Announcements
CONGRATULATIONS: to Ed & Mary Dannettel on the birth of their granddaughter, Anna Mae Harper, on Saturday, June 8, weighing 8lbs and 21.5 inches long.
The proud parents are Christian & Jennifer Harper.
VBS AND TEEN REVIVAL - Mark your calendar, both take place July 14 through July 18.
Please sign up to volunteer at the Welcome Desk. Registering for VBS can also be done at the Welcome Desk or through the Church website.
MANDATORY VBS TRAINING - All volunteers and bus workers must attend this training, which will take place on Sunday, July 7, at 5:00 p.m., in Baker Auditorium.
Please see Pastor Josh Belcher or Jennifer Brown if you have any questions.
COOKIE DONATIONS NEEDED - We are in need of cookies (no nuts) for VBS. Please sign up at the Welcome Desk.
Cookies need to be dropped off in the Church Kitchen by Sunday, July 14.
BUS MINISTRY - It’s more than just a ride to church. Come be part of one of the best evangelistic tools in the history of the local church!
Contact Pastor Josh Belcher to find out where you can serve.
From My Heart
I want to thank the ABC Class for the wonderful job they did with our Ice Cream Fellowship last Sunday. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, and the Ice Cream from Hoffman’s is always a great treat. Thank you to the servers, the ones who set up the tables, and those who took everything down and cleaned up! It was a great evening.
The Lord said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32). There are two natural questions which come to everyone’s mind when they hear this verse. First, what is truth? The second, “Once we know the truth, it will make us free to do what?” Let’s begin with the first question.
“What is truth?” Well, don’t forget the Lord Jesus said in John 14:6, “…I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Jesus Christ is the truth. He is not a truth, as if to say He is one among a many truths - but He is the Truth. Back in the first chapter of this great Book, in 1:17, John said, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Truth is the body of real things; it is the entire body of facts which make it true and therefore, irrefutable. Truth is the body of true statements and propositions. Since the Lord Jesus is Truth, when we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we know truth!
And the second question v. 32 stirs in our minds is, “If knowing Truth makes us free, what are we free to do?” Truth makes us free to do what? Well, Truth makes us free to live for the Lord. You see, before we knew Truth, (or before we knew the Lord Jesus Christ) we did not live for the Lord Jesus. We could not know the Truth of God, and the entire realm of Christianity was foolishness to us.
In I Cor. 2:12-15, the Apostle Paul deals with this Bible Truth and says in v. 14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” An unsaved person cannot receive the Truth because they do not have the Holy Spirit of God in them to give them understanding.
This is why you will see folks come to church and then hear me preach some “Truth” from the Bible, and they get up and leave! Oh, you loved that “Truth” you just heard from the Word of God, but an unsaved person does not receive it! And the reason they don’t is because they are spiritually discerned. They simply cannot receive “TRUTH!” Ironically, they will readily believe a “lie,” but will not receive the Truth.
It is good to know, that now that you are saved, the Truth makes you free from the bondage of sin, and you CAN live for the Lord Jesus. It is good to be free!
