I don't think I have ever been able to say that I have enjoyed being sick before, but the past two days I have loved it! I have spent some AWESOME time with little B who is sick too and it has been incredibly encouraging to have her around to talk to and love on. I take her for granted too often and forget how incredibly blessed I am to have her by my side. There is not a woman on this planet I would rather be with. I say this because I want you to know that she has encouraged me so much the last two days as we have been reading our Bible together and having some GREAT discussions. I don't get time with her like this very often and I forget how much insight she has into the word of God.
We have both been reading a lot of Ephesians together lately and I am pumped! As we have been reading together we have learned how much the church of Ephesus was so similar to us in the Reformed church. They had SO many things right and God commended them for their morality, patience, doctrine and perseverance. They were a people centered on the truth of the gospel. They could pick out a heretic or a false teacher from a mile away. They had so much right it was unbelievable. However they had one thing missing and I think it is exactly what we are missing today in the Reformed church.
The last thing we hear from the cockpit before the plane disappears (church in Ephesus disappears) is from Revelations 2 where God speaks to them through his Revelation to John. He commends them for all of their doctrine, patience and perseverance but tells them that He has one thing against them; that they have forgotten their first love. namely the love of Jesus Christ.
I think all too often in the Reformed church we become so centered on our doctrine and love for the truth that we forget to put Christ in His rightful place, in the center of it all!! At the Advance 09 conference I just got back from Matt Chandler said, "If you preach a sermon that Christ is not at the center and point of, it's not worth preaching." I couldn't agree more.
I want to get us re-centered on our first love and make sure that Christ, our merciful loving savior is at the forefront of everything we learn and do.
For the rest of the summer we will be going through the book of Ephesians. We'll be learning about the Church in Ephesus and Paul's instructions to them. I want to show you a church that started off great with love for Christ and for the brethren but somehow lost it along the way. We are going to get centered back on Christ alone and the awesomeness of living in His grip!
We will also continue these lessons on Wednesday nights starting in August when we start our regular meetings.
Join us Sunday mornings for some awesome teaching from Paul and some great discussions. Let's learn together what it means to be a missional and Christ centered youth group!
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