Tag Archive - Message Series

God’s Keys to a Well-Lived Life

January 26, 2012 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

We will begin a new message series on February 5 about the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are God’s keys for unlocking a well-lived life. They are found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:33 (NIV84)

God gives us the 10 Commandments because he loves us and he wants the best for us. God does not give us the Commandments for his benefit. He gives the Commandments for our benefit. They are not given to be a burden, but show us a path to joy.

God says, “Learn them and be sure to follow them.” Deuteronomy 5:1 (NIV84) The first important step is to learn the Commandments. So do you know the Commandments? If someone asked you to list the 10 Commandments, would you be able to do so? Sadly, there are more Christians who are not able to list the 10 Commandments than there are Christians who are able to do so.

It is impossible to obey and to live for God if we don’t now what he expects from us. That is why I believe this message series is so important. It is my prayer that we will learn these Commandments so that we might be able to live them out and experience all that God wants for us.

We have seen how the Commandments have been taken out of classrooms and courtrooms. But many of us have taken the Commandments out of our lives as well. Many view the Commandments more as the 10 Suggestions than the 10 Commandments. Even more import than having the Commandments displayed on the walls of our public buildings, we need the Commandments written upon our hearts and displayed in our lives.

My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:1-3 (NIV84)

There is more than meets the eye with these Commandments. Knowing these Commandments is about much more than simply being able to recite them. It takes a lifetime and more to grasp their full meaning, but in February and March we will be taking the first step to discovering the filled full life God lays out for us in the 10 Commandments.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be selling copies of Luther’s Small Catechism to help guide our study. If you would like to purchase a copy they will be available in the lobby before and after worship for $9/each.

Daily David, Week 2, Day 4

September 8, 2011 in David with 0 Comments

Hebrews 11 is often called the Hall of Fame of Faith. It tells us about the heroes of old that God used in powerful ways. These men and women took steps of faith to show their confidence in the Lord.

List all the perfect people in this chapter:

When we read through this chapter we realize there are no perfect people. We read the Sunday School stories but there are more to the lives of these people than just the Sunday School stories. Noah was a drunk. Jacob was a liar and a con artist. Moses tried to come up with every excuse in the book to get out of doing God’s work. No these were not perfect people, but God used them anyways.

Write your definition of faith:

Hebrews 11 says that faith is confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. Faith gives us the ability to take action in spite of our doubts.

One thing important to recognize is that faith has an object. The object of our faith is the Lord. For many people however their faith is in faith. That is they believe if they think enough happy thoughts and hope for the best that everything will work out. Another term for this might be optimism. But this is not Biblical faith. Biblical faith is not hoping for the best, but trusting God no matter what might happen.

What are they trusting in? Is faith for the present or the future or both? Why?

In all the examples in Hebrews 11 the people trust in God to be true to his promises. Faith is about the present and the future together. Faith is living with confidence that God controls the future so that I am not anxious or worried about my present.

What was the result of these people’s faith?

The result was that thousands of years later we still remember these people. They are immortalized this Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. But the ultimate result was that through the faith of these people, God would send the Savior into the world to rescue us from our sin. God used imperfect people to carry out his perfect plan.

God responded in amazing ways to these people’s faith. Yet at the end of this chapter he says he is not done. What is the something better planned for us (11:39-40)?

God used the faith of these people to bring Jesus into this world. They did not know Jesus as Jesus. They simply trusted God to provide salvation, not exactly sure what it would look like. But they trusted God that God knew what he was doing. The looked into the future, we have the benefit of looking in the past to the cross of calvary.

The something better in mind that God has for us is the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ. We are not awaiting the Savior. The Savior has come. We are only waiting our final glory that will be revealed.

Yes, It is a Challenge!

September 7, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

I hope everyone was encouraged by the first message in our series on the life of King David. I am very interested in hearing your feedback both good and bad. This is something new for you and for me. I do not ever recall assigning daily Bible readings with questions in any previous Sunday morning message.

On Sunday, many of you shared with me how meaningful and helpful it was to have done the readings in preparation for the message. It helped to make the message more relevant and you were able to take more away. It made me glad that many of you were able to see the extra benefit.

The other thing I heard was that some of you struggled to get the readings done and to answer the questions. Some of you were honest and said that you were not able to complete everything. One person shared with me that they wish the study had not been so detailed and hoped that it could be simplified. I appreciate all the honest feedback from you, and hope that others of you are willing to share with me so that we can better refine this tool for everyone.

