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All Souls Anglican, Cherry Hill, NJ

March 2018 Prayer Letter

We greet you in Jesus’ name. Every month or so we will send this prayer email to you, letting you know the most effective way you might pray for us. We do hope you will consider All Souls Anglican for your personal prayers that this new mission for the gospel may continue faithful to the gospel.

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bible study

This coming Sunday: The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Join us this Sunday for Evensong at 4:00 PM for the fifth in a sermon series on Psalms 113-118, the “Hallel” or “Songs of Praise” sung as a unit by observant Jews on the evening of the first night of Passover, just prior to the meal. Thus, the Hallel became known as the “hymn” that Jesus sang with his disciples at the Last Supper, and why it is often part of services when churches keep the Lord's Supper. We will consider their Old Testament context, their significance in the Upper Room, and for believers today. We continue with Psalm 117, the shortest in the Psalter.

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For Your Prayers

We do so need and thank you for your prayers

Please use the buttons at the bottom of our newsletter to share with your network(s) among the saints of God to increase our prayer support.

Join us this month as we raise our voices in THANKS and in PRAYER to our heavenly Father:

   •    16 February marked the fourth anniversary of the church’s first public service. It was a time for thanking God for truly doing more than we could ask for or imagine. The church is still fragile, but it's full of promise, and God seems to be using it to help people follow Jesus more wholeheartedly. Give thanks to God for countless mercies that have brought us to this point. PRAY that the anniversary would continue to stir up gratitude to God in our hearts for giving us a church family and a Savior to worship together.

   •    An important hallmark of a young, small, church plant is the extent to which you remain dependent upon our heavenly Father’s provision. In his providence two of our families have undergone significant life transitions that has affected their ability to give. Give THANKS in the way the Vestry met to consider soberly a revised budget in light of an unplanned $13,000 shortfall so that we might be godly stewards of God’s provision. Pray that other All Souls members and friends of our plant that have prospered under his hand may be stirred to revise or to begin financial support of our mission.

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The Eclectic Society, Part 2

This year we’re reading selections from the discussions and the spiritual insights of the evangelical ministers who regularly met in London as “The Eclectic Society.” I hope you will find the time to read further around the section, so I have found the original volume for you in Google Books/Google Play. You can find the text by clicking this link.

Beginning on page 60, we read that on 23 July 1798 John Venn proposed that the topic for discussion on was: What Are the Real Causes of Enmity Against the Gospel? The group highlighted three principle areas that prevent the acceptance of the Gospel:

1. Christianity is a revealed religion, therefore is not dependent upon a human standard – this overturns our pride in the many distinctions or the personal standard we create to think ourselves superior to others:
The disposition in every man is to make himself the standard. Every man, therefore, in a degree, makes his own preconceived opinions the standard whereby he judges the Gospel. This accounts for many stumbling at its doctrines.
In a workhouse or a palace, enmity rises up against the simple exhibition of Jesus as the Saviour. The virtuous matron won't come down and place herself on the level in point of merit of one who has led an irregular life. The scholar won't come to sit at Christ's feet with poor men. The rich man won't come to use his goods as a steward.


2. Because it is revealed, opposition to the gospel is a spiritual opposition in a spiritual blindness or a corrupt conscience.
Man will not submit to God's justice. He refuses to believe himself damned justly—even the moral and virtuous feel this. The spirit and curse of the Law, therefore, are the causes of deep enmity. The offense of the Gospel is its being brought home to the heart, as requiring its sacrifice of everything to God.
3. The tipping point of rejection is the call of the gospel. Many may have a knowledge of Jesus’ identity and his mission, but his invitation leaves them cold.
But, in general, the perverseness of the will leads men to hate the self-denial of the Gospel. If we did not press the Gospel home, men would not spurn it.
In different ages, there have been different grounds of enmity against the Gospel. The chief ground of enmity in the Jews, was the shock given to their prejudices. The ground of enmity in the present day, is a prejudice less against the doctrines than against the demands of the Gospel. Men will allow you to hold the doctrines as your whim, if you press them not home on their consciences. As soon as the minister urges self-denial as required by the Gospel, then it is that men rise up against the Gospel.

1. Christianity is a revealed religion, therefore is not dependent upon a human standard – this overturns our pride in the many distinctions or the personal standard we create to think ourselves superior to others:
The disposition in every man is to make himself the standard. Every man, therefore, in a degree, makes his own preconceived opinions the standard whereby he judges the Gospel. This accounts for many stumbling at its doctrines.
In a workhouse or a palace, enmity rises up against the simple exhibition of Jesus as the Saviour. The virtuous matron won't come down and place herself on the level in point of merit of one who has led an irregular life. The scholar won't come to sit at Christ's feet with poor men. The rich man won't come to use his goods as a steward.

2. Because it is revealed, opposition to the gospel is a spiritual opposition in a spiritual blindness or a corrupt conscience.
Man will not submit to God's justice. He refuses to believe himself damned justly—even the moral and virtuous feel this. The spirit and curse of the Law, therefore, are the causes of deep enmity. The offense of the Gospel is its being brought home to the heart, as requiring its sacrifice of everything to God.
3. The tipping point of rejection is the call of the gospel. Many may have a knowledge of Jesus’ identity and his mission, but his invitation leaves them cold.
But, in general, the perverseness of the will leads men to hate the self-denial of the Gospel. If we did not press the Gospel home, men would not spurn it.
In different ages, there have been different grounds of enmity against the Gospel. The chief ground of enmity in the Jews, was the shock given to their prejudices. The ground of enmity in the present day, is a prejudice less against the doctrines than against the demands of the Gospel. Men will allow you to hold the doctrines as your whim, if you press them not home on their consciences. As soon as the minister urges self-denial as required by the Gospel, then it is that men rise up against the Gospel.

The minister is tested by his fidelity to the gospel. It is relatively easy (as the liberal churches bear witness) to preach the cross as not to give offense. One may preach less than the gospel by omitting its call (protecting the minister) or more than the gospel by obscuring the identity of Jesus or the reason why he came (highlighting the minister’s superiority), thus returning control and choice to sinful men and women.

Thomas Scott, a liberal Anglican pastor who was converted by his own preaching and teaching (read his honest spiritual autobiography, The Force of Truth), reminded the meeting that when the gospel is communicated clearly it will always be an offense. That is why prayer must precede to soften the hardness of heart in the hearer, so that the offense becomes a life-line to the person who senses their true condition before God.

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Henry Jansma

The Rev. Canon Dr. Henry Jansma

Latest Sermon Podcast

Our sermon this month is the sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent. It is the third in our sermon series on Psalms 113-118, Psalm 115, entitled: “Trust the Lord”. Its purpose is pastoral. It addresses the question: How then shall we live between Christ’s last Passover and Christ’s final Exodus? We invite you to listen and share this sermon podcast by forwarding this email to your friends.

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A Parish of the Diocese of CANA East

Worshiping Sundays at 4:00 PM at: 520 Kings Hwy South | Cherry Hill NJ 08034

Contact us:

Telephone: 856.671.1183 | E-Mail: church@allsoulsnj.org

Find us on the web: www.allsoulsnj.org

Follow us on Twitter: @allsoulsnj

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