March 19, 2015
Dear Eastridge Church,
A couple of
weeks ago I read a little devotional by pastor Greg Laurie, where he asks the
question are you chasing sardines?
Pastor Laurie writes:
Some years ago,
three hundred whales were found marooned on a beach. Scientists speculated that the whales had been
chasing sardines and became trapped in shallow water when the tide went out. Now, that’s an amazing thing. By chasing little sardines, these gigantic
creatures were ultimately led to their doom.
Many people
waste their lives chasing sardines, so to speak. They major on the minors and have no clear
focus or objective in mind. But God
tells us what should be the primary goal of every Christian. If we can get our priorities straight in this
area, everything else will come together. In fact, if we can get these two principles
operative in our lives, then all the commandments of God will become a natural outflow of our commitment to Him. What are these principles? One, “You
must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your
mind” (Matthew 22:37, NLT), and two, “Love your neighbor as yourself ” (verse
39, NLT).
When Jesus
spoke these words, He was identifying what should be the focus of every person. Essentially, He was saying that love is the
basis for all obedience. If you really
love God, then you will naturally want to do the things that please Him.
It has been
said that if you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it. What is your highest
priority in life? What are your goals? We all channel our energies and passions and
thoughts toward something in life. What
is it for you?
Jesus replied,
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all
your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: “Love your
neighbor as yourself.”— Matthew 22:37-39
Questions for
Reflection: Are any “sardines” in your life keeping you from following Matthew
22:37 and 39? Is there something
hindering you from loving the way God desires? If so, what steps can you take to heed God’s
command? How are you doing on the B. E.
L. L. habits?
Prayer
On Saturday morning at 9am Pastor Daniel leads a prayer
meeting. On Sunday morning at 8:30am
Pastor Josh will lead a prayer meeting before the morning worship service.
Movie
Night
Pastor Daniel and Gloria showing the movie “Fireproof” on
Saturday evening at 5PM. Anyone is
welcome to attend.
Easter Egg
Hunt/Easter Breakfast
We are planning on having our annual Easter Egg Hunt at the
church on Easter Sunday, April 5th. We
will need small wrapped candy donations again and this year we are going to
make the plastic eggs available for you to take home and fill the eggs with
candy. This will cut down our time
stuffing eggs. On Saturday March 28 at
noon Stephanie will be serving lunch while we gather to stuff eggs with candy.
The Stewards are planning on having an Easter Breakfast before
the morning service at 9:15-9:45. There
is a sign up sheet on the information table to let the Stewards know what food
you can bring for the breakfast.
Easter is one of our big four outreach events to invite people
to attend the services who do not have a church home. I encourage you to pray about who you may
invite to join you on Easter Sunday this year.
Prime
Time Banquet
On April 24th 6PM at Wichita First Church of the Nazarene, The
Burchfield Brothers will be in concert at the banquet. The cost for the tickets is $13/per
person.
MNU Night
at Worlds of Fun
MNU Night at Worlds of Fun is Friday, April 24th, 2015 from
6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. This event will
once again be one of the many fun-filled activities of our MAX event. Join in the great times of fellowship and
support for MidAmerica Nazarene University to make it a wonderful 41st
year! By attending this year’s MNU Night
at Worlds of Fun, you will not only have fun, but will help present and future
students attend MNU.
Visit www.mnu.edu/worldsoffun to order your ticket online. Online tickets are printed instantly from
your home or office, so be sure to have a printer handy. No refunds or credit
will be issued for unused online tickets.
Online tickets are $26.50 (plus tax) prior to Wednesday, April 4, and
$30.00 (plus tax) after April 4
Favorite
Quotes of the Week
Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing
something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to
resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in
sync with ours.” – Oswald Chambers
“Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped,
Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to
announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce
healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and
trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion.” – N. T. Wright
“Maturity cannot be hurried, programmed, or tinkered with.
There are no steroids available for growing up in Christ more quickly.
Impatient shortcuts land us in the dead ends of immaturity.” – Eugene Peterson
I’m looking forward to worshipping with you on Sunday,
Pastor Andy
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