I would like to give you some encouragement as we go forward. In 2 Corinthians 9:6 it says, “a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.” In Galatians 6:7 it says, “You will always harvest what you plant.” In other words the more you invest, the more you will see a return. I eagerly desire to give you the tools to invest greater time and depth in the Word of God so that you might see a greater return. I firmly believe the more you put in, the more you will get out.

With that said, I will not pretend that it is easy. It is easier to sow a few seeds than it is to sow many seeds. Many of us are very busy and it is hard to set aside time to do the readings and to answer the questions. We have many things that distract us. It is indeed a challenge. But I would not offer the challenge if I did not believe it was worth it. Maturity in faith takes time and it takes effort. If we look for the magical spiritual growth pill we will not find it.

So if you find yourself challenged, good! I believe God wants us to be challenged and he wants us to stretch ourselves. You feel yourself frustrated keeping up, keep working. It has only been one week! Keep pressing to develop the habit of setting aside that time to be in God’s Word. Satan will do everything in his power to prevent you from feeding on this Daily Bread. Pray for the passion and the longing to enter into the Word, that nothing is going to keep you away from this time with God.

There may be others of you who read the readings, answered the questions, and heard the message and were left still wanting. You did everything that you were challenged to do, but it did not significantly impact you in anyway. You found yourself asking, “what is the point to all this?” I find this happens when I make my time with God to be a burden. I make it to be something I need to do out of obligation. I find when I approach this special time with God out of obligation, that my heart is not really open to what he wants me to hear. God longs to spend this time with us, but he wants us to be open and receptive to him. He desires we come willingly and in expectation that he will speak to us.. If you find yourself entering the Word out of obligation rather than out of love for God, then pray and ask that he would create within you a clean and pure heart. Ask he would give you eagerness and a desire to share life together with him. Using the illustration of sowing and reaping, the harvest does not come right away. The farmer sows the seed in the spring and the harvest is reaped in the fall. You may very well still be in the spring season. Keep sowing even though you may not see the harvest today. It will come. Trust me!

In the end I want you to know grace does abound. If you do not complete the readings and the questions you should not feel guilty. We want to give these to you as a tool to help you grow. They are available for the taking. I know there are some of you who desire to go even deeper yet and have asked me for additional resources to study. And that is great! But we are all at different places in our journey and we all have different passions. You best know where you are at in your walk and in your ability. If you go through all the readings and answer all the questions in great detail – great! If you just do the readings without answer the questions – great! If you don’t do the readings or the questions but come to hear the Sunday message – great! Anytime we expose ourselves to the Word, there is only good that can come from it. The more the better, but God will use whatever we give him.

Daily David, Week 2, Day 1

September 4, 2011 in David with 0 Comments

We kick off week 2 of the King David Message Series today. In today’s reading we will be looking at one of the most famous stories ever told. It is the story of David and Goliath found in 1 Samuel 17. The listing of readings, questions for each day, and anything else related to this message series can be found on this blog by clicking on the David picture to the right.

What made Goliath to be so intimidating (17:4-7)?

We read Goliath was over 9ft tall. That is really tall. His armor was more than 125lbs. So not only was he tall, but he was covered from head to toe with body armor. You might as well have been going up against a tank. He carried a spear. The tip of the spear was 15lbs, heavier than most bowling balls. He even had an armed guard called an armor bearer that marched before him. So to get to Goliath, you had to get past his armor bearer first. This was the most imposing figure you would ever meet.

What was the Israelite response to the giant’s challenge (17:8-11)? Who should have rightfully fought Goliath (see 1 Samuel 9:1-2)?

The Israelites did not want anything to do with Goliath. The text says when they heard Goliath they were terrified and deeply shaken. No one had the courage and they were left demoralized.

It should have rightfully been Saul who should have fought Goliath. We go back to the story of when he was chosen to be king. He was head and shoulders above anyone else in the land. He may not have been taller than Goliath, but he was the tallest among the Israelites. We also read last week how Saul and Jonathan were the only ones in the Israelite army who had weapons. Saul had everything he needed to fight Goliath. He should have been the person to step forward. Samuel had given him the charge to deliver the Israelites out from under the hand of the Philistines.

