Letting Go of the Branch

and be part of a great afternoon of fellowship fun food and games this year's event will take place on Sunday September 16 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at a ring store party in Mountain View and if you're available to help out please come to our volunteer meeting on Sunday August 12 from 12 to 12:30 p.m. to sign up for any of the upcoming events and classes go to LC f net / signups or the ALC FM to stay connected with everything else EF check out the website app buy weekly emails newsletter social media and remember at al CF our goal is to make a difference in your life so you can make a difference in the lives of the people in your sphere of influence or as we like to say around here abundant life exists to make a better you for a better world good morning we run the gamut of of emotions when we think back over the last 7 days since we've gathered and so Lord God I I pray that you would meet each of us in this place we've spoken to you Lord God in worship now speak to us from your word it's humbling to think that I am the instrument that you would choose to do that today and God you know me all of my flaws and faults and cracks and yet you still choose to use me so I pray that that people don't leave here ultimately impressed with me but they would leave here stunned and amazed at you so as the old preachers used to say God hide me behind the cross and may people see Jesus as John says may I decrease than you would increase I pray for great fruit to come out of this save souls encourage people change us in Jesus name I pray amen and amen you may be seated if you've got your Bibles please meet me in Ruth chapter 3 if you're new with us today we've been in a series on the Book of Ruth it's going to be a four-week series because there's four chapters in the Book of Ruth so we're covering a chapter each week and Ruth chapter three is where we're going to be today anybody blessed any men blessed by the men's huddle yesterday absolutely incredible pastor Wayne gave an incredible word as we kicked off our fall men's huddle not too late for you to sign up I want to encourage you if you want to sign up our men's huddle is a time for us to just lock arms with other men and to just share what's going on in our lives and also to get some good teaching from the Word of God and we're going to go through a series that's going to start not this Saturday we're off this coming Saturday but the next Saturday I believe that September 8th we will be in week 2 of our men's huddle but that's the first week of the curriculum we're going through which is stepping up a Dennis Rainey my mentor has put together an incredible video teaching so one encourage you to be a part of that 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings also art of parenting please please please if you are if you have kids in your home and like me you feel like you can always do better our art of parenting class is coming up and then if you're saying I want to hear more about this church the vision values and story of this church then you want to be a part of our next gathering it's a lunch gathering on September 9th I'd love to meet you and share more with you about our church pick me up in verse one of Ruth chapter three speaking of Ruth ven Naomi her mother-in-law said to her my daughter should I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you is not Boaz our relative with who's young women you were see he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor wash their fort - these words wash therefore and anoint yourself and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking but when he lies down observed the place where he lies then go and uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do she replied all that you say I will do so she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her and when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry lord have mercy he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain tell your neighbor don't don't don't don't do that then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down at midnight the man was startled and turned over and behold a woman lay at his feet he said who are you she answered I am Ruth your servant spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer and he said may you be blessed by the Lord my daughter you have made this last kindness greater than the first and that you have not gone after young men whether poor or rich and now my daughter do not fear I will do for you all that you ask for all my fellow townsman know that you are a worthy woman and now it is true that I am a redeemer yet there is a redeemer nearer than I remain tonight and in the morning if he will redeem you good let him do it but if he is not willing to redeem you then as the Lord lives I will redeem you lie down until the morning so she lay at his feet until the morning but arose before one could recognize another and he said let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor and he said bring the garment you were wearing and hold it out so he held it out pay attention and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her then she went into the city when she came home to her mother laws she said girl how did it go then she told her all that the man had done for her saying these six measures of Varla he gave to me for he said to me you must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law she replied wait my daughter until you learn how the matter turns out for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today amen sorry soul of a guy who was hiking through woods one day and on this hike he finally came to the edge of a cliff he was looking out over the edge of the cliff and was stunned by the beauty of the valley below he was soaking it all in utterly amazed when all of a sudden would you know it tragically the ground gave way underneath him and he began to fall over the precipice of this cliff and was barreling towards a certain death the last minute he reached out and grabbed a hold of a branch and that branch was holding him up and here he is holding on to this branch and looking down several hundred feet where if something didn't happen quick he was sure to die he's exhausted he's in a perilous situation