Shippensburg First Church Of God Blog Site: Do you have everything you need? SFCOG Updates for 7/30

Sunday is Coming, do you have everything you need?

Do you feel like you have everything you need?

Consider your packing list for a vacation trip, or a shopping list for the grocery store, or a list of items needed for your child’s “back to school” classroom needs—do you have what you need?

How about a trip to the Shippensburg Fair? What’s on your “Fair to-do-list”? Here’s mine:

[ X ] See some animals

[ X ] Talk to some friends

[ ] Stop by the Scouts food stand

[ X ] Get some kettle corn

[ X ] Eat a funnel cake

[ ] Ride some rides

[ X ] Take a look at the arts & crafts exhibits

Did you do all you wanted to do? I missed a few things…

But do you have all you need to live a godly life? In the Bible, Peter writes in his second letter,

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

II Peter 1:2-3

The Bible says we have “everything we need for a godly life” because of Jesus. Faith in Jesus saves us—If we believe in Jesus, His Holy Spirit can help us to follow God’s rules and live a holy life. He can comfort us when we have hard times, and help us to be kind and loving. We will also be saved from sin and go to Heaven. All that comes just by believing in Jesus!

It seems very simple, but in order to live for Him day-to-day, it does take some effort to follow after him. We already have all we need, but we do have to work at it as we live each day. As Peter writes,

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

-II Peter 1:5-7

Living for Jesus is kind of like packing for a trip…

When you go on a trip, you might have a check list for all the things you need to take from your home to pack for your journey.

At home, you have everything you need, but when you go on vacation, it takes a little effort to load it all up and take it along. When we decide to live for God, we already have all we need, because of Jesus, but we do need to put some effort into our faith so that it can grow and be useful in our everyday lives. Faith is like a suitcase: it’s the starting point that we can load up with all of the other good things that God has given to us freely. But it takes some effort to pack. Peter says, “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So often we think of Faith and Works as competing ideas, but this Sunday, we will consider how they really are “Better Together” as we “make every effort to add to our faith” as we follow Jesus--He’s given us everything we need!

This week, we are looking forward to these ministry opportunities—

On Sunday we will welcome the children to join us in worship. Every time there is a 5th Sunday, our 11:00 children’s ministry is integrated into the sanctuary worship service. Children will worship with their parents, but they will be invited forward at the beginning of the sermon for a special children’s message. The nursery will still available, as well as ministry programs for age 2 to kindergarten.

Next Saturday, August 5, is the next Outreach hiking trip to the Abandoned Turnpike Tunnels. See the Gathering Place or your Sunday School classrooms for more information and to sign up. A group will meet at church parking lot at 9:00 am to carpool or caravan. Bring your friends & neighbors!

We will be hosting a Seminar for all Youth & Parents, ministry leaders who serve Children & Youth, and Anyone who would like to learn more about the Biblical View of Identity and how to care for people in a culture of confusion. This will be Sunday, August 13 beginning at 2:00 PM in the Sanctuary. There will be a similar session for youth during their Sunday School time that morning. More information was put in church mailboxes and has been distributed by our Youth Ministry to parents. Feel free to ask myself or Pastor Gary for more details.

On August 27th, we will include Child Dedication as part of our morning worship. If you would like to have any children in your family presented before the church as a part of this special prayer time, please reply to this email for more information, contact me at the office or on Sunday, or sign up in the Gathering Place.

Wherever the journeys of life take you this week, remember that you have “everything you need” through Jesus!

Pastor Rodney Bistline

Shippensburg First Church of God

seniorpastorbistline@shipfcog.org