If you were to attend Grace Church at Willow Valley for a Sunday morning worship service, you might find something that you may not find at other churches (or so several who have visited numerous churches have told me). At Grace, we open the Bible during our services and dig into the text of Scripture. We do so because we believe the Bible’s testimony of itself that it, in its entirety, is “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” so that at the end of the day all who have chosen to follow Jesus “may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So bottom line, if we are to be all that God wants us to be, we must know and put into practice His Word (Matthew 7:24-27).
Usually Sunday mornings find us in the midst of a sermon series, most often on a particular book of the Bible (there are 66 of them so we never run out of material!) and sometimes on a topic. This past year we have grown through such series as One Another (a look at several “one another” passages of the New Testament); 1 Thessalonians: “Doing” Church Right in a World Gone Wrong; and iWill Follow Jesus: The Five Definitions that Define a Christian.
At present, we are “between” sermon series. On May 1st we celebrated God’s grace in our church as we do each first Sunday of May. Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and so I talked about being a difference-maker in the lives of others after the example of the greatest difference-maker who ever lived, Jesus Christ! This upcoming Sunday is Police Sunday, and on the following Sunday (May 22) I will be introducing our upcoming (and exciting) summer sermon series (there will be two of them!). In addition that morning, I will be digging into the Bible to see what we can learn about the core value we have chosen to emphasis this upcoming ministry year: God’s glory, Our focus.
If you are looking for a church home that strives to honor the Word of God and apply it to life, you may want to visit. We are not perfect. Nor are we for everyone. But for those who “fit” here, this is a wonderful church family of which to be a part. I should know. I’ve been here almost twenty-seven years!
Warmly in Christ,
Pastor John
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