This Sunday...Last Sunday

Hello all. I hope you’re week is bringing GLORY to GOD and JOY to you!

I wanted to let you all know that this Sunday, as some of us will be out on a mission trip to the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, the rest of you will be in for a special Sunday as well. Ben Mogos, who currently teaches Bible Study Methods at Dallas Theological Seminary, and is an employee of Chuck Swindoll’s, Insight For Living will be here to share the Word with our church. Ben brings a well of Biblical knowledge, experiences, and culture as well, as he calls Romania his home.

Also, in the youth room, during EKG hour this Sunday, will be Everette Robertson, who is the son of lifelong missionaries in Ivory Coast, Africa, and has done extensive missionary work himself. He graduated from Southwest Seminary, has taught Greek at the University of Michigan and is studying with Wycliffe to serve as a Bible translator to Ghana. He’ll have some great pics, stories, and a question and answer time for everyone. Did I mention that he is Charlotte Scales cousin???Make sure your students are there!

LAST SUNDAY'S RECAP: we continued our series Life In HD, with the subject of Integrity.

Proverbs 10:9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

Proverbs 2:7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Proverbs 2:21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it

Integrity – in Hebrew, is a word that means whole, sound, unimpaired. Webster’s dictionary says that it is an unimpaired condition, soundness…adherence to a code of moral, artistic, or other values…the quality or state of being undivided. Or maybe better understood by its opposite –hypocrisy.

So to be a person of INTEGRTIY is to be WITHOUT HYPOCRISY... without hypocrisy in what we say, and in all of how we live.

A couple of major benefits of a living a life of integrity are:

1. A life that is WITHOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF DUPLICITY. That we are not constantly lying, covering up, living with guilt, shame, etc.

2. Of course, becoming more useful for GOD AND HIS GLORY.

Becoming a person of integrity is something that we should be intentional about. It is part of a process called sanctification, which is God’s will for you and I. (1 Thess. 4:3)

I thought you might enjoy the closing quote that I used from pastor Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p.107-8

THE WORLD NEEDS MEN...

who cannot be bought;
whose word is their bond;
who put character above wealth;
who possess opinions and a will;
who are larger than their vocations;
who do not hesitate to take chances;
who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
who will make no compromise with wrong;
whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
who will not say they do it" because everybody else does it";
who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success;
who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
who can say "no" with emphasis, although all the rest of the world says "yes."

In addition, if you would please pray for the following to be accomplished on the trip to New Mexico:

·         To share the message and love oF Christ

·         To share the resources God has given us

·         Further our partnership with the navajo people for the Kingdom of God

·         To practice and promote missional livng and unity in our local body of believers

In Christ,

Roy