can any longer serve a useful purpose. For more information go to www.evangelicalmanifesto.com/ There you can download a thoughtful statement on what it means to be an Evangelical and how this identity affects the Christian in the public square.
Lent, 2009
Ash Wednesday (Feb 25) begins the 40 day journey to Easter. During this season Christians have traditionally entered into an intentional self-identification with the sufferings of Jesus through some discipline of self-denail. It is the hope of the church that Christians will awaken out of the sleep of self-pleasing as a way of life. The Coastal family is encouraged to read a chapter each day of Lent out of John Piper's Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die. It is offering by Desiring God ministries free online at: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/2289_Fifty_Reasons_Why_Jesus_Came_to_Die
For further reading please see http://markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/lent.htm#feb2609. Recently Pope | 
