The Righteous Judge
Church Family,
It was wonderful to be back this past Sunday! I’m thankful for all the prayers and encouragement we received during our recovery. This past Sunday, we examined Psalm 9 and found that it directs us towards the Lord, our Righteous Judge, who removes the wicked and remembers the needy. The Lord, not forgetting us, is based upon His character of righteousness and His actions as a judge. Since God is righteous, He rightly sees our troubles, and since He sits enthroned as judge, He will weigh in on our situations. He will remember, He will respond, and we can trust it will be right. This is what we reflect on during the Christmas season, that the Lord remembered and responded to our most significant need. Christ Jesus is God’s ultimate response as Righteous Judge to our troubles, needs, and difficulties.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Psalm 9:18
Disciple-Makers
This is a reminder that there will be no Disciple-Makers class this week due to Thanksgiving. Enjoy your week with family and friends!
Advent
We will start Advent this coming Sunday. Advent takes up the four Sundays before Christmas day and reflects on the coming of the God-man and then anticipates the forthcoming of the God-man! If you have not already, please grab an Advent book to begin reading as a family on December 1 through 25.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Peacemaker
Church Family,
It has been an interesting week! We are grateful for all your prayers and encouraging words over the last few days. We all are recovering well and feeling much better. This past Sunday, as I watched from home, I was thankful for God’s grace and ongoing care for us, His children. As I listened and sang along to “He Will Hold Me Fast,” my soul was edified and reminded that in our weak, tired, and restless moments, He, God Himself, will hold us close, keeping us secure and fueling our belief. Then as I listened to Andy unpack Matthew 5:9, I was reminded of the peace that is ours in Christ. This all worked together to refresh me as nothing else could. God really does bring peace in unsettling times!
Thanksgiving Meal
We will gather this Sunday, November 21, at 4 pm to share a meal and give thanks. We are looking forward to celebrating God’s grace! We will take a few precautions by spreading out tables to provide plenty of space. Be sure to double-check the sign-up sheet Sunday morning to ensure there is variety in what everyone is bringing.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
As For You…
Church Family,
This past Sunday, we were encouraged to consider many areas of our lives. The instruction was twofold, flee and then pursue. Because of the gospel, we can flee unhealthy habits and thinking and are empowered to pursue godliness. Logan reminded us what it looks like to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness, and generosity (1 Tim. 6:11). There was a wealth of application laid before us and plenty to give ourselves to each week. So, take this week and prioritize pursuing these things by doing specific actions. Wake up early to read your bible, ask a co-worker how you can pray for them, open your stuff to someone in need, offer kind words in disagreements, stretch your faith, and stop and pray when something draws your attention to God’s gloriousness. In doing so, we will fight the good fight with greater energy and effectiveness!
Members Meeting
Every quarter we gather as a church family to celebrate what the Lord has done, and is doing, by giving updates and hearing testimonies of prospective members. Our next meeting will be on November 14 at 4 pm.
Thanksgiving Meal
On November 21 at 4 pm, we will have our annual Thanksgiving Meal. Many of you have already signed up but let this serve as a reminder to let us know you are coming, how many people, and what you will bring.
Jefferson Elementary
Thank you for the overwhelming support you all have shown for Jefferson Elementary. We will collect spiral notebooks, and dry erase markers for one more week in the foyer. You can’t miss it; there’s already a pile of stuff!!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Godliness + Contentment = Great Gain
Church Family,
There is so much joy we gain from being in Christ. One of those joys is contentment. God, through Christ, brings satisfaction to our lives because our greatest need is met on the cross of Christ. This deep satisfaction changes the way we see our money, view our circumstances, and treat others. Sunday, we explored contentment applied to money. We began to understand that godliness breeds contentment because godliness is respect for God, belief in His Word, and obedience to His truth. So we in godliness with contentment experience great gain, greater gain than any material possession! This all works together to bring about a deep satisfaction that is not self-brought but only realized in dependence upon Christ.
