Its Tuesday and I’m in the office doing the usual pastoral stuff–checking mail, following up with people from Sunday, catching up on church business, etc. But I’m still basking in the glow of a wonderful Sunday this week. As a pastor, I look forward to Sundays, I look forward to preaching, I look forward to the fellowship of the saints.
But this Sunday was especially cool, because we began a new series, "Why We Believe What We Believe." This was a series that I felt God wanted us to do for sometime, rekindling again a focus on the core doctrines of our faith.
Sunday we set the tone with a message with a rather bland title: "Why Doctrine is Important." A title like that doesn’t exactly inspire. Its not going to end up on the top-ten sermon titles of all time. And I’m sure some thought that perhaps it was as exciting as watching paint dry (or World Cup Soccer-sorry soccer fans, please forgive me this once).
But it turns out that people were really clued into the message this week. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of our people were excited that we’re going to have a renewed emphasis on the core doctrines of our faith. And the truth is that I’m pretty pumped myself.
It’s amazing, when you begin to study the Bible, you come away so incredibly inspired. The doctrines don’t have to be dull. They are life. They are teaching. They are faith. What we believe really does matter. Proverbs says "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
Which leads me to this coming week. Fitting rather nicely into this series is a guest speaker this week, Dr. Elwood Chipchase, former president of Calvary Bible College and a longtime friend. He’s going to deliver three messages on the Second Coming of Christ. That’s right, we here at GLBC believe Jesus is coming again and it will be soon.
Knowing and studying the Second Coming helps us live now in this world. It helps us open the newspapers and realize that while Satan is currently enjoying some success, ultimately God is in charge and has a plan.
Plan on being here on Sunday, attend all three messages: 9:45 am, 10:45 am, and 6pm. You won’t be disappointed.