Goliath kept coming back for 40 days (17:16) to challenge the Israelites. What are the giants that keep coming back in your life that will not go away?

I find one of the most interesting things in this text is how Goliath kept coming back. He did not give up. Day after day for 40 days he taunted the Israelite army. The giants we face will keep coming back. They do not go away. Sometimes they will leave for a short time, but they will come back a different time and in a different way. We cannot run from the giants in our life. Another name for these giants are the 500 lbs gorillas in the room. Avoiding them will not make them go away.

The giants we face are things like temptation, money, death, and health. These are big things that cause us to worry and to fear.

What was the only way Goliath would go away?

The only way Goliath was going to go away was to face him and to take him on. They were not going to be able to run away from him. The only way to get rid of him was to defeat him. The warrior who faced Goliath might die in the fight. But not standing up to the giant was no answer either.

It is the same way with the giants in our lives. We can’t run from them. With help from God we need to deal with them and take them head on. As we learned last week, faith is more than wishful thinking. Faith is the ability to take action even in the midst of our doubt. You may not think you can defeat your giant and you are right. But when you step in faith and express your confidence in God, watch God come through.

Why do you think Eliab (David’s brother) was so critical of David (17:28)?

It is very possible Eliab is still holding resentment against David because David had been chosen by Samuel to be the next king. Eliab might have been jealous of David and by casting words of spite in David’s direction, he hoped to make himself feel better. But bitterness is never going to bring release. It is only by offering forgiveness and finding our joy and satisfaction in the Lord we will discover healing.

Why did David have such confidence to fight Goliath (17:34-37, 45)? Why is David ultimately the one “most qualified” to fight Goliath?

David’s confidence came from his past experience in the fields. He remembered how God delivered him from a lion and a bear. God had spared David’s life before and this gave David the confidence now that God was on his side.

David was the most qualified to fight Goliath but not because David was a mighty warrior. It was not because David was trained to fight. David was the most qualified simply because he listened and followed God. He was the man after God’s own heart. God does not seek out the most qualified according to earthly standards. He looks for the most qualified according to heavenly standards.

How is Saul’s trying to help David, by giving him his armor, actually hurting David (17:38-39)?

Saul is trying to make David into something he was not. Each of us is gifted in our own unique way by God. By trying to put on Saul’s armor, David was attempting to become someone he was not. God gave David the ability to use the sling and that was what David needed to use. Be true to yourself and who God made you to be. Don’t try to be someone you are not.

What was Goliath’s greatest weapon against the Lord’s anointed (17:41-44)? How did David counteract this (17:45-47)?

Goliath’s greatest weapon was not his sword or his spear. It was intimidation. More than anything else, Goliath sought to defeat his enemy by destroying his will and his spirit to fight.

David counteracted Goliath’s intimidation by expressing his faith out loud in the true and living God. David spoke words of faith. These words of faith were not just something he kept to himself. They were for the benefit of all who would hear. He wanted everyone to know the God in whom he put his trust.

Why do you think it is significant David “ran” to meet the giant in 17:48?

David did not wait for the Giant to come to him. He ran towards the Giant. Don’t wait for troubles to come your way. There is so much injustice in this world. Advance against it. Advance against the gates of hell. Don’t let them come to you, otherwise it will be too late.

David, Week 2 Study Guide

September 1, 2011 in David with 0 Comments

September 5-11

Slaying Giants

Memory Verse:

Psalm 27:1 (NLT) The LORD is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

Day 1

1 Samuel 17

What made Goliath to be so intimidating (17:4-7)?

What was the Israelite response to the giant’s challenge (17:8-11)? Who should have rightfully fought Goliath (see 1 Samuel 9:1-2)?

Goliath kept coming back for 40 days (17:16) to challenge the Israelites. What are the giants that keep coming back in your life that will not go away?

What was the only way Goliath would go away?

Why do you think Eliab (David’s brother) was so critical of David (17:28)?

Why did David have such confidence to fight Goliath (17:34-37, 45)? Why is David ultimately the one “most qualified” to fight Goliath?

How is Saul’s trying to help David, by giving him his armor, actually hurting David (17:38-39)?

What was Goliath’s greatest weapon against the Lord’s anointed (17:41-44)? How did David counteract this (17:45-47)?

Why do you think it is significant David “ran” to meet the giant in 17:48?

Day 2

Psalm 27

What are the three ways David describes God in verse 1? How does this give David (and us) confidence?

