Dear Christ Community,
This Monday finds me with an unsettling longing deep within me for us to know Jesus deeply. Those words don’t seem to satisfy the longing..
In the longing, however, is an overwhelming sense of joy that I get to seek Jesus and his perfect city alongside of y’all!
It was a joy to enjoy the warmth of an early fall day at the park with some of you after church eating fall flavored Little Debbies - Thanks Adams family! And THANK YOU Jennifer Seaton for leading and coordinating!
It’s always a joy to just take in the multitudes of conversations happening after the gathering; sharing life, making connections and plans, informing our prayers for one another throughout the week. That’s always a highlight of my week.
It was a joy to welcome new faces into our church membership! Joe & Jacque, Shirley, David & April, Telesa, Matt & Jennifer, Tom & Sherry, Bryan & Erin - WELCOME! We’re excited to “go be the church” with you!
It’s a joy for me to watch God bring together so many stories in our weekly worship gatherings. It’s not just the stories that get told. In fact, it’s usually the ones that DON’T get told. There are more than a hundred of you (we’re actually counting..) who work together to bring us all together to worship God Sunday after Sunday, month after month. Each week, there’s a variety of stories about the challenges of preparing hearts and hands to teach kids, lead in music, sacrifice time, and welcome people with true joy.
It’s a joy to serve with a Pastor/Elder team who, while I was preparing to preach, were praying together and seeing those prayers answered!
It’s a joy who will genuinely engage with their hearts as we read the 10 commandments together. Wrestling with sin and the trials of life. It’s a joy to be a part of a church who count it all as joy when they face trials of various kinds.
A couple of book recommendations..
Speaking of the 10 commandments and our relationship to the law as believers.. I read a good book this past week entitled “Eat, drink, and be merry” by Ray Ortlund. That combined with sermon prep had me thinking about the tension of relating to the 10 commandments.
On one side is all grace with no truth. It waters down the commands to suggestions. Paul asks the questions, “Should I keep on sinning so that grace may abound?” He then answers with a resounding no. If your relationship to the commands is overly loose, I might recommend grabbing a copy of a book our church went through previously entitled “Ten Words to Live By” by Jen Wilkin. It has a really helpful way of calling you in to righteous living!
On the other side, all truth and a lack of grace leads to a legalistic, judgmental spirit. I’m reminded of the words of Jesus himself, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” If you find yourself leaning this way, pick up a copy of “Eat, drink, and be merry.” You’ll be glad you did.
One last note..
A few of our leaders have been invited to be a part of a Multiplying Church Cohort with our local network of Baptist churches this fall. We met together last week seeking the Lord together on how our churches can encourage one another to multiply disciples and kingdom impact through church planting and revitalizing existing churches.
I was encouraged when one of the presenters gave a simple reminder:
“The next church planter might be a normal Kentucky guy who’s been sitting in the back row for years. Don’t assume that God isn’t working in people’s lives to call them to go multiply his kingdom!”
Amen!
I needed that reminder.
And it makes me ask you..
What is God calling you to right now?
Ask him!
And when he tells you, no “Yes, God, but…”
Joining Jesus with y’all,
Blake
