Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105
This coming Sunday (drumroll please) we bring to a conclusion our one and a half year study through the book of Genesis. My study and preparation for each sermon causes me to go deeper into the weeds than I would normally go in my own devotions, and although I have read the book of Genesis countless times, this slow and steady walk through the book was very helpful for me. I hope you found it as enlightening, instructional, convicting, and fascinating as I did.
Beginning Sunday, September 19 we will begin our annual Missions Emphasis. Our theme this year is “Treasuring God’s Word.” A few years ago during our emphasis, we focused on Bible translation, committing $20,000 to help complete a translation of the New Testament into the heart languages of the Lik and Ketengban peoples of New Guinea. That translation was ultimately completed, and we rejoiced when we were able to watch a short video of the New Testaments being delivered via airplane on a grass landing strip with hundreds of people waiting anxiously to receive the first copy they had ever seen, let alone owned.
This year we will focus on literacy with the help of Rich Danzeisen from Mercy Inc. Rich is one of our supported missionaries, and part of the mission of Mercy Inc. is to teach people who are illiterate how to read. This may seem like a mundane concept to some as it relates to missions, but consider the obvious connection between Bible translation work and literacy education. It does very little good for us to translate the Scriptures into the heart languages of people if those people, after receiving their new Bibles, are unable to read them, even though they are now translated into the language they speak. We treasure the word of God here at LifePoint, and we can do so partly because all of us not only have it available to us in multiple English translations (in this sense we are the most blessed people who have ever lived), but we can all read it as well. Keep in mind there are millions and millions of people on our planet who do not have the Bible translated into the language they speak, and millions and millions more who, regardless of the status of translations in their heart language, cannot read.
On Sunday, September 19, Rich will preach and kick off our Missions Emphasis. The following week, Justin Williams (missionary to Uganda) will bring the word to us, and then on Sunday, October 3, I will conclude our emphasis and we will take up our annual Faith Promise to support missions through LifePoint for 2022. In addition, on Friday and Saturday, September 24-25, we will host a Read-A-Thon here in the Worship Center at LifePoint. With the help of many of you as volunteers who will agree to read a portion of the New Testament from the pulpit here for a twenty-minute segment, we will join together to read through the entire New Testament in twenty-four hours (7 am-7 pm each day). There is nothing fancy about this—we will simply read through the entire New Testament for the joy of hearing it while we rejoice that God has given us the means and ability to read it and understand it.
We will be taking sign-ups for volunteers to read over the next two Sundays at a ministry booth. If you are interested in participating, please stop by and sign-up. This can be done as individuals, or a family can take turns reading your assigned portion of Scripture as well. As Barney Fife would say, “it should be a swell time.” I hope many of you will take the time to participate.
God has blessed us in so many ways friends—with the Scriptures in our own heart language, with the ability and training to read them, understand them (mostly) and apply them to our lives. We have the resources to send missionaries out with the gospel message and to engage in ministry both locally and globally in numerous ways. Not every local body of Christ can say these things, so let us rejoice in them!
Looking forward to concluding our Genesis study and engaging in our Missions Emphasis with all of you. I am blessed beyond measure to be your lead pastor!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym