Daylight Savings Time is this weekend! Don't be late for church - remember to set your clocks forward an hour on Saturday night!

To give the youth a little extra time adjusting to the new time, this Sunday our family hour breakfast will be served at 10 AM. Please come and show your appreciation for their early morning cooking!

Attention all women: The dates for the conference women's spring retreat have been set for May 14-15 on Whidbey Island. The theme will be "Divine Appointment", and the speaker is a delightful woman who is an encourager and a lover of the Word of God. Please save the dates and plan to attend. More details will be coming soon.

Pastor Clio Thomas serves as "Area Director" for the Asia/Pacific mission field of the Advent Christian Denomination. One of his duties is to encourage mission workers in a variety of settings throughout Asia. The following is a weekly installment of his letter, sent literally around the world to those in his charge.

Dear Ones in Christ,

 

One of the things for which I have become more and more concerned through the years is the twin matters of belief and obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book The Cost of Discipleship says, "Only he who obeys believes, and only he who believes obeys". He is speaking of the Gospel and belief in Jesus Christ as one's Lord. There is a very close connection in the Scriptures between belief (faith) and obedience. Many times in the Gospels Jesus speaks of following Him and taking up one's cross daily. I am afraid that what I see happening in much of the Church in America and some other parts of the world is an acceptance of (belief in) Jesus as Savior with a lack of obedience to His call to follow Him. It is one thing to accept Jesus and what He has done for our redemption and hope for eternal life. It is another thing to be obedient to Him, to learn from Him, and to follow Him with one's whole heart. You see, there has to be a connection between accepting Jesus as Savior and following Him as Lord. We are saved by accepting Jesus as Savior through no merit of our own, but solely because of His forgiving grace and love. But, the flip side of that is what salvation means. It means to be made complete and whole. It means to be made healthy. It is to be transformed. But, that means that the new Christian is to become more and more like Jesus. So, why is it then that Christian virtue and behavior is so lacking among those of us who call ourselves Christian? If Jesus has saved us and we are following Him we ought to be more and more like Him in every way. If you and I are not more like Jesus today than we were last year there is something wrong. If we want to live meaningful and fulfilled lives we need to learn more and more from Jesus.  In Matthew 11:29 He says: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  Being a Christian involves believing and obeying. It is more than mere believing. It is believing in the full sense of that word.

 

With love in Christ,

 

Pastor Clio 

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