The Holy Days of Jesus

Years ago, when the apostles of Jesus were leading the church, they taught the disciples to stop their work and their labor on seven days of the year for special days of celebrating their relationship with God. These seven days are called "Holy Days" or "Annual Sabbaths." Together with the Passover, each of these days emphasize a special part of God's relationship with mankind and show, step by step, God's plan of salvation.

Passover begins at sundown tonight and starts this year's cycle of these very special "Holy Days." For the Christian, Passover has two deep meainings. First, it looks back to the time of God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt that culminated with the sacrifice of a lamb to shield each household from the death angel because of the lamb's blood on the sides and top of the door.

Second, with the sacrificial death of Jesus on this very day of Passover almost two thousand years ago, the life's blood of Jesus shed in His death shields those who have made a covenant with God from the "wages of sin" which is death and opens up eternal life as a gift from God through Jesus. (Romans 6:23) Each year we gather with other believers and follow the instructions Jesus gave to His disciples in John 13 to wash each other's feet and share broken unleavened bread and wine that remind us of the covenant we made with Jesus. (1Corinthians 11:23-33 and elsewhere.)

The Days of Unleavened Bread immediately follow the day of Passover. The seven days of Unleavened Bread begin with a Holy day and end with a Holy Day, or annual Sabbath observance. During these days we take all the leavening (like yeast and baking soda) and leavened food products out of our homes and avoid eating them.

Why do such an unusual thing for a week? First, because the Bible tells Christians to do so. The apostle Paul taught the Gentile and Jewish Christians in Corinth, Greece to observe the Days of Unleavened Bread. In his instructions to them he emphasizes the spiritual lessons that the observance of the Days of Unleavened Bread remind us of each year. 

Paul writes, "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Through our covenant with Jesus, His death and sacrifice on Passover so many years ago, He removes the penalty of death, atones for our sin and grants us righteousness through faith before God. In a real sense, the sacrifice of Jesus has "deleavened" us before God.

As our part of our covenant, we promise to repent of our sin which is rebellion before God and renounce sin. While the sacrifice of Jesus and God's grace covers all the sins we have or will commit, obedience to God is something we promise to Him. Putting leaven out of our homes and lives for seven days is also a physical reminder of the challenge we have taken upon ourselves to love God and our neighbors. Sinning against God, ourselves or our neighbors is not showing love, but rather selfishness, malice and wickedness.

As Christians, we are called to learn to do better and covenant, or promise to God, to work each day to put malice, wickedness and sin out of our lives. God knows how effective a physical reminder can be to teach those lessons and gives every Christian the opportunity to benefit by living for a week without leaven.

You are invited to join us in following what Jesus did, His disciples did and what the apostle Paul taught the New Testament church to do and put leaven out of your homes and avoid eating leavened food from Monday night, March 29 at sundown until sundown on Monday night, April 5th.

We will be meeting at our regular location on Tuesday afternoon for our Holy Day assembly and Sabbath services. The last Holy Day we will be combining with some of our friends in Cincinnati and celebrating these wonderful days of hope with them.

Guy

Guy Swenson
Common Ground Christian Ministries
gswenson@NTEvangelism.org
317-707-5026

43 Kids - What a Great Way to Spend the Sabbath

Good weather and Goliath sure brought the kids out to our monthly "Kid's Camp" at Anna's House in Indianapolis this past Sabbath. We've never had so many kids come and so many adults helping out. I am amazed how the kids just "eat up" the chance to hear basic stories and Godly lessons from the Bible. 

The kid's crafts this time included painting styrofoam balls ("smooth stones"), a felt shepherd's pouch, a shield for their heart and trying to hit a Goliath picture with a little slingshot. (I know David didn't use a slingshot, but give me a break - can you imagine kids swinging a real shepherds sling in a closed room?)

We had several families bring their children for the first time. We're also starting to see kid's with disabilities come. It takes more staff to handle children with special needs, but boy do the kids enjoy their time together with others. For the past several months, Brian and Carrie O'Rourke have been driving 2 1/2 hours one-way to be with us. They and their four young adults have been a big help, as have Jeff and Julie Parker and their family and our local members.