Thanksgiving Meal
Join us on November 21st at 4 pm to celebrate the work of God in our lives and at Light in the Desert Church. We will have a sign-up sheet in the foyer at the welcome desk for you to indicate how many in your family are attending and what you will bring. So stop by the welcome desk and sign up! We are excited to share this potluck meal giving thanks to God for his tremendous grace.
Jefferson Elementary
Jefferson has asked us to collect a few things they need for their students. They need spiral notebooks and dry erase markers. We will collect these items for a few weeks in the foyer. We are working with them to hopefully be able to adopt a couple of families for Christmas. We should be able to update you all soon.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Church Life
Church Family,
It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve posted. Many great things are happening here at Light in the Desert Church, and we could not be more excited. This past Sunday, we explored together more of what it means to be a local gathering in a specific community. We saw how to appoint leaders, deal with sin, and exist in the community not to hinder the name of God. We, as a church, have tremendous responsibilities, and we are learning that it’s worth the fight to be what God has called us to be. This is why we are so excited about the changes we are pursuing. We are serious about being a church that honors God and remains faithful to Him. We ask you to continue to pray as we, in joy, move towards a greater biblical vision for the church.
Disciple-Makers
Join us each Wednesday at 6 pm as we dive into the deep theological goodness of God’s Word! We will be taking the next couple of months to explore essential doctrines we need to know to be good disciple-makers. See you then!
Get the Vision
Like I mentioned above, we are excited to move towards a plurality of Elders to become an Elder-led, Deacon-served, and Congregationally-ruled church. I encourage you to grab the documents we have published over the last couple of months. These papers help explain the ins and outs of where we are headed. Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to me to talk further about these changes.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Legalism and License
Church Family,
Disregard the email you received yesterday. We are working on a registration form for ESOL, and I did not account for the email blast that goes out!
Sunday was joyous as always, and I hope we find strength and comfort from God’s Word directed towards the church. We are more than just a gathering of people on random Sundays. We are God’s children coming together to worship Him and encourage one another. With last week’s text, we were reminded that we are to protect the gospel. We cannot undermine its work in our lives by the way we pursue holiness. Holiness, both positionally and practically, is obtained in the person and work of Christ Jesus. If we do anything to undermine Christ, it will draw people away from the faith. All of holiness is found in Christ Jesus, and we use all God has created to grow into mature followers of Christ.
Disciple Makers
One last reminder that we have started back our Disciple Makers class on Wednesday nights at 6 pm. We are discussing the gospel and will begin discussing essential doctrines that will help us read our bibles. See you this evening!
Get The Vision
We will have another Get the Vision meeting on October 10 at 4 pm. We will take any questions about the previous documents (Biblical Explanation of Elders and Common Questions about Elders) we handed out and then propose Bylaws that reflect our convictions about church polity.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Household of God
Church Family,
We had another wonderful Sunday celebrating the person and work of Jesus in our lives. As we saw Sunday, when we gather, we are putting on display what it looks like when the gospel takes root in a people. As we become a godly people, God is honored, and it shows how effective the gospel is in changing people (1 Tim 3:14-15). It’s also mysterious that sinful people can become holy. The mystery of that godliness (1 Tim 3:16) is that it is accomplished through the person and work of Christ Jesus! The local church is significant because it is a display of Jesus to the world.
Disciple-Makers
Join us this week as we discuss “What is the Gospel?” to better understand it, articulate it, and most importantly, depend on it! We don’t graduate from the gospel at conversion. It is what sustains us as we mature in our faith. See you at 6 pm this Wednesday!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Deacon-served
Church Family,
What a great Sunday! Baptism is a wonderful reminder of God’s grace in redemption. For the believer, it is a public declaration that one has, through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ, been saved from the eternal effects of sin. For the church, it’s a joyous moment of celebration to come around that believer in support, affirmation, and commitment to look after them—what a significant moment for us as a church. Now to put on the dad hat, thank you, church family, for your outpouring of love to my daughter. She was overwhelmed with the encouragement you all gave her and could not stop talking about it all afternoon. It is a deep joy to watch you all care for one another as you do! Because of your servant’s hearts, it was a joy for me to be preaching through 1 Timothy 3:8-13, which is about deacons, this past Sunday. Light in the Desert Church already has many serving in this capacity well, so I long to officially put in place a robust deacon-served structure to continue and to do even more. As verse 13 reminded us, when one serves this way, others are encouraged, and their joy increases as they grow in confidence of what the Lord can do through His people!
