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Pastor's Point - January 2022

Dear Church Family,

As we enter a new year together, I want to encourage our church family to resolve ourselves to some things.

On December 19^th I preached on the topic of The Lowly Lord. It was a message that encouraged us to look to the perfect model of humility that Jesus chose for His life and lived out perfectly. The church at Philippi was struggling in their relationships, and so the Apostle Paul encourages them to look away from self and to look to Jesus. He explained to them that Jesus had always been God and as He came to the earth, He chose the form of a servant as He came to serve and not be served. Jesus prioritized perfect obedience to God the Father instead of clinging to His exalted position in Heaven. And then He also chose sacrifice and perseverance as He made his way to the cross for those lost in their sin.

The second point of my sermon on the 19^th was simply for us to understand that we must prioritize humility in our lives, and then exaltation will follow. This is where we get things wrong so often. We mistakenly seek to exalt ourselves instead of living in humility with others. I shared a quote that reads… “The way of exaltation is always through humiliation. If that principle was true for the Son of God, how much more is it true for His followers”? 

So, let’s spend our lives seeking to have the attitude of humility mark us. This is us living in such a way that we are mindful to what Paul warns the Philippians about in vv.3-4 of Philippians 2. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

To guard against selfish ambition, and looking to our own interests, let’s prioritize humility in our lives! Remember humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is simply thinking about yourself less. So, let’s have the attitude of humility mark our lives in 2022!!  Resolve yourself to…

1. Count others more significant than yourself.
2. Look to serve instead of being served.
3. Seek God’s will instead of your will.
4. Be teachable instead of thinking you know it all.
5. Live your life by God’s wisdom instead of your wisdom.

As we live resolving ourselves to these things, we are practically choosing to live in humility, which is exactly the way we are to live. This is us making a conscience effort to push back against a culture that tells us to exalt ourselves. Let’s prioritize living faithfully in humility right now in life and let God bring the exaltation in time to our lives.

I love you and I love being your pastor!

Pastor's Point - December 2021

Dear Church Family,

Well,  here we are once again entering into the Christmas season fresh off a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

It was so good to gather for our Thanksgiving meal and be together as church family.  The fellowship was sweet, the testimonies of God’s healing power in the lives of families in our church was encouraging, and the provision of God through His people was amazing!! So far, we have pledges or money given that totals over $700,000.00.  We are well on our way of reaching our first goal of $750,000.00!  God is so good to us!! All of this should be a great reminder to us to thank our God for His work in our lives.  

And now we have the joy of entering December and proclaiming the real meaning of this season, and we also have the pleasure of participating in our Christmas season events as well. 

On December 12^th we will have our Christmas Night of Worship at 6:00 pm. The theme this year is “Come and See What God has Done.”  You will want to be present for this special night and I would strongly urge you to invite others to come as well, especially those who may not have a church home. This is always a wonderful night that really helps us focus  on the true meaning of Christmas every year. 

On December 19^th we are going to have another church family Christmas Caroling night beginning at 5:00 pm.  We had so much fun caroling last year to those who are not able to come to worship each week with us.  We will go in groups to carol and then, this year we are all meeting back at the church for hot chocolate and cookies in the fellowship hall.  I promise you will be glad you came! Sign up at the Welcome Desk and join in on the fun and ministry that takes place on this evening. 

And finally, on December 24^th we will have our Candles, Carols, and Communion service at 7:00 pm.  Each year we gather for this special time which includes singing carols, lighting candles, and family units or friend groups coming to the Lord’s table to participate in a special time of communion together.  This may be my favorite service of the year!  I love gathering around the Lord’s table in this way.  

I look forward to having a wonderful time this Christmas season making much of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!!! 

I love you and I love being your pastor!