“It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!”   That used to work for us until we started the Saturday service!  “It’s Friday, but the weekend is coming!”  How’s that?

This weekend, I will be sharing the second message in our Fall Journey With Jesus.  The title of the message is “The Manliness of Jesus.”  I am praying that it will fire you up as much as it has me.  It’s a major paradigm shift from our normal thoughts about Jesus.  This week, I have read a book by Erwin McManus called THE BARBARIAN WAY.  In it, he says something that should prepare our hearts for the weekend message:

“The original call of Jesus was so simple, so clean, so clear; ‘Follow Me.’ He wants us to surrender our lives to Him and follow Him into the unknown. And if it means a life of suffering, hardship, and disappointment, it will be worth it because following Jesus is more powerful and more fulfilling than living with everything in the world minus Him.  Have we forgotten this?  Have we become so civilized that the benefits of our faith have become more precious and more valuable to us than the Benefactor of our faith?” [Erwin Raphael McManus, The Barbarian Way, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005), p. 49]

Sunday night I am speaking on the importance of our relationship to Israel and the Jewish people.  Over these past months, Israel has once again become the focus of the world.  How could it be that a nation that boasts less than 1% of the world’s population could be at the center of every news program and every magazine all the time?  Does God care what I think about the nation of Israel?  Do we always have to be on Israel’s side?  Do we owe a debt to our Jewish friends?  I am going to answer these questions and many more when we meet together. 

Last week, our choirs all reconvened, including the Children’s Choir.  Be sure and get your children enrolled in Children’s Choir so that they will be able to be a part of all the great things that have been planned for this year.

Finally, time is running out for you to get tickets to the Men’s Super Summit. Men, this is one of those events that you just don’t want to miss.  I believe we will look back on this weekend and say it was one of the greatest weekends for our men in the history of our church.  The lineup of speakers we have secured for this conference may be one of the best lineups you have experienced at any men’s conference.  Don’t let the fact that this event is taking place on our campus keep you from making it a priority. 

I will see you on the weekend!

Love from your Pastor,

David Jeremiah