This week during Sunday School I was asked to visit the teen girls class. One of the questions I was asked was "what encourages me as a pastor" and I replied that it is to see and hear people continuing to learn God's Word - to take time to ask questions about things they heard, to talk with others about what they learned, to put into practice the things they heard. So, today, I ask you to share in comment something you received from the Word yesterday. May God bless you this week.

Last night Pastor Barbee preached the best message on Leviticus I have ever heard. At the conclusion of it he reminded us that as Christians we are not only declared to be holy by God but we are to act holy by how we live each day. This morning in our Bible reading God says that we are not to act like our neighbors who don't know God. I know that sometimes in our practical daily holiness we can be legalistic and measure holiness by what we don't do (Luke 18) but I think we ought to see holiness as it really should be - fellowship with God. So remember there are some things in this world God wouldn't do, some places He wouldn't go, and some things He wouldn't say. So, if holiness is to be practical, try walking with God. What do you think?

Waiting, watching, and working for the Kingdom are the things we ought to be doing in light of the coming of Jesus. Sounds good Sunday morning in a sermon but how about Monday morning in life? Waiting for breakfast, watching TV, and working at the job to put food on the table seems to be more like it on Monday morning. How do we put Sunday's message and Monday's reality together? Share with everyone how they go together in your life.

Last evening as Pastor Barbee was preaching on the permanency of marriage and it's relationship with Christ and the church my mind wondered a bit and I thought of Christians and the local church. We know that membership in the universal church is made actual and real by membership in the local church. So, in my wandering mind, the wondered, why don't we have or ask for lifetime commitment in the local (not a) church?
It seems when we become a little dis-satisfied, offended, or unhappy and can't have our way, the first thing we do is divorce ourselves from the local fellowship that loved, helped, and grew us and find a new one. So I asked myself, if God wants marriage to be for a lifetime, and wants us to work things out rather than divorce, could he want the same of the believer and the local church?
What do you think?