| Dear Friends, As I sit here and am thinking about you, I wonder, do you wonder? Do you wonder at the Gospel and Jesus’ great love for you, His people? Are you in awe that God would allow you to be part of his kingdom and what he doing in the world? It made me think of Paul Tripp’s book from almost 10 years ago, Awe. It reminds me that we are not to worship created things even if we deeply enjoy them. All the little places of awe: in a young child’s laugh, enjoying a good meal with your family, seeing an amazing sunset or the waves crashing at the beach; all of these things are sign posts for what we were created for: awe of God! I once heard it said that we are born worshippers. We must spend our lives on what is central to our personal and corporate worship. Here are some thoughts(adapted from Paul Tripp) about how awe works and why we need it every day our whole lives. 1. Awe is every person’s life long pursuit. We have all loved ice cream or fudge or some other amazing thing from when we were a small child. Just one taste and we couldn’t get enough. When I was little I loved soft serve ice cream so much that I would usually wear it on my face and clothes! We all have things we love and long for. But really, is ice cream or any dessert or gourmet meal better than Jesus? Our hearts our meant to find our deepest joy and the greatest satisfaction in the love God has for each of us in and through Christ Jesus. But our whole lives are spent letting go of lesser desires as God draws our hearts to be more and more in awe of Him. 2. The places, people, or experiences where we look for awe will shape the direction of our lives. What you are most amazed by will set the course of almost every decision you make. I loved playing tennis in junior high and high school and did everything I could to keep playing in college. I marveled at how pro tennis players of my era, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi, and Edberg were what I wanted my game and my life to resemble. I knew the cars they drove and the clothes they wore. Even in practices I would model their style of play and even their temperaments on the court. We are all shaped by what we deeply love and are amazed by. As the awe of God seeps more and more into your soul, it’s not that you won’t desire any thing else. It will simply reorient and reprioritize all of your desires to come under your supreme desire: what Paul says in Philippians 3 “But whatever gain I had, I count as loss whatever gain I had. I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth pf knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” If you lost everything, would it be worth it to have the awe inspiring King Jesus rule your life? 3. Every thing on earth that stimulates awe in you is meant to point you to the Creator. All the good stuff we experience in friendship, in romance with our spouse, and even the spectacular beauty of creation is all meant to point us to have a growing awe and amazement at the person and work of Christ. My prayer and hope for each of you and myself is that wonder and worship of Jesus would fill our days, moments, weeks, and years as we continue to grow as a church body full of love for Jesus and each other. NxTGen is our group for young adults at Redeemer that meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month for a time of fellowship, learning, and growth. Contact Pat Howell with questions.  Parents! It’s almost Awana time! Registration is open for the fall. We will be having a Kick-off night on August 30th for parents and kids. Hope you will join us!  And you can register for Awana here: https://redeemerlr.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/1833857 Also, here is an intro letter that outlines some specific info of what you can expect Awana to look like in the Fall.  Here is a breakdown of each age group and class:  Finally, here is the vision for Awana as laid out by Laura White:  Coming this fall… 2 options for Women’s Bible Study Click this one to register for the Tuesday afternoon time slot: https://redeemerlr.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/1881362 Click this one to register for the Thursday evening time: https://redeemerlr.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/1881392  And also this Fall, our next prospective membership class. Contact Pastor Matt if you are interested or have questions.  Another great opportunity for women to deeply connect with one another all centered around Jesus and HIs Word. Contact Jen Gurney with questions.  I don’t know about you but I have been super challenged and encouraged as we have been trekking our way through Hebrews 11. We will continue to look at the lives of the patriarchs as Matt will take us through how Moses had faith in the promises of God. See you at church. Blessings in Christ, Cole Perkins |
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