"The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (Ps. 33:16-18).
Though it’s not fun, it is a good thing to come to the end of ourselves—to be in situations where all of our resources, all of our strength, all of our wisdom are simply not enough. Indeed, it is a gospel thing to feel the pain of realizing that whatever worked in the past is not working in the present; to feel the confusion of not knowing what to do next; to feel the helplessness of being out of control.
For only in those times do we fully abandon ourselves to the God who alone can part Red Seas; overthrow whole Midianite armies with three hundred gun-less soldiers; take down Goliaths with a pebble; feed multitudes with a few fish and pieces of bread; raise a dead man for the salvation of his people and the transformation of the cosmos.
As much as we’d like to be, we’re simply not enough on our own. Being our own savior is doomed to failure, so we abandon ourselves to Jesus.
Jesus, we bring our broken hearts to you. We bring our struggling marriages to you. We bring our conflicted relationships to you. We bring our wayward children to you. We bring our unbelieving friends to you. We bring the needs of our community to you. We bring our out-of-job, out-of-time, out-of-knowing-what-to-do selves to you. We will trust in you and your unfailing love. You have never failed us, never. —Scotty Smith
- Here’s the latest for Seven Rivers Christian School and our headmaster, Dana James. Pay special attention to the Service for Service initiative. Our senior class is going to Tuscaloosa, Alabama on a mission trip in February to do tornado rebuilding. To go on the mission, they want to raise money by serving you. They are willing to work for the chance to work on a mission trip. If you can use them for yard work, house cleaning, etc., please contact Kandy O’Quinn at the school (746-5696).
- Pastor’s Class ended Wednesday night—what a great group. Our Pastor’s Class small group leaders, (Larry & Christina Bates, Dick & Tari Kruzick, Brook Julias, Bob & Christine Jernigan) really brought their “A” game and loved our church newcomers exceptionally well. Twenty-six people have signed up to be interviewed for membership—we couldn’t be happier!
- Did you know that the SRPC website gets 5,000 podcast hits per month!
- This last weekend, I had the chance to Preach in my sons’ church in Tallahassee. There was a whole gaggle of SRPC alumni there and it was great fun even though the power went out in the first service and I had to speak in the dark (that’s not a metaphor—I hope). Would you pray for me next Tuesday? I’m presenting the annual preaching lectures at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. This involves three 75-minute lectures and preaching in their morning chapel. I’m nervous and scared—afraid I won’t have much to say!! Pray that God would show up and that I might be encouraging to these future preachers!
- This weekend in worship, we’ll be digging into Revelation 3:1-6. Can’t wait to see you there.
