Soul & Service ADV 2018

Summer Soul Challenge Three: A Summer Sabbath Sundays were always a good day for me as a kid, listen to why... John 19:31 (NLT) - It was the  day  of  preparation , and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next  day , which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. That’s how serious the Jewish people were about their preparation for the Sabbath. Below are a few suggestions on how you can take your preparation seriously. Prepare your Mind: Prepare your thoughts by taking care of your personal responsibilities the night before, and/or don’t schedule things unchurch related right before church. If you are thinking about all you have to do before service (or after) your mind is less prepared to hear God speak to you in worship. If you teach, have your lesson prepared t...

"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now" Elwood (Blues Brothers 1980) This month, we are highlighting the Matthew 25 ministry,  but first a word about how fasting relates to their ministry! Since Fasting has been the focus of this Summer's Soul & Service, I thought it prudent to give you a warning about fasting. One of the purposes of fasting is to starve sin in our lives, not our stomachs. And one of the greatest sins of American is "busyness", busyness to the point where we are never still before God in way that our Sunday worship affects our Monday work. We may outwardly pause and go through the motions, but our inward thoughts are racing. In other words, if your Sabbath fast from working to attend church and worship God leads to a hectic Monday and a fast paced stressed life, then something is wrong and you have to ask yourself, "have I really worshiped, have I really fasted from work and worshiped"? If your fast,...

Welcome back to Soul and Service Soul Challenge Two: Summer Indulgence ·       In our first challenge last month you were challenged to consider some type of summer fast. ·       For details on that challenge go back to the home page and check out the link entitled “We’re on a Mission from God".           In this month’s challenge we are going to play off our first change of fasting, and in fact, if you are having trouble considering a fast or lack the motivation, this month’s challenge might help.          View the video below to find out this month's Soul Challenge. ·             Thank you for watching, I hope you will consider to serve your soul with this month's giving challenge .          Here are a few ideas to consider with this month's challenge:           1...

Serving the Soul of Others: " A Heart for God is our Aim " Hello again my soul brothers and sisters, I hope your experience with fasting has been going well, be sure to email me your questions (or refer back to my 2 nd blog “We’re on a Mission from God”). Today, we are highlighting the Heart Shot ministry. Below is a picture of their fearless leader Troy Bendickson and the Heart Shot team. Take note! They are on a mission from God. You can find out more about the Heart Shot ministry  at Heartshot.org or contact Troy at 678.492.1989. I’ll explain more about their ministry and how you can help, but first I want to help you understand how serving others is, in a way, a fast that strengthens the soul. Think back for a moment on a time that you served someone else. You loved your neighbor by mowing their lawn when they were out of town or you took them dinner when they were dealing with a tragedy. There are many examples (big and small), but think about how...

Serving Your Soul: Challenge One "God Before Apple Pie"                               Watch Video Below Summer Fast Challenge:        As Pastor John Piper stated in his book, A Hunger for God , sometimes "God's greatest adversaries are his gifts". This all stems from man's temptation to worship the created things instead of the creator. This is why God gave us the first two commandments, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" and "Thou shalt not make before me any graven image". These commandments were first because God knew he had pre-wired our brains to worship and he designed our souls to be attracted to him, but in our brokenness we look for shortcuts to our worship of God and allow our souls to be satisfied with substitutes for God.        This is why the spiritual practice of fasting is good for your soul. It helps you retrain or realign the desires...

Soul & Service This summer (June - September), Pastor Jason is challenging the congregation to take some TIME-OUT: First, to serve and care for your own soul and second, to serve and care for the soul of others. More details coming soon, but be if you’d like to be a part of Soul & Service here is where it all begins. Jason will be posting informational blogs every week on how to become Soul Men or Women this summer. In his blogs, he'll be giving different ideas of how to enhance your devotional time as well as information on different needs in our church and community that need met. If you choose to accept this challenge you must find the following statues of the Blue Brothers:        N 41° 30.658 W 09° 34.488            Near the corner of 2nd Ave & 18th St,  Rock Island, IL   Once you have found the Blues Brothers, you or you and your family/small group must take a selfie with the Blues Bro...