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Penni4yourthoughts

Watchnight Service?

Acts Admin Posts: 1995 **12/28/07 7:36 pm**

roughridercog

I guess I'm one of the few who liked watchnight services

Acts Mod Posts: 25305 **12/29/07 10:44 am**

It saddens me somewhat to think that we can stay up for all kinds of secular activities even if we have to go to work the next day, but the idea of the church coming together and praying in the New Year seems so abhorrent to us.
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KariJay

My thought...

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4825 **12/29/07 11:17 am**

I think watchnight services would be much more appealing if there were food and fellowship combined with praying in the New Year. I think that Word of Life has an awesome New Years Service! I wouldn't mind a bit going there...wonderful worship...friendly atmosphere...and a time of celebration and fun.

In my honest opinion, our watchnight services do not appeal to a new generation. Lots of people enjoy worship and celebration along with their prayer for the new year. Every other watchnight service I've attended was an hour of kneeling in the pew and praying. Then...12:01 you say amen and everyone walks out the door. I'd have a better time praying in the New Year at home by myself.

Give people a reason to want to show up! People can pray at home...and people attend prayer meetings every week...what's gonna make your watchnight service something different and a time of celebration rather than a time of trying to figure out what to pray for an hour. Believe me, I have a list...but never in my life have I been able to pray for an hour about it all. 15 minutes and I've prayed for about everything I could think of. In my personal prayer time, I play some worship, read the word, and pray. Now that'll last me an hour. Maybe I have ADD...I don't know.
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BlessedinMsTn

Your forefathers and mothers prayed for days

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6126 **12/29/07 1:11 pm**

much less hours... see, they believed in something called "praying the Spirit" they had no list, they had no agenda,, they would kneel and open their mouths and from their belly a river of groaning and deep prayer would come forth,,..

On watch night services,, they were praying for direction for thext seasons of their lives,, they were believing God for better things,, thanking him for all had already done...

They understood that fun could be had a Chuck E Cheese and those who do not love his appearing would rather be at Chuck E Cheese,, your never gonna change who is called to follow Christ and those who are not,, your never gonna make someone sold out if their not....... there are those who God foreknew in his creation that will be at any service the church has because after all nothing else in life holds the same importance as the things of God.. which include his Church.

At our church that we attend,,, over 200 young people will be at Watchnight Service like they are every year.. there will be intense worship, prayer and self dedication,,, praying for Israel,,,, Spiritual utterances,,, and a time of looking to the future.... no games have been planned
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The Remnant are Returning. Foundations are being Restored. All Breaches are being Repaired. The Body of Christ is Rising!

KariJay

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4825 **12/29/07 5:10 pm**

Gimme a break. This is the problem with the whole situation....we have to gauge someone's spirituality with how long they pray. Wonder what the bible has to say about that. Hmmm. To each their own. Blessed...praying continuously is a lot more than showing up at a watchnight service that is often used to breed superspiritual hokey. It's living the life and seeking for the things of God. That doesn't mean that I need to be at church every waking of the moment of the day laying over a pew. At some point...we have to get out there and start living what we profess.
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DHDRabbi

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 13680 **12/29/07 6:04 pm**

North Point has no services on Sunday, Dec 30. The reason is that there are hundreds of staff members needing time off like anyone else working a job. It's the same issue for Nightwatch services. When you have a church of 20,000, it just forces hundreds of people to come to work on a holiday. It's a whole different deal with a mega-church. Of course, members can find services around ATL if they want to go.

The Woodcarver

Hey, DOC Posts: 72 **12/29/07 6:38 pm**

I feel like I just drove down main street at mid-night what with all the flashing bill-boards! Cool

Memory03

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 21953 **12/29/07 9:28 pm**

my reason for not wanting to have one is the fact that folks are driving home with the many high/drunk drivers on the road... plain and simple...
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Memory03
8233 post at the original Acts Board...

Real Men get their haircut in a Barber Shop... The rest go to beauty parlors...

KariJay

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4825 **12/29/07 9:44 pm**

I enjoy not having services on New Years Eve because I love getting together with my family...having good food...seeing the kids...seeing my parents...and being together. We sit around and play games all night. And to me, that's priceless. We don't normally have the time to just all get together and sit around and have fun. And we get to do this because everyone HAS to stay up late and we don't have to work the next day. And every year, New Years has been priceless to me because of the quality time I get to spend with my family. For some reason, I don't think God would disagree with that.
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Living Life...Learning Life...Loving Life...

roughridercog

Acts Mod Posts: 25305 **12/29/07 10:04 pm**

KariJay

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4825 **12/29/07 10:17 pm**

Dave Dorsey

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 13654 **12/29/07 10:33 pm**

Brenda

Its been awhile since I've been to one.

