I’m glad you are with us this morning! I am thankful for our Bible Fellowship teachers and their commitment to teaching God’s Word. If you’re not part of a class, there is a list attached to today’s bulletin. I hope you’ll try one soon!

As we go through the book of James, we move into chapter 4 this morning. The main theme in these first few verses is worldliness. God won’t take us out of this world until our appointed day. However, we pray He would take the world out of us. Certainly, we are to be in the world but not of the world. However, being in the world but not of the world is a difficult task. But it’s urgent we attend to this matter. Who knows the day of our death? Vance Havner said, “Civilization today is like an ape playing with a blowtorch in a room full of dynamite.” I think we all feel that. So we live as if Jesus is coming back any moment, because Jesus is coming back at any moment! And that means I want to be in the world but have the world out of me. May God grant us that grace that it be so.

Please pray for me, Nathan, and Kirk. There are a number of things we want to accomplish to take next steps as a church. I’ve mentioned we want to substantially upgrade our Sunday morning livestream. You’ll also see some changes in our website soon. We just purchased a new donut machine and will continue to engage the community with free donuts on Tuesdays. We are consulting with an architect to determine the affordability/feasibility of renovating our children’s area downstairs. We have other building needs, and our Building and Grounds Team is sorting through those. The parking lot is on its last leg. And we certainly want to continue to engage our community in new ways. All of this requires energy, wisdom, money, and time. So I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for us. Pray for leadership wisdom and knowledge. Pray for us to be able to encourage and edify you as we go on this journey together of glorying God. Thank you!

With the school year approaching quickly, there is some information in your bulletin about the start of Student Ministry and AWANA. For those of you who are new to West Haven, I teach Bible Study on Wednesday nights. In order to determine what part of the church to meet in, could you help by letting us know if you plan to attend the Bible study? There is a clipboard in the foyer. By signing up, you aren’t committing to anything. It would be helpful to us, however, so we can plan well. God bless you!