Rejoice!

August 6, 2025

Leadership Notes

     Raise your hand if you’re growing weary of our less-and-less friendly neighbors to the north? I’m talking, of course, about Canadians. Those people love to go on their rants about how much better everything is in Canada compared to the United States. Interesting…is that why 90% of the Canadian population lives within 150 miles of the United States border?

     This Canadian rant has been triggered by the smoke they have been subjecting us to. Hey, Trudeau, instead of bopping around like a teenage girl at a Katy Perry concert, why don’t you get a better handle on your wildfire situation?

     Are you tired of their smoke, too?

     With that out of my system, how about a little rejoicing? While VBS started out last week in the midst of jungle-tropic-like weather, it was a great week. Too many kindhearted volunteers to mention by name. But their love for Jesus was evident all week long. And then the kids! It was a delight to see their enthusiasm for what they were learning and doing. A seed of faith was definitely planted in those precious little lives. What was especially touching for me were the young people who came to VBS year-in-and-year-out, returning now as helpers. It is such a beautiful thing. Jesus was glorified in so many ways.

     Speaking of joy, I could not be happier about our engagement with Luke’s gospel and the way we worship. And I’m saying that primarily because of the expectation you bring to worship. You come into the Lord’s house ready to worship…to pray and sing and hear from His Word and for fellowship before and after. Your desire to meet God in this place is palpable. You want to conform your lives to His Word. And you pour your love and devotion out to God for what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. Amen?

     As I mentioned last Sunday, a pastor recently shared that, as he was preaching through the Book of Job {67 sermons}, a woman in church told him that she has been praying that the Lord would spare his life so as to be able to complete the sermon series. He said he plans to ask her to pray the same prayer for the upcoming series in Luke. That is a lovely thing.

     We love what God is doing through this wonderful church in our little corner of His world. We love Jesus…we love each other…and we love our communities. All glory and honor and thanksgiving to God! As John Adams so simply put it over two centuries ago, “We recognize no sovereign but God, and no king but Jesus.”

     And now, your Moment of Spurgeon:

“...Christ has died for all nations, classes, sorts, and sizes. The

atonement was not made for a class, but for all classes, not for

the old exclusively, but for the young, not for the young only, but

for the old as well.”

     With Much Love and Affection,

                   Richard