Sunday, June 19, 2005

I am excited about the direction The Journey is taking - even as we sometimes have to fight through adversity and occasional strife. Today was a good day - I felt that the message was what the church needed to hear, specifically in regards to serving others as we would serve Jesus ("In as much as you've done it to the least of my brethren, you've done it unto me"). The message was well-received as we talked about Matthew 5:8 - "God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God."

The music was ok - a little rough in places, but you have those days where things don't run smoothly. It's all good, right? :)

Overall, I was glad for the reception of the message, ending it with Keith Green's "The Sheep and the Goats" and "Asleep in the Light," two song that preach better than I do. I hope that the people really captured the heart of what Keith sang about, that the church would wake up and serve and love and help and minister to others all around.

We had 107, which is 5 straight Sundays of over 100! Praise God! If we have over 100 this weekend, that will be our first month ever of averaging over 100, which is an absolute work of God.

I want to encourage the readers out there with one thing - let's really make a push to get those that we know who are not believers into the doors of the church, as it is a great place for them not only to hear the good news, but a great place to see the good news in action through God's people.

Along with that, I will be preaching the following through July:
Sunday, June 26 - The Joy of Looking Like God- Blessed are the peacemakers
Sunday, July 3rd - The Joy of Being Used Up and Wasted for God - Blessed are the persecuted

That will wrap up our Experiencing the Joy of Jesus 8 week series, and we will take a small break from the Experiencing the Heart for a movie break, a 3-4 week series called "God in the Movies" in which we will look at spiritual lessons from a few summer blockbusters. Here's the plan:

Sunday, July 10th - Madagascar (Missionary Bill Crawford to Germany will also be with us)
Sunday, July 17th - Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Sunday, July 24th - The Fantastic Four (Birthday Sunday)
Sunday, July 31st - War of the Worlds (also taking Lord's Supper)

Now that the kids are out of school, let's take the summer time to relax together, learn together, and worship together - at The Journey!