the only thing he could think to do was to lift up his voice to the heavens and says is anybody out there would you know what a voice from the heavens came responding yes can you help me voice from the heavens came back yes but do you really believe I can help you man holding onto the branch says yes I believe you can help me the voice from the heavens came shouting back to the man holding on to the branch do you believe that I have the requisite resources you need to help you the man responded yes I believe now please help me the voice from the heavens came responding back do you believe that that I love enough to help you frustrate it the man says absolutely yes now please help me the voice from the heavens came shouting back do you trust me man hold on to the branch says absolutely now please help me to which the voice from the heavens responded let go of the branch man thought about it and he said is anybody else out there all of us have been there haven't we we've all been there there's been times in our lives in which we just we just know that God's been calling us to to take huge steps of faith to to trust him into and to and to just step out there and to let go of our proverbial branches you walk with God long enough you live in this life long enough and there will be times in which God will say to you stop playing it safe stop holding on to that in which brings you comfort in safety and security do you walk with Jesus long enough and he will interrupt your paradigms and will call you in some way shape or form to let go of life's proverbial branches so you see what I'm getting at today is a simple word called faith faith to the believer is not some course we ought it see III in some seminaries and and in every class I get I get some auditors you know what it's like the audit the class basically the art of the class you're saying give me the information but I don't want to be held responsible or accountable to anything else I just want the information tragically too many Christians are auditing Jesus I just want the information but I don't want to be held accountable I don't want to be all it and what you need to understand is that God doesn't call you to audit it he calls us to be all in and a part of what that means is you need to understand that core curriculum to the Christian life is faith when you look with me at Hebrews chapter 11 the writer of Hebrews and in talking about the core curriculum of the Christian life which is faith letting go of life's proverbial branches he says and without faith it is impossible to please him speaking of God for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him so whenever Brian decides I'm gonna hold on to my branches I'm gonna hold on to what brings me safety I'm gonna hold on to what brings me security I'm gonna hold on to the false gods of this life that bring me identity God says you're not pleasing me right now God says for anybody who is playing it safe you're not pleasing me you want to please me let go walk by faith live by faith see this is drastically important because when we come to Ruth chapter three as you're just taking notes if you're taking it digitally just I just want you write down the word faith or if you're old-school like me and you're flipping pages just write somewhere in the margins of your Bible right by Ruth chapter three a simple word that describes our whole story it is the word faith here's Naomi in a very real way she says to Ruth our situation is perilous remember these are two immigrant widows who who have gotten back actually Ruth is the only immigrant not Naomi is returning home and and and they both had husbands who have died their situation is perilous that they don't have any any children or any male heirs they were helpless and vulnerable and finally Ruth chapter 3 which is nearing the climax of the Book of Ruth Naomi says look Boaz is our kinsman redeemer if we have any shot at greatness we're gonna have to make a decision to let go of the branch so here's what I want you to do I want you to wash anoint on your cloak here's what you need to understand put on your wedding dress she's literally telling Ruth put on your wedding dress hear it now at night climb into the bed with a man that you're not married to and propose marriage to him now I'm gonna fix that up in just a few minutes because we don't look at Ruth 3 as a handbook for how to get a man all right so just some of y'all was already Vera Wang you gonna call her up get your wedding dress no no no no you're the broader principle Naomi's telling Ruth if we have any shot at having a legacy we gotta let go of some branches and we got to take a huge step of faith here you got a choice today your choice if you want greatness you're gonna have to choose between safety or faith you're gonna make a choice some of you all are sitting here and God has just just birthed some dreams in you and you've been talking about it and thinking about it and and processing it and praying it and analyze it and research it and googling and all this other stuff in this dream you've been sitting on for 5 7 10 years or more and the only reason why you haven't gotten to it is because you don't trust God enough to let go the branch some of you are here today and you've just been living in disobedience God is as clear as clear could be God does not have a speech impediment he's been talking to you he's been telling you you need to you need to change the career yet you need to go back to school yeah you'd maybe even need to quit your job and maybe some of you go into full-time vocational ministry and and you're kind of asking well how's this gonna work and and the finances and the money and God say do you trust me see faith is the gap between God's call in my capacity faith is the gap between God's call and my capacity here's a way to discern the call of God in your life if you can do it without God it ain't from God God will always call you to do things that are beyond your ability to do him so that you can have to trust him in the process and so the real estate between God's call and my capacity is called faith there is no greatness in life without letting go of the branch so what's your legacy gonna be safety or greatness you can say in the presence of the Lord saying I paid off my house in 15 years and