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Worship
celebration of Jesus'
resurrection & the
gift of new life
Sundays   10:00 AM
at YWCA

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& Study
relational,
informational,
spiritual
growth
Sundays  11:15 AM
at YWCA

Praise, Prayer,
& Practice
praise
prayer
practice
promise
Sundays   7:00 PM
in homes 

Youth Fellowship
& Study
applied
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refreshing
Sundays   7:00 PM
in homes

Bible Study
& Prayer Support
sustaining
equipping
community
Wednesdays  4:30-6:00 PM
at Sterling Library
upstairs meeting room 

Koinonia Groups
encouraging
accountable
caring
constant
  Gatherings arranged
by participants
in homes 

Contact Us
Community Mennonite Fellowship
Meeting site @ Sterling YWCA
412 First Avenue (corner of E 5th St & N 1st Ave)
Sterling, IL 61081
United States


Pastor(s): Dan Rusmisel
Phone: (815) 238-3421
E-mail: d_rusmiselle@yahoo.com
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A Living Sacrifice

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:1-2

January 29th Message  
       
"Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"  Hebrews 43:18-21

Isaiah is writing to the Hebrews naming God's message of hope and purpose for them.  They have lived through the chaos of oppression and exploitation and its results, where God's mercy and justice, compassion and care have been denied between people, so a whole society is crippled and crumbles. 

As Isaiah writes to claim the healing and purpose of God for the hearers of and followers of God's message he says:  Forget the former things: Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?

Jesus defines that new life we are invited to live: Love God, love your neighbor.  And naming Jesus as one's Savior means living God's mercy and justice, compassion and care.  And in such faith and practice there is no place for the oppression or exploitation of others.

Micah 6:8  "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."


Your Perfect Ministry

Looking into the new year I find that I am both enthused and overwhelmed by the countless possibilities before me.  Where am I (where are we) specifically to invest the energy, effort, and time of our lives as we live the faith we share in Christ Jesus?

From several sources I see this matter of being equipped and called for a purpose named.  One, in part, is the devotions from Our Daily Bread for January 11, 2012 called “A Perfect Fit”  It says, “What if we already had the perfect set of skills required to accomplish what God wants us to do? Well—as a matter of fact—we do! The spiritual gifts we possess, along with our experiences, training, natural talents, and a submissive heart make up a unique individual (and gathering) who has the skills needed for the ‘good works’ that God has ‘prepared beforehand’ (Ephesians 2:10). If God has something He wants to accomplish and that you feel He is calling you to do, He will provide what you need to complete the task. Or, as one paraphrase emphasizes, God wants us ‘to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do’ (Ephesians 2:10 The Message). The one thing He requires of us is that we ‘be found faithful’ (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Have you found a place in God's service where you can be used of Him? Let's ‘do good’ and ‘be rich in good works’ (1 Timothy 6:18)”

A second way this ideas is addressed comes from Isaiah 44:1-5 and Psalm 139.  These texts tell me God knew me before I was born and made for a purpose that was part of God’s very plan.

This idea then must apply to us as a gathering of believers as well.  God knew us before we came to be a fellowship and has had a part, the primary part in drawing us together because we have a task in God’s work that will bless those gathered and those whom God has called us to live his hope with.

A third way it is vital we seek and live this purpose of God is: ‘Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.’ (1 Corinthians 12:7)

So if our experiences, training, natural talents, and even personal faith are for the good of all, we must have a perfect task to live, because God has prepared and placed us for it.       –DR

God will provide what you need to complete the tasks, calling, & ministry that are yours as defined by God, because you are loved.

 

 

Claim a living faith:
 “True evangelical faith is of such a nature it cannot lie dormant, but spreads itself out in all kinds of righteousness and fruits of love; it dies to flesh and blood (1); it destroys all lusts and forbidden desires (2); it seeks, serves and fears God in its inmost soul (3); it clothes the naked (4); it feeds the hungry (5); it comforts the sorrowful (6); it shelters the destitute (7); it aids and consoles the sad (8); it does good to those who do it harm (9); it serves those that harm it (10); it prays for those who persecute it (11); it teaches, admonishes and judges us with the Word of the Lord (12); it seeks those who are lost (13); it binds up what is wounded (14); it heals the sick (15); it saves what is strong (sound) (16); it becomes all things to all people (17). The persecution, suffering and anguish that come to it for the sake of the Lord’s truth have become a glorious joy and comfort to it.” – 17 injunctions for embodied Christian faith, written in 1539 by Menno Simons (1496-1561) a Dutch forbearer of Anabaptist Christianity.

