I feel blessed to be a part of the Willoughby Church family. Thank you for your warm welcome. We look forward to being increasingly knit together with you as brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is the first of the weekly blogs I will post. The purpose is to encourage you as you call attention to Christ’s gracious lordship in the work/home/group/gym/etc. where God has placed you. Monday to Friday is "where the action is" in the life of our church. It is from Monday to Friday that we exercise our priestly role in the world. Then on Sunday we gather together to be nourished through worship for another week of joyful service.
I pray that reading this blog half way through each week will be a blessing to you through which the Spirit focuses, encourages, comforts and sends you. Through this weekly blog too we can begin to anticipate the nourishment we will receive on the coming Sunday through God’s word. I will suggest passages to read for your encouragement and in preparation for Sunday worship.
This coming Sunday we will be nourished by Acts chapter 18. Would you please read this chapter in preparation for Sunday? In this chapter Paul is in Corinth. You might also like to begin reading through 1 Corinthians.
Acts chapter 18 is about proclaiming Christ – Paul’s and Apollos’ proclaiming of Christ, and also ours. Verse 9 is worth hearing and internalizing. God said to Paul one night in a vision: "keep on speaking… I have many people in this city.: What a promise! "I have many people in this city." God promises Paul that he will bring people in Corinth to know him. This promise is for us too – and I believe this promise. Let’s pray that God will renew us so that we can increasingly live into this promise: "keep on speaking… I have many people in this city."