God's gonna say cool but I actually called you to do some other stuff our text is all about faith I want to take a deep dive into faith today and I want to excavate through this story three fundamental principles that will show you what it means to walk by faith whenever we talk about faith it is a three-legged stool and these three pillars are are fundamental to what faith looks like the first thing I want to show you about faith is that whenever we talk about faith there is always an object of faith there is someone we are putting our trust in here in our text verses 1 through 5 here is Naomi she she is telling Ruth to do some crazy things let me just stop right here and let me just make a disclaimer naomi is pretty much saying Ruth Ruth I want you to put on this wedding garment I want you to go down under the cover of night again let me just just just share it with you our text Ruth chapter three is one of the most debated passage is one most problematic passages in all of the Bible it is a very sexually charged passage there's just no other way to say it put on a wedding dress go down to the threshing floor under the cover of night get into the bed with a person you're not married to and propose marriage now I'm gonna go out limb and suggest that if we've got daughters we would not recommend this to them and how to get a man and yet she does it but at the same time she's called a worthy woman here she is she's being a little aggressive little forward and yet she's called a worthy woman let's not let Boaz off the hook in chapter 2 verse 1 boys it's called a worthy man same word as Ruth that's what worthy means full of substance full of character and yet when we get to our text the text says that he's Mary with wine let me break this down for you the Hebrew at best he's tipsy if not flat-out drunk here's this individual known as a man of character but he's tipsy on alcohol what do we do with this listen I think it's an important point that Ruth chapter 3 shows us by implication and that is and I need you understand this and this is one of most encouraging things to me about the Bible the Bible is infallible it's characters are not so we worship God who's perfect but the characters who follow God in the scripture are not and I love it that the authors of Scripture do not try to sanitize the characters so I should what you understand we look at this text and we see two very complicated people who are both called worthy individuals full of character but they're doing things in it at best is questionable and maybe not filled with integrity this encourages me I look at David here's a man who writes two Psalms and commits adultery take his son Solomon here's a man who's called the wisest individual to have ever walked the face of the earth but he does absolutely dumb things when it comes to women here's Peter he preaches on the day of Pentecost 3,000 people get saved but right before that he had denied our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ if you were to put a facebook status on the biblical characters character it would simply read it's complicated and guess what that's not just true of them it's true of us we are all an amalgamation of genius and idiocy we all make great decisions and dumb decisions we all do wonderful things and horrible things in fact that same Facebook status is true of us as well it's complicated would you just turn to your neighbor in a Pentecostal moment and say I'm complicated I'm complicated I'm complicated I'm complicated now let me just let me just show you how that relates to me when you come up in here if you follow me long enough you're gonna see that I just do dumb stuff sometimes and you'll just have to pray like the old Saints for helping lord help him lord help him Lord but this is very important you better not put your trust and worship in me I will not I might i will disappoint you so when you come in here you better come in here wanted you know I've come to see Jesus I haven't come to see a human being I haven't come to see a person I've come to see gee and so don't get disappointed when I'm not preaching one Sunday as if I'm the only person who can give a word you just need the comments that I'm just here to get a word no matter who it may be because I'm a flawed cracked vessel god forbid if something were to happen to me and and I were to go down and disgrace and I got to leave your mentality abundant life should be next person up who's the next person God's called here because we don't worship vessels so here's Naomi she says something crazy - Ruth put on your wedding garment propose marriage and Ruth does it in fact verse 5 tells us an astounding thing that she says and she replied all that you say I will do we talked about faith it's a three-legged stool the first thing that we need to talk about it understand when it comes to faith is that faith always has an object there's always an object of faith the fact the difference between faith and foolishness is what you're putting your faith in if your faith is in yourself that's foolishness but if it's in an eternal timeless god that's righteousness so here's Naomi and why does Ruth do it because Ruth and Naomi have been doing life together for years naomi has built up a track record of trustworthiness and Ruth's life this was just somebody off the street who would say this Ruth would go you're crazy I'm not doing that but she does it because she knows Naomi she trusts Naomi it was that trust that made all the difference faith begins with the object of faith and it asks the question is this person trustworthy when my kids were little I did something crazy I took them to the community pool without Corrie so I was there with my three boys by myself they're real little my oldest - Quintin miles at that time could swim Jade and my youngest couldn't but Jaden would love jumping off the diving board in the way he would do it he'd put his little floaties on he'd jump off the diving board and it would he'd go straight to the bottom but because he had the floaties on he'd pop back up and you just see his head you know just peering over the the the pull there and he just loved it well one time there's one time I met the pool with my three kids the little bit ease and I'm talking to somebody and all I hear is Jaden saying I'm going