WEST LIBERTY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.” Philippians 3:10
Mar 16, 2025
THE GOD WE WORSHIP
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Message and Scriptures
Blessing and Come!
Revelation 22:14-21
WLCF VISION STATEMENT – To be a God centered, God loving, Holy Spirit filled, led and empowered Church, having Christ as the Head and we, as His Body, being used to make disciples of Jesus to build His Kingdom.
CHURCH COVENANT:
We covenant together with God and with one another in an ever-increasing relationship with God as follows: Lord God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we covenant with you and with each other… That we will seek to be kingdom people living as kingdom individuals in kingdom homes in a kingdom church.
BARUCH ATA YHWH SEBAOTH – Bless You. Praise You. Thank You Beloved LORD GOD. We are thankful for our West Liberty area community, the cooperative efforts of our churches, and the support we share with our faith partners in celebrating YOU and YOUR work in our lives.
Weekly Dawn Prayer – Wednesday mornings at 7:00am both in person and via Zoom
Daily Time Alone with God – for a daily devotion please follow “Time Alone With God”, found on the website. Please pray TAG every day.
Prayer Chain – Call or email Lynne Zeman 319-627-4858 or westlibertychristianfellowship@gmail.com
TODAY AT WLCF (On Site and Zoom)
Worship Service
9:00
a.m. Adult Sunday
school 10:00
a.m. Prayer
10:30 a.m.
Worship Service
THIS WEEK AT WLCF No Bible Studies this week March 17-22
Bible Studies/Sunday School/Worship
Tuesday 7:00 p.m. Spanish Bible Study – Practica El Caminoo
Wednesday 7:00 a.m. Dawn Prayer – Prayer for the World/Nation/Community/WLCF
6:00 p.m. Youth Bible Study – Luke / Psalms
6:30 p.m. Adult Bible Study – Practicing The Way
Saturday 7:30 a.m. Men’s Bible Study - Revelation
Sunday 9:00 a.m Adult Sunday School, Women’s Sunday School
10:00 a.m. Prayer (Sanctuary) Social (Foyer)
10:30 a.m. Worship Service
Birthday(s)
Monday March 17 – Audrey Perdue
Tuesday March 18 – Letha Blaskowski, Scott McKillip
Thursday March 20 – Hudson Ortiz
Friday March 21 – Celi Esquivel and Donna Hemingway
Anniversary(ies)
Tuesday March 18 –Mike & Lynne Zeman
Wednesday March 19 – Mario & Cindy Padilla
Thursday March 20 – Leo & Vania Kirkpatrick
MASKS: Everyone is now welcome to make their own decision regarding wearing masks. There will still be a supply by the entry door, but it is your choice whether you wear a mask.
Zoom –You will need to download the app on your phone or computer. The code for ALL videos is 228 893 6865. The password is 416991. Join us!
UPCOMING EVENTS, SERVICES, AND ACTIVITIES
Vacation Bible School for summer 2025 will be June 23 – 27. Our theme is True North: Trusting Jesus in a Wild World We are looking for someone to act as coordinator.
Passover Seder Meal: WLCF will be having a Passover Seder meal at 6pm on Maundy Thursday, April 17. The Seder is a ritual involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Ancient Egypt, and it invites us to consider our own journey of spiritual formation from the slavery of sin to our freedom in Christ. We will share more information as we get closer, but we invite everyone to attend.
Easter Sunday – Sunday, April 20: We are planning an 8am Early Morning Worship, 9am church potluck breakfast, 10am Easter Egg Hunt and regular prayer time, 10:30 Worship Service
ONGOING EVENTS, SERVICES, AND ACTIVITIES
Baptism – If you are interested in following Jesus in the Waters of Believer’s Baptism please see Pastor Mario.
West Liberty Food Pantry – Is open at FCU Saturdays 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. and Thursdays 3:00 – 4:00 pm and 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Thanks to the men who deliver these items to FCU. Julie McKillip is our coordinator.
