Jul
The Word that Makes the Soil Sing
What do you do when life is loud, but your soul feels dry?
This Sunday we hear Jesus’ parable of the Sower alongside Isaiah’s promise that God’s Word comes down like rain and does not return empty. The Good News is not that you must become better soil by your own strength. The Good News is that the Sower keeps sowing, the rain keeps falling, and Christ keeps giving Himself to dry sinners.
Come distracted. Come crowded. Come weary. Come as you are.
The power is not in your readiness.
The power is in the Word.
The Gentle Kingdom is already at work. And it will make the soil sing.
👉 Come worship with us in person: 9:00 or 11:15 THIS Sunday.
Livestream with us at 9:00 on YouTube or Facebook or watch the recording afterward.
Help us make this service participatory! Please gather your household. Open or print the Note Sheet to take notes during the message. Sing and respond during the service.
Our service will also be streamed live on Facebook and available afterward at:
https://www.facebook.com/WordofLife4u/events/
Click on the links below to view and/or print:
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Thank you for subscribing!
Jul
The King Who Gives Rest
There is a tiredness sleep does not cure.
You can clear your calendar and still feel crowded inside. You can sit in a quiet room and still hear the noise. Beneath so much of our exhaustion is the soul trying to be good enough, strong enough, faithful enough, useful enough, and in control enough.
But Jesus does not say, “Come to Me once you have fixed yourself.”
He says, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
This Sunday, we’ll hear the honest cry of Romans 7, the promise of Zechariah’s humble King, and the gentle invitation of Christ: rest is not sold to the improved. Rest is given to sinners.
👉 Come worship with us in person: 9:00 or 11:15 THIS Sunday.
Livestream with us at 9:00 on YouTube or Facebook or watch the recording afterward.
Help us make this service participatory! Please gather your household. Open or print the Note Sheet to take notes during the message. Sing and respond during the service.
Our service will also be streamed live on Facebook and available afterward at:
https://www.facebook.com/WordofLife4u/events/
Click on the links below to view and/or print:
Subscribe to our YouTube channel, please! You’ll be able to find our videos more quickly and others will be more likely to find us. Our YouTube channel is YouTube.com/@WordofLife4u.
Thank you for subscribing!
Jun
Vision Gets Real
Devilish distractions, divine dividends and dogged determination – discover what these things have to do with you and me as we pray and work to turn Godly vision into reality.
Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gaps had been left in it (although at that time I had not yet hung the doors in the city gates). Then Sanballat and Geshem sent this message to me: “Let’s meet in Hakkephirim on the plain of Ono.” They were planning to harm me. I sent messengers to tell them, “I’m working on an important project and can’t get away. Why should the work stop while I leave to meet with you?”
They sent the same message to me four times, and I answered them the same way. When Sanballat sent me the same message a fifth time, his servant held in his hand an unsealed letter. In it was written: It has been reported throughout the nations, and Geshem has confirmed it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. That’s why you’re rebuilding the wall.
According to this report, you want to become their king. You’ve appointed prophets to announce about you in Jerusalem, ‘There’s a king in Judah!’ This report will get back to the king. So let’s talk about this. Then I sent someone to tell him, “None of your accusations are true. You are making them up out of your own imagination.” They were all trying to intimidate us. They thought we would give up and not finish the work.
But God made me strong.
One day I went to the home of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel. Shemaiah who was confined to his house, said, “Let’s meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and close the temple doors. Some men are coming at night to kill you.” But I asked, “Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the temple to save his life? I won’t go.”
Then I realized that God hadn’t sent him. Instead, Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to prophesy against me. He was hired to intimidate me into doing this so that I would sin. Then they could give me a bad reputation in order to discredit me. Nehemiah prayed, “My God, remember what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also, remember the female prophet Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.”
The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul. The wall took 52 days to finish. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence. They realized we had done this work with the help of our God. Nehemiah 6:1-16 (GW)
👉 Come worship with us in person: 9:00 or 11:15 THIS Sunday.
Livestream with us at 9:00 on YouTube or Facebook or watch the recording afterward.
Help us make this service participatory! Please gather your household. Open or print the Note Sheet to take notes during the message. Sing and respond during the service.
Our service will also be streamed live on Facebook and available afterward at:
https://www.facebook.com/WordofLife4u/events/
Click on the links below to view and/or print:
Subscribe to our YouTube channel, please! You’ll be able to find our videos more quickly and others will be more likely to find us. Our YouTube channel is YouTube.com/@WordofLife4u.
Thank you for subscribing!
Jun
Vision Adjusts
Through Scripture and God-given wisdom, you’ve discerned the preferred future God intends for you. You’ve prayed, planned, investigated, and communicated that God-pleasing vision to others who can help make it happen. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. But what do you do (and not do) when some big hairy obstacles get in the way?
Then the people of Judah said, “The work crews are worn out, and there is too much rubble. We can’t continue to rebuild the wall.”
Our enemies said, “Before they know what is happening or see a thing, we will be right in the middle of them. We’ll kill them and bring the work to an end.”
Jews who were living near our enemies warned us ten times that our enemies would attack us from every direction. That is why I positioned people by their families behind the wall where it was lowest and most exposed. The people were armed with swords, spears, and bows. I looked them over and proceeded to tell the nobles, the leaders, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of our enemies. Remember how great and awe-inspiring the LORD is. Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
When our enemies heard that we knew about their plots and that God had prevented their plans from being successful, we all went back to the work on the wall. Each person performed his own job. Nehemiah 4:10-15 (GW)
👉 Come worship with us in person: 9:00 or 11:15 THIS Sunday.
Livestream with us at 9:00 on YouTube or Facebook or watch the recording afterward.
Help us make this service participatory! Please gather your household. Open or print the Note Sheet to take notes during the message. Sing and respond during the service.
Our service will also be streamed live on Facebook and available afterward at:
https://www.facebook.com/WordofLife4u/events/
Click on the links below to view and/or print:
Subscribe to our YouTube channel, please! You’ll be able to find our videos more quickly and others will be more likely to find us. Our YouTube channel is YouTube.com/@WordofLife4u.
Thank you for subscribing!