Hello ICC Family!
What a wonderful time of worship and fellowship we had this past weekend! Friday night we focused on the cross, and by saying that I of course mean that we focused on Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. It was a somber evening of reflection preparing our hearts to celebrate on Resurrection Sunday - just like we prepare our hearts each time we take the Lord’s Supper. Saturday morning we put on an Easter worship service at Pinewood Square residence home in Crowfield. We had around 14 residents, several staff, and several from ICC that worshiped and celebrated together. And then Sunday morning we had a time of great fellowship and rejoicing over donuts and coffee, followed by our celebration of Jesus’ triumph over death and our salvation and new life in Him.
There was a lot of planning and preparation put into those events this weekend. Thanks to everyone once again for their efforts and time that went into those services. It is good to look back, to remember, and to celebrate… but we do that at the same time we are on a journey. We’re on a journey of discipleship, trying to get from Point A to Point B. Point A was who we were without Christ. And Point B is our goal - our destination, which is to reflect Christ and his glory. Even though every single one of us was originally created in the image of God, because of Adam’s sin and our own… that image is now tarnished. We can’t do what we were created for, which is to reflect God’s image and glorify him. Life then is about realizing and returning to the purpose for which we were created. When we accept Christ as our Savior, God declares us righteous and sees us as holy because we are covered with the blood of Christ. But that is just one step on our journey of discipleship. God then continues to call us and refine us to be holy like him…
Colossians 3:10
Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator
and become like him.
2 Corinthians 3:18
And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him
as we are changed into his glorious image.
This Sunday we will be starting a new sermon series to help us put this discipleship journey into focus. We are calling the series a “Call to Commitment” because just like with any journey… you can’t make progress if you are not committed. You have to move! You have to have the goal in mind and then take steps to get there. We want to help you with that! The first step is coming to church and allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire and challenge you through the Word of God and through your brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope that you will join us!…
I hope to see you tonight at our prayer meeting as well. We will sing a few songs and briefly look at the last few verses of 1st John. And, as always, there will be some good food shared as well. Please come!
Blessings to you all. And know that I’m praying for you!
Pastor Aaron