Golf Cart Mafia Soldier Posts: 2438 **12/29/07 10:55 pm**

I remember tho, the service would start around 9 pm. We had different singing groups in.
The service was divided into halves.
The first half was with half the singers along with worship time.
Then we'd break about half way through it with fellowship, food and drink.
Then we would convene back into the sanctuary and have more singing and worship. Somewhere in there we would have a testimony time.
Right before mid-night we would all either be in the alter praying or at our seats..but we did pray the old year out and the new year in.
By 12:30 we were well on our way home.. missing the drunks on the street. As they were still partying where ever they were.

Somewhere during the years that followed, less and less people came out to where now, its hardly ever done.

What ever happened to our excitment and zeal?? Sad

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KariJay

Re: Its been awhile since I've been to one.

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4825 **12/29/07 11:12 pm**

Memory03

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 21953 **12/29/07 11:38 pm**

Pastor Gary

Re: Your forefathers and mothers prayed for days

Acts Mod Posts: 3530 **12/30/07 4:31 am**

BlessedinMsTn

Pastor Gary

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6126 **12/30/07 4:53 pm**

I am commanded of Christ to judge every man !!!!! How ludicrous of us to say Judge not,, when scripture tells us to KNOW THEM,, which you must judge a mans works to KNOW THEM that labor among you... You are called to judge every man by their fruits

I am simply not to judge their salvation,, but absolutely we can judge a persons life by their works, their fruits.....

I am cautioned by Christ not to render judgment unless I know that I am not guilty of the same sin as the person of whom I am making judgment.

If a brother is disobeying the Word of God, I am told to judge him accordingly and to be careful I don't fall into the same sin.
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www.thevaughnfamily.org
The Remnant are Returning. Foundations are being Restored. All Breaches are being Repaired. The Body of Christ is Rising!

Pastor Gary

Re: Pastor Gary

Acts Mod Posts: 3530 **12/31/07 3:23 am**

BlessedinMsTn

Pastor Gary,, lets tear out a few mor pages

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6126 **12/31/07 1:02 pm**

I'm gonna list an entire cadray of scriptures that YOU can tear out since you accuse me of doing the same over the one scripture youve given out of context.

The following are some of the key passages on judging that are widely abused and taken out of context today:

MATTHEW 7:1-5 -- Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

First, if we examine the context of this passage we see that Jesus is not condemning all judging; He is condemning hypocritical judging (Mat. 7:5).

To forbid something in another person that I allow in my own life is hypocrisy, and it is a great and deep-seated sin among men. For a parent to tell his children not to listen to rock music when he listens to Country-Western music is hypocrisy. To tell my children not to smoke when I smoke or to attend church when I don’t attend church, or to be serious about God’s will when I am not that serious about His will, or to be kind to others when I am not kind to them or to their mother, or to obey me when I don’t obey my husband is hypocrisy. This is the type of thing that Christ was warning about.

This is not to say, though, that Christ forbade judging in general. That He is not condemning all judging is evident from the context. In the same sermon He warned about false prophets.
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Mat. 7:15-17).

It is impossible to beware of false prophets without judging doctrine and practice by the God’s Word. How can I know who a false prophet is if I do not measure preachers by God’s Word?

That Christ is not condemning all judging is also evident by comparing Scripture with Scripture. In other passages we are commanded to judge.

TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY

The Lord Jesus Himself said we are to judge righteous judgment (Jn. 7:24).

We are to judge sin in the church (1 Cor. 5:3, 12)
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY
. “For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, ... For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?”

We are to judge matters between the brethren (1 Cor. 6:5).
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY
“I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?”

We are to judge preaching (1 Cor. 14:29).
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY
“Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.”

We are to judge those who preach false gospels, false christs, and false spirits (2 Cor. 11:1-4).
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”

We are to judge the works of darkness (Eph. 5:11).
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

We are to judge spirits (1 John 4:1).
TEAR THIS ONE OUT PASTOR GARY
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

We are even to judge all things (1 Cor. 2:15-16).
TEAR THIS ONE OUT TOO
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

The spiritual man does not judge things by his own thinking but by the mind of Christ in the Word of God. He knows that he lives in a fallen world filled with lies and error and spiritual deception and he knows that he has the light of God in the Scripture and he thus judges all things by that.

