Church of the Open Door Newsletter
March 2011

Super Sixties

From the Desk of John Campbell

PEACE TREATY

SCRIPTURE - “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: let him eschew (shun) evil and do good; let him seek PEACE, and ensue (pursue) it” (I Peter 3:10,11).

STIMULUS - PEACE has been defined as - “that which exists when warfare is brought to an end.” Only two types of PEACE follow a war: that IMPOSED upon the defeated by the conqueror, and that ACCEPTED by the defeated through surrender. The conqueror imposes the “PEACE TREATY,” the defeated must humbly accept it. WAR between God and man began in the Garden of Eden, when man, the creature, tempted by Satan, rebelled against God the Creator, and declared himself independent of God. Thus man became a vagabond on earth, “...having NO hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Throughout the centuries, those who reject God have cried “...PEACE, PEACE; when there is NO PEACE” (Jeremiah 8:11).

However, there is “The Gospel of PEACE” (Ephesians 6:15). Jesus Christ )God incarnate) “The Prince of PEACE” (Isaiah 9:6), came into the world to reconcile “...the world unto himself...” (II Corinthians 6:15). Jesus Christ is the One “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity...” (Titus 2:14). By his death on the tree as the eternal sacrifice for sins, He “...made PEACE through the blood of his cross...” (Colossians 1:20). How then can a person have this PEACE with God. The answer is -

BY SIGNING THE PEACE TREATY - This is not as it may sound! For the proud, self-sufficient, egotistical, arrogant human being to acknowledge he is a sinner, that he has no real hope beyond the grave, that in stark reality, he has no PEACE, is too much for him to confess. He strives to find those lacking elements in his life, by seeking permission, power, position, and popularity. He will seek after philosophy, religion and “science, falsely so called” (I Timothy 6:20). He will spend his wealth and his health trying to find PEACE for his troubled soul and for a troubled world. Yea, he will do almost anything rather than bend his stiff neck and self righteous heart and pray with the publican, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” who then “went down to his house JUSTIFIED” (Luke18:13,14).

STABILIZER - “Being justified by faith, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). The only way to PEACE is to sign the treaty God offers. There is NO other.

THIS AND THAT

Sorry we had to cancel the trip to Shady Maple in January due to the 7-10 inches of snow. We have rescheduled the trip for this month and hopefully it will be good spring weather. Plan to come with us to the big smorgasbord.

During the middle of February, Shirley and I went to sunny Florida to visit our son, Mark and family. We had a good trip and enjoyed the warm sunshine. Our granddaughter, Carissa, played her last high school basketball game while we were there. They were in the playoffs for the Florida Christian Schools.

This month our whole family will be spending a few days in Williamsburg, VA. There will be 12 of us invading that colonial city. We are so glad all of us can enjoy a few days together.

May God bless and have a wonderful spring!

-- John Campbell

March Chuckles

Two five-year-olds were examining a bathroom scale. “How does this thing work?” asked Peter. “I’m not exactly sure,” said his friend. “All I know is that if you stand on it, it makes you really angry.”

A man stopped at a cafe and ordered a cup of coffee. When the waitress brought it, he tried to make conversation. “Looks like rain, doesn’t it?” he ventured. “I can’t help what it looks like,” she snapped. “It’s still coffee!”

My friend, an ex-marine aviator, wanted to show off his new twin-engine plane. I was riding along as he put it through its paces. Suddenly, we were caught in a violent thunderstorm with lightning crashing all around us. Next, we lost the radio and most of the instruments. As we were tossed around in the sky, George said, “Uh-oh!” Fearing the worst, I asked, “What’s wrong now?” George replied, “I got the hiccups. Do something to scare me.”

Wife: “Doctor, my husband thinks he’s a refrigerator.” Doctor: “It’s only a minor delusion. I wouldn’t worry. He’s under a lot of stress. He’ll be fine.” Wife: “Oh, the delusion doesn’t bother me. But when he sleeps with his mouth wide open, the little light keeps me awake.”

Old Fashioned Hymns

The good old-fashioned hymns appeal to me,
The kind set to a simple melody.
I’d rather hear the church choir sing them out
Than all the modern tunes you hear about.

It seems to give my soul a heap o’ joy
To hear those hymns I learned when just a boy
And went with Mom to church and heard her sing,
With Dad’s bass voice that made the rafters ring.

No singer ever thought to ask for pay,
Nor yet the organist who came to play;
We sang because our hearts were full of love
And gratitude and faith in God above.

It’s true, I guess, sometimes we sang them wrong,
But happy voices make the sweetest song.
And when we missed the tune a little bit,
The joy we put in song made up for it.

This song is plenty good enough for me
Familiar like “My Faith Looks Up to Thee.”
And how I feel the joy and wondrous power
In that old hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

And don’t you know that God above can see
Just how we sing “Faith Is the Victory”?
Oh, yes, my friends, old-fashoned hymns appear
To have the sweetest music I can hear.

- Leonard G. Nattkemper

Spanish Ministry

Psalm 127:1-2 "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:
except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

With 2011 underway, we are excited about what God has been doing so far this year.
We had a very good sport night in February with many first time visitors coming out for
an evening of fun and fellowship. Something new is happening on Wednesday nights,
during our Bible study time. We have started training those who are attending to know
how to win someone to Christ. This has been going very well. Just the other week, I
was able to go out visiting with one of the men from the Bible Study. We were able to
share with Efren (a man who came out to one of our activities) how he could know for
sure where he would spend eternity. That evening, Efren trusted the Lord Jesus as his
Savior.

As we look forward to the months ahead, we know there will be some great times of
rejoicing as God continues to win souls and raise up His church. We have schedule
events or activities all the way to the end of 2011. But without God's blessing on the
church meetings that we regularly hold, and the activities planned, all that will just
be busyness without much fruit. God must prepare the hearts of the people that we
are seeking to reach. Pray that God would soften hearts and draw more lost souls to
Himself through the Spanish Ministry, and that we will see more lives changed by the
teaching of the Word of God.

Thank you for praying for the Spanish Ministry. It is great to see what God is doing and
to consider all that He will be doing in the days and weeks ahead. On March 19th we will
be having a "Comida Latina" Dinner. Please pray for this time to be a blessing and that
souls will be saved. Also please pray for good witness opportunities and new contacts
that we might be able to invite out to the Spanish Church.

Our mailing address is:

Church of the Open Door 
550 Baltimore Blvd 
Westminster, MD 21157
Phone: (410) 876-3838
Website: http://www.opendoorchurch.org