Mark Scholten

Session Summary June 2022

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All Session members were present along with guests Sharon Kuhn and Carla Wooten. We prayed specifically for eight of our church families.  We heard reports from the pastor about families that have recently attended and been contacted by him and others. The Walk Through the Bible program was recent held and attended by 44 people. The Trellis team reported that our May financials closed with a $11,300 surplus, helping to catch up from earlier deficits and leaving us $3,200 overall below budget for the year.  Continue to pray for wisdom as the Session deals with this issue. About 20 people are regularly attending the Wednesday evening “Your Questions, God’s Answers dinner and study. Cards will be going out to people moving to our church neighborhood over the next four months and will introduce them to our church. Vacation Bible school in cooperation with Lakemont PCA will be held in our facilities next week. The Worship team has introduced the weekly Westminster Whispers and Winds email for church wide announcements and encouragement. We are urged to review this information each week. June 26th we are hosting a families with children luncheon after morning worship.  The ladies are encouraged to attend the upcoming “Meet and Eat” on July 15th, and a church wide dinner is being planned for July 31. Sharon Kuhn has just returned from a mission’s trip to Kenya. Sign up to adopt a missionary that we support. Pastor Mark and Dan will be attending General Assembly in Birmingham next week. The matter we have before Savannah River Presbytery is still pending and continuous to need our prayers. There are many activities and plans in process to minister well to the members of Westminster and our community. Please pray for God’s blessing, and if you have a talent or area of interest please talk to the elders or pastor or ministry team leaders for how you might also help.  We also could use more help with children’s church activities. Please see Karrie Harmer.  

Possibilities of the Empty Nest

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After the kids are grown and gone, you are more than halfway through this thing that we call life. How are you doing? How would you grade your life to this point? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What have you done right?  What have you done wrong? What were your missed opportunities?

Why go through that potentially painful exercise in self-examination?

So that you can see clearly the rest of the way.  If you can learn from the past for a better future.

You have invested in many of the right things; marriage, kids, a career, a church, a ministry. You have paid the bills and made your way through life with some acceptable degree of success.

You have made some mistakes too. You see it now. Age has brought you a measure of wisdom, but you cannot change the past. But you are wiser for the mistakes that you have made.  I used to tell my kids, that if they would simply learn from their mistakes, they would all be geniuses by now!  How much more is that true of empty nesters?

So, What is next for you in marriage and in life? What is marriage like after the empty nest?

Some marriages are so focussed on the kids; things like keeping them alive, reducing the damage that they can do as teenagers, and protecting them as best you can from the big mistakes in life.  You have guided them into adulthood. It consumed much of your family time, all of your vacations, and 110% of your money. What now?

Now that you have the time, the money, and the freedom what will you do with it?  How will your invest your time?  What should marriage be like after the empty nest? It should be fantastic!! I can prove it in one word.  Grandkids!! All of the fun of kids, without diapers, discipline, and sleepless nights.

But seriously, what will you invest in now that you have the time and the opportunity? How do we finish well?  How do we best live after the empty nest? How can we have our latter days blessed?

What is your vision for life? What is your goal? We have one but many of us do not know what it is. What we actually do in life reveals what our vision for life is. What do we think that life is all about? Well, how do we actually live life? What do we spend our time on? So, what is your practical vision for life?  What do you actually do?

I have sometimes said that you can discern someone’s vision for life by looking at the way they spend their money. That is what they value. But, the one thing in life that is more valuable than money is time. Your vision for life is revealed and proclaimed by what you spend your time on.

Let me give some practical advice for investing your time after the empty nest.

Pursue your spouse. All people are made in the image of God; that means that they are all potentially, infinitely fascinating. Including your spouse!! Deepen your marriage. You now have an unrestricted opportunity to discover your spouse.  Make it a priority. Talk, fellowship, and share with each other.  Serve them in love, and that love will return to you 10 fold.  Take up a hobby together. Do life together.

Pursue your God. If the image of God in your spouse is fascinating, and it is; what will knowing the God behind the image be like?  Go deeper into your knowledge of God, your experience of God, and your enjoyment of God. You have more time to pursue God, pursue Him. Spend time with God, the ancient of days. Benefit from his wisdom.

