Dear Friends Pursuing Christ,
At the end of August, we will conclude our series on The Story. Many of you have shared with me how much you enjoyed having the small group studies correlating with the sermons. It is a wonderful adventure. Randy Frazee is a gifted teacher.
What I find amazing, and this is so like God to orchestrate, all our Small Groups, are keeping in step with the Sunday Small Groups. Friday night has been working through Henrietta Mear’s book, What the Bible Is All About, and the Wednesday Group has been studying Daniel and now a more in-depth study of Daniel’s prayer for his nation.
Last week in worship (7/23) we discussed the spiritual discipline of fasting. A fast removes food from our daily diet for spiritual purpose. There are individual fasts and corporate fasts; it is assumed that the people of God will fast. There are partial fasts where one may abstain from a certain food, there are fasts that exclude eating food and others that exclude eating food and water for a limited time. There can be fasts also from Media, Sports, People, Sexual Intimacy, etc. for a limited time as well. Again, the main purpose is to use this time to draw closer to God. Many times, during a fast, there is an allotted time for confession of sins. Confession before God is always good for the soul. It brings a healing balm in our lives and helps us unblock our ears and heart so that we can hear and respond to God in a pleasing way.
This week (7/30) I handed out a work sheet that helps us examine our sins so that we can confess them before God and then, with the Holy Spirit’s help, walk in a new direction. Please take some time to read through this list and spend time confessing your sins. On August 13th, there will be time allotted for confession of sin, not just for our sins, but to confess the sins of FPC, our nation, and the Church Universal. This will be followed by the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper. I believe you will experience God’s presence in a new way.
Love and prayers in Jesus,
Ilona
FPC 