Well my vacation is over, and it went by far too fast as usual. After spending the first week of August serving as the pastor at family camp, I had the next three weeks off for rest and relaxation. My wife and I took the kids to a cottage just outside of Bon Echo Park and had a wonderful time fishing, swimming and just relaxing with friends and family. Now it's back to work for me and back to school for the kids.

Last night we took our oldest son Nathan to a welcome BBQ at his new school and he was a bit overwhelmed at the size of the school and the realization that its time once again to start studying. The question though is why? Why do it? Why spend years of your life studying and learning things like math and science? What is the purpose of it all? A good job? More money?

Well this question becomes even more important for those of us who are committed to studying our bibles. Why are we doing it? Why spend time learning and working through doctrine? What is the purpose? Simply to know more?

No the purpose is growth. The reason we are called to study God's word is that it would lead spiritual maturity. Spending time in scripture is part of that ongoing work of the Spirit in conforming us to the image of Christ. In other words, we learn to grow. 2 Peter 3:18 calls us to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ". That is the point, that is the purpose of time spent reading and studying our bibles.

"Unless we read the Word of God, we cannot be instructed by the Spirit, and unless we are instructed by the Spirit, we cannot become godly and effective servants. To put it another way, loving the Word, learning from the Word, and living out the Word are interlocked in God's plan for our spiritual growth." - David L. McKenna, How to Read a Christian Book

Resting in God

You won’t want to miss the Ladies Retreat this year.
Our speaker, Anne McGregor
will address the topic
“A PASSION FOR HOLINESS”.

Annual Retreat Traditions

-Wonderful Worship Times
-Excellent Gourmet meals
-Artistic Creations
-Friday night Foot soak
-Book Table
-Challenging and Uplifting Messages
-New friendships and renewed friendships
-Beautiful natural surroundings
-Lots of Laughter

Registration:
$60 (before August 8, 2010)
$70 (after August 8, 2010)

Contact Person:
Sandra Beimers
613.432.0705
spikensam@gmail.com

During a lunch meeting with two of my elders last week (and yes that is all we do is eat and talk) I had yet another brilliant idea ;-) this time for what I think is a really great slogan/logo for a youth group shirt or poster... "IN NOT OF"... Good isn't it? The phrase comes from Jesus' prayer in John 17 where he asks that as Christians we would be in the world but not of the world. This of course is a very challenging thing to live out these days, especially for young people.

Practically speaking, what does this mean? What does it look like, to be in the world but not of the world? Well here are some helpful thoughts from Mark McKinley, pastor of Guilford Baptist Church, Sterling, VA.

As Chrisitans, we should expect persecution for our faith. For most of us in the West, that takes the form of being ostracized and rejected in fairly minor ways (compared to being beaten or killed or imprisoned).

But I think sometimes the world rejects us not because we are like Jesus, but because we're jerks or weirdos. If we go out of our way to remind people of our moral superiority, if we always insist that people who don't love God should be expected to act like they do... then we deserve whatever rejection we get. They're really not rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting us.

So I sometimes talk to my church about the "ministry of being normal". As believers, we are necessarilly going to have a lot of distance between us and those who don't follow Christ. We live differently, love differntly, hope differntely. We're citizens of a different country.