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Worship - November 2019

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Church Family,

I hope this Fall season finds you well. We are entering into exciting times as a church family as we get closer to the holiday season. This month, I want to share a familiar verse that has been on my heart. 1st Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” I’ve recently been asking myself the question, “Am I giving God glory in everything I do? Am I giving Him glory for the good things in my life? Am I giving God glory in the hard times of my life?” And as I thought about it, I didn’t like my answer. I found that I wasn’t giving God the glory he deserves for how He is working in my life. I tend to think selfishly, “I did this! Look at me!” I end up glorifying myself. This is backwards way of thinking.

This past month, Annaclaire and I were able to take a trip to California to visit Yosemite National Park. It was breathtaking experience. The things we were able to see, the things we were able to do, it was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. One day, we hiked up to the summit of this particularly big mountain. It was called “Sentinal Dome.” This summit was about 11,000 feet in elevation, and it was a moment we truly felt like we were on top of the world. It’s a funny thing, to be in the midst of something so big. Two people don’t stand at the top of the mountain and argue about who is taller. We looked around. We saw God. We saw what He created. Every mountaintop, every valley, every river was His, and made by Him. And every mountain was doing exactly what it was created to do – point to the glory of God.

How you are glorifying God in your life? Sometimes, it’s hard to realize that we aren’t giving God the glory He deserves. For me, it took a hike going up 11,000 feet in elevation to realize how small I truly am. I pray that we all don’t need to have such a dramatic reminder. I challenge us all to look around, every day. The greatness of God is there. The goodness of God is there. And when you see His greatness and His goodness, you will give Him glory. Lean into His presence, there’s not much quite like it. I’ll see you on Sunday.

 In Christ,
Jared 

Posted by Jared Mitchell with
in Newsletter, Worship

Worship - October 2019

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Church Family,

This month, I wanted to share some encouragement with you from Zephaniah 3:17. The word says,

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in You; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but He will rejoice over you with singing.”

There is so much we could mention about this verse. Our God is a warrior, mighty to save. He delights in His children. These are enough reasons alone to worship Him. But I want to reflect on the last part of this verse, which says, “He will rejoice over you with singing.” Did you know that God sings? Not only does God sing, but also He sings over you. He delights and rejoices in singing over His children. This is an amazing truth. God delights in our singing. We are commanded to sing, and God is honored by the praises of His people. But like a Good Father, He sings over us.

This makes me think about my daughter. There was a night, not too long ago, that my wife and I were putting our daughter to sleep. The typical routine is that once our daughter Presley is in her crib, either my wife or I will sing to her until she falls asleep. On this night, my wife was doing the singing, and I was standing still in the corner of the room, trying not to make any noise. If you know anything about toddlers, it’s that they don’t want to go to sleep. Bedtime means no more playtime, and they would much rather have playtime. So as my wife was singing, my daughter was crying. Nothing was wrong; she just didn’t want to go to sleep. Fair enough.

I started to get restless. Should I pick her up? As her daddy, should I pick her up and give her cookie and do whatever she wants? To my shame, I love giving her what she wants. But my wife just kept singing. Presley kept crying, tossing and turning, and my wife just kept singing calmly and peacefully. Eventually, Presley became calm as well, and then she fell asleep.

I won’t forget that night, because I saw myself in my daughter. How many times am I in a season of life that makes me want to scream, toss, and turn? How many times would I rather be doing things I want to do, rather than what God wants me to do? Yet in the hardest time, God is singing over me. He never gets restless, He never gets angry. He sings over me. He gives me peace. My prayer is that you would realize God’s love for you. I pray you would feel His peace, and experience His mercy. He is singing over you. Lean into His presence, there’s not much quite like it.

In Christ,
Jared

 

Posted by Jared Mitchell with

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