Church Family,

This past Sunday, as we continued our series in Ecclesiastes, we were surprised with a breath of fresh air as the author took a short break from all his talk of vanity to speak of what is good and worth enjoying. Of course the vanity talk resumed almost immediately, but only as warning to the one who will not heed the simple advice to “eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil” which is a gift “from the hand of God.” One of the key antidotes to the vanity of life is to enjoy each moment as it has been given to us by God rather than seeing each moment as means to further worldly ends. Church, let us be careful to recognize and enjoy each moment that God has given us

.Passage for this upcoming Sunday: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Catechism

We newly taken up a very ancient practice in our Sunday morning gathering of learning theology through catechism, the asking and answering of questions central to our beliefs. We would encourage you to engage even more in this process throughout the week by accessing the New City Catechism either on your computer or on your mobile phone. These resources not only allow you to review or preview the questions we go over on Sundays but also provide relevant passages of scripture, short prayers, and commentaries on each question. There is even a children’s version of the catechism with simplified questions and answers plus a song for each question to help with memorization.

Celebration of Life

As you may know, one of our dear church members, Emily Serrano, passed away a few weeks ago. We have not been able to get into contact with her family about a service for her so we will be hosting our own celebration of life service for her on Sunday, February 8th, immediately following our regular Sunday gathering.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

This past Sunday, as we continued our series in Ecclesiastes, we listened in on the author’s reflections on his exploration of both wisdom and folly. He expressed that, on one hand, there is more to be gained from being wise than from living foolishly, which is no surprise to us. Still, he lamented that whether one is wise or whether one is foolish, everyone dies and is forgotten all the same. Let us embrace the clear call of this passage to live wisely, to act intentionally and carefully to bring about good, but not to place our ultimate hope in our wise living. There are many problems we will never solve because we are limited beings with limited strength and time and wisdom. Our only true hope is Jesus Christ, our perfect and infinite savior, and our efforts to live wisely are only good in as much as they are born of a love for him.

Passage for this upcoming Sunday: Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

Celebration of Life

As you may know, one of our dear church members, Emily Serrano, passed away a few weeks ago. We have not been able to get into contact with her family about a service for her so we will be hosting our own celebration of life service for her on Sunday, February 8th, immediately following our regular Sunday gathering.

Prospective Members’ Class

We will be offering our prospective member’s class this upcoming Saturday, January 24th from 9 am to 12 pm. If you’ve visited us at Light in the Desert this is a great opportunity to learn about our church and especially why we think formal church membership is so important and so valuable. Even if you’ve been to the class before, and even if you are already a member, it would also be good to come to this class as a refresher on membership. Even if you have not signed up you are still welcome to join, we just ask that you email Bryan ahead of time at bryan@lightinthedesert.church so he can know how many people he can expect in attendance.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

This past Sunday, as we continued our series in Ecclesiastes, we followed as the author tried every form of pleasure imaginable and come to the conclusion that everything is never enough. Uncoincidentally, that’s the title of a book I want to take a second to recommend that you read as we’re going through Ecclesiastes. Bobby Jamieson’s Everything Is Never Enough: Ecclesiastes’ Surprising Path to Resilient Happiness helps make the book of Ecclesiastes easier to understand, for instance by laying out all the finely nuanced meanings of the word “vanity” seen throughout, as well as provides a lot of very practical and powerful application for our everyday lives. If you had set a reading goal for 2026 this book would be a great way to fill out that number you were aiming for, and if you hadn’t set a reading goal that just means you have plenty of time to read at least this one book. You can find it on Amazon here or at any number of other booksellers.

Passage for this upcoming Sunday: Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

Bible Reading Plans

On the topic of reading goals, there is of course nothing more important we can read than the Bible, and it often helps to use a reading plan to keep us on a steady pace. Ligonier ministries has compiled a helpful list of several different Bible reading plans with a range of different paces and emphases. Whether it’s the Bible in a year, the Bible in two years, Psalms in five months, or a flexible plan that lets you set your own pace, it would be well worth your time to pick up one of these plans.

Prospective Members’ Class

We will be offering our prospective member’s class on January 24th from 9 am to 12 pm. If you’ve visited us at Light in the Desert this is a great opportunity to learn about our church and especially why we think formal church membership is so important and so valuable. Even if you’ve been to the class before, and even if you are already a member, it would also be good to come to this class as a refresher on membership. If you’re planning on attending please be sure to sign up on the sheet in the foyer so we can know how many to expect.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

This past Sunday we started a new sermon series on the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is going to repeatedly address the emptiness or vanity of so much that we do in all the business of our lives, but in the stubbornness of our hearts we will likely struggle with the fact that this book declares that “all is vanity.” While we may readily see the vanity of some pursuits, there will be others that we will want to cling to even as Ecclesiastes puts their absurdity on display. Let us then pray this week and throughout this series that God would use this book to help us let go of our vain desires and cling instead to Him, the only sure and true source of joy and peace.

Along with praying, we encourage you to read Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 to prepare for this upcoming Sunday’s sermon.

Prospective Members’ Class

We will be offering our prospective member’s class on January 24th from 9 am to 12 pm. If you’ve visited us at Light in the Desert this is a great opportunity to learn about our church and especially why we think formal church membership is so important and so valuable. Even if you’ve been to the class before, and even if you are already a member, it would also be good to come to this class as a refresher on membership.

