Bible Verses for Sunday Service October 15, 2023
Isaiah 40:3
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Announcements:
For the next several weeks we will have a special study geared for youth on finances. They will be going through the study “Generation Change.” This ministry equips young people to manage their finances in a way to honor God.
Next Sunday, October 22, Tom Berry, a member of our congregation, who also steps in for Pastor by preaching will share his testimony, a story of God working in his life during this service.
Please contribute items to the annual Christmas Child Boxes ministry by Samaritan’s Purse. Our Awana children will pack these boxes on Nov 8th. You will find the list of desired items in the foyer. Please indicate what you can provide.
If you are interested in attending the Ladies event, please sign up. Our ladies are planning a time of fellowship for October 28th at 11AM that will have a pineapple theme. A luncheon is also planned. Please make sure to mark your calendars and plan on joining us.
Pastor Jim and Gaylene wish to thank you for the card and generous gift given them for Pastor Appreciation last Sunday. They are thankful for the words of encouragement, and for the congregation that God has blessed them to minister to.
Sermon:
Today, Pastor Jim spoke to us on Luke 12:4-9 in a sermon titled “Living Courageously in a Fearful World.” In this section of Luke, Jesus instructs on fear, what to fear and what not to fear. Pastor spoke on Jesus’ lesson for us today. He started his remarks with a reminder that a lot of people are fearful, superstitious. And it is certainly true we live in a world where objectively we may have a lot to fear from crime, disease and terrorism to name a few concerns. But, we don’t have anything to fear because of our relationship to Jesus. It helps to remember that fear is a tool of the enemy, Satan. Pastor’s sermon worked this out in three parts.
For his first point, Pastor reminded us that the Bible continually talks about fearing God most of all. But, it is not a fear in the sense of a terror of Him. But, it is an appreciation of who he is, a reverence for Him. Rather than running away in fear from Him, we run to Him if we are fearful. We have this fear of Him based on eternity to come, that death is not the end, and he is charge once we die. But the other aspect of our fear of him is our friendship with Christ, something Jesus covers in this section of scripture.
Next, Pastor spoke on how even though we have this reverent fear, we trust God at all times. Our trust is based on God’s awareness, which Jesus spoke about. He used the example of God being aware of sparrows sold in a market. God knows every little thing. Also, God views us as more valuable than many sparrows. How can we not trust Him with His knowledge and concern for us?
For his last point, Pastor reminded us that this knowledge should lead us to a deeper relationship with God in our reverent fear of Him. Jesus puts it that we honor and acknowledge God, when we die, God will do the same for us. But, the inverse is also true. If we deny Him now, God will deny us.
In closing Pastor exhorted us to be bold to conquer our fears. Trust in Him always, and develop that reverent love is fear, but a good fear.
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.
If you would like a link to this service you can find it here. Perhaps you would like to share it with your friends. You could also share that link on social media, if you use any of the providers. We use Rumble, a safe alternative to Google’s YouTube.