MIDWEEK MESSAGE #56<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #56. I\u2019m so glad to have this chance to visit with you. I hope your week is going well. If not, then I hope today\u2019s \u201cHump Day\u201d (don\u2019t cue in that stupid GEICO commercial) will start a change in your week. I have a lot of different \u201cstuff\u201d for you to think about in this edition of the MM. I\u2019m hoping there is something for everyone.<\/p>\n
This Sunday is Mother\u2019s Day (MD)!\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to spending the day honoring the woman who has put up with me for almost 48 years (June 16).\u00a0 Her MD present has already been bought and used several times. So I\u2019m off the hook of trying to figure out what to get her. \ud83d\ude42 I can tell you though that she is most certainly looking out for you all.\u00a0 (This is a \u201ctell on Bill confession\u201d).\u00a0 A couple of weeks ago we were in bed when she asked me what I was going to preach on for MD. Oops! I had developed my \u201cEyes Wide Open\u201d series and forgot to leave a special one for MD. So I came to the office the next morning and immediately made some changes in my sermon schedule and inserted one on mothers\u2026the one I will preach this Sunday. Whew! She sure saved me from a last minute, \u201cOh no!\u201d then a frantic pace trying to write a sermon at the last minute. And she saved you from a half-baked prepared sermon.<\/p>\n
I am so excited to be working with the elders (Wayne Akerson, Jeff Carlson, and David Robertson) of OVCF.\u00a0 Some people have the mistaken idea, usually because of previous experience, that the church is \u201crun\u201d by the pastor or pastors. What he\/they say goes. They wind up almost like a dictator. OVCF is not \u201crun\u201d that way. We would say Jesus is our Head and the elders and pastors work together. In previous MMs, I would tell you how the elders are praying for you.\u00a0 Monday night in the elders meeting, I said it had been 6 months since we implemented praying for all of you. For those unaware of what I\u2019m talking about: I divide up the directory (this time into 19 names) and \u201cassign\u201d the names to each one and we commit to praying for you during the month. Monday night I asked if they wanted to continue the prayer and unanimously they said, \u201cYes!\u201d That got me stoked! These guys care so much about you that they make it a practice to pray for you specifically. You are that<\/strong> important to us!<\/p>\n Look for next week\u2019s MM for an important message and clarification. That\u2019s all I\u2019m going to say about that. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Did you know we are doing something right?\u00a0 It\u2019s always nice to hear something like that isn\u2019t it? This past Monday I copied two blog posts (not mine) and shared them with the elders. They were by Karl Vaters, the pastor of a small town church. Both posts were about online church. One was how important it was, but also how inadequate it was. The other was about tracking attendance. We were not the only ones who had to go virtual when the pandemic hit. But I\u2019m happy to say that we are definitely doing some things right! A big tip of the hat goes to our \u201cSunday Morning Live\u201d crew! No names lest I forget someone, but you know who you are. THANK YOU!!<\/strong> Every Sunday we report in the bulletin how many were in physical attendance and also virtual. Those two numbers (according to the post) are to be counted separately. Check one for us. The only one we can\u2019t track is who watches it later.<\/p>\n But here is where you can help. One of the important items we need to do is to have an online presence. What that means is simply acknowledging someone signing in and then contacting them to see how we might help them or if we can pray for them. That\u2019s it. If needs are expressed then funneling them to the right channel is important. I\u2019m looking for a few folks who might like to do that. Not every week but how often will be dependent on how many offer to help. Would you like to be an online presence for OVCF? Please let me know.<\/p>\n Have you heard about the Nursery and the 5th<\/sup> Sunday?\u00a0 Sorry. You will have to wait until next week to learn more. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n I want to leave you this week with something special, something that spoke right to the core of my being. I wrote it for my Living in the Shadow <\/em>blog. (I\u2019d be honored if you would take the time to subscribe to receive it in your email and read my daily devotion blog). Well, here it is:<\/p>\n I was blown away by words from a devotion I read Tuesday morning. Rather than babble on, I thought I’d just print them here. The words are from Day 5 of 40 Days of Love<\/strong><\/em> by Paul David Tripp.<\/p>\n “Don’t be discouraged today. No matter how alone you feel, you’ve been blessed with the Father’s love.” <\/strong><\/p>\n “I love the depiction of God’s tender care in Isaiah 42:3: ‘A bruised reed he will not break, a faintly burning wick he will not quench.’ What a beautiful word picture! Imagine walking through the bush and coming across a young tree with a bent and almost broken limb hanging at a rather grotesque angle. You spontaneously complete the job, ripping the limb completely off. Your heavenly Father would never, ever be that thoughtless. He wouldn’t think of breaking you the rest of the way. He comes to you in grace to comfort, strengthen, encourage, and restore. His love toward you is tender and faithful. He is near you when it seems no one else is. He will care for you when no one else does. He will heal your wounds when no one around you seems to see how wounded you are. He will never mock or<\/strong> take advantage of your weakness. He will not let you go unnoticed or disregarded. If you are his child, it is impossible for you to be alone and unloved because your heavenly Father is with you and reaches out to you in tender, restoring love.”<\/strong><\/p>\n He ends with these words: “Yes, life can be very hard, people can be very cruel, and at times you are left alone, but you are never completely abandoned because your Father is with you in tender, restorative love.”<\/strong>\u00a0 (Pages 18-19)\u00a0 {End of devotion}<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I want to leave those beautiful words with you today. I hope they will sustain you through the rest of this week, as well as for the long haul. It has become a clich\u00e9 the past year but you are not in this alone (and I\u2019m not talking about the pandemic. I\u2019m talking about life). With God\u2019s help you got this. You and He can handle anything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And I\u2019ll close by saying that I love you all and I look forward to seeing you soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pastor Bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MIDWEEK MESSAGE #56 Hello and welcome to Midweek Message #56. I\u2019m so glad to have this chance to visit with you. I hope your week is going well. If not, then I hope today\u2019s \u201cHump Day\u201d (don\u2019t cue in that stupid GEICO commercial) will start a change in your week. I have a lot … <\/p>\n