Bible Verse for Sunday Service January 28, 2024
Jude 1:24-25
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Announcements:
Choir practice after church today at Lil’s request so you can practice for the upcoming number.
The revised church directory is complete and ready. Be sure to pick up a copy and use it to keep in contact with one another. We’ve placed them on the foyer table.
Annual reports are on the foyer table. These are from last week’s annual meeting. The report includes the approved budget for the coming year as well as the list of officers elected.
To meet the budget for the coming year, we will need $2,640 in weekly offering. We praise the Lord that we had a surplus in offerings last year that enabled us to continue to support missions. We are adding the Streit family who are missionaries to Peru to our monthly support, $300. We also sent one-time gifts to Acts International and Heart Cry Missions.
The church purchased an AED device, and also training on how to use it correctly. Terri Wofford will teach the class on Monday, March 11. Each student will complete an online course, and then attend the skills and practice session. Talk to Dale Orelup if you have any questions or if you would like to take the course.
Sermon:
Today Pastor Jim spoke from Hebrews 11:1-3 in a sermon he titled “Faith – The Essence of Endurance.” Pastor introduced this scripture with a story from his high school track days. He recalled a runner who was put into two mile race, yet ran it as if it was a sprint. Carl never made it to the finish line. Of course a two mile race is a race of endurance, much like the Christian life. Endurance, continuing on, is the theme of Hebrews and more particularly, how do endure. Hebrews argues that faith is the key to endurance. Pastor covered this in three points.
Firstly, Pastor looked at faith, the elements of faith. Our faith has substance. It is based on something, solid the words of God. It not based on how feel on a particular day. Having such a faith naturally gives us confidence. We are certain about God’s promises in His word. We based our certainty on His character. He is good and can be trusted.
Next, Pastor discussed the evidence of faith, which Pastor split into two aspects. We can consider faith based on what we see in our lives. James speaks of it in terms of a faith that produces works, as faith without it is dead. A review of the Old Testament reveals many examples of those saints faith. Look at Noah committing 120 years to build an ark as instructed the Lord. We can also look for evidence of faith by what is said about our lives. Won’t there come a time when God will give His witness of our lives?
To conclude, Pastor examined the choice of faith. It necessarily involves a choice. What are we going to believe? We can choose to believe that God is the creator, he made the world, and the heavens. Some would say it takes faith to believe in God as creator. But, it also takes faith to believe in man’s ideas like the the world came from a massive explosion billions of years ago. Believing in God, choosing also results in us surrendering control to Him. He is sovereign over all creation including us. Pastor finished with a quote from Amy Carmichael: “We are called to the Lord’s diehards, to whom can be committed any kind of trial of endurance, and who can be counted upon to stand firm no matter what happens.”
Would we commit to be a diehard for the Lord? To stay true and faithful, to continue the race and finish it with the same kind of faith we entered the race with?
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
Here are the pages from the bulletin, click on the images below to see them full size:
If you would like to have the sermon outline, you can download it here, a pdf file.
Due to technical difficulties, and Chris not returning the chip used to record, we were not able to record this weeks service.