19 Mar

wfelmlee Posted in Sermon Recap Posts One comment

What Troubled Jesus?

John 12:27 Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled……” What troubled Him? This is a question which has intrigued me for the past several weeks as I began my study for our church’s series of messages for the Easter season. The time of Jesus’ saying that He was ‘troubled’ was the culmination of what we call Holy Week, the beginning of which was the Triumphal Entry into the city of Jerusalem. He had entered being proclaimed by His followers as ‘King of Israel’. Maybe His followers had finally heard and seen Him for who He was. It should have been a joyous and celebratory time for our Lord, or so we would think. But as we look at the mood and demeanor of our Savior that week, we see over and over the description of a troubled soul. Weeping, frustrated, suffering, nearly a ‘tormented’ being. Was it the prospect of impending torture, scourging, denial, betrayal, abandonment by friends, or the physical death by the cross? He was keenly aware of each of these coming events. Surely it must be one, if not all, of these factors that our Lord was so troubled over, or so we would think. What ‘we would think’ is so many times wrong and it would be if we thought any of the former. I hope we as a church become impressed with what impressed itself on the very soul of our Lord, something that troubled Him and should trouble us. For as we see it in it’s most vile and horrible light we will never look upon it the same again. We will use it as a reminder of our only hope and eternal life and see it as a symbol of grace which should spur us on to holy living. What prospect troubled the very Creator of the universe to such a degree? It was sin and it’s penalty of death. It was not necessarily the physical death and anguish but the punishment of sin and the forsaking of the Father. Something which was so foreign in God’s perfectly created good world and something which was so unnecessary for His own sake. This separation from His Father and the glory which He shared would be such weight on His soul that He would sweat drops of blood and cry out in complete anguish, “Why have You forsaken me.” It was the cross of Christ. This week we saw the heaviness of Jesus and the centrality and necessity of the cross in His instituting the Last Supper. Next week we will see Him leave the supper and proceed to the Garden of Gethsemane where he will be troubled to the point of sweating blood and finally we will see the utter anguish of His words as the Father turns his back on Him at the Place of the Skull. A period of twenty hours, the purpose or ‘hour’ for which He came. Yes, He was troubled and so should we be by the prospect of sin’s punishment. But as we sense that trouble and understand that He died not His own death but ours, what a celebration we will have when on Easter morning, we hear the angels say, ‘He is not here but He is risen!’. Sins punished, Forgiveness available! Rejoice! It is my hope as Pastor that we get a deep sense of the vileness and filthiness of the cross and the sin that required it when we see the cross as a symbol on a t-shirt, or piece of jewelry or as an icon within a church. I pray that we pause and remember the cost to our Savior, that we give thought to the grace extended to each of us who by faith participate in the cross with Him. Soli Deo Gloria

10 Mar

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts One comment

As though He needed anything

I received an email from one of our members this afternoon as part of a mass emailing he had sent to our members of Center Hill Community Church. It was an encouraging letter as he spoke of things happening at Center Hill, people who have encouraged him in the past and the faithfulness of several of Christ’s servants on the mission field. It included a link to an article in Credo Magazine about these faithful servants which I highly recommend you read. I have his permission to post his email here on the church website. Read it to be encouraged by his examples of faithfulness of Godly missionaries and encouraged by our church’s commitment to the same principle of discipleship seen in their lives. soli deo gloria Howdy Pilgrim Disciplers! This email may be a bit lengthy, but I felt led to share this missionary story in light of some of the curriculum we are using in our age 6-10 Sunday School Class here at Center hill. While Monica and I were in east Tennessee, we saw God, through our small church, raise up a young couple to be pioneer missionaries to unreached people groups in the jungles of Papua New Guinea – Bill and Kelley Housely along with their two young daughters Madison and Sabra. As a young boy Bill was raised in Papua New Guinea as the son of a missionary couple named Jack and Jane Housley. Jack and Jane Housley had a generation before attempted to be pioneer missionaries but soon found that they were not gifted in this area. But God had a better plan for them – they became support staff to new missionaries in the jungle – sort of like “parents” to new struggling missionaries – their ministry was to encourage the discouraged. Monica and I lived in a house we purchased from the Housley family and we ran our lawn and landscape business out of a building we rented from Jack, so we had a lot of contact with him – he certainly was an encourager! Jack helped me through some struggles I had with the fear of man in a really big way. Needless to say, when his son Bill and daughter-in-law Kelley wanted to go to the jungle they were tickled to death, but had no idea how the Lord would use them. Following in Jack and Janes’ footsteps, Bill and Kelley became New Tribes Missionaries (www.ntm.org) to a small tribe of indigenous people in the village of Itutang accessible only by a three day hike or helicopter flight in the middle of a mosquito infested swamp. Itutang is part of the greater Inapang language group. As part of one of their sending churches (http://www.gracetn.org/) in East Tennessee, Monica and I have followed them since they left in 2003. I will paste a recent article the Housley’s wrote in Credo Magazine (http://www.credomag.com/the-magazine/march-2012/) entitled “As Though He Needed Anything” about God’s great work in Itutang in the body of this email. I am encouraged to know that while God may not always fulfill our desires through our own lives, He may choose to fulfill those desires in the lives of our children, grandchildren or other spiritual “children”. Jack and Jane Housley so desperately wanted to learn a new language, translate the Scriptures and share Christ with unreached people groups. Though discouraged at first, by perservering in the background role of encouraging pioneer missionaries the door opened for their next generation to fulfill those desires in God’s timing. So what is the connection between Papua New Guinea, the Housley’s and Center Hill? Some of the Sunday School curriculum (New Tribes Creation to Christ) we teach is the same curriculum that Bill and Kelley use in the Jungle to disciple people from unbelief to spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ! It seems that God is greatly pleased when we take the time to truly learn about each other and take on the slow and often painful task of living with and diligently teaching each other about Jesus Christ from His beginning acts of creating the world to His incarnation, death, resurrection and His future glorious culmination of uniting Himself to His bride, the church! I hope that this modern mission’s account will inspire and encourage you all to be a part of God’s calling to disciple people from unbelief to spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ. This may mean teaching Sunday School; discipling your own children and grandchildren at home; discipling individuals at work; encouraging others in their discipling; or it might even mean going to a mosquito infested jungle to learn a new language in order to proclaim the glories of Christ! If you are a Christian, you are a minister of the Gospel! In Christ, Hank

