Good Morning!
Here is the rundown of what happened yesterday. Sunday morning we looked in James 4 at the Secrets of the Peacemaker. We observed the Lord's Supper, and we licensed Justyn Keller to the ministry. Sunday night we had evangelism training for all VBS leaders. David Burton did a fantastic job showing us how to make connections with people and begin conversations about Jesus. "Do the dot!"
I want to especially thank Barbara Rackliff, Robin Barnes, Fran Anderson, Debbie Bohannon, and Michelle Hodges for all they did to help make the VBS training possible. Outstanding. Special thanks to everyone who participated, I counted 46, who dedicated an evening to preparing for VBS. I believe this will be the most evangelist VBS we have ever had.
Speaking of evangelism, we have two baptisms scheduled for next Sunday. Both will be done in the morning service. Let's celebrate together these public professions of faith!
5th Sunday!
Next Sunday at 6 pm is the song service followed by a fellowship meal. We are asking everyone to bring a covered dish and/or dessert.
Students will handle the setup, serving, and cleanup for the fellowship meal and will accept donations to help with their summer camps and events. This is a great way for students to earn money toward their summer expenses.
Vacation Bible School
Our VBS is June 5-9. You may register a child by calling the church office or through the church website.
Breakfast for Students
Each Sunday morning volunteers serve breakfast to our students. A schedule is on the white board in the fellowship hall. See Barbara Rackliff if you would like to provide the breakfast one of the available weeks.
Plug-In To A Group
Ongoing groups are held Sunday mornings at 9:30 and Wednesday nights at 6:30. Other groups are available. A list of all groups is on the table in the foyer of the church. You can find out more about groups by calling the church office or emailing me.
Monday Morning 5
1. Expectations all out of kilter
2. What Your Biology Teacher Didn’t Tell You About Charles Darwin
3. Only One Platform Will Last
4. Forgiveness: Muslims Moved as Coptic Christians Do the Unimaginable
5. Smartphone Smart (Audio)
Monday Meditation
My Utmost for His Highest April 24
Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God, and always be willing to go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). In Luke 10:20, Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercialized view— we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right. Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others.
Unless the worker lives a life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), he is apt to become an irritating dictator to others, instead of an active, living disciple. Many of us are dictators, dictating our desires to individuals and to groups. But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.
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