August 2014 Newsletter

School is starting up again. Thinking, studying, and learning are important. We are commanded by God to worship Him with our minds (Matthew 22:37) and to glorify God in whatever we are doing, even school stuff (I Corinthians 10:31). Without the honoring worship of God with our minds, our minds will become darkened and our thinking will become meaningless (Romans 1:18-21, 28).

So, what are we as parents of school aged children to do to keep Christ at the center of our lives, even through the chaos of school time? We ask the Lord to “teach us to number our days” (Psalm 90:12). That is, we must know we are here for such a short time (James 4:14). Even though the urgent things call for you to keep busy and never rest, the importance of Christ is to keep at the center. We are to rest, pray, and worship Christ, not in isolation, but with our spouse and our children.

Pick a time and day each week to sit down with your family, read Scripture aloud, pray for each other with each other, and rest in Christ together. God is worthy of the worship of your family. Keep this time sacred. With Joshua, I call you to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

I pray to our God that you and your family are blessed by His grace and peace in Christ Jesus. Amen.

First Newsletter Article

The past few months have been a time of praying for the Lord’s guidance to place my family where He wants to use us for His glory. Hamilton is the place the Lord has willed for my family to dig in our roots. I am overjoyed by the Lord’s blessing to shepherd the saints at Allison Avenue Baptist Church! Praise the Lord who answers our prayers.

When Joshua succeeded Moses and prepared God’s chosen people to enter the Promised Land, the Lord said, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8). The assembly devoted to Joshua’s leadership by saying, “Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses” (Joshua1:17). Abiding in God’s Word is how we are to move Kingdom bound. The Word of God will be my staff, and Christ will be with us.

Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). Let us be a church who abides in Christ to bear fruit to the glory of God.