Gasp!

This weekend's message is the one I've been most excited about for this series, mostly because you will be astounded by God's Word and how God works behind the scenes. We're looking at deeply fractured family from the genealogy of Jesus. When I read my message to our "message review" group a few weeks ago, there was an audible gasp at one point in the reading. It had nothing to do with me--there's nothing dramatic about just reading a message to a group of people. It had everything to do with God's story and his orchestration of events over hundreds and thousands of years. Prepare to be astounded by God. I can't wait to share it with you. And I'm looking forward to seeing how God will work in us in our worship response time and Communion after the message.

One more thing, as far as an entire service is concerned, I believe our Christmas Eve service will be one of the most effective we've ever done. Our Leadership Community chose the topic: "It would take a miracle to connect with God." We'll have plenty of singing and Christmas music, but the message will be punctuated with a short dramatic sketch written by Marcie Berglund that you and your guests will relate to, with a beautifully haunting song about God finding us even when we hide from him, and with another powerful video faith story (and I mean POWERFUL). You're likely to laugh, cry (sorry guys) and experience deeper joy as a result of this service and the power of God's Word. And we're also expecting a great harvest of first-time decisions. Get those invitations out. Keep praying.