We also were visited by the pastor and youth pastor from the Brownsburg/Chapel West Seventh Day Adventist congregations. Pastor Steve Manoukian is from Lebanon and he ran some children's ministries in Beirut. We have a number of common interests, including minstries and evangelism.

Finally, our Ministry House is coming along. We're redoing the porch. The old porch didn't have a good foundation and had bowed the wall of the house out. We're getting close to the final "buttoning up" of the inside, laying laminate flooring, putting in kitchen cabinets (to be donated from the Cabinet Barn in Shelbyville) and drywall taping/painting. We've also started raising funds for the siding. One of the neighbors has moved in to keep watch on the house - we appreciate people looking out for us in the neighborhood.

Enjoy the pictures from our Kid's Camp and the house updates.

Guy Swenson
Common Ground Christian Ministries
317-707-5026
gswenson@NTEvangelism.org

Ministry House - a New Front Porch In Progress - There Will Be a Gabled End Built

English as a Second Language for the Neighborhood

Two weeks ago, Julie Malloy from the Lord's Pantry came upstairs and was crying. She wasn't mad or frustrated. She was hearing my wife Jennifer leading an ESL class and our Spanish speaking immigrant neighbors speaking English. It was a long time dream of hers that was happening.

Some months ago Julie had shared her desire with us to see English teaching offered to the immigrants in the neighborhood. Not knowing English was an obstacle to work, shopping and becoming a more integral part of the neighborhood. We had also seen the same need.

My wife, Jennifer has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in West Virginia and in Brownsburg, Indiana. There are now two ESL classes being taught in the neighborhood - an afternoon class of about 15 that Jennifer leads and a second class of about 21 led by a Butler University professor and his students on Thursday evening.

Stephanie Smith, Jeff Parker and I help out in Jennifer's class. We've gotten to know some wonderful people from the neighborhood who really appreciate someone helping them develop better English language skills. I'm including some pictures from the ESL classes.

Next Sabbath is our monthly "Kid's Camp" with the neighborhood children. We're looking forward to seeing the kids - "David and Goliath" is on tap!

Finally, we've gotten the last of the bulk orders from congregations for the booklet "If God So Loved the World, Why Are So Many People Going to Hell?" We will be sending it to the printer and look forward to distributing it.

Guy Swenson,

Common Ground Christian Ministries.

gswenson@NTEvangelism.org

317-707-5026

Burglars Break Into Common Ground Ministry House, But Maybe God Has a Sense of Humor

I got a call Tuesday morning from Troy. The Common Ground ministry house our ministries are rehabbing was burglarized. The police had been called - I jumped into the van and drove downtown to see what had happened. Little did I know that this would turn into a funny morning.

It wasn't funny that the burglars had broken the kitchen window, crawled in and stole ladders, tools, some building supplies and did some vandalism. We lost $500-$600 worth of materials. I had been assembling the components for a burglar alarm - just didn't get it all together in time.

One of our neighbors had scared of some burglars from the house next door on Monday, so Troy took most of his tools out that evening. Saved us big time from having a much bigger loss.

The funny part was what happened to one of the burglars.

I went into the house, looked around and saw a bunch of insulation on the floor. Looking up, I saw this:

As part of the rehabbing we are leveling the floors upstairs. Part of the process is to pull the floor boards. We had put insulation between the joists - like this:

 

The burglars were going from room to room looking for things to steal - and stepped into this one, perhaps thinking there was a gray carpet. The first step was onto that piece of plywood, the second was to a floor joist - and then he slid off as one foot went to the right of the joist and the other went to the left of the joist.

One can only imagine the look on the burglar's face as he fell through the floor, only to be stopped by the floor joist between his legs. We think the third hole came as he was struggling to get out of his predicament.

We figure he got pretty mad and limped into the next room - and kicked what looked like a sheetrock wall. However, we had put sheetrock over a lath and plaster wall - a lot like kicking a concrete wall.

