Sunday Mind Dump (Thursday Edition)

Last Sunday was a great day for me.

After leading PCC for 16 ½ years I still have a blast on Sundays.  I love seeing everyone – faithful members, newcomers, and friends.

What a privilege it is to teach God’s Word to so many people each week.

Our church is really experiencing momentum right now. 

Have you seen all the new people coming in?  Not only that, attendance among our regular church family has been stronger this summer than any previous summer I can remember.

Have you ever noticed how many people cram their way to the front rows?  I love seeing that!

It has to be a “God thing” because we’re not doing anything differently than we’ve always done – we’re still preaching, teaching, worshipping, lifting up Jesus, exalting God, and fellowshipping with one another.

I think we’re simply in a season of God’s blessings.  It’s great to see such an outpouring of His Spirit in so many different ways.

Then there are the stories – stories of life-change.  Hundreds of them.

Financial giving is very strong too – about as strong as it has been since the economy turned down a several years ago.

And all of this is happening in spite of a few critics.  They gravitate towards the negative and point out minutia, but they fail to see to all the good things God is doing around here.

Hey man, you know it’s a God thing when giving is up, when attendance is up, when morale is up, when unity is up, when joy is up, and when we have more newcomers than ever before! 

We have hundreds of happy people at PCC.  What a delight they are for me. They always see the positive, anticipating what God is going to do next.

I feel sorry for the grumpies.  They miss out on so much.

The singers on the worship team have such good talent.  They are a pleasure to listen to and make it easy for me to be “drawn in” to worship.

The new message series on Abraham has been a big hit so far.  The CDs are flying off the shelf each week.  BTW, we give them away for free.

I love being an expositor of God’s Word - going verse-by-verse most of the time.  Our congregation seems to enjoy it too. 

One thing I’m certain of, it’s healthy for our church family.

Many preachers skip all around the Bible, pulling a verse here and a verse there, tailoring the sermon to say what they want it to say rather than allowing the text (in its context) to speak for itself.

And they offer sermons that sound like Reader’s Digests titles; i.e., How to Have Better Relationships; How to Overcome Fear; How to Have a Better Marriage; How to Overcome Worry; and other such emotional issues.

My goal, however, is to make better Christians and better disciples… because that is the tone of the Bible.  It’s all about making us better servants of Jesus Christ. 

Besides, when we become better disciples, all those other areas have a way of improving automatically.

”Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”

Faithful preaching and teaching of the Word must be the very heart of any church’s ministry.  Any other approach replaces the voice of God with human wisdom.  Philosophy, politics, psychology, homespun advice, and human opinion can never accomplish what the Word of God does.  Those things may be interesting, informative, and entertaining, but they are not the business of the church.

The business of the church is to preach the Word and make disciples.

Never underestimate the worth of a great church and the value of spiritual nourishment.

PCC is a great place to belong to.

"I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.'"