Disciple-Makers
This Wednesday, we will begin our disciple-makers class at 6 pm. Join us this evening as we lay a foundation for why it’s important to make disciples and set a course for the fall of what we will be covering.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
Elder-led
Church Family,
Church structure is often viewed as boring and irrelevant to the life and well-being of a church. This could not be farther from the truth laid out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Paul has left Timothy in Ephesus to charge the false teachers to stop teaching things contrary to sound doctrine. In that work, he is also to find godly men to serve as Elders/Overseers/Pastors to ensure the church in Ephesus does not return to false teaching. One clue we have to the significance (rather than boring and irrelevant) of this work is the phrase, “The saying is trustworthy,” that introduces the office. This phrase serves as a citation-emphasis formula.[1] Meaning that by this time in the early church, a saying of importance had developed about the work an Elder/Overseer/Pastors does at a church, indicating how vital it was for the life and well-being of a church. At Light in the Desert Church, we love the bible and desire it to guide all our practices. Therefore, this fall, we are making significant strides to move to a plurality of Elders as our church structure. We announced this move at our recent Get the Vision meeting and will keep everyone updated as we make progress. Continue to pray that God would raise up godly men to serve in this capacity.
Disciple-Makers
Disciple-makers is designed to help equip and encourage a follower of Christ to fulfill their responsibility of making disciples. It is a two-semester course that covers various foundational beliefs, extremely practical ways to read scripture with believers and non-believers, and the ins and outs of how we change. On average, it will require about 30-45 minutes of reading each week before the class. Then, each Wednesday from 6:00 pm- 7:30 pm there will be discussion and practice reading scripture with others. We will begin this class on September 15th.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
[1] See George W. Knight III, The Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Letters. Kampen, 1968; reprinted Grand Rapids, 1979, for an excellent treatment on the use of the saying within the PE.
Men and Women
Church Family,
Reading God’s Word is one of the most fruitful things we can do as Christians. So, it makes sense that during the Sunday Gathering, we would read God’s word, sing God’s word, pray God’s word, and preach God’s word. As we faithfully dive into various books of the bible on Sunday mornings to unearth timeless truths, we will inevitably arrive at tough passages. I say tough, but let’s understand, it’s only tough for us, not God, and often it’s because of our own sinful tendencies that blind us from the wisdom of God. This past Sunday brought us to a passage of scripture that has gained lots of attention over the years. This is because it discusses distinctions between males and females in the life of the church. These distinctions, roles, do not diminish the worth and value of a female or a male, it highlights the uniqueness and celebrates the glory seen in the differences. It also clarifies that when we go against God’s design, it will become a major distraction in our lives together and keep us from human flourishing (to borrow a popular term in recent discussions). We only flourish when we live according to God’s good design. His wisdom is always greater than ours, so our attitude towards the opposite sex should not be an “anything you can do I can do better” attitude, but rather an “anything God says is better” attitude.
Get the Vision
This past Sunday, we gathered at our first Get the Vision meeting for the fall to discuss upcoming changes we will pursue in the coming months. It was an exciting time to celebrate God’s faithfulness in sustaining us and helping us grow in spiritual maturity. We shared that we will take significant steps this fall to move towards a plurality of Elders. If you missed that meeting and would like to hear the portion discussing those steps, let me know. We recorded what was shared and would be happy to send a link for you to watch. Would you join us in prayer as we become more obedient to scripture in biblically structuring our leadership?
ESOL
One of our convictions here at Light in the Desert Church is outward-focused. As the gospel increasingly changes us, we strive to impact the world around us and share the hope of Jesus that we so desperately depend on to all peoples. We yearn to engage people in spiritual conversations, demonstrate the love of Christ through acts of mercy, and live in such a way that God will draw people to salvation through our words and deeds. We will leverage all we have to accomplish our mission, and ESOL is a way we will try this fall. Contact Kris Barber or Priscilla Holcomb for more details on how to get involved.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan