Are you “wowed” today?

29 Jan Are you “wowed” today?

Welcome to the week y’all!

Let’s see if I can remember how to do all this…it’s been a while.

Huge Thank You to everyone who came out to our Barefoot Bowling evening last Friday. What a beautiful night to be laughing over our ineptitude on the bowling greens and delighting in the fellowship of God’s wonderful people. We need more of these kinds of opportunities. The more we engage in one another’s lives like this the better we are able to bear one another’s burdens when the time for that arises. Now some business to tend…

1. Bible Study Catch-up

Friday – 2nd February 2024 @ 1:00 PM 

Join Zoom Meeting  —  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83006349720  —  Meeting ID: 830 0634 9720

We’ll be examining in closer detail Sunday’s readings from 1 John 1 & Matthew 5. Come on in the water’s fine!

2. This coming Sunday, 4^th February, is a Morning Tea and Giving Beyond Ourselves Sunday (GBO is for Riding for the Disabled)
3. Sunday 11^th February we’ll welcome some special guests from Compassion International. God working through you in partnership with Compassion is a marvel. We sponsor a large number of young people for a congregation our size. This is but one testimony to your generosity. Let’s always set a high standard of generous faithfulness for ourselves…it is an amazing witness and produces an incredible legacy.

 

Oh…about that heading…the question of if you are “wowed.”

Trevin Wax is an author & leader in the church’s efforts to share the good news of Jesus with multitudes of people through the church. I came across something he wrote…knocked me over: “The church faces her biggest challenge not when new errors start to win but when old truths no longer wow.” It’s not just being bored in worship if a song or sermon goes over-long by your estimation; it’s the complacency and diffused focus of your heart such that even the good news starts to sound like leftover meatloaf for dinner again. JRR Tolkien once said that the most regrettable feature of human nature is how quickly we become unsatisfied with the good. Jesus called out the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:4), “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!” Some translators render that, “you have abandoned your first love!” They gave up their “wow” & wonder of Jesus.

Something happens in the sinful human heart that makes us lose the wonder & “wow” of being called “child of God,” “friend of Jesus,” “temple of the Holy Spirit.” We give up seeing God as the only thing we need in heaven or on earth (Psalm 73:25) and begin to long for lesser things…even lesser good things. When that happens the slope is greased toward becoming lukewarm and you know what Jesus says about that…“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.” (Rev 3:16) So take time to be “wowed” this week. Be struck by Jesus’ promise to be “with you always” and that you “will do even greater things” (John 14:12). Let your heart exult in the knowledge that Jesus right now stands before God pleading on your behalf (Rom 8:34 & 1 Jn 2:1). Revel in the assurance that because Christ has conquered the grave, sin & the devil…there is no power of any sort that escapes his rule, no threat he cannot overcome, no circumstance in your life he ignores.

I ran into a faithful Jesus follower today…he’s working hard to bring pastors together at this time in our city’s history to see what Jesus can do to widen his reach here in the hearts of our neighbours. I was “wowed.” I almost never have a heart to heart conversation with this guy…he owns multiple businesses here in town and has a busy family like me…but I’d heard his name a few days ago & God put him in the Marketplace when I went to do today’s shopping. So I sat down & we talked until he had to take a call from a guy he knows in prison…and he’s trying to find a safe place for him when he gets out…house, job, church…so that call was crucial and we blessed each other and went our separate ways. I was “wowed” and thanked God for arranging that little encounter. I’m confident God will take that 15-20 minutes and multiply it soon. I’m praying for that…and that many in this city would be “wowed” by Jesus in the year ahead. I hope you are this week.

God bless you with wonder

John