Another Pastoral Epistle 5/22/19

Christians are “memorial people.” The entire Bible is a memorial. Israel’s feast days were memorials. Each Lord’s supper is a memorial. Our weekly gathering on Sundays is a memorial to Christ’s resurrection. Our faith depends upon remembering.

As we move forward as a church, we continually look back to remember our Lord Jesus Christ and the good news of God’s grace that has rescued us from God’s wrath being poured out on us. We mustn’t ever forget what the Lord has done. We are to even remember our church history of our early church fathers, events like the great awakening, and successes and failures within the evangelical church in our lifetime. It is usually right here that the verse in Philippians is quoted- “One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Anything that would paralyze us in our pursuit of God should be forgotten, but anything that can push us forward in our faith and deepen our walk with Christ should be remembered.

Church, remember God’s past grace! Remember what you have been saved from. Remember the lessons learned in the trials of life. Remember when you have tasted the goodness of God. Remember the greatest sacrifice of all when Jesus willingly took on our sin that we might have the righteousness of Christ.

And I would add, as we go into this weekend when we enjoy cookouts or a restful day off or a sense of accomplishment for the yard work we get done, remember the extraordinary sacrifice of men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom and survival as a nation.

I want to remind you of a few things on the church’s calendar. There is workday here at the church on June 1. A task list is available at the back of the worship center. Stop by and check it out.

There has been a good response to On-goal Sunday and would ask that you stop by at the table this Sunday to see how you can help with this outreach ministry. There are still plenty of ways you can be involved.

I remind you that the “What’s Next” campaign has started out strong with over $88,000 coming in!! There are two major projects being tackled presently. One is the HVAC system being installed within the next month and the completion of the new gym floor. The “hold-up” with the floor has been addressing the aged roof. The hope is that the gym will be ready to use again this fall for its outreach ministries and full use for Momentum ministry. Keep praying!

I would ask for your prayers for the upcoming budget as it lines up with our ministry plans for the coming fiscal year. A ministry plan is being developed, so pray for God’s direction and wisdom for what is next for EBC as we look to our future. You will hear more on this at another time. And pray for your church family as several are going through hard times, changes, remembering past losses, interpersonal struggles, and so on. If you aren’t sure how to pray, pray Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:9-10; 4:3-6 or many other beautiful prayers in Scripture.

You are in my prayers! Remember our Jesus Christ!
Pastor Brian