| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Be smart, be strategic” Our Bible verse for today: “But know this: hard times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – “2 Timothy 3:1-4 (CSB) Our thought for today: “The church must be smart and strategic” So far in our study of being smart and strategic we have focused mostly on being smart and strategic in our personal lives with respect to spiritual disciplines, use of time, etc. Now we’re going to shift to thinking about being smart and strategic in church life. No church can do everything, nor can a church be all things to all people. This is especially true for smaller churches. So, we have to be smart and strategic about what we do, how we do it, and how much we try to do. Being smart and strategic as a church begins with each member of the church understanding and appreciating the nature of the times we live in. We live in evil days. Our society is barreling towards the edge of a moral cliff. It’s stunning how far we have drifted from Biblical norms and traditional values – and how fast it has happened. Our society is becoming Orwellian and bizarre. The government is increasingly heavy-handed and intrusive, and the things people believe to be okay and even normal is the stuff of bad science fiction. It’s often difficult to believe this is real. But it is real. And it is the world we now find ourselves living in. So, for starters, as individual church members we cannot be casual about our personal or corporate practice of the faith. On a personal level, we have to be firmly grounded in the faith as individuals; and together we must be smart and strategic about our corporate practice of the faith as a church. That begins by simply showing up to the regular gatherings of your church family. You’re not much help if you aren’t there. Then, we each need to be engaged in some manner in the work of the church. In the days to come we’ll think specifically and in depth about how even the smallest of churches can be smart and strategic about how we function in the midst of these evil days, and how each of us as individuals can and must be a part of it. But for now, I encourage you to simply be there. Attend the gathering of your church this Sunday. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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