First of all, let me say that we have snow. About everyone knows that but it needs to be said. I am a minority when I say that I like it. :) I mean, it's shocking and I am tired of the cold but what a pretty sight this morning!! And the kids were super excited!!
In other weekend news, Brian and I went to a "Welcome to the Family" seminar this weekend at our church, Stonebridge. It's a prerequisite for becoming a member but Brian and I were anxious to learn more about this church we have been attending for almost a year now. For example, it's an Evangelical Free church and we had no clue what that even meant. It was a great class--we learned a lot. We got to know Pastor Randy better--we both like him a lot!! And there was another Mom of boy/girl twins there so that was super fun. We are going to be continuing the membership process--which includes some paperwork, an interview and then a congregational vote. Heavy stuff, huh? Brian and I have never been members of any church we've attended so it's new to us!
As coincidence would have it, the seminar centered on walking through the 10 statements of faith that the denomination holds. This is coincidental only because this is what our pastor has been speaking on recently in a series called "Be Transformed". Today was the last installment of the series and Pastor Patrick (youth pastor) spoke on #10 which concerns heaven and hell. A topic I was pretty interested to hear about because I can't say I have had too many sermons on this topic alone. I think it's a different era of preaching (but it also depends on denomination). We don't want to scare people into believing but yet it's also a reality so I think it's a worthwhile topic!
Did you know that 55% of the people who call themselves "born again Christians" do NOT believe there is a real hell? Does anyone find that shocking? That's a pretty good scheme, though, because if there is no hell then who cares what others believe, right? Pastor Patrick did an amazing job of talking about the very real Final Judgment and the torment that awaits those who do not believe. Not those who are "bad". That's the other misconception on hell, I think. That it's for the murderers, etc. Not so. We went over that chilling passage today where Jesus talks about those who will say they did this and that in His name but He tells them to depart because He never knew them. How can someone be so deceived? It's sad and it's good reason to examine yourself.
Really I think so much of the Christian walk is balance. For example...you have to balance "saved by grace" with "created to do good works" (Ephesians 2)--the works don't save you but salvation bears fruit. You have to balance the compassionate, gracious, forgiving God with the God of justice who will not leave the guilty unpunished (Exodus 34)--God is quick to forgive us but that doesn't mean our sin is no big deal. As Pastor Patrick said today, someone is going to pay for all the wrong you have done and has been done to you--either it will be Christ's payment on the cross or you will have to pay for it!! He ended the sermon with the music video of "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe--not a dry eye in the sanctuary!!
www.insidestonebridge.com has a copy of this sermon and I recommend it!!
Great post Rikki...I'm going to listen to the sermon when I have a chance later. That statistic of people who say they are born again but don't believe in hell was very shocking to me. Sounds like your membership classes are going well and glad to hear you're meeting new people!
ReplyDeletewow, preach it sister! so glad to hear you are getting truth proclaimed there unashamedly! not always the case these days. i must object to the part about liking the snow though...i was definitely not excited about it, especially when i had to wade through it to get to church!!
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