It was good to have most
everybody back on Sunday morning. I know some of you were missing…still on
vacation or at family gatherings or whatever. Just know that you were missed.
We just aren’t the same when some of the family is missing!
We had another Spirit infused
time of prayer Sunday night. It was such a blessing to sing the praises of God
through song, Scripture and prayer. The more we do this the more we are
expressing our dependence on God, and an utter dependence on God is where we
need to be.
“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered
together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to
speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
And as we are thinking about
praying…we are coming up on Vacation Bible School Week (July 5-9). So this is
the last opportunity to invite your neighbor kids, family friends, and
relatives to come for this exciting week. Each night will start with a snack
supper at 5:30. This puts something in the stomach of the kids so they will
have all the energy to make it through an action packed Bible School. VBS will
kick of at 6:15 pm with a rally in the auditorium. The night will end at 8:45.
If you have the time, energy and talent to give, please sign up as soon as
possible or call the church office and let Amanda know.
I want to encourage everyone to
be praying every day for VBS. This is something we all must do if we expect to
see results for the kingdom of God. Pray for the kids’ hearts to be open to the
gospel. Pray for the staff that they would clearly show and teach the gospel to
the kids. Pray for the safety of everyone. Pray for good weather.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
I wonder how many people we
casually cross paths with every day. And of those people, I wonder how many of
them don’t know Jesus. And of those who don’t know Jesus, I wonder what it
would take for us to create a relationship with them. And of those with whom we
create a relationship, I wonder how many of them we would eventually be able to
tell our story of Jesus. I would like to share just a couple of thoughts this
week along these lines…
Life touches life. A
person’s life is best changed through another’s life touching them in a
significant way. The opportunity to touch someone’s life will come through a
variety of ways: crisis, joy, need, fun, business, and vacation. Those are just
several ways God brings people across our paths. The key is availability; we
must be willing to enter into someone’s life story. We must be prayerfully
looking for God-given opportunities to get involved in people’s lives.
Tell them the story of Jesus.
The reason we look for God-given opportunities is so that we can build a relational
bridge that will lead us to sharing with them how Jesus changed our life. The
key to this is intentionality. We must be intentional about the direction of
our relationships. Those who are in Christ will naturally want others to be in
Christ. Gospel centered people created gospel partners. We’ve found the secret
to a joyful life, and it is for the purpose of sharing this joyful life with
others that we make friends out of strangers.
We live our lives for the purpose
of interjecting our life into someone else’s for the sake of the gospel. We are
not haphazardly stumbling through life. We are looking for those moments when
God sovereignly places someone across our path so that we can begin a great
adventure with them. And this adventure will prayerfully lead them to the cross
where their life will never be the same.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
Father’s Day should be a great
day for families! I realize that with our current culture in which we are
immersed and with the onslaught of Satan’s constant attacks against the family,
this may not be the case for some reading this. The fabric of many families has
been ripped to shreds, but it doesn’t mean we need to lose hope. No, we have
all the reason in the world to hope and celebrate Father’s Day. You may be scratching your heads and asking, “How so,
Scott?”
There is comfort and
encouragement for all who have been saved no matter the sate of fatherhood in
our lives. You see, when we turned to God in real faith we were immediately
adopted into a heavenly home and were given a new Father who is God Almighty.
He is worthy of honoring and celebrating on this Father’s Day! If we think about it, isn’t every Sunday Father’s Day? Follow my logic if you
will…
We sing His praises and thank
Him for being faithful to us. A believer’s worship is Father-focused, not
self-focused. Our worship is audible and visible: we sing, we pray, we speak
and we obey. We do all of this for the glory of God.
We bring gifts to Him every
week. I’ve never been in a Sunday service when an offering has not been taken.
Christians freely and joyfully give. It is not under compulsion or the treat of
expulsion that we give, we give because our heavenly Father has given so much
to us. Our giving is a response to the generosity of God.
We regularly eat a meal with
Him. Granted, it is not a typical Sunday meal, and it is one that He has paid
for in full (No, wait, that’s what father’s do on Father’s Day when they go out to eat with their family!). However,
the Lord’s Supper is completely different because it remembers the great
sacrificial price God paid to rescue us from sin and rebellion. Nonetheless it
is a meal that is totally focused on our heavenly Father and His Son, our
Brother, Jesus Christ.
So let’s celebrate our earthly
fathers this Sunday, and let’s especially give honor and praise to our heavenly
Father every week!
Happy Father’s Day,
Scott
