Weekly Encouragement

There's a lady named Pam in my dad's Sunday School class at church that sends an e-mail recap of their lesson each week. She summarizes Sunday's lesson in a  few sentences and provides a little take-home message.

Side note: Our church doesn't call it "Sunday School" anymore. It's now called "small groups" or "life groups," but I'm like an 80-year-old living in a 29-year-old's body, so I will say Sunday School.


My mom isn't in my dad's Sunday School class, but she gets the e-mails anyways. Recently, she has been forwarding the e-mails to me. I found them to be very encouraging, so now I also forward them to my friend Mollie.

Are you following all of this?

Pam ---> my dad ---> my mom ---> me ----> my friend Mollie

It's like a whole chain of e-mail encouragement that we have going. A little dose of Godly wisdom for me week.

Side note: "me week" was an unintentional typo, but it made me sound Irish, so I'll keep it.

I had a revelation today on my drive home from work:

Since I usually give Brian a short 2-minute recap of the sermon when I get home from church every Sunday, maybe I could also send that recap in e-mail format to some of my friends who don't get to attend the service each week.

BETTER YET, I'll share it on my blog.

(Link below to the actual sermon. It's way better than my little recap.)

Grey Stone Church Sermon - June 26, 2016

This week's sermon continued the series "Worship Matters." It's easy for us to fall into the trap of worshipping our stuff, instead of worshipping Jesus. What matters most to you? It's usually things we try to protect - our cars, our houses, our looks, etc.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart is also."

Things do not last, and the sad fact is that neither do we. It's not to say we can't enjoy our earthly treasures, but we should be more concerned with investing in our eternal future.

"Store up your treasures in heaven, where rust and moths can't destroy and where thieves cannot come in and steal."

Every time we are faithful
Every time we show compassion
Every time we make sacrifices for the kingdom of God...
...we are laying up treasures in heaven.

The part about making sacrifices resonated most with me (1 Corinthians 15:58). It's been my experience that sacrifices typically go unnoticed and unrecognized. For instance, Cam has never told me how much he appreciates that I wake up to take care of him at 5:30 am every day, INCLUDING WEEKENDS! :)

After the sermon on Sunday, I've spent time this week reflecting on my attitude about making sacrifices. I can get so bitter when I am exhausted, overwhelmed, and feeling under-appreciated. If my sight is set on the Lord and storing up my treasures in heaven, then my work is not in vain.

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