Happy Thanksgiving! I pray you would have a day of giving thanks to God while enjoying peaceful rest.

When we gather at The Rock this Sunday it will be the first Sunday of Advent! I want to dedicate this email to simply listing the events/services this December:

I can’t imagine the feeling of starting life over after losing a home to fire or flood. Even more so if a loved one is lost in the tragedy. People have experienced this recently in our area. Some respond with a matter of fact attitude of “life goes on.” Others struggle to cope. But I’m deeply inspired when traumatic events happen in people’s lives and they respond with faith and trust in God. Sadness and loss, yes. But clearly seeing God’s blessings and promises as still true in their lives.

There are things in life that are recommendations for our good - eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, etc. Then there are things in life that are commanded by law - pay your taxes, obey traffic laws, don’t murder anyone, etc. We tend to easily recognize the difference and act accordingly. But too often we think commands in the Bible are only recommendations. They maybe are for our good, but are optional. One of these is the command to give thanks.

I hate forgetting things! I would love to always remember fully and perfectly. But I don’t. I forget names. I forget chores. I forget birthdays. I forget appointments. I imagine you can relate to this at some level. But God never forgets. He never struggles to remember our names. He remembers everything - even the things we forget about ourselves! But in the Bible we see ways that God remembers that are specific to His nature.

I love November. Fall is in the air - even in sunny Southern California! Football season is totally geared up. The whales are starting to come down the coast. Men are growing mustaches for “Movember.” (to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide) We are already smelling the turkey and pumpkin pie. And most of all, our hearts are turning toward God in thanksgiving for who He is and what He has done!

You’re invited! In most cases, this is a comforting phrase. Being invited means we are a part of something and someone is thinking of us. We are invited to celebrate with family and friends at birthdays, weddings, and seasonal events. We are invited to participate in ways to serve our neighbor, such as Family Promise. We are invited to study the Bible and pray together as a church family. Invitations are special.

“Push yourself to your limit!” Many of us have been encouraged in this way to achieve something great in our lives. Just last week, Eliud Kipchoge pushed himself to the limit and ran the first marathon under two hours. He had a team of people pushing him to keep up a world record pace. To achieve this feat he had to physically and mentally push himself beyond what he had ever done before.

We once took a trip where everything went wrong. The housing was weird. The food was gross. Half of the group got the stomach flu. People fought with each other. One of the cars broke down on the way home. It was a disaster! Most of us can relate to something in life where everything went wrong.

One of our family’s favorite Sesame Street sketches is Kermit the Frog teaching kids about journalism. His classic quote is; “Asking questions is a very good way to get answers!” The simplicity and humor of this reminds all of us that answers to life’s difficult questions might only require us to ask good questions. This Sunday my sermon is titled; “Questioning God.”

America has an odd infatuation with celebrities. We can’t get enough information about their lives. We want to know where they eat. What they are wearing influences many. Who their friends are matters. And we especially want to know about their love life! We long to have the kind of love that the tabloids present as fun, sizzling hot, and deep meaningful romance! The problem is that most of the time it is an unrealistic facade.

Our world can be harsh. The business world tends to not care much beyond the bottom line. In entertainment stars are the talk of the town one moment, and yesterday’s news the next. In sports there is another player who is faster & stronger coming up behind the present superstar. At school students need to find their group and fit in or else they will be simply left out. On social media people put forward their best, and not always their most honest, face risking ridicule, or even worse, being ignored. We could use some mercy and grace.

In our modern life people suffer from anxiety in many different ways. It seems as a society we are more anxious than ever. There are, of course, valid reasons to be anxious - world events, politics, life threatening illnesses, finances, raising children, depression, and so on. God is not unaware of our anxiety. In fact, the Bible addresses anxiety in many different ways:

It is too easy to watch world events unfold on the news and do nothing. Sure, we feel deep compassion and pray, but find ourselves at a loss to follow up and do more. This Sunday we will hear from our youth about one way to compassionately help our global neighbor. Then we will look to the Bible to show us how to trust in Jesus as our everyday sufficiency. Come worship in song, prayer, Bible reading, Bible teaching and fellowship around the dinner table - yes there is a BBQ after church!

I recently had a conversation about what kind of movies and TV shows I like. I found a common theme in the types of shows I like - an honest portrayal of human depravity. Don’t get me wrong, I have no interest in celebrating sin in any way. But I am fascinated when stories explore how and why people do wrong. Ultimately, I’m interested because these shows make me think of two biblical truths:

Beach services are not without precedent in the Bible. In fact, Jesus led two significant services on the beach. First, in Luke 5 Jesus taught the crowds from a boat just offshore. He supported His claims to be God by giving the disciples a miraculously big catch of fish. The result of this beach service was that, “they left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:11b) The second beach service was after the resurrection. Jesus waited on the beach with a fire ready to cook another miraculous catch of fish. On the beach Jesus empowered both Peter and John for the ministry ahead of them - it changed their lives. (John 21)

“Where are you?”

This is a deeply profound question in the context of our spiritual life with God. God looks beyond the physical when he asks Adam and Eve in the garden, “Where are you?” He is inquiring about their hearts. God wants to know what is going on with them spiritually. God knows they have sinned against Him. He desires them to understand what is going on in their own hearts.

We have done a lot of house projects over the years. Some were small projects and others major remodels. Each time we approached a project there was excited anticipation of the final product. We longed for something beautiful, lasting, and most importantly - finished! One thing I learned about remodeling is that there is ALWAYS something unexpected below the surface of the project.

As humans, we are in awe when God enters into our lives and commands our full attention engaging our intellect, imagination, and emotions. God captures our hearts, minds, and souls when He draws us to Himself. The result in our lives is faith in Him. This faith story is revealed to all in the act of baptism. Baptism brings out in the open which once was only in our hearts.

We all love hearing people’s stories. Where they came from. What they like to do for fun. How they decided to go into their particular field of work. What God has done in their lives. Stories are amazingly unique and powerful. But we also all have a singular story that unites each of us as humans.

Sometimes in life there is a perfect storm of events. That has happened at The Rock this week. A group is headed to Mexico to build houses. Others are going on vacations with their families. Paul Duncan is in Italy writing the next great Italian pop song. This has led us to make the hard decision not to have a service at The Rock this Sunday. We are encouraging people to worship with other churches or get together and worship with one another in homes. We will be back strong on July 28th!