I am glad when they say to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord!

Welcome family and friends!  It is our desire and prayer to honor God as we gather for Bible study, worship, and Christian fellowship on the Lord’s Day and every day.  We are to read God’s word every day because the strength of our faith lies in our knowledge of the Bible.  We find that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).  The Psalmist wrote in Psalms 1 about the prosperity of the person who delights in God’s law and meditates on it day and night.  This person is pictured as a healthy tree growing and prospering year after year.  Jesus finished His sermon on the mountain with statements about the importance of hearing and doing His word (Matthew 7:24-27).  It is foolish to hear what needs to be done and then not do it.  It is wise to hear and do.

Our Sunday morning sermon series is entitled “Growing in Gladness.”  We are studying about worship and how happy we should be as Christians to worship God in spirit and in truth.  David was glad to worship (Psalm 122:1).  We should be too.  Sunday is the Lord’s Day.  We honor God when we meet together for worship and fellowship.  Some Christians miss the central theme of the assembly: Christians together drawing near to God, holding tightly to the confession of our hope, considering one another to stir up love and good works (Hebrews 10:19-25).  We honor Him when we remember Jesus’ death in the Lord’s Supper.  We honor Him when we pray.  We honor God when we give of our means.  We honor Him when we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  We honor Him when we hear the preaching of His word.

We’ll be looking at how we can grow in gladness through prayer this Sunday, February 7^th.  Come and hear.  God still hears and answers our supplications, prayers, and intercessions.  He stills hears our words of thanksgiving.  We just need to pray, today and everyday.

May God bless us in 2016 as we renew our focus on the Light of the world, Jesus Christ our Savior and Friend on Sunday, the Lord’s Day and every day.  May we decide again to grow in His grace and in the knowledge of Christ.

Just a word or two about “fellowship.” 

In our day of social media, texting, email, network marketing, and the like is seems that “fellowship” has taken on a different meaning.  People can now be “friends” without any physical contact.  I hear that some churches are now having worship services via the internet, the preacher preaching from the beach in Florida or from some other location over the audio/video system that is sent out via the world wide web.  The church gives via PayPal.  One is asked to sing along as he sits behind his computer monitor watching people/the choir/the band perform.  Some pray all alone then eat the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine in remembrance of Jesus’ death still all alone.  And when I ask about fellowship and God’s command in Hebrews 10:24-25 I can almost hear some say, “Brother Mickey, I’m not alone!  All my 482 Facebook friends, my 242 Twitter buddies, and my Blog followers are right here with me.  And if I want to “see” someone or speak “face to face” I’ll just Skype them.”  Really?  What can I say?