This week we begin our new series on the Book of Philippians which I’ve entitled “Worthy of the Gospel.”  This book has a lot about Jesus and a lot about joy.  As the Apostle Paul is writing from prison, he teaches that our love of Christ and our joy in Christ are connected by the gospel of Christ.  And so he’s writing to encourage us to live lives “worthy of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). 

Well, what does a life “worthy of the gospel” look like?  Paul starts this book by telling us what it looks like for him, which has a lot to do with the Philippians (and us).  So, that’s where we’ll start.  I think it’s going to be a great book for us to work through this Fall.

A couple of other things going on that you need to know about —

1. We’re going to continue using the prepackaged cups for communion (which is this Sunday) until the covid restrictions loosen up more. I know they’re not your favorite, but remember when we missed communion for six months and how great it was when we finally got to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together again? That’s how we need to be approaching things again this Sunday.

2. We’re going to start a new Sunday School class this week on the Book of Romans. James Murphy, Ben Dyke, Tom Gardner, and I will be team-teaching through this magisterial book for the whole school year. Not only is this Paul’s Magnum Opus, but it’s also a missionary support-raising letter!  Who knew?

Additionally, we’ll be livestreaming the class on our YouTube channel (which means no more Zoom.  Trying to teach the class in a hybrid format was a lot of work for the teachers and livestreaming the class will allow us to set up for the worship service a lot quicker).

3. We have a few people with legit health exceptions to the mask mandate so please be gracious to them.

4. Community Group sign-ups have started on Realm. A few of the groups have space limitations, so please sign up soon! This is the place where we put all those One Another commands into action!

So this Sunday we’re going to start Romans in Sunday School, Philippians during the Worship Service, and we’ll top it all off with our Labor Day picnic at Fox Ridge Park.  It’s going to be great!  See you then, Dr. Dave