Sunday Night Rejoicings

Another great, great, great Sunday at The Loft. Here are a few random rejoicings:

Under Cover took us to the throne of God again. I don't think I'll ever get tired of singing "Revelation Song," especially when our text is The Revelation!

I am LOVING preaching on The Revelation in this "How to Survive the End of the World," and I'm blessed to see how God is speaking and moving as I study, prepare, write, and preach. I myself am being changed and blessed, and it seems like others are, too.

It has been such a joy to approach The Revelation as a blessing instead of a fright show or freak show, as it is too often treated in End Times teaching.

I was blessed by the response in both celebrations to the call to salvation. Our prayer counselors weren't slammed like I had prayed for, but I'm confident the Holy Spirit was at work! And God willing, not a soul walked out without an encounter with God. Thank you God, thank you to those who responded, and thank you to the prayer warriors who made themselves available for God to use.

Two reports encouraged me tremendously this morning. One of our attenders told a pastor, "After sixty years, I'm finally, finally getting it." He said he's gone to church pretty much all his life, and is only now grasping the Gospel and walking the walk! Praise God! And another report came from a couple who said they had considered retiring to their vacation home about eight or nine hours away from here, but have decided against it...because they love their church too much! Those kind of comments bring joy to this pastor's heart.

I have prayed since the beginning that Cobblestone would be the kind of community that would guide people's choices of where to live, etc., and God is graciously answering those prayers.

Actually, another report encouraged me, too. One of our church family photocopies the message notes every Sunday; he told me this morning he has found great reward in going over them later in the same day, and then a week or two later. He said it's amazing how God uses the message all over again each time he reviews the manuscript in hard copy.

I want to give a shout out to our awesome Outreach Committee, who met this morning to plan for our upcoming outreaches. In August alone, in addition to our weekly door-to-door outreach to the Parkview Arms apartments, we'll be reaching out to nursing home residents, to schoolchildren and families at the Back to School Bash, and to bikers, all on August 14th, and also to as many families and neighbors as possible at our Family Movie Nite on August 21, and to Warren Correctional Institution on August 29. And I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I LOVE you guys, and praise God for you. You're doing an awesome job in service to the King!

And now, in about forty minutes, The Third begins once more. I'll be bringing the message, though I can't compare to the coolness of the other speakers to date, but I'll do my best. I'll be speaking on accountability to the Church, from Acts 5. First time ever in thirty-plus years of preaching I've preached on Ananias and Sapphira...I think. I'm looking forward to it.

Have a great week, everyone!