This Sunday at Grace Bible, we’ll have a testimony of spiritual warfare and learn about the armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-20. Join us at 10:45am!

Satan reminds you of your sin, condemns you, and names you a failure.

But by faith in Jesus, God has some other names for you:

• Forgiven
• Redeemed
• Chosen
• Justified
• New Creation
• Friend
• Sanctified
• Son/Daughter
• Workmanship
• Light of the World
• Ambassador
• Witness
• Called
• Loved
• Kept

Sunday we look at Ephesians 6:5-9, a great passage on the subject of work. We learned from this passage:

-Your boss in not you boss, ultimately, God is.

-Your job is not just a job, it’s your divine assignment.

-Your pay is not your pay, because the Lord will repay you, and your treasure is being stored in heaven.

-For a Christian, your work is not your identity, but it is your opportunity.

I hope this powerful text of Scripture and sermon encouraged you to see your vocation differently, as God sees is. I hope you know that the work you do every day, whatever that work may be, has spiritual significance and does not go unseen by God!

Yesterday we had our annual Student Ministry fundraiser for the June mission trip to the Navajo Reservation.

Big thanks to Sydney Wright and Theron Whitley for sharing about the importance of missions and our partnership with our brothers and sisters on the Navajo Reservation.

Sydney was mature and articulate and you can tell that she is passionate about Christ and what he’s doing thru this annual mission trip. Many listening to her share were taken back by how bold and confident she spoke about missions at such a young age. But those of us who have served with her were not surprised at all! We’ve seen heart for serving others in Christ name, first hand.

Theron and his family have been serving the Navajo people for over 10 years. Hearing him share, you can tell this is more than an annual trip for him. It’s something God had called him and empowered him to participate in. It’s encouraging to hear his resolve and commitment to missions.

Also, thanks to Price Ferrell for setting all of this up and for heading up the fundraiser.

And finally, thanks to all who graciously provided funding for the trip!

My daughter Trin graduated last night.

Psalm 127 says children are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. As a parent, you read that and think about the importance of shaping and sharpening an arrow. Then somewhere along the way it dawns on you—arrows are made to be cast. And so that’s what we do. We do the best we can, we aim well, then we release them. Then, we get to watch that arrow soar.

Happy Graduation to my Princess, Trinity. Great days ahead. 🏹 🏹 🏹

Hello church! I wanted to share the links to some resources that I made reference to in yesterday’s sermon:

Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel by Ray Ortlund

The Meaning of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller 

And if you aren’t much of a reader, or just need some good listening content for your commute or road trip, check this out: Cultivating A Healthy Marriage (Free Audio) 

I hope you enjoy these resources as much as Casey and I have!

Blessings,

roy

Hey church family!

I was trying to think of a biblical way to encourage you to help with a seating challenge we have on Sunday mornings and I thought of this verse:

So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. Genesis 45:4

😂😂😂 In all seriousness, in our Sunday morning gatherings, we often don’t really have a space challenge, or a number of chairs challenge, we actually have a preferred seating challenge. Not everyone can sit near the back😬, but a lot of people like to! So many times we end up adding rows to the back of the church when there are big gaps in seating, and entire empty rows towards the front. It may sound silly, but a way that you could legitimately serve your church is by moving UP, closer to the front, and moving IN towards interior seating.

Also, our church family loves to talk with one another before the service, which is GREAT, and a sign of healthy fellowship! But if you could make your way to your seat when the 5 minute countdown starts, it would really help the connect team and people arriving to locate where the open seats are.

Now, hopefully this goes without saying, but if you have a medical condition or circumstances that require you to sit near the back, please sit near the back! And if you have a rough morning and arrive late, thats ok! We aren’t mad at ya, we’re happy you made it! We’ll gladly put out chairs for you! But if you are healthy and able to lay aside personal preferences, and can come closer and move in to help make room for making disciples, please do so!

Love y’all,

Roy

Ever feel like you wasted so much time and opportunity not following the Lord? Or maybe you poured your life into something that ended up breaking your heart? Ever wish you had the time back? Check this out, God says:

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…

-God, Joel 2:25

I don’t know all the you’ve been, or are going through. But this verse reminds us that when we put our trust in Him, God RESTORES…He even restores “years”….TIME. Time is the one thing everyone says you can’t get back. But here the Bible says he restores “years.” How does He do that? I believe He restores it, at least in part, by enriching the time we have left. Restored time, is time when we’re closer to God and closer to the people we love. Restored time, is time when we have a greater appreciation for His forgiveness, love and grace. Restored time is time when we have a greater appreciation for little things too, like a good laugh, tasty dessert, and a colorful sunset. He restores time by making everything in life sweeter.

We’d all do well to just go ahead be done with trying to make sense of everything that went wrong in the past. Some of it happened to us, a lot of it we probably brought on ourself. Either way, when we know Jesus, it’s a new day in the Lord! And we can look up and look forward to how He’s gonna continue to “restore the years” by making what time we have left that much sweeter.

#LookUp

Great post in keeping with our sermon from last Sunday on the topic of the Holy Spirit:

What’s Better Than Jesus Beside You?