Church Family,
This past Sunday, as we continued our series in Acts, we tackled a huge portion of narrative in chapter 15 spanning verses 1-35. Here we read about one of the most famous (or infamous) controversies of the early church: whether or not Gentile believers needed to be circumcised to be saved. This story is amazing because its value is not just in the answer to the question at hand, but also in how the answer was determined and how everyone responded to the answer. The only right way to answer such an important question is to lean on scripture. Paul, Barnabas, and James did just this and showed from the narratives of Genesis through Deuteronomy and the from the prophecy in Amos that salvation did not come through adherence to ceremonial law but though faith in the one true God. The response to this revelation was not to bicker over who had been right and who had been wrong but to rejoice in the goodness of God for his saving grace and to providing loving guidance and encouragement to those who needed this answer. While this passage surely ought to teach us of the good news of salvation for all, my it also teach us to humbly lean on God’s perfect Word and to respond to that word with an outpouring of praise to God and love for others.
Wednesday Nights
After a brief winter break, our Wednesday night activities start back up tonight, January 15th. Just like last semester, we are offering a women’s bible reading, a men’s bible reading, and our disciple makers class. If you have never joined us on Wednesday nights before, now is as good a time as any. These classes are a great opportunity to have fruitful in-depth conversations so we hope you will make time to be with us at 6:00 on Wednesday evenings.
Church Game Night
We are having a church game night on the evening of Friday, January 31st, from 6:00 to 8:00. Feel free to bring your favorite board games or just show up to play everyone else brings. We have done a few of these game nights now and they are always a fantastic time. Thanks to these game nights, I have personally had the opportunity to throw a plush burrito at Pastor Bryan, and I think that’s an opportunity that everyone at Light in the Desert ought to have. Even if you don’t normally think of yourself as a board game kind of person, you may be surprised to learn a new game you really like and at the very least it’s an invaluable opportunity to spend time together as a church family.
Parking Overflow
As a quick reminder, the apartment complex just west of our campus is using our parking lot for overflow parking while they work on some resurfacing over the next few weeks. We have specifically reserved room for Wednesday evenings and Sundays, so we shouldn’t have issues with parking during our regular church activities. Just know that if you drive by the church during the week and the parking lot is bustling, there isn’t some event that we specifically kept secret from you, it’s just our friends in the complex next door.
Grace be with you,
Logan Murphy
Pastoral Intern