Emma and I would like to thank you for the way that you honored us this past Sunday. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate all of you and the way that you have supported our family. We are blessed to be able to serve at Excell Baptist Church!

I had an interesting experience this week. Dakota Bledsoe shared an insight with me from Ecclesiastes 11:5, and then I read that same verse in my daily Bible reading two days later. Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, "As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything."

Dakota pointed out to me that Jesus alludes to this verse when he teaches on the new birth in John 3:8, which says, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Just as we don't know how God forms a baby in the womb, we don't know how the Spirit of God brings about the new birth in someone's heart. Salvation is a mysterious work of God in the secret places of one's heart.

This truth has made me want to be more faithful in personal evangelism. While we don't know how God brings about the new birth, we do know that the Word of God is the means He uses to bring it about. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:23 that we "have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God."

So, right after Ecclesiastes 11:5, we are in encouraged in Ecclesiastes 11:6, "In the morning sow your seed, and evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good." In other words, the more we sow the seed of God's Word, the more material available for the Holy Spirit to use to bring about the new birth in the hearts of men and women. The next time you share God's Word may be the very time that God causes His Word to bear fruit. So may we be faithful sowers of God's Word so that we can reap a great harvest of souls!

Sunday morning worship is a Saturday night decision! One of the best ways to get the most out of our time together in corporate worship is to come prepared, going to bed early on Saturday night, and by reviewing the sermon text, our song list, and our responsive readings. To help you prepare for Sunday worship, I've provided each element of our worship below for your review prior to Sunday.

 

In Christ,