in dad and I see this blur go past me he gets on the diving board and just the last minute it hits me this Joker's jumping in with no floaties on then my next thought was how am I going to explain to my wife when I come home with two kids and not three kids Jaden jumps in goes right to the bottom I go down after him I get him pull him out he's laughing and coughing I said Jaden what'd you do that that was dumb this is dad I told you I was going in I knew you'd get me where did his confidence come from he didn't say that to a stranger he said that to his father someone he had walked with and done life with someone he trusted and when that trust was built up in the object of his faith he could take daring risks because he knew that the one he said I'm going in would come in to get him don't you understand God's resume if you read the Bible don't you understand who you're talking to I mean you're worried about can God put food on my table when he fed the nation of Israel a million people every day manna from heaven and you're worried about if he's gonna provide for you you know you're talking to a God who opened up the Red Sea and his people walked through on dry ground you know you're talking to a God who close the mouths of lions you know you're talking to you're talking to a God who raised a dead Jesus I think he can handle your tuition I think he can handle your career change will you let go of the branch I'm telling you I haven't seen my own life I even seen my own life so I I don't even need to read the Bible to know I can trust God I've just seen a track record of God's faithfulness in my own life see see see I grew up in church where we used to have something called testimony services anybody ever grew up in a church we had testimony services now sometimes the Saints we get out of control and they'd say stuff that you know the Spirit didn't tell you to say that but testimony services were so good because the old mothers of our church they'd get to testifying about how they had to trust God for a bus pass and how they had to trust God for this and that and there was something in your spirit that fundamentally said if God could do it for them he could do it for me as well so I can testify real quick I remember planting a church Memphis Tennessee 26 people in a living room having a meeting with my co-founders and we're sitting there 26 people in a living room but but but we're talking about our finances and they're saying we're not gonna be able to make payroll this week and I'm going okay if I got to get a you know part-time gig at Chili's whatever I took vows to my wife that I take care of her we'll figure this out and then I just felt like the spirit just saying don't you trust me won't you pray about this we just pause and we prayed we called him Jehovah Jireh it's a God what would you provide two days later go to my mailbox and this guy had heard me preach back in California he said your message really moved me I just felt led to give you the first of three gifts $25,000 now you can't tell me that was coincidence you you can't tell me nothing different than God writing a story of faithfulness in my life abundant life you you Al CFO geez you should know this better than me there's no reason this church should still be here from thousands of people to a few hundred everybody was doing our eulogy but they didn't realize if God before us who could be against us we're here today not because of the pastor we're here today not because the leadership we are here today because God actually said you want to doubt me I have taken care of millions of people throughout church history I can take care of this body and it ain't dead until I say it's there so last year we finished in the black for the first time in years it's the faithfulness of God that's why you need to keep some kind of a record of God's faithfulness in your life because when you feel as if God is now calling you to take another daring risk for him you need to be able to read stories of God's faithfulness not just in Daniels life not just in Mary's life not just in Moses his life but stories of his faithfulness in your life so you say if he can do it back then he can do it now let go of the branch but secondly not only is there the object of faith but secondly there's risk faith presupposes risk and that's our problem in it as Americans many of us even structure our finances and our families to avoid as much risk as possible we save money we get the insurance policies and here me is their good stewardship in that absolutely but faith does not exist without risk faith presupposes risk it's risk to let go it's risk to say god I've never seen you but I'm gonna trust you there's a risk involved this is exactly the point here isn't he'll me again she's saying put on a wedding dress go under the cover of night lay on this bed proposed marriage the ancient reader would have gone crazy crazy crazy and I think that's the point of it doesn't have a little bit of crazy to it if it doesn't have a little bit of girl are you sure to it it ain't faith where there is no risk there is no faith some of you are waiting for a 100% foolproof plan that ain't never gonna happen it's not gonna happen you're gonna have to step out let go of the branch and trust him if you read if you read Hebrews 11 if you're new to the Bible they called it the Great Hall of faith passage it is stories of great heroes of faith and in every story there's an element of risk God comes to know and says no I'm gonna flood the earth Noah didn't know what a flood was Noah I want you to build an ark he didn't know what an ark was and for hundreds of years Noah builds this Ark can you imagine Noah's driveway building this Ark and his neighbors like what in the world's going on what are you doing building Ark well why are you building the art well the Earth's gonna get flooded well how do you know that Earth's gonna get flooded God told me risk God comes to Moses Moses I actually need you to confront the most powerful man in the world Pharaoh and if you confront Pharaoh Moses knew that could cost him his life but Moses says I'm all in risk you take three Hebrew boys Nebuchadnezzar he constructs this image and he says I want you to bow to this image three Hebrew boys says no Wayne bound to no image we worship God