ROMANS 14:4 -- “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.”

This passage is frequently abused by those who have the ecumenical philosophy. It is said that this verse forbids us to expose sin and error and compromise. The verse is also used to support the doctrine that Scripture can be divided into fundamental or essential and non-fundamental or secondary doctrine.

Thus, Romans 14 is discussing how we are to deal with matters NOT CLEARLY TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE. In matters in which God has not plainly spoken, I am to give liberty.
On the other hand, in matters in which God has plainly spoken, the only liberty is to obey. People use Romans 14:4 to defend many areas of plain disobedience, such as worldly music, long hair on men, immodest dress on women, etc. Since the Bible has spoken plainly about these matters, it is a misuse to apply Romans 14:4.

You are missing the mark by a great distance in your understanding of this passage.

1 CORINTHIANS 4:3-5 --
TEAR THIS ONE OUT FOR SURE
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

Paul is not saying that believers should judge nothing at all and should leave all judgment to God. This would be contrary to many other passages in the same epistle (i.e., 1 Cor. 2:15; 5:3, 12; 6:2-3; 14:29).

He is saying, rather, that believers are not to judge ministers by their own human thinking as to what a minister should be and how he should teach and act, but they are to judge righteous judgment according to God’s Word. He is talking about being judged by “man’s judgment” (1 Cor. 4:3).

It is not required that a minister suit men and bend to their thinking; it is required that he be faithful to God, and this is the only proper standard by which he can be judged.

Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is also saying that ultimate and final judgment belongs only to the Lord; therefore, we must be humble and cautious in our judgments in this present time (1 Cor. 4:4-5).

Even though we have the Word of God and we are obliged to judge everything on the basis of God’s Word, we must not think that we are infallible. We have to walk in the light that we have and live our lives and exercise our ministries on that basis, but our knowledge is very imperfect in this present world.

We can know if a man’s teaching is false and we can know enough, therefore, to mark his error and to avoid it, but we do not know the secrets of men’s hearts and we do not know all of the things that will be brought to bear and come into play when God judges men in that perfect light of a coming day.

JAMES 4:11-12 -- “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”

Like Matthew 7:1, Romans 14:4, and 1 Corinthians 4:5, James 4:11 is frequently misused by the ecumenical crowd to support the false doctrine that Christians are forbidden to judge doctrine and practice. To make these verses teach that Christians can never judge, though, throws the Bible into confusion. There is a right judgment and a wrong judgment. Many verses command us to judge righteous judgment (Luke 12:57; John 7:24; 1 Cor. 2:15). We are to judge preaching (1 Cor. 14:29), sin in the churches (1 Cor. 5:3), issues in the churches (1 Cor. 6:5), sin in our own lives (1 Cor. 11:31), false teachers (Mat. 7:15; Rom. 16:17); spirits (1 John 4:1), etc.

When, then, is James forbidding? The context clarifies the matter.

First, James is referring to speaking evil (Jam. 4:11). Proper judging is to speak the truth in love. The truth is not evil and speaking the truth in love is not evil. The type of judging condemned by James is judging in the sense of tearing down, tale bearing, and slander. It is judging with an evil intent. When one judges sin and error scripturally, it is never with a desire to hurt people. The Pharisees judged Jesus in an evil manner (Jn. 7:52). The false teachers at Galatia and Corinth judged Paul in the same manner, trying to tear him down in the eyes of the churches (2 Cor. 10:10). This is what James forbids.

Second, James is referring to judging in a way that is contrary to the law of God (“there is one lawgiver,” Jam. 4:12). This refers to judging others by human standards rather than divine, thus setting oneself up as the lawgiver. The Pharisees did this when they judged Jesus by their traditions (Mat. 15:1-3). On the other hand, when a believer judges things by God’s Word in a godly and compassionate manner, he is not exercising his own judgment; he is exercising God’s judgment. When, for example, I say that it is wrong for a woman to be a pastor or it is a shame for a man to have long hair or those who love the world are adulterers, this is not my judgment or law; it is God’s (1 Tim. 2:12; 1 Cor. 11:14; Jam. 4:4).
_________________
www.thevaughnfamily.org
The Remnant are Returning. Foundations are being Restored. All Breaches are being Repaired. The Body of Christ is Rising!

Pastor Gary

Re: Pastor Gary,, lets tear out a few mor pages

Acts Mod Posts: 3530 **12/31/07 4:16 pm**