 |
 |
Burr Ridge Seventh-day Adventist Church 725 75th St |
 |
 |
 |
 August 2007
August 25, 2007 Happy Sabbath! It’s good to see you all once again here at Burr Ridge. I always look forward to Sabbath, not only as a time to rest and worship, but also as a time to reconnect with all of you. The weather forecasters have certainly had something to talk about this week! Who knew that Next week we are going to have our monthly round of meetings. Finance committee is going to meet at 9:30am tomorrow morning. Monday, the Church Board will meet at 7:00pm, followed by an Elders’ Meeting at 8:30. Finally, the outreach committee is finalizing a meeting for either Tuesday or Wednesday. Today, we are very happy for the Canale Family as they dedicate baby Amelia. It is wonderful that Dr. Canale can be here to lead out in the dedication, as well as teach us from the word.
Welcome to all our guests! It is wonderful to see so many of you here for our Back-to-School Celebration. Here at Burr Ridge Seventh-day Adventist church we have a little saying that goes something like this: Come once, you’re a visitor. Today is our very first annual Back-to-School celebration. At the end of the service we are going to have a special time of blessing for our students, teachers, and parents. If you have students who want to be blessed, make sure you fill out a registration card. We don’t want to miss any of you! I would also like to tell you about an exciting event that we are planning for October 26 & 27. Susan and Don Murray are coming from If you would like to keep tabs on what is happening here at
August 11, 2007 How many of you like to watch game shows on TV? There is something exciting about watching a trivia show and seeing the contestant “get it,” or solve the puzzle or guess the answer. In the Bible, the scribes and Pharisees seem pretty dumb most of the time. But in Mark 12:32 one of them actually “gets it” for once. “You are right, teacher,” he said to Jesus. “Loving God with all my heart and loving my neighbor as my self is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices!” And he was right! Have you ever sat around Sabbath lunch and eaten an over-cooked casserole—burnt offering, so to speak? It isn’t very good. We spend so much of our religious life’s offering “burnt offerings” to God, and they aren’t very good. God cares much less about what we do, how we do it, and when we do it than he does about our hearts. He doesn’t want our burnt offerings, he wants our hearts. The Illinois Conference Pastor’s meeting was held this past week at It is wonderful that Sue and Akin could bring little Kolade to be dedicated today. We pray that God will bless the whole family, that they will feel his love and our support. Some interest has been shown for our
How many of you have ever walked by an apple tree and asked, “Why doesn’t this tree have any oranges on it?” This is a pretty dumb question. Apple trees don’t bear oranges! In Mark 11:12-14 Jesus comes across a fig tree that doesn’t have any figs on it. He curses it and later the disciples find it dead. The problem is that it didn’t produce fruit. Most of us interpret this in an evangelistical sense. Fruit must equal evangelism. But this isn’t accurate. If we really believe Paul when he talks about different gifts, then not everyone will be an evangelist. This is a liberating and a challenging realization. I don’t have to worry about bearing fruit that I’m not meant to bear. But I must bear fruit! What is your fruit? Do you know? Don’t punish yourself if you are a pear tree that doesn’t produce apples… or a guava tree that doesn’t produce bananas. Ask God to help you identify what your fruit is and put your energy into what you are made to do. Two weeks from now we will host a Back-to-School Celebration. I hope you are gearing up for it. Please invite your friends and neighbors: Anyone with students in the family—young or old. God loves learners and wants to bless them! Sunday through Wednesday this coming week I will be attending Pastor’s meetings at Camp Akita. Please pray for all the pastors in the conference as we come together to share, recharge, and make plans for the coming year. Home | About Us | Calendar | The Pastor's Blog | Prayer | Podcasts | Schools | Ministries | News | Media | Bookstore | Picture Gallery | Building Project | Contact Us |
 |
 |
 |
 |