20 Feb

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts No comments

Does religion matter in elections?

With the most recent rise of Rick Santorum’s numbers in presidential polls, he is coming under more scrutiny for his words. This being President’s Day and Santorum’s recent mentioning of the word ‘theology’ and President Obama in the same sentence, it has raised questions in my mind as to the place a candidate’s religious views should hold in our voting for that candidate. I’ve been amazed that for some reason certain people, liberals in particular, have divorced the issues of personal integrity and religious views from a candidate’s worthiness to hold office, especially the highest office of this country. They seem more concerned with their ability in economics and diplomacy than they do with their moral underpinnings. A person’s belief and thereby their morality or lack thereof will surely affect how they act and govern. I, for one, desire to not only know of a person’s’ religious beliefs’ but in particular their belief of the person and finished work of Jesus Christ (for this makes a true Christian should a person claim to be one). I came across this short article from The Gospel Coalition today which raised the question of the basis for the morality of two of our greatest presidents, Washington and Lincoln. Were they Christians or not is not answered by this article, for the issue of Christ has not been answered. But the truth of the matter, as recorded by history, is that morality (religion) was the integral strength of these leaders. A government or governor could not exist without the foundations of religion at it’s or his core. If that be true, can we afford not to know the religious beliefs of our candidates?

17 Feb

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts No comments

A Gracious People

One of a Pastor’s greatest joys is to have his congregation accept the preaching of God’s Word with readiness and without controversy. Often times the Word of God flies in the face of our accepted traditions and human understanding. Scripture tells us that the preaching of the gospel will be foolishness to some people. Even to God’s own children many times the scriptures seem archaic and sometimes ‘optional’. But as a church, Center Hill, believes that our final authority is the written Word of God for all matters of faith and godliness. We are currently in the middle of a series of messages in the book of Titus. A letter written by the Apostle Paul to a young Pastor, Titus, who was left on the isle of Crete to ‘straighten things out’ that were amiss in the church. It has not been an easy series to preach as a Pastor for the self examination that it has required and because of controversial matters such as our past week’s message. Paul is concerned because false teachers have entered into the church and caused ‘whole families’ to be ruined. The Apostle gives clear instruction to the young Pastor on how to deal with these false teachers and then turns his instruction to how to live graciously in Christian community. This he does by dealing with several classes of people, including older men, older women, younger women and younger men. The strong words of Paul to the younger women of this church seems to contradict the secular teaching of this world and our society today that proclaims that a women is to find her ultimate fulfillment in career status or financial advancement. Paul makes the point that the gospel message of grace and it’s power to change lives is made overwhelmingly evident to an unregenerate world when the younger women of faith find the highest calling and fulfillment in their devotion first to their husband and then to her children. Paul no where says that a women can’t have a career or work in the work place but he makes very clear that if a women makes her career or financial advancement a greater priority than her commitment to being a godly wife and mother than she transgresses Scripture. It was this, one of the most difficult messages I have had to preach, that was our passage last week. The discussion of our people in Sunday School that followed and the comments from this past week have been a blessing to me as Pastor. It has ALL been gracious. Many times the Word of God can seem offensive but our people at Center Hill have shown themselves to be committed to the proclamation of God’s Word even when they may not agree or are not sure. Our people have graciously submitted themselves to the scriptures since I have been Pastor here and it is a great joy and privilege for me to proclaim God’s Word each week. Thank you Center Hill, I love being your Pastor.

