Eight Days

We are starting a two week sermon series this Sunday - Eight Days. I invite you to join us -- either at The Water's Edge or online as we intentionally grow closer to God together. The sermon videos, prayers, daily devotional guide, and communion devotions will be posted online in case you have to miss worship or if you don't live in the area. Visit our website Sunday to join us on this journey.

During the next eight days we will embark on a journey toward healing and wholeness. We will develop a greater understanding of ourselves. We will experience God. And we will begin to dream about the possibilities of what can happen when our passions intersect with God’s power.

Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, understood anxiety, despair, and boredom to be humanity’s three major problems. Four thousand miles to the west and two hundred years later, not much has changed. We worry about things we have little, if any, control of. Sometimes things seem so hopeless we don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. And, we are uninterested in things we have a suspicion we need the most. 

Jesus talks about anxiety, despair, and boredom: 

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. –Matthew 6:34 

Anything is possible if a person believes. –Mark 9:23 

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. –John 10:10 

God wants to partner with us in overcoming obstacles. He desires to heal our hurts. His dream is that we prevail over our past. He gives us each other and the Church. He blesses us with His presence found in the Holy Spirit. And, He equips us with three gifts that combat and will ultimately conquer anxiety, despair, and boredom: 

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13 

If an unhealthy amount of anxiety is present in your life, if areas of your life seem hopeless, and if life often just seems like you are going through the motions—then the next eight days are for you. Two messages will examine our problems and God’s resources. Prayers will connect us to God: both sharing with God and listening to God. Daily devotions will challenge us and get us thinking about life after these eight days. 

In Acts 9, Saul, a man filled with anxiety, despair, and boredom, has an encounter with God. He spent three days fasting and praying. At the end of his intentional time with God, he began living out the blessed gifts of faith, hope, and love. And the world hasn’t quite been the same ever since. My prayer is after our eight days together, your world will different as well. I look forward to spending the next eight days with you. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig