Why Community Week?
Today Pastor Dustin helped us look both at theological as well as practical reasons why we seek to engage the Havelock neighborhood through events like Community Week and Party @ the Park each year. We’ll saw that it is imperative for the NT church to have a discernible lean towards the lost around us.
The reminders we heard are reminders that we need. We pray that God will use this time to ignite our hearts anew for the advance of the gospel here and prepare us to truly love on our neighbors in the park Sunday evening.
Lift Yours Eyes and See
Have you ever felt forgotten by God? Maybe you’ve encountered a season where it seemed like all your prayers were going unanswered. Maybe you’ve run from God and just assumed that He’d taken you off His radar. Though you know rationally and theologically that it isn’t true, perhaps you’ve felt the silence of God.
In the midst of their captivity, the children of Israel reached points of discouragement where it seemed like they had been forgotten by their God. Yet, God never forgets His people! In fact, it is in those times of discouragement that God compels us to look harder and see deeper into the glories of His greatness!
Please join us as Pastor Dustin Rodgers as we life our eyes and see Gods greatness in Isaiah 40:26-28.
The Holy One
Is it possible the ultimate cause of fear could be the ultimate cause of comfort? Pastor Dustin Rogers takes Isaiah 40:25 and sees the holiness of God in the line of attributes that also point us to God as comforter. We recognize that God’s holiness is the foundation of His comfort.
True Joy
What is true joy and where can it be found? Are you struggling with anxiety looking for relief and to be at peace? Please join us today as Pastor Michael Whitcomb shows us in the book of Philippians chapter 4:4-7 how we can have true joy and peace which is found only in Jesus Christ. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice”.
David’s Song of Good News
It is common for us to share good news with those we love, whether it be about a marriage, the expectation of a new baby, a new job. We all burst with good news. Pastor Mark Blowers leads us through a walk of Psalm 19, showing us how nature and God’s Word express the news He has to share with us.
Understanding the Riches & Glory of the Gospel
Our tendency is to give an unbeliever just enough of the gospel to get him or her to pray a prayer to receive Christ. Then we immediately put the gospel on the shelf, so to speak, and go on the duties of discipleship.
As a result, Christians are not instructed in the gospel. And because they do not fully understand the riches and glory of the gospel, they cannot preach it to themselves, nor live live by it in their daily lives nor share it with others.
Remember
We forget for many reasons. Whether it is simple human forgetfulness or if we become distracted or willfully forget, God knows that we have the knowledge we need but we need to remember it. And in Isaiah 40:21-24, our attention is drawn to those things that help us remember the goodness and glory of God.
Christ at the Center – part 2
Last week we took a very practical glance at what it looks like to have Christ at the center of your life. We took a bit of a survey of the book of Colossians and noted that Christ-centeredness must begin with a proper perspective. We must see Christ as all of life and in all of life…being captivated by His infinite worth and joyfully yielded to His Lordship. Christ is the whole pie! He flavors every slice of the pie that is the Christian’s life. Do you see your life this way? Do you have a Christ-centered perspective?
While a proper perspective is crucial to Christ-centeredness, Paul doesn’t stop there in His writing to the Church. For, Christ-centeredness requires effort – a grace-driven, Spirit-empowered effort. In other words, you’re not going to just cruise towards an increasingly Christ-centered life. As the Scripture says, we must “discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness” [1 Tim. 4:7-10]. Today we’ll briefly remind ourselves of three basic disciplines that should be a part of a Christian’s life. These three godly rhythms will prove indispensable to your Christ-centered pursuit!
Christ at the Center
Last week we continued our brief excursion to consider the relevance and prominence of idolatry that is present in our world…and in our lives. We saw Jesus’ warnings and instructions to beware of things that can so easily consume our thoughts and absorb our investment. He taught us what real life really is and what should consume our thoughts and absorb our investment of time and resources.
Paul straightforwardly echoed Jesus’ words to the Colossians in chapter 3:1-4. The central point of these scriptures is abundantly clear – Christ should hold the central place in our lives. Christ should be at the center of your life around which everything else orbits.
Made For Another World
In our continuing discussion concerning idolatry, we take a look at Colossians 3:1-4 to delve upon what do we make ultimate. We are so tempted to make present things ultimate and place them at the center of our existence. But as Paul explains, when we do the real ultimate things become cloudy at best.