Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Reds, oranges, and yellows are appearing everywhere.  We did have a freeze last week, and now we are back into the 70’s.  Hopefully, that will make the colors last even longer.  One forecast I saw was that our colors should be at their peak next week.  Leslie’s sister and her husband are headed back up this week – will be fun showing off the colors to them.

Things are gearing up for our fall schedule…with one more week until everything gets started.  Everything has been moved to Monday night this year.  We are going to try having a kids’ choir…they will be practicing at 4PM.  Worship practice will move to Monday also and that will be at 6PM.  Then will be bible studies…Ladies study with Sharon and then a New Testament Survey class that will go through a different book of the New Testament each week.  Youth Group is going to be doing several things starting with Dare2Share and then looking at Genesis as History.  Please pray for wisdom as we seek God’s direction with these studies.

Leslie has a meeting with CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) today.  Please pray for wisdom as they go forward from here.  With the COVID restrictions it is difficult to know how best to share the gospel with the children in our area.  They were getting started with Good News clubs in several of the area schools, but that isn’t possible at this time.  Having them in homes is also difficult as background checks are now needed.

Sunday’s message looked at the end of chapter 2 in 2 Peter where we have seen a very clear, and often disturbing picture of false teachers.  Jesus warned us about them early on, in the Sermon on the Mount…most of the New Testament writers also warn about them.  Distortion and twisting of the message of the gospel has been a problem from the beginning.  False teachers promise freedom but cannot give true freedom without surrendering to Jesus, the Messiah.  He alone offers us forgiveness and freedom from the penalty of sin.  They are wolves in sheep’s clothing seeking to distort the truth and keep people from finding true hope in Jesus.  They are subtle in their disguises and can even sound like they know the gospel.  They haven’t gotten out of the mire of sin themselves and cannot help others without the truth of God’s word.

By God’s Amazing Grace,
Pastor Kevin Hausman