LIFE SHAPING COVENANT....
As the work of God in Jesus is to bring redemption to the broken and lost of the humanity, this restoration is to make the relationship between people whole again, with each other and God.  As such the very work of renewal can not be about who one likes and who one hates, who is a friends and who is a foe.  That is not redemption, it is just drawing up sides that can only continue the brokeness.  Jesus because of God's love provides humans the way to salvation, wholeness in all aspects of life.

Community Mennonite Fellowship Covenant   This covenant is an expression of our relationship with God, our relationship with each other, and our relationship with the people of our world.  As each believer’s personal commitment to Christ is an ongoing and intentional one; this covenant is a tool that annually invites each participant in this gathering: to celebrate their personal commitment to Christ, to share that faith with others, and to be refreshed in their walk with Jesus Christ.
  
The Covenant 
 

We covenant together in our relationship with God, committing ourselves to:
Believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ;
Seek to conform to Christ in all areas of life,  struggling to understand, follow, and serve  Him as our Lord in our daily lives;
Acknowledge and cultivate hunger and thirst for God,  expressing this in regular participation in  worship and personal growth;
Grow spiritually through Bible study and Prayer.
  
We covenant together in our relationship with each other, committing ourselves to:
Work together to build a unified Christian community  that incorporates our gifts, strengths, and  weaknesses;
Give and receive open and direct communication with  each other in a spirit of love and mutual  respect;
Support each other in prayer; challenge each other to  faithful living, and relating to each other  in love;
Actively participate in the life, decision-making,  financial support and ministries of the  Fellowship, as God gives you strength.

We covenant together in our relationship to the world, committing ourselves to:
Share the Good News of Jesus’ gift of new life;
Be a beacon of peace and love in a just and life giving  manner, recognizing conflict and crisis around  us, and offering Christ’s hope when the opportunity arises;
Living as faithful stewards in our use of God’s  resources.
  

As a follower of Jesus Christ this covenant statement helps me understand how I can be an active participant in Christ’s body through Community Mennonite Fellowship.

"I am a weak and sinful man, but God put His hands on me, that is all." - Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country, Ch. 29

Who are the Mennonite?
Might your response to
God's love
and Jesus' salvation
call you to such a life
of faith.

New Life
 in
Christ
 
Committed to being a gathering of believers defined by the love of God evident in Jesus Christ, we seek to live, work, relate, and relax in ways that are life affirming on all levels.  Consider how this happens through:
WORSHIP
SERVICE  
FAITH
GOD'S PLAN
FAMILY
ILLINOIS MENNONITE
CONFERENCE
 

A celebration of Jesus' life & resurrection is ongoing as we claim the very hopes of God, living lives redeemed in Jesus our Savior.
 
1 John 4:7-12 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

Imagine the possibilities,

in God’s work!


Welcome to Our Congregational Home Page!
  

This website is an invitation for you to share in that adventure of faith defined by Jesus.  This is a radical discipleship that calls believers to be a reflection of Christ with their whole being.  This gathering is drawn to fellowship and purpose by the example and teaching of Jesus that highlights the wholeness, the salvation, that comes from an awareness of who God is and a lived awareness of the worth of each person created in the image of God.  This life for the redeemed in Christ is living the compassion and respect Jesus called his followers to be in a broken and suffering world. "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." -1 John 4:19-21

This virtual presence through this web page is provided for us by Mennonite.net in hopes that you are seeking to live the full life of salvation Jesus offers and are looking to gather with like committed believers for fellowship in covenant, study with diligence, and worship with purpose.

Please contact us by phone at 815-238-3421 or email at 
for more information about participating in the formation and development of this segment of the body of Christ.

Blessings to you.
Dan Rusmisel

"It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation."    - Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country, Ch. 20

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