Church library – You are invited to check out the books from the library downstairs.
Copy of the Message or Bulletin – Visit our website: www.wlcf.org (an audio version is included) or contact Brad Jenkins.
Stephen’s Ministry – is available for anyone needing someone to walk beside them or pray with them. Please contact Kelsey Jenkins 319-936-4891 or Cindy Mays 319-330-4620 for more information.
Child Care: Child care is available in the Nursery during worship service.
Children’s Sunday school – during the sermon at the 10:30 a.m. worship service.
OUR GIVING TO THE LORD’S WORK: Offering Box – back table
Giving in March: $1720, $2865. We are behind budget $4767.59. We need a monthly offering of $9150.52 and a weekly offering of $2111.66 to match our budget. BARUCH ATA YHWH SEBAOTH for the giving of YOUR people through the years. God loves a cheerful giver. Checks can be mailed to the church or dropped off at the church, in the mailbox at the end of the lane. You are also invited to sign up for Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF). Please see Lynne for details.
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WLCF YOUTH MINISTRY
WLCF Youth Group for young people in 6th – 12th grades
Ministries
Worship Service: Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
Youth Night: Wednesday 6 – 6:30 pm – Luke& Psalms (Please bring your Bibles).
Activities and Events
COMMUNITY YOUTH GROUP (CYG)
If you are interested in serving this ministry in any way, let Pastor Mario know. They need one board member and several cube leaders. The group meets at First Church United (FCU) on Sunday evenings.
March 16 No CYG – Spring
Break
March 23 Games and Special Music 6pm FCU
March
30 Regular CYG 6pm FCU
April 6 Photo Scavenger Hunt 6pm
FCU
April 13 No Talent Talent Show 6pm FCU
TIME ALONE WITH GOD (TAG)
Sunday, March 16, 2025
We reach the seventh and final beatitude, Some translations have: 'Blessed are they that keep the commandments.' But the best reading is: 'Blessed are those washing their robes.’ Every person carries about with him a robe. He is always weaving it, for his every thought, word, and deed enters into it. That robe is splashed, dirty and altogether filthy (cf. Zc. 3: 3). In the entire world, moreover, there is no power that can clean it.
As far as this robe is concerned, all earthly detergents are useless. They are of no avail. Read Jeremiah 2:22, a very striking and beautiful passage. That robe is your character. God, however, has provided a remedy. It is He who says: 'Blessed are those washing their robes.' To wash your robe means to have recourse to the cleansing fountain of the blood of Jesus Christ. That blood not only removes all guilt, but also has merited for us the purifying and sanctifying Spirit and we must have recourse to it constantly. The one who washes his robe in the cleansing fountain receives, by God's sovereign grace, the right to come to the tree of life (cf. 2: 7; 22: 2), and may enter by means of the gates into the city. Outside the city are all those who have the characteristics of the harlot.
The Apocalypse is intended for all the churches throughout all the centuries. Not John but Jesus Christ Himself is the Author of this book. He is the exalted One, being both the root of David, so that David owes his origin, fame and position to him, and the off- spring of David (cf. Ps. 110: 1; Mt. 22: 42-45; Is. II: 1; 53: 2; etc.). He is the divine and human Saviour. This glorious, exalted Saviour is the Author of the book of Revelation. He is the bright star, the morning star. This star is the symbol of royalty (cf. Nu. 24: 17).
William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors, pp. 208f (1940).
And through the echoing bells, we hear another voice, a voice singing within the church. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony. I am David's root and offspring, the bright morning star. The song mingles with the bells, the voice of Jesus clearly audible through the echoing repetitions, the urgings, the warnings. Warnings there are indeed: it's too late to change now; wash your clothes in the lamb's blood, so that you can eat from the tree of life, because those who don't, those who love inventing lies of every kind, will be outside (verse 15). John isn't worried about 'consistency’ here; that's not how bells and choirs work. Yes, those people were in the lake of fire before, and now they're outside the city. It's the same picture with another twist of the kaleidoscope, as usual. Stop worrying about that; listen to the music. The words of this book. Coming soon. This prophecy. Yes, I am coming.
