Wow! This past week at Vacation Bible School was AMAZING! From Monday to Wednesday, the church halls were filled with kids laughing, dancing, and having fun as they learned more about God and Jesus (I have included pictures at the end of the e-mail so you can see how much fun we had this past week). I hope you will join me in giving a HUGE THANK YOU to Janet Brown and all of the volunteers who helped make this week possible. This Sunday in worship, we will celebrate with some of the kids who participated and we will be blessed as they share with us some of their songs they learned. I hope you will be here Sunday at 8:45 or 11:00 to hear the kids sing.
This Sunday is also the beginning a new message series titled Community. In this series, we will be studying Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and learning about what it means to be part of a community of faith. As we go through this series, I want to challenge you on what it means to be a disciple of Christ. In our community of faith at Royston First UMC, we say we want to “make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus.” But what does discipleship look like? I believe there are five keys to discipleship; and we will briefly look at a different key each week through these e-mails.
One of the keys to discipleship is that disciples offer themselves to God in a spiritual act of worship. The apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship,” (Romans 12:1). Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice – offer yourselves in worship. Worship should be the most important thing we do each week. In worship, we gather to give praise to God for all the ways we have experienced God. Worship is our response to God’s revelation and it shifts our focus from us to God. How are you making worship a priority in your life? What does worship mean to you?
The psalmist writes, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth,” (Psalm 47:1-2). For me, I love to worship in nature.I love to worship while reading my Bible. I love to worship with music. Some of my best moments of worship have happened while driving through the mountains and listening to music. But I also love to worship with each of you…in the community of faith. We are made to worship and we are designed to gather together to worship. I look forward to being with you in worship this Sunday at 8:45 at 11:00 as we make worship a priority as a community of faith.
Have a great weekend!
Grace and peace,
Matt
P.S. Will you join me in praying for Franklin County schools this week? Students return to school on August 10 and teachers are busy preparing for the students. Check out below if you want to learn of some ways to bless our teachers at Royston Elementary School (#BlessRES).
Royston First United Methodist Church 