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Have you ever eaten something that tasted wonderful but then gave you an upset stomach? Sometimes the upset stomach is the result of overeating, I did this once with pickles. I really like pickles but too many of them is not a good idea. Sometimes the sour tummy is the result of not knowing what you were really eating, I did this with some green salsa. That it was green should have been a clue. Bible authors compared the word of God to tasty food. One wrote that the word is “sweeter than honey” (Ps. 119:103). But, what is sweeter than honey in the mouth can become bitter in the stomach.

Terrorists. Shootings. Bombings. Events like that are in the news more often than we would like to hear about. And, while one of those events is more than we want to happen, the effect is profound. Words like “evil,” “mayhem,” and “unspeakable,” are often used in the descriptions of those terrible ordeals. What if there were 50 or 100 or 500 of those events in one day? There is day coming when it will be worse than that. We could take away all the guns, knives and baseball bats and it will still happen.

“Are you being serious right now?” is sometimes asked in conversations among friends. The context reveals whether the question is in jest or contentious. I am being serious right now as I ask, “Do you take God seriously?” Does the fact that He has created all things for His glory impact you? That He came in person, died at the hands of sinful mankind and rose from the dead and promised to return should elicit some response. Do the events you hear about in the news create a sense of wonder about what He might be up to? Does the book of Revelation give you cause for concern? God will not get in people’s faces just yet but that doesn’t mean He is okay with being taken lightly.

Wouldn’t that be nice? If it was the right track, it would be great. However, it seems like many people struggle with several tracks playing all at the same time. Some of those tracks are not helpful. Some tracks are not tracks we choose, but they keep intruding and can become very noisy at times. We are reminded in Romans 12 that we can be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Interestingly, modern science has revealed that new pathways in the brain can be formed by practice. Let’s try not to gloat over the fact that followers of Jesus have been practicing “disciplines” for hundreds of years that help form new neural pathways.

For the past six weeks, we’ve been planning, preparing, writing, creating and praying for this Sunday’s presentation. We are trying to summarize 80 years of history and three and a half years of planning, dreaming and praying into a 40-minute presentation. We’re doing this not to give you a vision for an expanded facility but rather to present a vision for ministry that may require some additional space. We are here as God’s people to share the gospel and to develop followers of Jesus for life.