N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone P. 205 (2011)
All cleansing from sin, whether the sin of unbelieving days or the sins committed by disciples of Christ (John 1:8-9), is accomplished only by the blood of Christ. Such have the right to the tree of life and enter the city by the gates. John is affirming a basic principle; he has already concluded his prophecy, and described the heavenly city's descent to earth with the tree of life growing within. Here, one would suppose that eating of the tree of life gives access to the city; but such logical sequences do not disturb the apocalyptic way of thinking. Only those washed in the blood of the Lamb have access either to the tree or to the city. This is simply John's vivid way of saying that eternal life and a blessed destiny are found only through the atoning work of Christ.
Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on The Revelation of John, p. 293(1972).
No sound, no word, no name is more sacred to Christians than "Jesus.”
On only two occasions in the Bible does Jesus identify himself by that sacred name. To Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:5; also 22:8; 26:15). At the end of the book of Revelation he announces, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches (v. 16). These words continue without a break the speech of Jesus that began with the promise, "Behold, I am coming soon" (vv. 12-15). They are Jesus' own restatement of the words of the long title at the book's beginning (1:1-2) and of John's words in 22:6: "The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
At the very end of the New Testament, however, the coming of God is the coming of Jesus, and its meaning is at last transformed. Yes, I am coming soon is no longer a threat, but a promise. The bad dream is over. "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." There is both curse and blessing in the book of Revelation, but blessing has the last word. As the reader makes peace with the coming of Jesus, the long letter comes to a close. In the manner of the letters of Paul, John ends with the closing salutation, The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen (v. 22).
J. Ramsey Michaels, Revelation. pp. 255, 260 (1997)
A blessing is pronounced upon those who wash their robes, that is, those who remain undefiled by their steadfast refusal to comply with the demands of the beast. In 7:14 the great multitude around the heavenly throne clothed in white robes are "they who have come out of the great tribulation: they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” … "Come, Lord Jesus" is the equivalent of the transliterated Aramaic in I Corinthians 16:22, maranatha. At the very close of the book is the confession that the answers to the problems of life do not lie in man's ability to create a better world but in the return of the One whose sovereign power controls the course of human affairs. “Christianity is not a faith which bids us look for a gradual upward march of man till he reaches an ideal state of civilisation" (Preston and Hanson, p. 145). Redemptive history remains incomplete until Christ returns. It is for the final act, in the great drama of redemption that the church awaits with longing.
For an apocalypse to end with a benediction is unusual. Its presence may be accounted for by the fact that since it began as an epistle (1:4 ff), it would be appropriate to close with a benediction (cf. I Cor 16:23; Eph 6:24; etc.). The benediction is pronounced upon all who have listened to the book as it was read aloud in the churches of Asia. The final "Amen" (AV, ASV, RSV) is probably a scribal addition (in view of the weakness of manuscript evidence supporting its inclusion).
Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation. Pp. 393, 396ff (1977).
The parousia is the very next event on his timetable. 'It was, and still is, true to say', wrote Charles Cranfield, 'that the Parousia is at hand.’ Thus Christian disciples are characterized by faith, hope and love. Faith apprehends the already of Christ's achievement. Hope looks forward to the not yet of his salvation. And love characterizes our life now in the meanwhile. So 'soon' may be chronologically inexact; but it is theologically correct.
John Stott, The Incomparable Christ, p.231(2001)
What I learned today:
VOLUNTEER ASIGNMENTS
Church Cleaning Schedule
Apr 6 & 13 Sandy Green & Geri Owen
Apr 20 & 27 Enedelia Gamon & Berta Eqquivel