Wednesday Ministries

All our regular Wednesday ministries kick back off next week on January 14th. This includes our disciple makers class, men’s study, and both the morning and evening sessions of the women’s study. Whether you’ve never been part of our Wednesday ministries before or have participated for years we hope to see you there.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

The Gospel of Luke is famed for its detailed and orderly approach to telling the story of Jesus, and as we turned to Luke’s telling of Jesus’ birth this past Sunday we found that those details unveil many important truths. For instance, God in his wisdom used many seemingly insignificant people in this story of the greatest significance. What’s more, Luke highlights that the characters of this story repeatedly broke out into rejoicing over the great work that God was doing. The details of the Christmas story reveal that this is a time for joy for the people of God, for Christ has come and with him salvation from sin and death.

Thank You!

Church family, I just wanted to take a second to thank you for the opportunity to serve as pastoral intern this past year. The opportunities you have given me to plan, teach, and serve have not only allowed me to learn but also to grow spiritually, especially in my understanding and love of serving God by serving the church. And your constant encouragement has been vital in helping me persevere day by day. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

This past Sunday, as we continued to look at the coming of Christ through the lens of the four Gospels, we examined the somewhat peculiar case of the Gospel of Mark. At times this book sounds almost as though it is in a hurry. For instance, the book provides no birth narrative at all, instead jumping straight into Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist and moving quickly into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Perhaps Mark felt an urgency while writing this book to get to Jesus’ message: Jesus has power and victory over sin and death and he is inviting us to join him in his victory. This advent season, let us feel the urgency of Jesus’ message in Mark yet also feel the peace brought by the victory we have received in him.

Members’ Meeting

Our regular quarterly members’ meeting will be this upcoming Sunday, December 14th, immediately following service. Participation in this meaning is an important part of the duties of membership, so if you are a member we strongly encourage you to make time to attend.

Wednesday Nights

By the time this blog post reaches your email we will have finished the last of our Wednesday night activities for the year. If you’re wondering what to do with an extra open evening for each of the next few weeks, we’d encourage you to share a meal with another member of our church family and maybe even do some advent readings together. Keep an eye out for an announcement of when we’ll start our Wednesday night activities back up in the new year.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

One of the key points of the sermon this past Sunday was that when Mary and Joseph were called to serve God they were not exactly in what they considered ideal circumstances. Still, they heard and obeyed God’s commands to them and ultimately their circumstances, by God’s grace, only magnified the beauty of Mary and Joseph’s service. Reflecting on this, let us be reminded that we are not to wait for the perfect circumstances to serve God. Instead, let us joyfully and eagerly serve God in whatever circumstances he has given us, trusting that he is doing a greater work than we could ever imagine.

Members’ Meeting

Our regular quarterly members’ meeting will be on Sunday, December 14th, immediately following service. Participation in this meaning is an important part of the duties of membership, so if you are a member we strongly encourage you to make time to attend.

Advent Schedule

There are two schedule changes of note coming with the Christmas season. First, we will have a service at 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Second, we will have a fellowship hour in place of our normal 9:00 a.m. Sunday Studies on Sunday, December 28th.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

This past Sunday, as we considered what it means to be and make disciples who love others sacrificially, we looked at the parable of the good Samaritan. The lawyer whose question prompted the parable was looking for the bounds of his responsibilities to others so he might know the point at which he can stop showing love and still justify himself. The Samaritan in the parable flips this perspective on its head. He makes himself a neighbor to the man by loving the man sacrificially rather than determining whether or not the man is to whom the Samaritan bears some duty. Church, let us be like the Samaritan. Let us not look for the bounds at which we withhold our love but instead seek every opportunity to love others as Christ has loved us.

Church Thanksgiving

As a quick reminder, our church Thanksgiving dinner is at 4:00 p.m. this upcoming Sunday. If you signed up to bring food it would be a good idea to look at the sign-up sheet to get a sense of how many people need fed.

Advent

We will begin our advent series on Sunday November 30th. We encourage you to read each passage ahead of Sunday morning (the passage can be found on the previous Sunday’s bulletin). We also encourage you to pick one of the advent books we have given out in years past and read through it each day of December, especially with your family or another church member.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church family,

This past Sunday, as we concluded our series in James, we were sent out with a strong exhortation; God’s people must pray. If we are suffering then we are to pray. If we are rejoicing then we are to pray. If we are sick then we are to pray and have others pray over us. Much of the passage focused on regular and intentional prayer for one another. In light of that clear command, it seems worth taking just a second to encourage you to join our life groups if you haven’t already. These groups have already proven to be a powerful way to get to know each other so we may know how to pray for each other, not to mention the time it allows us to spend praying together. If you found this passage convicting and want to put it into practice, joining a life group would be a great place to start.

New Sermon Series

As we have just a few weeks before advent, we are going to take that time to do a brief topical sermon series on what it means to be a disciple and what it means to make disciples. Light in the Desert Church exists to glorify God by making disciples who love God supremely, love others sacrificially, and share hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ to all peoples. If we are to fulfill that mission then we must understand what discipleship really is, so please join us over the next few Sundays as we explore this topic.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern

Church Family,

This past Sunday, as we continued our series in James, we were encouraged to persist in patience and steadfastness until the coming of the Lord, which is to say that we are to remain faithful to God for as long as we walk this earth. Such faithfulness may feel impossible in the midst of trials, but James reminds to find strength in God’s own faithfulness. God sees to the fulfillment of his own will, which is marked by compassion and mercy, and in his faithfulness to us he gives us the strength to be faithful, just as he has with countless others before us like Job and the prophets of old.

Sunday Studies

We’ll be changing things up a bit with our Sunday Studies starting November 9th. We will be working back through a series on the grand story of the Bible we have done before, but for those who have been through that study before we will also have a gathering at that same time for focused prayer. Each Sunday for seven weeks we will have different church members lead us in prayer on particular topics such as evangelism or our affection for Christ.

Grace be with you,

Logan Murphy

Pastoral Intern