What does David acknowledge happening in verses 2-3?

If you could have one thing from the Lord, what would it be (27:4)?

What is David’s response to God’s deliverance (27:5-6)?

David talks about seeking (27:4,8) and waiting (27:14). What is the relationship between seeking and waiting for a follower of Jesus?

How do we learn the ways of the Lord (27:11)?

Day 3

Psalm 121

As I read this Psalm I think about David lifting his eyes to the hills and I wonder what he would have seen. Two things come to mind. The first is the armies of the enemy. The battle of David and Goliath was fought in the Elah Valley. The Israelites would have formed ranks on one side of the valley. The Philistine army would have then formed ranks on the opposite ridge. So at this particular point in time, as David lifted his eyes to the hills on the other side, he would have seen the Philistine army.

Another thing David potentially saw when he lifted his eyes to the hills was the altars dedicated to false gods. Throughout ancient Israel there were “high places.” The high places were holy sites used for the purpose of worshipping and sacrificing to fertility gods known as Baals and Ashteroths.

In light of this, it makes sense for David to ask the question, “where does my help come from?” What is David’s confident response (121:2)?

What is the time of day that you normally sleep? Why is it significant God does not sleep during this time (121:3-4)?

Describe a time when the Lord protected you or intervened in your life?

Where is you coming – the places you are called to serve (121:8)? Where is your going – the place God is taking you both now and eternity (121:8)?

Day 4

Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11 is often called the Hall of Fame of Faith. List all the perfect people in this chapter:

Write your definition of faith:

What are they trusting in? Is faith for the present or the future or both? Why?

What was the result of these people’s faith?

God responded in amazing ways to these people’s faith. Yet at the end of this chapter he says he is not done. What is the something better planned for us (11:39-40)?

Day 5

1 Samuel 18

What were the blessing David received as a result of defeating Goliath (18:5-7)?

What were the consequences (18:8-9)?

Why was Saul so jealous of David? What did his jealousy drive him toward (18:10-16)? What are the negative consequences of jealousy you have seen in your own life and in the lives of others?

Why did Saul really send David to kill the Philistines (18:25)?

Do you think that at this point in time, David might have longed to go back to the shepherd’s field? What does all of David’s success bring him?

Life is filled with hills and valleys. David went from one of his highest highs to his lowest lows in a matter of days. But through it all, what was the one constant in David’s life?

An Invitation to Follow God’s Own Heart

August 31, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

I am so excited to begin our new message series on King David this weekend. I hope you are as well. It is my prayer that this message series will be a powerful experience as we seek God’s Word and truth. We believe that God’s Word is living and active and that the deeper we dig into it the more we will take away from it. That is why I hope that you will not be content to just come and listen to the Sunday morning message, but will participate together with me in the daily readings and study questions.

The reading and questions for today came from 1 Samuel 12-13. I want to focus in on chapter 13.

At the beginning of chapter 13, it says Saul was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned over Isreal for 42 years. It is interesting to note that Saul ruled Israel for 2 more years than David did. David only reigned for 40 years. It is an interesting bit of trivia, but back to the story.

Saul has 3000 men with him. It is a substantial army. But the Philistine army was said to have 3000 chariots, 6000 charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as sands on the seashore. Saul and his army did not have any chariots or the like. To make matters worse the Philistines were able to forge iron weapons. The Israelites did not posses this same technology. It would not be a fair fight. To give you a modern day analogy the Israelites were bringing knives to a gun fight.

Many of the Israelites saw how badly they were outnumbered and “outgunned.” They began to desert the army. They ran away in retreat leaving Saul and the few troops who remained. We read Saul and the troops who were left quaked in fear.

This lasted for seven days. As each day passed more and more troops ran away. This made it even more fearful for those who were left behind. The men who were left watched as more and more of their comrades fled. It became more and more tempting for each man to make a run for it.

Finally, the army is down to 600 men and Saul decides to take matters into his own hands. He goes to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. This doesn’t seem like much. The army is falling apart and Saul wanted the Lord’s help. But there were two problems.

The first problem was that sacrifices in the Old Testament were to be made by the priests. This was not the role of the king. It was the role of the priest. Saul was taking upon himself what he was not authorized to do. The second problem was that Saul was to have waited for Samuel before this sacrifice was to be made.

