Mark Your Calendar
- Saturday – Men’s Breakfast 8:30-9:30 in the gym
- Sunday – Church Fellowship Lunch
- Apr 5 – Church Workday (and breakfast)
- Apr 19 – Spring Fling Outreach 11 am-2 pm
- Jun 9-13 – Creative Arts Camp
- October 17-18 – Marriage Retreat
Church Fellowship Lunch
This Sunday, plan to stay for lunch following the morning worship service. Feel free to invite family and friends. A video invite from Pastor will also go out on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube tomorrow evening (Friday)—for you to “like” and “share” as well. Hopefully we have a lot of people join us 🙂
Family Picture Retake
Did you get your family picture? Chip got a request to retake a few pictures, so this Sunday he will be available to take (or retake) pictures in the education building right after the morning service. So, whether you haven’t gotten your picture taken yet, or you want to retake your picture, or you just want more copies of the pictures you already received, see Chip this Sunday 🙂!!!!
Church Workday (+Breakfast)
Let’s get the church property ready for the Spring Fling Outreach! On April 5th, we’ll gather for breakfast and then spend a few hours working together to prepare our campus for Spring and Easter.
This is a wonderful opportunity to work together as we beautify our space for the many visitors we will welcome during this season. Everyone is invited —men, women, and children. Whether landscaping or tidying up, your helping hands will make a difference.
Spring Fling Outreach
Saturday, April 19th, 11 am – 2 pm: We will have food, inflatables, games, and candy! BUT we will need YOU to help staff those games and hand out those hotdogs! Please plan to join us for a few hours to show the love of Christ and invite families to our Easter service.
Nursery Schedule
3/2 – Sarah Wiggs, Tara Solomon
3/9 – Bobbi Sibley, Evalynn Nosker, Karen Moran
From the Desk of Pastor Tom
In Jonah chapter 2, Jonah finally awakes to God’s goodness and mercy (creative goodness and mercy). God gives His message, then He sends the storm, then He brings the captain, then He uses the entire crew, then He controls the lots, then He saves with the fish, then Jonah gets it. God is bigger, and He cares. God is merciful, and He is there. So, the wandering child humbly returns to worship his God who saves. He is coming back to worship in the temple of God’s holiness.
“The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” Jonah 2:5-7
Imprisoned in the lowest of lows, “Jonah could see where his sinful pride and self-will had brought him, and he repented.”[i] The beginning of verse 6 re-emphasizes that Jonah is beyond the reach of any other help. God has gradually brought Jonah to the point where all other hopes have been replaced with a singular focus on the LORD. Jonah cannot run away from this one. He cannot recruit friends to drown out the call of God’s Word. He was alone with God, and God was all he needed.
From the depths, Jonah begins to rise yet not by his own work or power. God alone deserved the praise for bringing Jonah back. Have you seen the patient mercy of God on display? This alone is more than sufficient for Jonah’s prayer. This chapter is littered with the words “yet” and “but” as Jonah contrasts what he deserves with what he receives. Despite the sin, Jonah’s prayer freely enters God’s holy temple. Take a few minutes to read Hebrews 4:14-15. The Old Testament book of Jonah repeatedly points the reader forward to the Savior, Jesus Christ, and was quoted in the Gospels as a signpost of Christ. Here is a moment in Jonah where we see God readily accepting a sinner’s prayer of repentance. This should powerfully remind us of our opportunity today. We are able to freely pray, assured God will listen, because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross which erases our sins from God’s sight. Can you think of any Bible passages that promise God will hear the prayers of His children?
[i] “Jonah: The Rebellious Prophet.” Exploring the Minor Prophets: An Expository Commentary, by John Phillips, Kregel Publications, 2002, pg. 148.
