January 2020 Newsletter

Jesus:  “Are you ghosting Me?”

I’m uncertain when the word “ghosting” entered the public lexicon, but its use has certainly skyrocketed recently. Ghosting is the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication. You used to be there, now you’re not: like a ghost.

Communication is important in every relationship, including our relationship with God. God has given us his word to communicate with us.

Dr. Denny Burk, a professor of biblical studies at Boyce College says, “Christians need the Bible like humans need water. The Bible is our lifeblood. The Lord Jesus plans to perfect His people by means of His word. That is why He prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Since the Bible is the word of God written, our progress in sanctification relies on our contact with the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. Every Christian, therefore, should make it a priority to master this book.”

And mastery is not drudgery! The Bible is the historically accurate account of God’s dealings with mankind. It’s intended as a teaching, rebuking, correcting and training tool essential to our Christian lives. Better than a dry policy manual, it’s filled with exciting stories of love, tragedy, victory and valor. It incorporates thrilling biographies, inspirational poetry, sweeping prophecy and apocalyptic visions. It’s replete with supernatural exploits, transcendent philosophy and sage wisdom that make reading interesting and enlightening. There’s no other book like it!

As your pastor, let me encourage you to make reading through the Bible cover to cover a goal this year. Here are two (free!) tools to help you.

YouVersion’s Bible App is very helpful. It has many Bible reading plans of varying lengths and topics. Once you create an account you can read and track your progress on any device.

The Bible Project is a great multi-platform site where you can watch animated video summaries of each Bible book (or topic, character or key word) and then read the Bible in one year with others.

Either of these free tools make it easy to read the Bible in one year. What other generation has had such advantages with regard to the number of versions and digital accessibility as we do? So then - there’s no excuse for ghosting Jesus in 2020!

Happy New Year! 

- Pastor Richard

The youth had a great time celebrating Christmas together with the progressive dinner. The dancing Santa in a bath tub returned for another year and went home with Tala Garibay!

We are excited to share that SHACC registration is open for the summer. This year we are going July 5-10 and you can sign up by clicking here. It is $50 off if you register before January 31!

Youth Group is starting up again January 10 and we look forward to seeing everyone again!

The snowflake is such a beautiful reminder of how unique and wonderful God made us!