Daily apply the gospel to yourself. Remind yourself daily who you are in Christ.

Invest in your kids and grandkids. Your children still need you. Your support and encouragement can be a tremendous blessing to their families and their marriage. Invest in your kids, still. Pour yourself, your love, and wisdom into your grandchildren.

Set your house in order. Write a will; answer the end-of-life questions; put it in writing. Plan your funeral. Get rid of the junk you have accumulated as you traveled through life. Don’t make your kids do it.

Invest in a church, a church fellowship, and a ministry. You have time, experience, and gifts. Use them. Be yourself in the presence of God and his people. Receive the love of God freely offered to you in the gospel. Hang around those people whose lives have been changed, sweetened, and redeemed by the grace of God. There is nothing better in life and no greater preparation for heaven.

Every stage of life has its joys and opportunities.  The empty nest can be, and perhaps should be, the best time of your life.

Communion Meditation

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The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb.  It is an invitation to the heavenly banquet. To participate in the sacrament is to receive the blessings of the eternal kingdom of Christ.

Every blessing of the Covenant are received, embraced, and enjoyed, by faith.  Faith is essential.  If you have faith, even weak faith, faith as small as a mustard seed, come to the table.

If you have no faith, if you do not believe, or if you are living in defiance of God’s commands; coming to this table will only bring judgment.  Don’t come.

What are these blessings that are received by faith at the table?

First, it is pardon for sin, all of them. 

Second, it is sanctification for sinner-saints.

Here, in this means of grace, the Holy Spirit sanctifies our nature, 

subdues our sins, and implants in our heart gospel grace. 

Here we have access to the favor of God.

Third, it is communion with God.

What is that sweet communion with God; what does it entail?

According to Samuel Davies, in the Supper, there are “reviving communications of divine love, to sweeten the affections of life; and the constant assistance of divine grace to bear us up under every burden, and to enable us to persevere in the midst of many temptations.”

Fourth, it is rededication. At the Lord’s Supper, we receive Christ as Savior and accept the gospel. Here, we commit ourselves to Christ; here we renew our vows of the covenant and and recommit to the covenant community.

When we receive the Supper, we are brought into the presence of our Great King and we celebrate the reality that we, who were outsiders, have now been brought into the family of God.

As you come, remember Jesus. Remember his willing sacrifice. Remember the spotless lamb of God whose blood cleanses you.

Communion Meditation (Help from Joel Spencer)

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The Gospel is necessary because of the reality of our estrangement from God. Why are we estranged from God? Why is there a relational chasm between us and our Creator? 

God is pure. We are sinners. It is that simple. 

God is holy, righteous, and good and he cannot tolerate our corruption, rebellion, sin, and death. 

Life, forgiveness, and acceptance is freely offered to us through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. He represented fallen man and satisfied God’s holy anger and met the claims of his justice. Praise the Lord! 

God has provided His own Advocate for us. God has reconciled us to Himself! This is why Jesus is the Gospel, and why Christians are in love with Him.  Believers have the freedom that comes from knowing that God no longer holds our sin against us. 

If this believe this, this table is for you. Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ. If you do not believe this, you should. But this table is designed for the comfort and encouragement of believers. If you do not believe, this table holds no charms for you. Repent and believe the gospel. Trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. And tell the church. Then, you will be welcome to this table of grace.

The Benediction: Don’t Leave Church Without It

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Why do we do it? Why does the pastor raise his hands? What should the congregation do during the benediction?

