Love From Your Pastor

Behold My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1 ESV)

This Sunday I will be preaching on Isaiah 42, “My Chosen Servant.”  Here we see that the Servant of the Lord will patiently and gently build His kingdom with broken sinners.  This chapter is filled with wonderful truth about our Lord. We are inspired to “sing a new song” as we see what He will do for the world! Please prayerfully read the passage before Sunday and be sure to join us at 10:30am!

New Sunday School classes are beginning! We have classes for all ages of kids through adults, which begin at 9am each Sunday. Randy Waldie is beginning a new class on the book of Ecclesiastes for adults which meets in the worship center.  Gwen Landon is continuing a study for ladies on the book of Exodus, which meets in classroom #3.  The “Digging Deeper” class, also for adults, will soon begin a new study in Apologetics, and it meets in classroom #4. Come, bring the whole family, and grow your faith by participating in Sunday School! Why not start this week?

6 days to Trunk-or-Treat! It’s almost here – and here’s how you can help. We are in need of 3 C’s — Candy, Cars, and Cookies!  Our goal is at least 400 lbs. of candy, and after last Sunday we were at 214 lbs, 6 oz! So we have a ways to go! Please continue bringing in the bags of candy. This Sunday is the last Sunday before Oct. 31.  The good news is that the DOGS are winning our contest over the CATS — 115.3 lbs to 99.3 lbs!  We would also like to have 6 more cars. Can you join us? Talk to Elizabeth Beach if you need help with a creative idea for decorating your trunk and possibly yourself! And we like to provide hot dogs, chili, and drinks (thank you kitchen crew!), but we also like to provide cookies for our guests that night. So there is a sign up sheet in the foyer, and if you can help by bringing some cookies we would appreciate it!

Most importantly, please be praying for the impact this event can have on our community! Isaiah 42 includes a statement about God “turning darkness into light,” which is a theme repeated many times in the New Testament. That’s what we are trying to do on that dark night of October 31! So pray for the many families that will be on our campus that evening. Pray for God to be at work in people’s hearts, and that as we share God’s love, the gospel message, and information about FBC, that people will be drawn to Jesus and want to know more about following Him!

Some of you may know who Eugene Peterson is. He is the author of The Message, which is a paraphrase of the Bible in contemporary language.  He is also the author of many, many, other books. Some have called him a “Pastor to pastors” because of how many of his books address the spiritual life of pastors and Christian leaders. Eugene went to be with Jesus this week, on October 22.  If you’d like to read a little about his legacy, click on the following article:  EUGENE PETERSON

Love From Your Pastor,

Michael