Trials and tests as well as refining and pruning are never 'fun' in our Christian life. We are commanded to 'count it all joy, when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance, patience, maturity,' (James 1:2,3). We also know that the Lord prunes us that we might bear fruit that glorifies Him (John 15:2), but even as we know and acknowledge these truths, when we go through difficult times of testing and or pruning, even though we know that the Lord is at work in the midst of them, and He is working to make us more like Him, more useful to Him, and more mature,we still struggle at times to 'count it all joy' as we should. 

What is true of individuals is also true of churches. Churches go through times of trial and testing and times of pruning and refining and those times can be painful. However, as God's people learn to rest in His Sovereign Hand, to seek Him in prayer, to stay in the Word, to look to Him and wait on Him, we learn invaluable lessons: God is working in those challenging times, and, in due season, in His perfect timing, He will do something beautiful (for His glory) out of it all. 

Stonebridge Baptist Church is a witness to God's Goodness! Our God is doing a great work in our midst, and, it is a holy time! We are seeing God move in powerful ways on Wednesday nights during REFUEL AND RECHARGE. If you are not yet plugged in, you need to be plugging in! Our time begins at 6:00 and ends around 7:30. We have food, fellowship, a time of teaching (currently we are in John Piper's series: 'What Jesus Demands From the World,' and after that we will be going through Experiencing God), and breakout sessions for children and youth. It has been and is an incredible time! We are seeing remarkable turnouts as people start prioritizing mid-week services to be spiritually refueled and recharged! 

We are seeing people come to faith, getting baptized, people joining the church and many, many visitors, and, we are seeing a love and unity and desire to dig deeply into the Word of God that is nothing short of beautiful! This is the Lord's doing, not ours. He is at work!

We see the Lord at work in Saturday services, Sunday services, Wednesday nights, during men's and women's Bible studies, in preaching cohorts and times of training for women on how to study the Bible. We see the Lord working through people serving the community and people gathering to pray and to work together in Christian love and harmony.

The Lord began this work right before my Sabbatical, and it took off during Family Week (which was a remarkable blessing!) and the Lord just continues to move! Praise the Lord!

This is, agagin, a beautiful and holy time! I want to encourage us, in this time to remember a few things:

One: All glory goes to God. We cannot take credit for anything. We must remember that. 

Two: We must stay in prayer. We must stay in prayer because we must keep our eyes on Jesus, and we must be sensitive to the Spirit's leading, and we must remember we are ever dependent on Him, not man. We must stay in prayer because we also know that spiritual warfare is real, and our enemy would love nothing more than to try to distract us, derail us or to get us off track. We must stay vigilant and alert.

Three: We must praise and thank the Lord! We can never thank Him or praise Him enough! This is vital for us to remember. All of this is His doing, so we must praise and thank Him! 

Four: The work is in many ways, always going to be in process. With all that the Lord is doing, we need more teachers, more workers, more people serving, so we cannot get to the place where we sit back and think 'we have arrived!' We cannot get to a point where we stop emphasizing this incredible reality-all of us are saved to serve! Where are you supposed to serve? 

Fifth: We must walk in the fullness of the Spirit to preserve the bond of peace and the love and unity the Lord is creating in our church. This is also holy and beautiful!

Sixth: We must stay faithful to the Word. I am blessed beyond belief to serve a church that hungers for Truth, for the Word of God! We must stay in the Word because all around us we see professing Christians and churches compromise the Truth to be 'relevant' to the culture. We must stay faithful to God and His Word.

Seventh (and I could go on!): We must continue to exhort and encourage one another to run the race well that is set before us. What a joy it is to be a part of a community that is going out of it's way to bless and encourage one another to run well! 

We have so very much to be thankful for. We will continue to pray for revival and reformation. It seems as if the Lord is giving us a foretaste of that right now. We dare not pursue that more than we pursue Him. He is to be our greatest love and the Chief Object of our Affection-not the gifts He gives. We must not lose sight of this truth. 

God is Good and on the move! Let us praise and thank Him!

Hope to see you Wednesday and this weekend in services (Saturday at 5:00 p.m. or Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m.)! Stay in prayer!

Grace to You,

Pastor