This was a time of testing for Saul. Would he remain faithful and obedient or would he seek his own way and do what he thought was best? In the end Saul failed. He did not obey. He made the sacrifice he was not supposed to make. He presupposed God’s will and went ahead and did what Saul thought was best to do. In many ways Saul put himself in the place of God.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey” (Luke 11:28). There are two parts to this verse. The first is to hear the Word of God. It is to come to know and to learn what God would have us do. Saul never consulted God. He just forged ahead. The second part of this verse is that when we hear the Word, then we are to do it even when it is the hard thing to do.

It was not long after Saul had committed this act of disobedience that Samuel comes on the scene. Samuel asks Saul what he had done. Saul begins to rationalize his disobedience. He starts making excuses for his actions to justify himself. He never admits or confesses his disobedience to Samuel or to God.

Psalm 86:15 reads, “But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” God would still give Saul opportunity to turn from his sin. He did not immediately tear the kingdom away from Saul. We may stumble and fall, but that does not mean God gives up on us. There is still hope. I believe God still loved Saul. God still desired to use Saul for his kingdom purposes. But would Saul be willing to humble himself, confess his sin, and walk in obedience?

Samuel tells Saul the kingdom would be taken away from him. I imagine that if Saul had admitted his failure and gone to his knees and asked for forgiveness that God would have restored him. But it was the sin of pride that kept Saul from asking for forgiveness. Rather than ask for forgiveness, Saul leaves Samuel. I can almost picture Saul walking away angry and upset that Samuel would dare call into question his actions. It is so sad to think how easily things could have changed, but pride replaced humility and Saul found himself still stuck in the same difficult situation being outnumbered and “outgunned” by the Philistines.

Samuel also tells Saul that God would raise up a man after God’s own heart. If Saul would not obey, then God would find someone who would obey. If we do not walk in obedience God will find someone who will. God is not looking for successful people. He is looking for faithful people. The question that needs to be asked is: “will you be a man or a woman after God’s own heart?” If that is your desire then I want to invite you to join me this Sunday at 9:15am as we together affirm this commitment as God’s ONE church at Lord of Life. My prayer is that we would be men and women after God’s own heart!

David Book Recommendation

August 23, 2011 in David with 0 Comments

Last week I recommended Day of War to compliment our study on the life of David. This week I have another recommendation for you. The book is David: A Man of Passion & Destiny by Chuck Swindoll.

This book is not necessarily an in depth scholarly look at the life of David, but it serves to draw out some very practical applications for life. I appreciate many of the things the author had to say and will be using some of these things for the upcoming message series at Lord of Life.

For the most part this book is a chronological look at the life of David. It is hard to cover all the aspects of David’s life in just one book, but Swindoll is able to cover most all of the high points. He does a great job of helping the reader to understand the circumstances and the events of these stories. He has a skill for painting a clear picture of what is happening. I enjoyed reading this book and I bet that you will as well.

David Study Begins

August 17, 2011 in David, Weekly Email with 0 Comments

I shared with you two weeks back about how our fall message series would be a study of the life of David. I am excited to announce the first study guide has been posted for the first message scheduled for Sunday, September 4. Remember this is the week of our ONE worship. There will be only one worship that day at 9:15am with a church picnic to follow!

I want to encourage you to use these 5 daily readings and questions to prepare for this upcoming message. I will be posting on my blog, starting on Monday, August 28, daily thoughts on the readings along with my answers to the questions. So make sure to check in and then to check back regularly at philressler.com/david or at lolchurch.net/david.

The first David study guide will also be distributed at Lord of Life beginning this Sunday. The first study guide will be distributed for two weeks, so you will have two weeks to prepare for the first message. After that we will distribute a new study guide each Sunday to help you prepare for the next Sunday’s message. If you are unable to attend on a particular Sunday you will be able to find the next study guide online along with audio of the previous week’s message.

There is still another opportunity for you. I will be hosting a Bible Study at 6:45am each Thursday morning at Papa G’s in Elburn that will be working through the weekly study guides. I would love to have you come join me to work through the questions together and to share our insights. You can sign up by leaving a comment in this blog or by using your Connection Card on Sunday morning.

My prayer is that this will be an uplifting experience for our entire church as we journey through the life of David together. We have much we can learn from this man, both from his positive qualities and his many shortcomings. There is much more to the life of David than what many of us learned in Sunday School.