“Where the benediction is an ancient practice in Christian worship and found at the end of every Pauline epistle, many Christ are unclear on its meaning and treat it as little more than a pious way of ending a worship service… The benediction is God’s Word to us, both in Scripture and during the weekly public assembly.  Each week, God pronounces his benediction upon us, telling us that his promise, and not our experience, gets the final word to all who are in Christ.” URNCA  It is as if Jesus were saying to us, ‘‘I have been dead, and in dying made a curse for you; now that curse I have fully removed, and my Father hath acquitted me and you for it; and now I can be bold to bless you, and pronounce all your sins forgiven, and your persons justified.’’ Thomas Goodwin

“The church today should be encouraged to have a richer understanding of receiving Christ’s benediction, which testifies both to the presence of God among the congregation and to the completeness of the atoning work of the Savior.” Kelly Kapic

What does the word mean? Bene = Good; Dicere = to speak. It amounts to blessing; the good word, or speech. Benediction. The real content that is given during the benediction is grace. Paul mentions grace is each of his benedictions. 

The benediction is not a prayer, or a request being made to God; it is a pronouncement from God to us. It is a bestowal of his presence, grace and blessing.  It is not a mere reminder, but an actual giving of grace.

Some words or pronouncements achieve what they declare.  For instance, “Not guilty.” That conveys a status.  Or, “By the power vested in me, I introduce Greg and Sally, Husband and wife.” Or, “you are hired, or fired.”  In the benediction, we are blessed. That status is conveyed to us.  A spiritual transaction takes place.  We are filled with God’s promise, presence and blessing.

The source of the blessing is Jesus Christ.  It is an application of the person and work of Christ to the lives of his children.  The benefits of God’s plan and Christ’s work are applied to us by the Holy Spirit. This may be why the Spirit is not mentioned in the NT benedictions – the Holy Spirit is the person conveying the blessing from the Father and the Son.

Why does the pastor lift his hands?

Jesus did. In Luke 24:50-51, Jesus was lifting his hands in blessing his people as he ascended.  OT priests would also life their hands to convey a blessing (Lev 9:2).  In the early NT church, the presiding officer would literally lay his hands no the heads of the worshippers as the service ended to convey a blessing. Today, the pastor lifts his hands to bless, and the people raise their hands and eyes to receive the blessing.  It is not a prayer, but a blessing – keep your eyes open!

It is the minister, the one set aside to stand in the place of God, that pronounces the benediction. Elders or ministerial candidates can pray the blessing.  Yet, in families, the husband, as the prophet, priest, and king of his home, can pronounce a blessing on his family.

Interestingly, in Philippians 4:23, “be with your spirit,” your is plural and spirit is singular. This points to our unity in the Spirit.  We are one people.  It also harks back to Phil 1:27, “I will now that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”

So, don’t leave the worship service without receiving God’s parting blessing.  He sends us out into the world and into the week with his presence, promise, and grace. 

The True Church Obeys an Infallible Bible

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“There are those who wish to challenge the Full Authenticity and Infallibility/ Inerrancy of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, some “Christian” denominations don’t even hold God’s Word in the highest esteem. What are ways to address these positions?”

What is a true church?

1) One that holds to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 

2) One that holds to the gospel as true, 

3) One that submits to an authoritative Bible.  

The Reformed confessions emphasized three foundations for the true church:

1) The gospel is preached, 

2) The sacraments are served in fundamental integrity, and 3) Discipline is exercised.  

But if you boil all these marks of the true church down it amounts to this: 

The Word of God is received as authoritative and it is obeyed.  

1) For in the Bible we find the gospel, and how to preach it; 

2) we find the sacraments and how to serve them; 

3) and the standard by which we exercise discipline.  

Receiving the Bible as the Authoritative Word from God is essential to the true church.

The God behind the inerrant, infallible, authoritative Bible is the foundation of the Church.  So, to say a church is biblical is redundant.  Every true church accepts the Bible as our standard of truth. Francis Schaeffer called this the watershed issue of the church.

So if a church claims to be a true church yet denies the Word of God and refuses to submit to it; they are a false church.  

Many churches, that we call liberal, have denied the authority of the Bible and the wisdom of the historic confessions. 

If the Word of God does not lead them, what is their authority?  If it is not Theonomy (God’s law), it is autonomy, (self law). The spiritual battle that is being waged all around us is between God’s Word and wisdom and fallen man’s word and wisdom.