We aren't discouraged. There is a price to pay for anything that is worthwhile doing, including working in a poor neighborhood. We love the people, but there are some whose drug addictions and wickedness cause them to wreck havoc and prey on the poor. A few druggies can steal from so many people that they create a crime wave.

For those of you who are Christians, please pray for our success. We're buying new ladders and tools, fixing the damage and replacing the stolen building materials. So many of our new friends in the neighborhood have had things stolen from them - one of them joked with me saying "Welcome to the neighborhood!"

We're focusing on making something good out of this. The previous week we had our first meeting to begin a neighborhood association. During the meeting it was said that people in this neighborhood  haven't established an effective neighborhood crime watch because they feel the police treat those reporting crimes as potential criminals themselves. I hope a neighborhood association can come together so we can begin breaking down some of those walls and start "community" policing practices.

We now can speak as a neighbor who has also suffered from thieves.

It still strikes me as funny when a burglar falls through a floor - and ends up straddling a floor joist. I don't know if God had any direct part of it, but there is humor when somebody stealing from a ministry house ends up paying an immediate price for his wicked action.

Let's see what happens next...

Guy Swenson
Pastor
gwenson@NTEvangelism.org
317-707-5026

PS: Services this week - same time, same place!

Mission Indianapolis

I wish I could tell you all the neat things happening because of our mission to serve the poor, elderly, fatherless and widows in our own "back yard." I can't tell you everything because I want to respect the privacy of others.

But it is facinating to watch God's hand at work in people's lives. Spending time each week in the neighborhood has opened my eyes to see more need, more opportunity and more of how God is at work.

Our congregation is working in other ways too. This Sabbath we are hosting our monthly "Kids Camp" at Anna's House. We use this time to teach basic Bible stories to the kids and lessons that God wants us to learn. Last month it was Noah and obedience - this Sabbath it is faith and Joshua.

If you have wanted to become a better servant of God, consider how you can serve the poor. For us, we began by working with other groups that already had connections with the poor. From that beginning we have followed opportunities and looked for the leading of God's Holy Spirit.

You won't regret the time you spend and the things you will discover about God, your neighbors and yourself.

One more thing: This past weekend we helped the Cincinnati Church of God by hosting the President's Day Young Adults Retreat. The setting was the Jameson Camp, located just minutes from the Indianapolis Airport.

About 70 people spent a great weekend together with social time, great food, church services, learning and sharing opportunities and just plain fun. We appreciate Jim O'Brien and the Cincinnati Church of God for their leadership in creating opportunities like this.

Guy Swenson
gswenson@NTEvangelism.org
317-707-5026

Funny How Focusing On Ministry Works Out

Funny how focusing on ministry works out.

Common Ground is rehabbing an old home to be used as transitional housing and for church activities in a near-westide neighborhood in Indianapolis. On Thursday we got a helping hand from two companies. Pete Malloy from Jobsite Supply in Indianaapolis knew we've been doing a whole-house rehab on a shoe-string budget and contacted Tim Kenworthy from Fomo Products. Tim sent a team the 240 miles from Norton, OH to demonstrate the ability of their low-pressure foam system to seal a house from heat-robbing air infiltration for a weatherization class that was invited to observe.

It was a blessing to have the house sealed like this before we did the rest of the insulation. But things didn't work out the way I expected.

When I arrived at the house not all the prep work was done. Not a big problem - but my friend Troy, whose volunteer ministry helping the poor helped get us started in the neighborhood, wasn't focusing on getting it done.

Instead, a woman who was attending the weatherization class was talking to him and Troy was telling her about his throat cancer treatments, how his health crisis woke him up, he stopped being a drug dealer and what he was doing to help build up the neighborhood that he had been destroying. In my mind I was thinking "Troy, that is good but we've got to open up the floor downstairs so they can spray the foam on the joists and sill plates." I didn't say anything - I figured that we would lose a few minutes with Troy not focusing on the prep, but we would still get the final prep work downstairs finished while the upstairs was being sealed.

A few minutes later this woman came up to me and asked "Why did Troy tell me that story?" I mumbled something about, "Well, that is Troy." (I love Troy - he is completely upfront with people and under his crusty exterior he has a real gift of empathy.) Another few minutes and this lady dashes downstairs. Then Troy goes downstairs.