Every once in awhile I will talk about how they are not getting fed. In these situations, where is the problem? Most often the problem lies with the person doing the complaining. The more you reap the more you will harvest. The more you invest the more you will see a return. The principle applies here. Maybe the reason we fail to get much out of a 20 minute Sunday morning message is because we have failed to invest much of our time or effort into it. It is my hope to provide you some tools to help you to invest more and to get more in return.

It is also my hope that this will help all of us to engage the Scripture. I know that for some of you reading this that the Bible is a closed book for you. Yet, we believe that it is through the Scriptures that we encounter God and we come to know God. We call the Scriptures a means of grace. In other words it is through the Scriptures God speaks to us. It is only good that can come from opening up his Word. My prayer is that this new message series will be that catalyst to help you open it up.

King David, A Man after God’s Own Heart

August 3, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13:22

I want to thank everyone who shared their input on the upcoming message series. This Fall Lord of Life will take the opportunity to study the life of King David. David is twice described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22). When Jesus walked upon the earth, the Messianic expectation was for the return of David’s kingdom. David was a shepherd, a musician, a warrior, a king, a husband, and a father. David has much to be commended for, but David also had his shortcomings. There is certainly more to the life of David than the stories we heard in Sunday School.

We will kick off this message series on September 4. It is Labor Day weekend and there will only be ONE service on that day at 9:15. We will take this opportunity to see how God called and used David as ONE man after God’s own heart. When God chooses you and his Holy Spirit comes upon you. With the Holy Spirit it only takes ONE to make a difference. It is not about your qualifications, but about your willingness to listen and to follow the Lord. When you live obedient it is not about your ability, but about God’s ability.

On this first Sunday, September 4, we will give you the opportunity to express your commitment to follow Lord and to live obedient to him. I also want to invite you to make the commitment to join us to be a part of this study each week throughout the Fall. Along with the Sunday morning message we will also be providing a weekly study guide. The weekly study guides will include daily readings and questions along with a weekly memory verse. These guides will be available on Sunday mornings and also online at lolchurch.net. I will encourage you to use these study guides to prepare for each weekly message so that you will be able to get the most out of each Sunday’s message and the message series.

A few things I would ask of you is for prayers in the preparation of this message series and the coordination of it. Also, if you might be interested in leading a discussion group based on this message series let me know. We have so much to learn from King David and how cool will it be to have this focus as a church and be learning and growing together.

Three Things to Share

July 27, 2011 in Weekly Email with 0 Comments

There are a couple of things I want to share with you this week that I am really excited about.

Vacation Bible School

What a great week this is. The church building is packed each night with kids and their families attending our Hometown Nazareth VBS. Please keep the rest of this week in your prayers. On Sunday, we will have the opportunity to celebrate God’s blessings from the past week. In my Sunday morning message I plan to share what I learned during my time at VBS.

One Worship

Once again we will have ONE worship on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, September 4. We will split the time difference between the 8:30am and 10am worship services and worship at 9:15am. This is an exciting worship when we will worship as ONE church on a Sunday morning. It has been a highlight for me every year we have done this. Please note there will be no Sunday School on that morning.

Also, this year we are adding something additional. After worship is over we will have a church wide picnic. It is a great opportunity to come together. There will be food and games. It is a time to relax, to be together, and to celebrate being the family of God.

Fall Message Series

I want to thank everyone for their input and feedback for the upcoming Fall message series. I received a good number of submissions and have prayerfully considered what I heard from you and what I have been hearing from the Lord.

I am excited to share with you today that our Fall message series (starting with the ONE worship service on September 4) will be focused on the life of King David. David is the second most written about person in the Bible behind Jesus. When Jesus walked on this earth the Messianic expectation was that the kingdom of David would be restored. David is described in two separate places in the Bible as “a man after God’s own heart.” David was a shepherd, warrior, king, musician, husband, father, and more. I believe we have much we can learn from David.

David was a great man of God, but he was not without his shortcomings. We can learn from his successes and from his failures. It is my prayer that this will be a learning experience and faith growing experience for our church that will extend well beyond Sunday morning.

One of the things I want to do is to encourage you to read along as we go through the story of David. At the beginning of the message series there will be a reading schedule posted online and in the Sunday bulletin for you to follow along. It would be my desire to see the Scripture come alive for you during this time.

Have a great week!