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Attendance was improved last week, and for this I am most grateful. Please return to in-person worship as soon as is practical and safe for you and your family. Again, do not come if you are sick or have any symptoms that could indicate you are positive for COVID! Let me encourage you to wear your masks, social distance from others, and avoid hugs and handshakes – fist and elbow bumps will do!
We are living in difficult days and yet we should be thanking and praising the Lord anyway! The Psalmist said, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.” While we may have serious disagreements with the current administration, we are commanded for pray for the President, and we need to thank God for the current situation even though it does not sit well with us. God has a plan and a purpose; it will be fulfilled. In the meanwhile, there has been no better time to present the gospel to the lost. Share Jesus!
This coming Sunday, Lord willing, I will complete Daniel Chapter 9. The close of the chapter is the “Prophecy of Messiah and the Seventy Weeks.” It is the perfect follow-up to the prayer of confession. It details what is coming in the end of time. We should be praying for the Lord’s return, as ultimately that is our only hope. And yet, millions remain in their sins. Hundreds of thousands are crossing into eternity each week only to face it without God, without hope, without grace! The gospel remains the power of God unto salvation! The church’s mission is unchanged.
Our Wednesday night Bible study is ongoing, and your presence will make a difference. We will continue our look at the purpose of the church and will be studying chapter 8 in Jeffrey Johnson’s excellent book, “The Church.” We will focus on the methodology the church employs to accomplish its mission. Some seem to think that the way, or the methods you use, are unimportant. As long as you are doctrinally sound, they assume any way of getting the job done is acceptable. This is not true and certainly not biblical. The Bible is clear in its direction to us on the how of ministry. Methodology is important and God wants us to do His work His way.
Please keep our pastor search committee in your prayers. While they are working diligently to find God’s man, please recognize that these are tough days for such a task. Let’s concentrate on being the church, obeying God, and serving Jesus, and pray faithfully that He will lead and guide us in these days of searching.
As always, I am looking forward to what God will do at Tabernacle this coming Sunday. Please be present with your Bibles in hand as we worship the Lord together!
Blessings, YFJS, Bro. Tom