Worship

Sunday, September 29, 2024 — Exodus: Salvation in the Desert — God Over All

Leave a comment

What are you doing right now that requires faith?
~ Francis Chan

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

Our confidence in Christ does not make us lazy, negligent or careless, but, on the contrary, it awakens us, urges us on and makes us active in living righteous lives and doing good. There is no self-confidence to compare with this.
~ Huldrych Zwingli, 1484-1531, Leader in Swiss Reformation

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
~ Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

Exodus 5:1-2; 7:14-18; 10:21-29

Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self—in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself.
~ C. S. Lewis, 1898-1963, Mere Christianity

Throughout two thousand years of history, Christians, both whole churches and individual believers, have consistently been able to ignore many of Jesus’ key commandments and invitations. We have either been too weak to follow his counsels or we have rationalized them away in some way.
~ Ronald Knox, 1888-1957, English priest, theologian, author, radio broadcaster

In the moral realm, there is very little consensus left in Western countries over the proper basis of moral behavior. And because of the power of the media, for millions of men and women the only venue where moral questions are discussed and weighed is the talk show, where more often than not the primary aim is to entertain, even shock, not to think. … When banality is mistaken for profundity because [it’s] uttered by a movie star or a basketball player, it is not surprising that there is less thought than hype.
~ D.A. Carson, 1946- , The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism

Worship

Sunday, September 22, 2024 — Exodus: Salvation in the Desert — Calling

Leave a comment

“You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.
~ C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

What does your kingdom stand against? What is it opposed to, in particular, because to say I’m against evil, you must ask, “What is uniquely given to ‘You’ to oppose evil in a way that nobody else can do. The way you uniquely can do.” And in the same sense what are you meant to create; A beauty of goodness and truth, that is meant to draw people into an even deeper relationship with the goodness of God.
~ Dan Allender, 1952- , therapist, author, professor

Exodus 4:10-17

Most of us use, “I’m waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life,” as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn’t that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God.
~ Francis Chan, 1967- , author, teacher, preacher

I just want to lie on the beach and eat hot dogs. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.
~ Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), The Office, Season 3, Episode 23

Calling is where our talents and burdens collide. Our talents are our birthright gifts, the gifts that make our hearts sing, come alive. Our burdens are found in our stories, in what breaks our hearts. God was inviting me to use the gifts that made me come alive, to redeem the things that broke my heart.
~ Rebekah Lyons, writer, speaker, podcaster

We get our calling wrong when we imagine that God needs us, to be the hero of our own story, rather than Christ. Second, we routinely misdiagnose the problem of our world, underestimating the brokenness of sin and overestimating our ability to fix things. Third, our witness of God often depicts a Lord who is domesticated to serve our causes . Fourth, a justifiable focus on external problems can easily blind us to the depth of our complicity in the pain of the human condition.
~ Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, 1977- , Preacher, writer: The World Is Not Ours to Save

Download this Sunday’s bulletin:Download