Weekly Greeting - June 21, 2024

Dear Bethlehem,

Once when Jesus was talking with his disciples he made a statement they must have found a little shocking:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you.”  (John 15:15)

Being a friend is very different from being a servant.  Servants serve because they don’t have a choice.  They do what they have to do out of obligation.  The servant lives in fear of the master.

Jesus wanted his disciples to be his friends.  He wanted them to show up because they wanted to be with him.  He wanted them to trust him and love him.

While it still may seem shocking when we really think about it, Jesus still wants us to be his friends.  Jesus still wants us to show up because we love him and want to be with him.  Jesus still allows us to be a part of what he is doing.

I pray that as we prepare for the Fish Fry and our upcoming concert worship series, the people of our community will see us as friends of the One who loves us all and longs to be friends with us all.  Please pray that we will be about God’s business as we share God’s love with our community and world.

God bless!

Craig

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We are continuing our “On Purpose” worship series this week.  Our text is Matthew 14:13-21.  To discover our purpose, we must not focus only on the future, but also pay attention to the present.  In this week’s passage of the miraculous feeding of the multitude, we discover that when we offer God what we have, amazing things can happen!  Hope to see you Sunday!

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