Sunday Messages
My prayer is that you were blessed last Sunday by Pastor Barry’s message, Get a Grip on Your Bible. It was a great encouragement to help us stay in God’s Word and to help us make practical use of it. If you missed the message or would like to experience it again, you can read the transcript at http://docvmp.blogspot.com/2007/10/get-grip-on-your-bible.html .
Next Sunday, we will begin the third section of our current message series. We will be focusing on “Work.” This week’s message is called “Dirty Jobs.” Have you ever watched the show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel? Let’s just say “ewwww-uck!” I wonder if Mike Rowe would ever do a show on the work of a Christian? The work of a Christian is dirty (read Matthew 10), but there is a wonderful promise. What is the promise? Come and find out on Sunday!
Being in the Word
Many of you who are receiving this email have made a commitment to be in God’s Word on a daily basis and to read through the entire Bible or New Testament in 2008. If you have not made that commitment yet, I would encourage you to do so, and discover a wonderful blessing.
Over the next couple of weeks, I want to share with you a few different ideas about how to develop the “habit” of being in God’s Word regularly and consistently. It took me many years and many attempts to successfully read through the entirety of God’s Word. My hope is to share with you some of my experiences to help give you a head start.
The first principle I want to share is FIND AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER.
This may be one of the most important things you can do to follow through with any commitment you make. So often the reasons that we fail to fulfill our commitments is because we have no one holding us accountable to those commitments. For some reason, it is a lot easier to let ourselves down than it is to let other people down. When we have someone else depending on us, there is that extra incentive for us to follow through.
When you tell someone else - “this is what I am going to do” - then you better do it. If you don’t tell anyone else what you want to do, you are less inclined to do it.
So what am I saying? Don’t keep this or any commitment to yourself. Let others know. Tell your small group. Tell your spouse. Tell your children. Tell you friends. Tell your parents. Tell your pastor. Have them hold you accountable.
When considering an accountability partner, choose carefully. Choose someone who you believe could help to mentor you and encourage you. In other words, choose someone who has done it before, someone you look up to. Learn from their experiences. When we strive to reach a higher level, it is important to hang out with people who have achieved that higher level and will motivate and inspire us.
What is God saying to you
One way that you can encourage me is to forward to me what God is revealing to you through his word. Let me know how being in God’s Word has impacted you, made a difference, and changed your circumstances. If you have thoughts, stories, or something you want to share – drop me a line. Also, feel free to answer the questions from my previous email. It is great to learn who all is a part of this mailing list.
I pray you will join me in God’s Word. During 2008, the reading plan I will be using is called the One-Year-Bible. You can check it out at www.oneyearbibleonline.com. Here you can print out a reading plan. We will also plan to print this reading plan in this email, the weekly bulletin, and the monthly newsletter at LOL. I pray we are a church that is firmly grounded in the Word.
Finally, I love this cartoon. It was submitted by Bob Boynton.
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