• Certain kinds of people are always in conflict, and with time we grow weary of both the person and his or her argument. But Jesus himself was often in conflict. What does necessary, godly conflict look like? Join us for men’s ministry this Saturday at 8:00a — breakfast, fellowship and discussion.
• Also, join us for Sunday evening prayer which will be devoted to the persecuted church. Twenty years ago the Lord sent Michael Horowitz, a Jew, to awaken Christians. Writing for Christianity Today in 1999, Mike Cromartie said, “Horowitz became concerned with Christian persecution when he and his wife hosted an Ethiopian Christian refugee, named Getaneh, in their home. They learned Getaneh’s story of being beaten and hung upside down while hot oil was poured over his feet because he refused to stop preaching about Jesus. Horowitz began to research the subject, and in a July 5, 1995 editorial in the Wall Street Journal, he denounced a half-dozen cases of Christians being persecuted around the world.”
• The Lord lit a fire under Horowitz, and that fire began to burn under large segments of US Evangelicalism. It was long overdue. Join us Sunday and ask the Lord to either stop, or hallow, the suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world. Peter said regarding Satan, “resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” One way to stand against the enemy is in prayer. And after we have prayed for the brotherhood throughout the world, ask the Lord to light a fire under you.
• Until then, please pray for the officers’ retreat which begins this evening and runs through Saturday lunch. Leadership can be a wonderful catalyst for change or, as in the case of many Mainline churches, the fetid space in which decay begins. We need your prayers to follow Christ with courage. No one ever thinks of Paul lacking courage, yet he himself asked for prayer that “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” Pray for us, for our relentless pursuit of Christ and the work to which he is calling us.
– Pastor Eric