Aug 23 Ghramm Cracker Crumbs

Dear Gateway West,

A few crumbs for this week...

I've been reading through the minor prophets lately.  Two of the major themes in the minor prophets are God's holiness/justice and his grace/mercy.  It's like two sides of the same coin.  God is a perfect God who can't stand sin but he's also a gracious God who forgives sin.  We see God saying over and over again to his people, "I have to punish you for your sin but I'm also going to restore you to a close relationship with me."  We can thank God that Jesus has paid the full penalty for our sins, however our sin today does keep us from close communion and relationship with our Heavenly Father.  A verse really grabbed me a few mornings ago that spoke of this.  Hosea 6:4 says, "'O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?' asks the Lord. 'For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.'"

Very simple question and challenge for you - just how committed are you to loving your Heavenly Father?  Do you only love him when times are good?  Do you only love him when times are bad?  How quickly does your love vanish away?  Good reminder for all of us to make God the highest priority in our life.

Speaking of priorities, I've decided to switch up my teaching on Sunday and talk about "priorities."  As we start the school year, I want to challenge you to make what's important to God (and to you as well) a higher priority in your life.  It will be more of a practical sermon than I normally do.  Sunday at 10:30 am at RG Jones.  Hope you can make it.

For those of you who can't make Sunday services, you are welcome to listen to the audio recordings of our teachings at west.gatewaycleveland.com.  Using iTunes is a great way to stay caught up if you miss a week.

We are having a baptismal service on Sunday, September 16.  If you would like to be baptized or want more information, please let me know.

One final crumb.  Now that the school year has started, we really could use some help with setup and tear down.  If you would be willing to serve on that team about once a month, give me a holler back and I'll connect you with the team leader.  This is an important job that all of us can do.

Hope you have a great rest of the week.  See you Sunday.

Love ya!

Dan