I hope you've had a great
week. Can yo believe summer is almost gone? It's flying by.
We're also nearing the end of our July series "Family Movie Night," as we've got TWO more Sundays left.
This week, we'll be watching a little Inside/Out and talking about what real joy is all about. There's going to be some
great music and fun at all our experiences, so I hope to see you there!
Also, continue lifting up our One Way Student Ministry this week as they finish
up community mission work and head to Panama City Beach on Friday.
Thought
for the Week
"So then, let us not
be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. " 1
Thessalonians 5:6
Do you know that feeling after you sleep for a really long time and you get up
and it takes a while for everything to start functioning right? Like you
can't hardly make a fist at first. Or, have you ever been woken up from a
deep sleep, only to be completely and totally disoriented? I think that's
us Christians sometimes. I think we put just put our faith to sleep.
We don't exercise it, practice it, keep it alert and ready. Then,
when we need it, we are disoriented and week. We are not ready. I
believe this is born out of the false idea that faith in Jesus is ALL ABOUT
saying a one time prayer, that it is an one time event. Jesus never ever
said, "Say a prayer and you'll be saved." He said, "Follow
me." Actually, he said, "Deny yourself. Pick up your
cross. And follow me." In other words, put this faith to work.
If you shelve your faith, you won't be alert, ready and sober for what
life throws your way. You'll stagger around and be defeated by sin and
temptation (again). That's just what the enemy wants from you. It's
also really easy for us to 'wake up' our faith on Sundays or when we're around
Christian friends and let is sleep other days of the week. It's a
dangerous practice. You never know when you're going to need your faith
to be alert and ready. What are you doing to practice your faith, make it
stronger, and empower it? What are doing to keep it alert? If you
don't, it might just go to sleep. The danger? Sometimes we don't
even know we dozed off. Wake your faith up and practice it.
In Christ,
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
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