Dear Church Family and Friends,
We opened up for in-person worship this past Sunday for the first time since March 23. It was a great joy to see those of you who were able to make it. This was a huge step in our effort to once again be able to gather together as a congregation as social distancing measures are eased. This week, we are getting RSVPs for worship attendance. If you would like to come to morning worship and haven’t sent in an RSVP, there are still a few spots open. No RSVP is required for evening worship.
As long as social distancing is recommended, if you decide to stay home for reasons of conscience or from an abundance of caution, we honor, respect, and support your decision. We continue to offer livestream service at 11 AM and 5 PM here. If you find that there are still starts and stops and gaps in the livestream service, you may access the recorded service, which is available shortly after the conclusion of the livestream. This should eliminate those difficulties. If neither of these works well, our audio sermons are available at Sermon Audio.
SUNDAY SCHOOL TIME CHANGE
Our Adult Sunday School start time has been moved back to the regular time of 9:40, to allow time for those of you who can come to church to be able to make it. Julian Zugg will continue to teach his class on the Holy Spirit.
READING MATERIAL
Here are a few items for your reading pleasure.
First, I’ve been thinking through the whole idea of ambition in the Christian life. Often, we associate ambition with self-promotion and self-seeking, which are not behaviors that God calls us to. But we are to be ambitious to live godly lives, and as Paul writes to the Thessalonians,” to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands . . . “(1 Thess. 4:12, NASB). This article does an excellent job addressing this in a concise way.
Here is a short article about trusting God through trials and walking by faith, particularly when we don’t know what the Lord will require of us, or when a trial will end.
I doubt many of you are associating COVID-19 with the mark of the beast, but this writer takes the opportunity to address this topic and to redirect us to the purpose of the Book of Revelation, which is to reveal the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over all his and our enemies that he has won for us.
Here’s an inspiring tribute to a man who faithfully pastored the same church for seventy years! While most of us would have some doctrinal differences with him, this kind of faithfulness to our Lord is rare, and is to be celebrated.
I enjoyed the blessing of taking six classes from Dr. R. C. Sproul when I was in seminary. As much as these classes helped to form me into the pastor that I am today. However, this three minute video on how Dr. Sproul found immense comfort in the promises of God during his final illnesses is one of the most encouraging words that I’ve received from him.
During this time, I am very grateful for the leadership, care and the hard work of our officers. It’s such a blessing to see each man put his gifts into action, and for us to all work together to care for our congregation. If you need anything, please contact one of the pastors, your shepherding elder, or deacon. We want to pray with and for you, and help you with any spiritual or material needs that you have. Especially, please let us know if you are sick, have a specific need, are out of work, or have a reduced income from COVID-19 circumstances. This is the time for the Body of Christ to all work together and in dependence on him, to pull through this situation, and come out of it with greater unity and maturity in Christ.
Personally, I have greatly missed seeing each one of you, and the conversations that we’ re able to have by just showing up. I really look forward to seeing you again whenever you are able to attend worship.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Clay
Half Baked 