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Worship - January

Church Family,

I pray this new year finds you well. God did so many great things through our church in 2019, and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for 2020. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in our Christmas Worship Night. We could not have done it without our praise band, praise team, choir, and production team. I am so thankful for every single person who helped make this evening such a special event. I also want to thank everyone who came out to participate and worship with us. I know there were so many things you could have done with your evening, so thank you if you came to be a part! It was a great night and I am so grateful for everyone who was a part.

Moving on into 2020, I want to share three prayers that I have for our Church Family this new year, and I hope you would pray these things with me as well. I know there are so many things we could pray for, and so many things that we do pray for. But the sake of space, and I’ll share just a few:

1) I pray that worshipping God would be our main priority. I pray that worship would be the goal of my heart, all day, every day. I don't mean only on Sunday mornings. Should we make worship a priority on Sunday mornings? Absolutely. Should worship slide down our priority list during the rest of the week? Absolutely not. Whether we are alone, whether we are together, whether we are at work, or whether we are with our families, I pray we would worship the one who gives us all of these things. God is good, all the time, and he deserves our worship all of the time.

2) I pray that we would pray more. I pray that I would pray more. I pray that you would pray more. I pray that we would see every meal, every goodnight story with our children, every morning coffee, as a chance to come to God in prayer. I pray that we would pray more than once a day. If we believe what God says in His Word is true, and if we believe that He is who He says He is, then why are we not praying more? How much should we pray? I can’t give an exact amount of time we should spend in prayer. But I know that I should pray more than I am, and we should all pray more than we do. Join me, and let’s just pray more!

3) I pray that we would worship God in a fresh way on Sunday mornings. Does this mean that we will worship God in a new way? No. Does it mean that we will worship God in a different way? No. But I also believe that God is the ultimate creator of all things. So my prayer is that God would create something new in us as we come to worship together on Sunday morning. Let’s set our expectations high. Let’s set our standard high. I believe that God will do more than we ask or imagine. Let’s expect Him to do just that.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this year. I love you all and I will see you on Sunday!

In Christ,
Jared

Spiritual Development - January

“10 Questions to Consider as You Enter the New Year” by Deepak Reju

As the New Year begins, there is yet again a chance to face life’s opportunities and challenges. New aspirations. New hopes. New resolutions. New goals. New dreams. Lose some weight next year? Maybe run a marathon, or start running in the first place? Read your Bible more? Pick up a new hobby? Spend more time with your kids? Consider these 10 questions as you enter into the New Year….

1. How can your relationship with Christ grow more? Consider the weakest parts of your spiritual life. Do you struggle to read your Bible, or pray, or fast, or go to church, or serve, or love, or trust, or forgive? Take your weak point, and focus some time and energy on it this upcoming year. Is there someone who can walk alongside you to help you fight for faith?

2. How can your love for God’s Word increase? Maybe you need to implement a realistic reading plan? Realistic is the key word. If it is unrealistic, you’ll fall behind quickly, you’ll get discouraged, and won’t do it anymore. Maybe you read God’s Word, but you still need to grow in your depth of understanding. If you read a lot of the Word but don’t retain much, maybe you should slow down and meditate more?

3.How much do you pray?  Talking with God matters. We need to pray. It’s fundamental to what it means to be human—to talk with the One who made us. Learn to pray the things that matter to God. Maybe you can grow in prayer by starting to pray with someone?

4. Do you need a renewed resolve to fight against your habitual sin? If there is sin that you’ve been battling for a long time, what would it take to finally put it to death?  If you are discouraged, disenfranchised, disappointed, or despairing about your sin, always remember: there is more mercy in Christ than sin in you.

5.How is your fight against your respectable sins? Maybe you don’t struggle with the high-handed, habitual sins. But we are all sinners, so the “respectable” sins—pride, impatience, anxiety and worry, ingratitude, discontentment, judgment of others, envy, coveting, jealousy—we each face daily.

6.Is there a relationship that needs some work? Maybe in your pride, there is a relationship you have not dealt with? Does someone have a grudge against you? Or do you hold a grievance against someone? Are you not willing to forgive?

7. Is there a gospel risk that you need to take?  Is there a risk you can take for the sake of Christ? Maybe there is someone in your life that needs to hear the gospel? Don’t let your fear of man get in the way of your loved one hearing the truth.

8. How much does church matter to you? How about going to church consistently? For some, that’s an important starting point. The word church means gathering or assembly. You start to value church more if you simply start going. You need to be at church more so that the congregation can get to know you and you can get to know them.

9. How do you do handle suffering and weakness? What if you go through a season of difficulties, hardships, pain,frustrations, disappointments, persecution, or health issues? Are you ready? How will you do? Suffering strips away our happy dispositions and tests what we really believe. When you suffer, you often find out who or what you trust. If suffering were to come, are you prepared?

10. What surprises does God have in store for you? Every year brings new challenges, new hopes, new disappointments, and new dreams. What does the upcoming year have in store for you? If God’s providential hand delivered something unexpected, how would you take it? Do you trust the Lord enough to accept with open hands what He might offer you?