Weekly Update 03/15/2022
Greetings!
From snow to spring, we’re just glad that we can enjoy it all together! Sunday was lovely, with the snow lingering and the warm temperatures and blue skies brightening our day.
The finishing touches continue to take place on the building renovation and the new addition. There are a number of small things that will put us into action soon on making use of this beautiful new space for disciple making at South Woods. Of course, without faithful disciples teaching and training the gospel, and without faithful disciples living out the gospel, the most breathtaking building in the world would offer nothing. How often we’ve seen this kind of thing in the magnificent cathedrals in Europe where the gospel is no longer proclaimed despite wonderful aesthetics appealing to the senses. Priority is never on building but on people walking in the Spirit as followers of Jesus! I’m glad that you believe that and live that truth.
The men will meet tomorrow night at 6:30 to discuss together Jeff Robinson’s timely and useful book, Taming the Tongue. We had a really helpful discussion last week with the ladies and look forward to the same with the guys tomorrow. The children will be on the wind-down stretch of Wisdom Wednesdays, as we soon hope to be back in our regular 9:00 a.m. Sunday Bible Study Groups (a.k.a. Sunday School). Let’s be faithful and take full opportunity for children, students, and adults to study together!
Work day on April 2nd, 8:30 a.m. to Noon, will give us the chance to put all of our disarrayed classrooms together, after months of construction. We have classroom items stored in various spots that need to neatly find their place in the right space. So, we need a great team at work on that Saturday to get everything in place. Likewise, we have lots of sprucing up to do on the grounds and lawn. The plan will be for a full crew working outside on the 2nd, too. If there’s inclement weather, we’ll postpone ONLY the outside work on the 2nd until April 9th. But the inside work MUST go on April 2nd so that we can be prepared to start our Bible Study Groups in early April. I’m excited to see all this come together! Walking past rooms with stuff stored for all these months and just crying out to be put into the right spot, is a rally to be here April 2nd! Thanks for serving!
Acts 20 is significant for the church, as I mentioned by way of introduction on Sunday. It’s Paul’s last face-to-face discussion with the Ephesian elders. He did send them a letter when imprisoned, but this was personal, to-the-point direction for how to finish well the race that we’re on as Christ’s followers. I hope that you found our focus on “finishing well” to spur you on in the faith. We do not need to wait until we’re old to set our minds on finishing well. It seems, if we do, we will likely not be ready for the challenges that will surely be ahead of us. You can take a look at the sermon here.
We’ll consider this Sunday, Lord willing, verses 25–27, where the apostle takes us to the very heart of what we’re about: a people learning and living in the whole purpose of God. What is that “whole purpose of God” all about? Pray for me as I prepare for that time of expounding God’s Word. We’ll gather at the Lord’s Table, too, as we worship on Sunday.
See you soon!
Phil N.
From snow to spring, we’re just glad that we can enjoy it all together! Sunday was lovely, with the snow lingering and the warm temperatures and blue skies brightening our day.
The finishing touches continue to take place on the building renovation and the new addition. There are a number of small things that will put us into action soon on making use of this beautiful new space for disciple making at South Woods. Of course, without faithful disciples teaching and training the gospel, and without faithful disciples living out the gospel, the most breathtaking building in the world would offer nothing. How often we’ve seen this kind of thing in the magnificent cathedrals in Europe where the gospel is no longer proclaimed despite wonderful aesthetics appealing to the senses. Priority is never on building but on people walking in the Spirit as followers of Jesus! I’m glad that you believe that and live that truth.
The men will meet tomorrow night at 6:30 to discuss together Jeff Robinson’s timely and useful book, Taming the Tongue. We had a really helpful discussion last week with the ladies and look forward to the same with the guys tomorrow. The children will be on the wind-down stretch of Wisdom Wednesdays, as we soon hope to be back in our regular 9:00 a.m. Sunday Bible Study Groups (a.k.a. Sunday School). Let’s be faithful and take full opportunity for children, students, and adults to study together!
Work day on April 2nd, 8:30 a.m. to Noon, will give us the chance to put all of our disarrayed classrooms together, after months of construction. We have classroom items stored in various spots that need to neatly find their place in the right space. So, we need a great team at work on that Saturday to get everything in place. Likewise, we have lots of sprucing up to do on the grounds and lawn. The plan will be for a full crew working outside on the 2nd, too. If there’s inclement weather, we’ll postpone ONLY the outside work on the 2nd until April 9th. But the inside work MUST go on April 2nd so that we can be prepared to start our Bible Study Groups in early April. I’m excited to see all this come together! Walking past rooms with stuff stored for all these months and just crying out to be put into the right spot, is a rally to be here April 2nd! Thanks for serving!
Acts 20 is significant for the church, as I mentioned by way of introduction on Sunday. It’s Paul’s last face-to-face discussion with the Ephesian elders. He did send them a letter when imprisoned, but this was personal, to-the-point direction for how to finish well the race that we’re on as Christ’s followers. I hope that you found our focus on “finishing well” to spur you on in the faith. We do not need to wait until we’re old to set our minds on finishing well. It seems, if we do, we will likely not be ready for the challenges that will surely be ahead of us. You can take a look at the sermon here.
We’ll consider this Sunday, Lord willing, verses 25–27, where the apostle takes us to the very heart of what we’re about: a people learning and living in the whole purpose of God. What is that “whole purpose of God” all about? Pray for me as I prepare for that time of expounding God’s Word. We’ll gather at the Lord’s Table, too, as we worship on Sunday.
See you soon!
Phil N.
Posted in Weekly Updates