A few more minutes go by and the foam application demonstration upstairs is continuing. (They sealed the house up tight as a drum.) But I don't hear the sound of saws downstairs, so I go downstairs to see if there is a problem.

Troy is there with the woman and her husband. They've been crying together. Turns out the woman had had surgery in her neck for cancer.  Troy talking about his cancer and how he is dealing with it caught her totally off guard and gave voice to deep-seated concerns she had. She wasn't sure how much to give to God and what she should be doing. Then they shared with me how they were supporting a 29 bed drug addiction rehabilitation home in Richmond, IN as a ministry and valued greatly what we were doing. We're looking forward to getting to know them better.

Then Tim from Fomo Products came to review the project and we talked. He loves ministry work. He had gone to New Orleans after Katrina to work on homes. We compared notes about Katrina relief - Common Ground had organized a Katrina relief project in Pascagoula, MS to help. Tim was thrilled that this project was helping a ministry.

While we were talking, the man applying the foam (also named Tim) pulled off his mask and told us about his best friend who lives south of Indianapolis and owns an appliance repair business. He said he was going to call his friend and see about getting some appliances donated.

When I am in my "driver" mode I focus on getting things done. Looking at the series of events on Thursday morning, for those familiar with the story in Luke 10, call me "Mr. Martha." You see, Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping serve the crowd at the house where Jesus was teaching. Jesus helped Martha realize that there was a higher set of priorities - and listening to Jesus was a higher priority.

Now friends, don't call Troy "Mr. Mary." He won't understand and will probably let you know in colorful terms where you might be heading in the afterlife. (As in "Go to ____") But a little later, Troy told me that talking to this woman about her needs was more important than getting the insulation done.

You know, Troy was right about what was important. That morning, I think Troy was listening to Jesus. As it turned out, it wasn't and either/or situation. We could listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and get the house sealed.

What was remarkable to me was that "by accident" I made 4 new friends who are interested in helping the poor, those imprisoned with addictions and sharing blessings with others.

It wasn't "by accident." When I focus on ministry - works of service - God connects me with more people in a different way. A few years ago I didn't know how to engage in this kind of ministry. Being open to opportunities and saying "yes" to some of them has given God the means to teach me.

It's kind of funny how focusing on ministry works out.

Guy

****** 

On a "Martha" note, this week we are having Sabbath services at 2:30 PM at the MTC office. Next week we are helping the Cincinnati Church of God host the President's Day Young Adults Retreat here in Indianapolis. Our services will be combined with the retreat. Call Common Ground at 317-707-5026 if you have any questions or interest.

Guy Swenson
guy@cg-cm.org

Kid's Camp, Our Next Sabbath and Did You See the Booklet?

Ministry:
What a great day! We had 28 neighborhood kids plus 24 helpers and their kids for a total of 52 at our Kids Camp on Sabbath. Noah was the topic this time - a "super" hero of the Bible. You'll see kids having a good time in the pictures below.

This children's ministry focuses on helping young children to learn the basics about the Bible and to introduce them to God and Jesus Christ. We tell stories about the key people and events while relating values and life lessons.

Many of these kids are like little sponges. For some, it is the only place they learn about what it means to be a Christian.

Church Services:
Sabbath, January 23rd, we will be meeting at our normal location, the MTC office at 7545 Rockville Road - at 2:30 PM.

Booklet:
Did you notice the booklet link on the front page? "If God So Loved the World ... Why Are So Many People Going to Hell? It challenges some traditions and shares the story of the real hope that comes from understanding clear Bible teachings about God's plan of salvation.

Several congregations are pitching in together to order a bunch to be printed on February 1st. Read the download and if your congregation is interested in getting bulk copies for discipling or evangelism, email me or Jim O'Brien (jimobri@gmail.com) before then. The donation needed is $2.00 per booklet - if we get a big order and the costs per booklet are lower, your congregation will get more more copies for the donation made.

Have a great week!

Guy

Guy Swenson
317-707-5026
guy@cg-cm.org

Pictures from Kid's Camp: