October 17, 2013
Dear Eastridge Family,
I am very excited about the 40 Days of Purpose campaign that
begins on Sunday. I met with the small group leaders yesterday and heard
some stories about some “Oikos” members who plan to attend a small group.
I have been praying that this time would be an important time in the life of
our church. That this time would be a time where we can draw close to God
and see several people get saved and begin to follow and become a disciple of
Jesus.
Yesterday I heard a good question that was asked, “Why would you
study a book for 40 days during this campaign instead of studying the Bible?”
The way I have answered this question in the past is first, the
book is based upon biblical principles. A book like the Purpose Driven
Life is like a map. The purpose of the map is to give us an understanding
of a particular place to give us a description of a real place. A map of Argentina is not the reality of Argentina Argentina
The Purpose Driven Life book is like a map to help guide us and
to describe for us the reality which is Jesus. The Pharisees were giving
Jesus trouble and in John 5:39 Jesus said you are missing the point of the
Scriptures. All the Scriptures point to me, the Messiah (The Christ) and
you have studied the Scriptures but you are missing me, the focus of the Scriptures.
I say all of that to say, the focus is not the book or Rick
Warren but the focus is Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the
only way of salvation. I know this book has been helpful to point people
to Jesus in the past and I pray it will be helpful for us as well.
Secondly, the Bible tells us that God uses people to grow us up
in the faith (see Ephesians chapter 4). God has given us teachers,
pastors, evangelist and prophets to quip us for ministry and to help us grow in
our faith. Pastor Rick Warren is a teacher that God has used to influence
millions of people. That does not mean Rick Warren is infallible because
he is only human. Just like the church is not absolutely perfect.
We can find lots of flaws with each church (read the New Testament and you can
see lots of problems in the churches there) but we need to remember the church
is God’s plan A and there is no plan B.
I want to remind you of a few things as we head into the 40 Days
campaign:
· Day of Prayer and
Fasting
“There is no power like that of prevailing prayer. It
turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It
brings fire. It brings life. It brings God.” - Samuel Chadwick
“You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot
do more than pray until you have prayed.” - A. J. Gordon
Fasting helps to express, to deepen, to confirm the resolution
that we are ready to sacrifice anything…to attain what we seek for the Kingdom of God
Mark Batterson in his book, “Be a Circle Maker” says,
“God won’t do it unless you pray for it…The greatest tragedy in life is the
prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.”
This Saturday we will have a Day of Prayer and Fasting for our
40 Days of Purpose Campaign. Some may ask:
WHAT IS FASTING?
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that is taught in the Bible.
Jesus expected his followers to fast and he said that God rewards
fasting. Fasting, according to the Bible, means to voluntarily reduce or
eliminate your intake of food for a specific time and purpose.
“When you give up eating, don't put on a sad face like the
hypocrites. They make their faces look sad to show people they are giving up
eating. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward.
So when you give up eating, comb your hair and wash your face. Then people will
not know that you are giving up eating, but your Father, whom you cannot see,
will see you. Your Father sees what is done in secret, and he will reward
you.”
This united day of Fasting will provide us an opportunity
to seek God in prayer together.
v Fasting is not so much about food as
it is about focus. Let us focus on the spiritual growth of our church family
and the conversion of those who need to be saved.
v Fasting
is not so much about saying no to the body as it is about saying yes to the Spirit.
Fasting is a time to not just give God our request and petitions but it
is also a time to hear from God. What is God telling you? What is
your part in this spiritual campaign?
v Fasting
is not about doing without, it is about looking within. Is there any
hidden sin in my life? Sometimes we can be guilty of doing sin but we can
be guilty of the sin of omission. James 4:17 (NKJV) says, “Therefore, to
him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is
sin.”
v Fasting
is an outward response to an inward attitude and cry of the soul. How
hungry for God are we? Do we long for the presence of God? Do we
thirst to see God move in our nation, church and families?
· Small Groups
We have several different options of small groups for you to
join during this 40 Days campaign.
Sunday afternoon (English) Riley Carswell will lead a group
immediately after the Sunday morning worship service in the Fellowship Hall.
Sunday evening (English) Pastor Andy will lead a group that will
meet at Ben Hunter’s house at 6PM.
Monday evening (English and Spanish) Stephanie Heer will lead a
group at her house at 6 PM.
Wednesday evening (Spanish) Carmen Angulo will lead a group at
her home.
Wednesday evening (Spanish) Lucila Campos will lead a group at
her home.
Friday evening (Spanish) Enrique Vargas and Daniel Peña will
lead a men’s group.
If you are interested in attending any of these groups please contact the church office.
I have been asked if you may attend more than one group.
The answer is yes. I do want to encourage you this is vital to the spiritual
growth campaign to be a part of the small group. I am convinced that you
will not regret it.
· Books
We have distributed all of the books that we ordered. If
you need a book we can still get you one but it may not arrive by Sunday so let
me know as soon as possible and we will get a book to you. Even if it
does not come for a few days into the campaign it will be well worth it to have
the book and read it during the campaign.
· Sunday morning
worship
I continue to ask that you join me in prayer for our worship
services. We gather together as God’s people to worship and bring glory
to God. The focus is not us; it is not the teaching or music. The
focus is Jesus. If we gather to honor Jesus we will never go home empty,
we will be blessed by worshipping Him.
I’ll see you in worship this weekend!
Pastor Andy
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