PCUSA, out of which the PCA came, had 4.25 million members in 1965.  Today they have just under 1.2 million. They lost more than 3 million members. Today, 69% of their members are 50 or older and 40% of their churches have less than 50 members. The PCA has more infant baptisms than the PCUSA, even though we are 1/3 their current size.

If the church doesn’t stand on the Bible, they stand with the culture.  If that is true, why do we need the church?

In 1958 J. I. Packer wrote, “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God.”

“We have to choose whether we will accept the biblical doctrine of Scripture as it stands or permit ourselves to refashion it according to our fancy. We have to choose whether to embrace the delusion that human creatures are competent to judge and find fault with the words of their Creator or whether to recognize this idea for the blasphemy that it is and drop it. We have to decide whether to carry through our repentance on the intellectual level or whether we shall still cherish our sinful craving for a thought-life free from the rule of God. We have to decide whether to say that we believe the Bible and mean it or to say it and look for ways whereby we can say it without having to accept all the consequences.

“If the human mind is set up as the measure and test of truth, it will quickly substitute for man’s incomprehensible Creator a comprehensible idol fashioned in man’s own image; man wants a god he can manage and feel comfortable with and will inevitably invent one if allowed. He will forget (because he cannot understand) the infinite gulf that separates the Creator from his creatures and will picture to himself a god wholly involved in this world and wholly comprehensible (in principle, at any rate) by the speculative intellect…. Once people reverse the proper relationship between Scripture and their own thinking and start judging biblical statements about God by their private ideas about God, instead of vice versa, their knowledge of the Creator is in eminent danger of perishing and with it the whole idea of supernatural religion.”

What are the reasons that we believe that the Bible is the Word of God?

Honesty – its heroes are exposed as sinners. David, Moses.

Preservation – We still have it, and it is accurate. “Down through the years it’s been ridiculed, burned, refuted, destroyed, but it lives on. It is the anvil that has worn out many hammers. Most books are born, live a few short years, then go the way of all the earth; they’re forgotten. But not the Bible.”

The Bible claims to be the Word of God.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16)

Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6)

Jesus said, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

Miracles – like the resurrection.

Unity – Written by many authors over many years. “Billy Graham writes: “The Bible was written by 40 writers, over a period of 1,600 years, in 66 books. And the great theme from one end of the Bible to the other is redemption.”

Accuracy – historical and geographic.  “(The Bible) accurately recording the past, accurately interpreting the present, and accurately predicting the future.

Christ endorsed it.

Predictive prophecy.

The uniqueness, power, and magnitude of its teaching. 

Hebrews, 4:12, it says: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” 

Power to change lives. The blessings to those who accept it.

But only the Holy Spirit can convince us that the Bible is the Word of God.

Westminster Confession of Faith 1:5

5. We may be influenced by the testimony of the church to value the Bible highly and reverently, and Scripture itself shows in so many ways that it is God’s word; for example, in its spiritual subject matter, in the effectiveness of its teaching, the majesty of its style, the agreement of all its parts, its unified aim from beginning to end (to give all glory to God), the full revelation it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, its many other incomparably outstanding features, and its complete perfection. However, we are completely persuaded and assured of the infallible truth and divine authority of the Bible only by the inward working of the Holy Spirit, who testifies by and with the word in our hearts.10

10. 1 Tm 3.15, 1 Jn 2.20,27, Jn 16.13-14, 1 Cor 2.10-12, Isa 59.21, 1 Cor 2.6-9.

Iron sharpens Iron

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Hebrews 3:12-13, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you and evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you many be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Your walk with God is a community project. The isolated, separated, loner, Jesus-and-me religion that often marks modern church culture is not the religion that is described in the New Testament. Many of us live virtually unknown, and many of the people whom we think we know we don’t actually know. Many of us live in endless networks of terminally casual relationships, in which conversations seldom go deeper than the weather, food, politics, the coolest movie that’s out, or the latest cute thing your child did. Most of what we call fellowship never really rises to the level of the humble self-disclosure and mutual ministry that makes fellowship actually redemptively worthwhile. Most of what we call fellowship is little different from what happens at the pub down the street.
Why do I need the daily intervention of the body of Christ? Because sin blinds me to me. How about you? Have your embraced your daily need for the help of the body of Christ? Who knows you? Whom have you invited to intrude into your private space to function for you as an instrument of seeing? Do you have a name in mind right now? When someone who knows you points out a sin, a weakness, or a failure, are you thankful? Or do you feel your chest tighten and your ears get red as you silently prepare yourself to rise to your own defense? Are you skilled at giving nonanswers to personal questions, or do you run toward the daily help that God has provided? That help is not something to afraid of or shy away from, because it is a tool of God’s forgiving, rescuing, transforming, and delivering grace.
Paul Tripp

