Who Will You Follow?

This is the question that was at the center of our worship service yesterday. While most of us would immediately affirm that we are followers of Jesus, I think, are we also demonstrating that by the way we live our lives? Are we conforming our lives to the teaching of Jesus, or are we simply accepting those parts that fit with the ideas we already have? It’s a difficult bit of soul-searching to do. There’s no better time for this kind of spiritual work than this season leading up to Easter. It is less than 5 weeks until the beginning of Holy Week with Palm Sunday.

Several of you have asked about our trip to Argentina, and honestly we are still processing it all ourselves. It’s not enough to simply say it was “good.” We want to share about the ministry that is happening there and the work we were able to accomplish. We will set a date in the future where we can show pictures, share some about Argentinian culture, and talk about what we did on the trip. For now, it is true that the trip was good, that we were kept very busy, that we met some amazing kingdom-workers, that we ate some amazing meals, and we spent a lot of time in dialogue with leaders and church-planters in that area.

Next Sunday our worship service is centered on the question: Will you persevere? This question is prompted by the parable of the seeds and the soils in Matthew and more specifically the seed that fell on the second type of soil. In his explanation of the parable, Jesus says that this “. . . refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away,” (Matthew 13:20-21, NIV). Will we be able to “stick it out,” even when the hard times come?

I know there are several of you under the weather. Continue to pray for one another and especially those who are experiencing physical needs in this time.

God bless,

Brian

Scripture readings for next Sunday

Matthew 13:1-33—What does the Parable of the Seed and the Soils teach us about perseverance?

Matthew 13:34-52—What do you learn from Jesus’ explanation here?

Lamentations 3:19-33—What does Jeremiah say about perseverance from his experience?

Romans 5:1-5—What does Paul say about how we learn perseverance?