News and Announcements

The season of Advent begins Sunday, November 27, 2016.

Advent services are as follows:

Wednesday, November 30 at 6:30pm
Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30pm
Wednesday, December 14 at 6:30pm

You can join us for worship every Sunday at 9:00am.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5 NIV84)

Would you get excited about going on vacation to a new place? Or seeing your best friend after a long time apart? Or your favorite sports team winning the championship? What gets you excited?

In Revelation 22, the apostle John shows us something exciting: a vision of the new heavens and new earth that the Lord will create for us after Judgment Day. He saw this vision himself, and with words he paints the picture before our eyes.

A crystal-clear river will flow throughout the city where Christians will live. This river will be clearer than any pristine river to which you and I could hike in an uninhabited place on earth. But it will not be remote at all! It will be available for everyone in heaven! And this river contains the water of life! Even if we drink the purest water on earth, we will get thirsty again. But when we drink the water of life, we will live forever.

The tree of life will be in that place. The tree of life first stood in the garden of Eden. But once Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord no longer allowed them to eat from it, because he did not want them to live forever in their sin. But in the new heavens and new earth, God will make us perfect again, and he will give us the tree of life once again. It will be a beautiful tree with delicious fruit. And unlike our trees that bear fruit at one time of the year, the tree of life will provide food for us all year long. Its food will keep us alive forever.

There is one thing that won't be in heaven: any curse. There won't be any sin in heaven, so there won't be any death. We won't be afraid of dying. None of the other people who are there with us will die, either. There won't be any problems, any sadness, or any pain at all.

The best thing about heaven, though, is that our God will be there. In the midst of the city, God the Father and the Lamb, Jesus Christ, will sit on the throne. We will see him! His name will be on us, which means that we will be his people and nobody can take us away from him. We will enjoy the light that God gives to us. And not only will God reign there, but we will reign with him, because he has made us his co-rulers. Our kingdom will last forever.

Doesn't that sound exciting? It absolutely is! But we're not always excited about it, because we don't always think about how we are going to be in heaven. And we have no idea what it will be like to be in a perfect place. We can't understand how wonderful it will be to be with our Lord. Maybe the world's idea of heaven has influenced us to think that it sounds kind of boring. And even when we do appreciate it, heaven seems so far off from our lives right now. So we often look for other things in our lives to make us feel like we're excited. Those things won't be as good. They won't last forever. If we invest ourselves in the "exciting" things of this life, we put ourselves in danger of losing the place in heaven that Jesus has won for us. It may feel like we're having fun for a while, but they'll leave us empty in the end.

Don't lose your excitement for heaven! Heaven will be better than anything you ever have experienced or ever will experience in this life. Heaven will be like going on vacation to a new place, but it is the most fun place ever, and you will never have to leave. Heaven will be like seeing your best friend, and you will never have to be apart from Jesus again. Heaven is like your team winning the championship, except that you aren't just a fan. You are a member of the winning team, you will always be a champion, and the celebration will never end. Heaven is every good thing that we could ever experience put together with none of the bad things that happen here on earth.

The best news of all is that the new heavens and new earth is yours. Jesus won it for you when he lived a perfect life for you and when he died to take away the punishment for all of your sins. The Holy Spirit has given it to you by bringing you to faith in him through his Word and the water of Baptism. God will bring you there after he raises you from the dead on Judgment Day.

Now that's exciting!

Prayer: God my Father, I thank you that you sent your Son Jesus to win a place for me in heaven. I thank you that you sent the Holy Spirit to bring me to faith and give me all of these blessings. Help me never to forget how exciting it is that I get to live and reign with you forever! Amen.

             On Sunday, November 20, we'll celebrate Bible Sunday at church. For adult Bible class, we'll play Bible trivia. Then we'll have a potluck. This is a BYOB party - bring your old Bible. If you've got an old Bible at home, bring it along. We'll have a table where everyone can look at the Bibles that people bring.   

On Wednesday, November 23 we will meet at church to give thanks to God for all of his blessings. Thanksgiving Eve service begins at 6:30 p.m. The offering will go to the Apache Christian Training School (ACTS), which we learned about from Pastor Massey's mission presentation. ACTS trains Apaches to be pastors and church workers on the reservation.

Our first Wednesday Advent service is on November 30 at 6:30 p.m. These services help to prepare us for the coming of Jesus at the end of time, in our hearts through his Word, and at Christmas. Please join us! The other two midweek Advent services will be on December 7 and 14.

             Doug and Linda Franke will host Shepherd of the Mountains Oktemberfest (Oktoberfest in November) at their home on November 5th beginning at 4:00 p.m. They are providing brats and fixings. Bring your favorite German dish to share. Don't forget to wear your lederhosen.

                          On Friday, December 9 we'll have fun fellowship and decorate the church for Christmas. Not only will we enjoy working together, but we'll enjoy chili and good drinks, as well. We'll begin at 5:00, but come whenever you can.