Well, we had another great weekend of being Fearless as you continue to be generous with your money and your time. We are making a great impact in the community. Way to go!
This week, we are doing our first baptism at Mariners Church Ocean Hills, and we will be using our new baptismal by the playground. We are so excited and have around 20 people already signed up to be baptized. If you have a desire, yet didn’t sign up, it isn’t too late! Contact Cole at cbeshore@marinerschurch.org and he will be able to give you all the info you need! We also will have a barbecue accompanying the baptism, so we invite you to hang around after the service. It is a great time to get to know one another and spend time with our church family! Also, it’s a great week to invite friends, we will enjoy a fun BBQ and get to see a picture of what Jesus does in people’s lives. As we think about inviting friends, we know Easter is coming soon and we want to be a church that reaches our community. Seventy-five percent of the people who don’t go to church said they would go if someone just asked them. So I challenge you to start thinking and praying about who you could invite to Easter, or for that matter, church.
We are having our first Mariners Church Ocean Hills baptism on March 30th after the service. If you (or someone you know) is interested in getting baptized, please contact Cole Beshore for more info. The baptisms will take place in our new baptismal on the patio next to the playground! Feel free to stick around after the baptism for our all church BBQ!
Share stories of how you see God moving during Be Fearless as you serve in our community! Email, stories@marinerschurch.org, Visit, howtobefearless.org, Use #howtobefearless on social media.
This week, we have entered into the book of Galatians. Paul most likely has addressed this letter to be circulated among churches in the region of Galatia, a province in the Roman Empire. The main theme of the book is the truth of the Gospel and its implications for life. Don’t you love the way The Message puts it, “you crazy Galatians”? Paul is rebuking and correcting them. He is concerned that the people of these churches have lost sight of the main thing: Jesus and His work on the cross. Paul is concerned they have started to put other things in the place of primary importance. Unfortunately, this still happens today.
What types of things cause people to lose their trust in God today?
What types of things do you have a tendency to place as primary over God?
What a great weekend it was as so many of you took part in our Be Fearless campaign. As a church it was so fun to see lines of people as they stepped forward to be generous to our community. Please join us this weekend as we celebrate your generosity to the various organizations in our neighborhood that are making a difference.
Also, if you have the desire or know of someone who is interested in be baptized, this is the week for you. We will be talking about baptism this weekend – Is it really necessary? Does it matter if I’ve been baptized or not? Then, we will tell you what you need to do to be baptized in two weeks.
There is a lot going on, and it’s fun doing ministry with you, seeing all of the amazing things God is doing at Mariners Ocean Hills. You have “been fearless,” way to go!
God is continuing to shape Israel into his people as we read through the book of Numbers. He is breaking them of their desire for slavery and calling on them to trust in Him alone. However, the Israelites repeatedly forget what God has done and they turn to fear. They don’t trust that God will provide for them in the desert, and they don’t trust that God will deliver on His promises. Still, God does not abandon them as His chosen people and He continues to show them that He is good and trustworthy!
As we read further, God has now shown the people the land that was promised to their ancestors, that He delivers them into by His mighty hand. It is wonderful to reflect and to see God’s patience with such a wayward group, especially in light of my own waywardness.
Read Psalm 37 taking the words to heart.
What fears does this Psalm alleviate for you?
What is one place you can place your trust back on God this week?
Well, we finished up our Heroes series in a wonderful way. What a great weekend as we watched people respond to God’s call and heroically stand to follow Christ. This Sunday, we will have a great opportunity to be “fearless” in the form of generosity. We will discover how we are blessed in so many ways, and how God has called us to “do good” with all we have been given.
It’s an exciting weekend for our church as we bless those both locally and globally who are in need.
This week we finished the Book of Hebrews and have started on the Book of Numbers. The book gets its name most likely from the two censuses that are taken in chapters 1 and 26. However, Jewish readers most commonly refer to the book by a word that is more descriptive of the time in Israel’s history spent in the wilderness. Though the book at some parts feels like another round of rules and regulations, similar to Leviticus, the rules given in the book of Numbers deal with the laws and regulations for Israel while they are on the march. Numbers is one of the longest books in the Old Testament and ends at the final encampment before entering the Promise Land.
At the beginning of this week you read Psalm 30 and reflected on how God treats the down and out. Notice the imagery used and how the author describes being rescued and pulled up from the grave, out of the ground and restored. Ultimately it is a psalm of confession and thanksgiving.
Spend just a few moments this week writing down what you are thankful for. When was a time when you acted as if you did not need God? Have you ever experienced God turning a season of lament into a season of dancing?
