Take A Deep Breath

The sun has come forward to greet us as the congregation filters into the sanctuary. Chuck welcomed us today and invited Paula to come forward to remind us of events surrounding Easter breakfast. There will be an Easter Egg Hunt as well.

Tuesday there will be a number of our members going to Chris Jensen to sing to residents there, 2 p.m.
June 12-15 will be VBS this year, 9:30 to noon. Volunteers welcome.

Chuck read from the Psalms to lead us into worship. "Create in me a new heart," David wrote. "Restore to me the joy of my salvation."

Chuck and Darlene then sang "Create in me a clean heart... Cast me not away from Thy Presence, O Lord... and renew a right spirit in me." Our congregational song selection came from the blue humnals this morning. Paula then called the ushers forward to take the offering before our time of sharing pur prayer needs and praises.

Take A Deep Breath

Pastor Terry White took the podium and greeted us warmly.

Our message today will be based on II Timothy 3.

Terry began by noting our embedded beliefs, which are beliefs that are so embedded we are not even aware of them. There are many things in life where we have been taught things a certain way and they seem to be "the right way" as if other ways of doing things are "wrong." He shared, to illustrate, the process of having people help him do drywall work at his home yesterday.

Embedded beliefs are sometimes useful, but sometimes toxic. Changing wrong beliefs or lifestyle patterns is not easy.

Verses 10-17 became his springboard:

10 You, however, know all about my teaching,y my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconiuma and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.c Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse,g deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Sometimes the greatest lessons we learn are not learned in the classroom. They come to us during the course of life. This is especially true when it comes to matters of faith.

"Everyone who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

One of the enbedded mistaken ideas in the world today is that popularity is the measure of success. Bigger is not necessarily better. Small churches are not failed churches. Mega-church does not mean better or good.

Similarly, when things are hard does that mean something is wrong? Sometimes the correct path is the harder path. In fact, Jesus spoke clearly about the narrow way that few find. Here Paul states straight up that being a follower of Christ will result in persecution.

Paul encourages Timothy to remember the lessons he has received from the Scriptures which he has studied from his youth. All Scripture is God-breathed, and necessary to help us better correct our incorrect embedded beliefs.

What are the embedded beliefs that you hold that God would have you let go of? As you read the Scriptures this week look for those messages that may dislodge or correct our incorrect and imperfect understanding of God's message for us.

In closing Terry asked us to pray for God to illumine us in a new area of our understanding this week.

At this, we celebrated the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

Growing Young

Chuck Vanderscheuren welcomed us on this beautiful autumn morning. It's the first week of Sunday School. Chuck said they will talk about being addicted to God in our Adult Sunday School class this year.

Announcements 
~ Adventure Club will be starting in October.
~ The fish fry went really nicely yesterday, raising $1500 for Sunday School.
~ Ruth Ann thanked everyone who gave blood yesterday, a gift that will save lives.

Interim pastor Terry White read a passage from Ephesians preceding our time of worship. After a set of worship songs an offering was taken as Darlene accompanied on the keyboards. A time of prayer followed.

Growing Young

Rocky Mountain Juniper

Terry White began by sharing the subtitle of a Max Lucado book: God Loves You Just the Way You Are, But He Refuses to Leave You There. It's a paradox. God loves you today just as you are. There is nothing that you can do to make God love you more, or less. Yet God wants us to grow.

The text is from II Peter 1:3-8.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. 5 For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse five, Peter states, "make every effort"... not "a little bit of effort."

Supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge.This is just a starting point. Getting educated is not necessarily going to change you without persevering through self-control, steadfastness applied godliness and love.

Orthodoxy is "knowing correctly." But we need to also "live correctly" which is orthopraxy. Not only must we have the right beliefs, we need to live aright as well.

How do we live this kind of life? To illustrate, Terry brought a Rocky Mountain Juniper, which may be over 200 years old. This tree has been through hard things, and as it ages it gets more interesting. It has a story to tell. You can see places on the tree where life had been but is gone. Even through the hard times the journey continues.

Good soil also plays a role in growth.

We are on a journey of growth. God is a master planner who is doing this work within us.

Terry explained the wisdom literature to us. If you took all the commands of the historical parts of the Book and did them, the wisdom literature is what you would be. Proverbs shows us examples of what life becomes for the one who chooses life and the one who does not, the wise and the foolish.

God invites us to make progress. Growth is a deep-seated alignment with God's way of looking at things. "I've spend so much time with my Master that I forget where I end and He begins."

This message is about individual growth, and next week will be about corporate growth.

"I am a Christian because I have seen the love of God lives out in the lives of people who know Him." When the Word becomes flesh it is a compelling witness.

We're commanded to grow not only for ourselves but for the people around us. My prayer is that we would be committed to becoming more and more like Christ.

God loves you just the way you are, but He is not willing to leave you there. There's a better place.