Happy Friday, friends! Well, it is now officially summer and it sure feels like it!
Yesterday (06.20.24) was the first official day of summer as the northern hemisphere was at its maximum tilt towards the Sun. From now until December 21 of this year, the daylight hours will become shorter each day.
When I think of summer, I think of rest, relaxation, and vacation.
Jesus talked about coming to Him and finding rest. Listen to His words in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Some may say, "But the Christian life isn't easy for me! My Christian life is heavy; it's like a duty that I have to fulfill."
Why is that? It's primarily because we as flawed humans have made life more difficult. Our enemy and ruler of this world has also spread lies to us. For example, the devil tells us that we are not good enough so, therefore, we try and do more and more to prove that we do matter. This is not what God our Father and Creator had in mind.
We all have choices to make every day. In today's world, it seems as if we have more and more choices to make. Walk into a grocery store or restaurant and you'll see a difference from just a few years ago. There are more products and brands to choose from. Have you noticed the new Coke machines at some restaurants? You can choose hundreds of flavor combos. BTW - I hate those machines!
The most important choice we can make, however, is choosing Jesus. The wisdom He has and the peace He brings are way better than silver and gold and the most precious of material things. So let's choose Jesus in every way today!
Let's start right now. Let's lay our burdens down. Let's say yes to the Lord!
With the arrival of summer, I am beginning a new series of messages on Sunday mornings at FCC.
We will spend the next few Sunday mornings this summer looking at the Old Testament book of Psalms.
As a preacher, I try my best to preach from the entire Bible and not just the New Testament.
I must admit that the Psalms present a little bit of a challenge for me as they are not written in a narrative for an easy story-telling style type of preaching (one I’m much more comfortable with).
Instead, the book of Psalms is a collection of prayers, songs, and poetry (many of them written by David). They cover BIG questions about God, humanity, Creation, and the nature of evil and suffering. Most everyone can point to at least one or two Psalms that stand out as “favorites” with the 23rd Psalm (“The Lord is my shepherd…”) being one of the most recognizable and popular.
In addition, nearly every single human emotion can be found expressed in the book of Psalms. We’re going to look at some of them in our series.
I hope and pray you'll be there. Until then...
God Bless,
Greg H.
