Thursday Memo

Hi Five Oakers, The weekend’s coming and there are a few things I don’t want you to miss:

The Weekend

Whenever I’m in CA one thing I do before leaving, every time, is eat a burger, fries and shake from In-N-Out Burger. If you’ve never been, you should know that’s all there is on the menu, except for soft drinks. Aside from the freshness of the ingredients, a big part of the franchise’s success is the lack of choices. Yes, a lack of choices leads to more choosing. (And, yes, I do know about the secret menu and sometimes get my fries “animal style,” but there’s a whole psychology of buying behind so-called “secret menus,” too.)

This weekend we start a brand new 7-week series called “The Choice.” It’s what I call a Story of God series because we’ll be tracing one theme through the whole story. The theme is worship.

Joshua challenges the Israelites to choose whom they will worship in Joshua 24:15. (The Hebrew term he uses for “serve” is the same term for “worship.”)

“…choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Like In-N-Out, he offers limited choices. Unlike In-N-Out, you can’t choose “all the above.” Can you truly understand why not?

If you’re on a strict diet and join me on my trip to In-N-Out, you’ll choose “none of the above.” But Joshua doesn’t offer that option because you can’t not worship. Do you know why?

The Story of God, the sweep of it, offers answers to those questions and many more we have concerning worship. I hope you can make this series because this choice determines everything.

Links You Might Like

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One More Thing

“If we haven't learned to be worshipers, it doesn't really matter how well we do anything else.” (Erwin Lutzer)

Blessings to you all, Pastor Henry

Decide Less

Communication Card prayer request: "God help me follow through on my resolution 52 times at church in 2014..." Do you think this might have more of an impact than losing a few pounds?

My observation: people don't do well spiritually when they stop participating in corporate worship or attend with high irregularity.

Sometimes there are really powerful reasons for non-attendance. And some people are exceptions, finding Christian fellowship and service in other ways. I've known a couple of people who were thriving spiritually while not attending corporate worship gatherings regularly...for a while.

But for most of us mortals, missing corporate worship is usually due to spiritual drifting, and it's usually spiritually stunting and hazardous.

It's hard to tell people that showing up for corporate worship every week is really important without sounding like a legalist. But it is no more legalistic to make corporate worship a priority in life then it is to have a daily quiet time of Bible reflection and prayer.

How does a person keep this resolution. In part, by deciding less. Decide once that this is what you will do every week. Decide once TO attend every week. Then the only other decision is NOT to attend when you have a really good reason. Don't ever decide whether or not to attend on the weekend. 

I wish a lot more people would make this resolution. It could have significant results.