Communion Meditation April 27, 2022

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“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27

The closer we draw near to God the more we become like him. The nearer we come to the heart and mind of God, the more that we reflect His heart and mind. We begin to think what God thinks and feel what God feels.  

So, true religion, or genuine sanctification, can be described like this: you visit orphans and widows and do not roll in the mud with the rest of the world.

The grace of God changes us into his image and we begin to bear his likeness. If God the Holy Spirit dwells in you, it will show. There will be some evidence of His presence, some inkling of His likeness in your life.

You come to the Lord’s Table with the Lord’s Spirit within you. 

How are you bearing God’s likeness in your life? 

Are you visiting widows and orphans? 

Are you saying “no” to the shallow thinking and empty pleasures of the world? 

Does the gift of faith and the strength that you derive from this communion with God making inroads in your life in a practical way? 

We come to the table with faith, plus nothing.  But true faith is never alone. Faith breaks the surface in some evident way. What is the evidence that your faith is real, and that it is working?

If you have no evidence, you may not have faith.  You must have faith in Christ crucified, risen, and reigning to come to this table.  But even if you have weak faith or small faith – you are to come and commune with the Savior.

Session Summary April 2022

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All Session members were present along with guest Millie Moore for our meeting this week.  We prayed for eight of our families.  We heard reports from the pastor about families that have recently attended and been contacted.  Special plans have been made to celebrate the life of Chris Bourne with her family and friends this coming Sunday at 4 PM at our church, and there will be no evening prayer service.  The National Day of Prayer is on May 5th and the sanctuary will be open from 10-12 AM for those that would like to pray at the church.   The Walk Through the Bible program is coming up on Saturday, June 11.  The Trellis team reported that our fiscal year closed on March 31 with giving $43,000 short of our expenses for the year and our cash on hand down to $71,000.  Pray for wisdom as the Session deals with this issue.  Pastor Mark attended the recent Savannah River Presbytery meeting.   Sharon Kuhn will be traveling to Kenya for 11 days starting May 16th to help lead some women’s ministries and would appreciate our prayers.  Prime Timers are visiting the lake at the Nielsen’s on May 10th, and start planning now to attend a church picnic on May 21.  The discipleship team reported on the “Your Questions, God’s Answers” Wednesday evening meal and presentation that started this past Wednesday and will continue every other Wednesday.   The Church Growth team reported on a new digital sign that has been donated and will be installed soon.  The deacons are having roof repairs done on the Palmer wing restrooms.  We are joining Lakemont to have VBS at our church on June 20-24.  There are many activities and plans in process to minister well to the members of Westminster and our community.  Please pray for God’s blessing, and if you have a talent or area of interest please talk to the elders or pastor, or ministry teams leaders about how you might also help.

Communion Meditation April 10, 2022

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Romans 4:20-25 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”  But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Abraham had faith in God. He believed that God could do what He had promised. Nothing can stand in the way of God’s power and promise. To that faith, that trust and rest in the person and promise of God, to that faith, righteousness is given.

That is the faith that opens this table to you – a personal trust and commitment to God, His Word, His Promise, His Son. If you have that faith, come.  If not, don’t come; but hear the words of our text” “The words … were not written for (Abraham’s) sake alone, but for ours also. (Righteousness) will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

That is the gospel. Receive it, believe it, commit to it; and this table will be opened for you.

We come to this table is faith; trusting in what God has promised to us in Jesus Christ.  We come remembering him, his life and death; his obedience and suffering for our salvation.