04 Nov

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts No comments

Getty’s Christmas Tour

Keith and Kristyn Getty will be performing their Christmas tour in Oil City, Pa. on November 30th. We are very privileged to have them so close to our church that we will organizing a trip to the concert. Please contact Pastor Guy for tickets and travel instructions. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear and see probably the most prolific, God used and talented hymn writers of our day and enjoy the season with new Christmas music. It will be a great time!

05 Sep

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts No comments

The Peace OF God

“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Recently I was asked about what I was preaching through in morning worship at our church (fortunately this was not from one of our members). As I began to explain that we are in the midst of the book of Philippians, the follow up question surprised me, ‘yeh, but how has this been made real to you and your church? You know you never preach anything that God doesn’t make it real.’ This scared me. Even though there is a thread woven through the book of Philippians of profound joy, it is not the common theme or the purpose of this book. Joy wouldn’t have scared me. Dealing with conflict within the church, partaking in suffering for the gospel, straining ahead and advancing the good news of Christ, all issues which Paul addresses to the Philippians, they would cause me alarm. If my friend’s assertion was true, and I knew it was, what was in store? It’s been nearly 7 months of preaching though this book and I find I have either a keener awareness of people’s daily struggles and the struggles within church life or we have been prepared for the trying of our faith. Our people have faced and are facing serious struggles of living the gospel in a fallen world. But praise God, our studies have included the above verses. It has become apparent to me that in the midst of all these struggles, what people crave is peace. An inner peace that says regardless of my situation there is a peace which floods my inner being, my soul is at rest. The book of Philippians has revealed that we can have that peace. The promise of the scripture is that when we bring our concerns or requests before God, and by the way these represent any possible source of anxiety in our lives; do they not, and they are brought with thanksgiving on our lips, God has promised not the granting of that request necessarily but a granting of a peace that cannot be described in human terms. A peace which cannot be comprehended apart from God because as the verse says it is the peace OF God. His own holy serenity envelopes us, a supernatural peace. The peace which God Himself enjoys. A peace which knows no end, knows no conflict. Wow, what a promise! If we will bring all of our anxious requests before the omnipotent Father with the humility of a desperately needy child, and a heart that overflows with the thankfulness of His grace already bestowed, then he promises us HIS peace. Thankfulness of His grace to us for our salvation, thankfulness of His grace in all good things is the key to the verse. If we come with thanksgiving in our hearts for His abounding grace than He promises us peace beyond description. Now that is a comfort. A peace and comfort which guards our inner beings from all anxiety and worry. A peace which says, my soul is at rest regardless of my struggle. So I have realized that as God begins to hold us accountable for the preaching and teaching of His word, He also includes His good promises. My prayer is that the folks of Center Hill find ourselves strengthened in the Lord and in His word, seeking this peace, seeking His peace. soli deo gloria

06 Aug

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts No comments

We’re baaaack!

For all of you who for months have been waiting for an update on our church’s post, WE”RE BACK! Due to numerous reasons we have not been able to keep up with post updates. As of today, we will be updating this site on a regular basis with information of God’s leading and His work at Center Hill, recaps of current studies, upcoming events, pictures, announcements, devotionals, issues important to the Church, and an occasional rambling from the Pastor. Speaking of the Pastor, I write this today as the permanent Pastor of Center Hill for the first time. I have been serving since Feb of 2009 as Center Hill’s full time ‘interim’ Pastor. As of June 5th, I have accepted the call to be the ‘permanent’ full time Pastor at the church. What an exciting time. My wife and I have grown to love each and everyone of the folks who call Center Hill ‘home’ and have enjoyed a freedom to preach and a willingness to be taught by a people of a church that few Pastors ever have the privilege of knowing. What a humbling and yet thrilling time for us at CHCC. Pray for our church as we begin to walk this path of Christian growth and worship together. Change is part of the Christian life as we are changed from glory unto glory in our journey to Christ-likeness. It is the goal of our church to provide a place of corporate worship, a place of Biblical education and a place to find the equipping of families and individuals to fulfill their call to let their manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. We will continue to strive to strengthen each other’s faith and walk in the Spirit as we look to the word of God and the God of the word. Change is coming but it is with the thankful hearts of current members looking back at the faithful individuals of Center Hill’s past who have forged a direction of Godliness and a commitment to His word. It is the unflinching conviction of the leadership of Center Hill to allow God to build His church as we walk in mutual submission to one another and to the leadership of Christ. It would be our hope and honor to have you join us at Center Hill for any of our worship or teaching services. We are committed to sound doctrine and meaningful worship as we walk this Christian life together. As was once said of a great church – ‘Come for the theology and stay for the community.’ soli deo gloria

06 Aug

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts One comment

Dad’s of daughters, watch this!

25 Mar

wfelmlee Posted in Blog Posts One comment

A passion for people, Lord!

As I sit at the 2011 Ligonier Ministry Annual Conference taking in the messages centering around Light and Heat, a Passion for the Holiness of God, I am once again reminded of the reality of my own lack of appreciation and sometimes even the lack of awareness of the holiness of God. This short trip has led me to realize that the church at large, and I in particular, have failed to see God for who He is and people for who they are. It is only when we see and understand, though finitely, God’s infinite wonder, magnificence and “transcendent purity”, that we begin to see our own sin and the weight of it. It is only in that moment of understanding of our own depravity and final condition of separation from God’s presence, that we truly begin to see others in their lostness. We had the privilege of worshiping at First Baptist Church of Barnwell, South Carolina this past week, where our good friend and mentor Keith Richardson is Senior Pastor. What a great time we had with them. The church’s Missional Pastor, Lee Clamp, delivered a convicting message of our eternal view of people, especially those outside the church. Do we see people while wearing our own pair of ‘Jesus goggles’? Do we see them on the very precipice of hell? Do we look about us during our visit to the grocery store and see those individuals but a breath from eternal torment? Surely we don’t. For if we did we would tell them of the gospel at every moment of opportunity. We would implore them with desperate cries to repent and believe. To cry out with the love of Christ about the love of Christ. But instead we are so easily satisfied with all this world affords that we complacently allow them to slip past us, possibly into a Christ-less eternity. As Spurgeon said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” Lord give us a greater view of You and thereby seeing ourselves and others as meriting souls of hell and yet as undeserving as we are, recipients of Your grace, even the grace of salvation. soli deo gloria

07 Mar

wfelmlee Posted in Sermon Recap Posts 2 comments

The Cause of All Things

I never expected the theological depths found in the story of a man being swallowed by a big fish and then delivered alive on dry land after three days. This fun to tell and hear children’s story has been a staple of last minute or surprise teaching opportunities for many years by more than one faithful Sunday School teacher. If you find yourself having been raised at all with any influence of a Christian church, you know the story very well, right?….. Maybe not. The past several weeks we have been preaching and teaching through the book of Jonah. We always follow up our morning worship hour with Sunday School and the topic of discussion and discovery for the adults is the morning message (man does this keep the preacher honest). The discussion these past several weeks has been wonderful. The topics which the book of Jonah has led us to has caused us to stretch and rethink our individual perception of God and who He is. Stretch and conform our thinking to a biblical view. As Pastor, I have found myself nearly at a loss for an adequate answer to some of the questions posed. Questions dealing with God’s sovereignty and His will. Why do bad things happen, sin and evil in general, election and man’s will, creation and the fall are just a few of the questions discussed these past 5 weeks. Yes, when you give serious consideration to the issue of God’s sovereignty, these issues become unavoidable in your study. Unavoidable but not always answered satisfactorily. In many of the cases, I have felt I nearly copped out when asked these probing questions by coming ultimately back to the cause of all things, God’s will. Why did God place His love on Israel, because he loved them. Why does God bring prosperity and create disaster, because He, the Lord does all these things. Why did God chose to persevere with Jonah and save Jonah from himself, because He did. Why did God….because He willed it. As I found myself in study today, I came across this statement from one the church’s divines. He sums it up better than I ever could…. “. . . it is very wicked merely to investigate the causes of God’s will. For his will is, and rightly ought to be, the cause of all things that are. For if it (God’s will) has any cause, something must precede it, to which it is, as it were, bound; this is unlawful to imagine. For God’s will is so much the highest rule of righteousness that whatever he wills, by the very fact that he wills it, must be considered righteous. When, therefore, one asks why God has so done, we must reply: because he has willed it. But if you proceed further to ask why he so willed, you are seeking something greater and higher than God’s will, which cannot be found. Let men’s rashness, then, restrain itself, and not seek what does not exist, lest perhaps it fail to find what does exist” I hope the folks of Center Hill have found this study to be as rewarding and convicting as I. I believe they have. It is encouraging when 75% of the adult congregation find the Word preached so compelling, not by human attraction incidentally, that they remain to discuss it further. When this occurs lives must be changed and God is honored. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!…. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33 By the way, who was the divine quoted above? No fair googling. E-mail me the answer and I’ll let you know who is right in Sunday School this week. SOLI DEO GLORIA!!!!!