Nebuchadnezzar then says I'm gonna give you another chance come into my office and if you don't do it I'm gonna throw you into the fire and then he says words that would seal his fate and what God is there that could deliver you from my hands I think I think God says hold on Gabriel hold on Michael I'm gonna come down take care of this one myself because it put god's name on the line and these three Hebrew boys says we need not fear you you could throw us in the furnace our God is able but even if he doesn't deliver we will not bow risk or take Mary take Mary the angel shows up and says Mary I want you to get pregnant out of wedlock well who's my baby's daddy the Holy Spirit in that day and age for a woman to be found pregnant in Jewish culture with no husband meant stoning to death here's Mary between the ages of 12 to 14 she says I'm all-in if this is from God I trust you risk risk risk or take Martin Luther father the Protestant Reformation he stands up to the Catholic Church stands up to the Pope points out their fallacies through the nailing of 95 theses on the door of the church the Catholic Church doesn't take this laying down his life is hanging in the balance look at what Martin Luther says i daily expect the condemnation from the city of rome therefore I'm setting things in order and arranging everything so that if it comes I am prepared and gird it to go as Abraham not knowing where yet most sure of my way because God is everywhere but I will of course leave a farewell letter see to it that you have the courage to read the letter of a man who is condemned and excommunicated farewell for now and pray for me here's a man who's saying I'm letting go of the branch I don't even fear my life God's got me covered I told you some some months ago I hate roller coasters and in the sovereignty of God he blessed me with a wife who loves roller coasters which means Amen which means I'm the dude holding his wife's purse while she's on the roller coaster I hate amusement parks now if you were to if you were to interview Cory and I after day at an amusement park and you were to ask what was our experience like you would get two polarizing responses me I'd be a debbie downer wasted the Lord's money holding my wife's purse all day long my wife would say best thing that ever happened this amusement park is going to be in the new heavens and the new earth absolutely loved it had the time of my life let's do it again see what am I saying here there's a direct correlation between our level of joy and satisfaction and our risk because my wife took risks and got on roller coasters she maximized her time at the amusement park but because I played it safe there was no joy in that I promise you when you're checking out of this life and you're flatlining you're not going to say should have saved more money you're not going to say shouldn't have been as bold for Christ you're not going to say should have bought the bigger house should have bought that kind of car but I promise you if you have any regrets you're going to be should have been more bold should have been more generous should have gone for it should have gone after it should have let gone of the branches there is no faith without risk thirdly and finally in order to be faith is gonna be an object of faith to the believer our object of faith is God we can trust him secondly faith doesn't exist without risk but thirdly there must be obedience so we don't have faith yet just because you've got a great object God and just because there exists risks wonderful but that's not what actualizes faith what actually actualizes faith is I'm doing something I'm being obedient I'm stepping out there you know we get on Peter all the time in Matthew chapter 14 he steps out of the boat and he starts to sink in the water Jesus says come to me he takes a few steps on the water he starts to sink we get on Peter all the time and I'm sure Peters in heaven life and heavens like why aren't you getting on the eleven guys who stayed in the boat at least I got out of it see I think what God is saying to us how am I gonna keep praying about this how long you gonna keep spreadsheet in this how long you don't keep processing this after these crazy instructions Ruth says all that you said to me I will do story sold it's a true story of a world famous tightrope artist who stretched out a tightrope from one side of Niagara Falls to the other stood on that tightrope and said to the large crowd below him who here believes I can walk from one side of Niagara Falls to the other on this tightrope without falling off the crowd responded we believe we believe you then grab the wheel barrel he says who here believes that I can wheel this wheel barrel on this tightrope from one side of Niagara Falls to the other without falling off the crowd responded we believe we believe he then said who here believes that I can put a person inside this wheel barrel willed them from one side of Niagara Falls to the other without falling off crowd says we believe we believe he then says who's getting in silence see I think that's most Christians we read our Bibles and we read of the faith of Moses they say we believe we believe we read of David we believe we believe we read of Ruth we believe we believe we read of Mary we believe we believe in now God says your turn yeah I'm not just on the History Channel I'm not dead I'm trying to do something new and I want you in the Hall of faith you when are you going to trust me enough to let go hop in the wheel barrel score macking the team comes here's Boaz and he's postured in our narrative as the kinsman redeemer he's the one who can change Ruth and Naomi 's life in other words and we'll see this next week Boaz is a type of Christ love it our story ends watch it Naomi comes to Boaz and at the very end Boaz gives her six measures of wheat if you notice every time Ruth comes to Boaz she always comes to him empty but leaves full and satisfied Boaz who's the type of Christ always leaves Ruth full and satisfied some of you are here today and you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior and you're trying to find satisfaction in this life outside of your Redeemer Christ can I save you some frustration that ain't gonna happen you might have moments of euphoria you might enjoy moments of fleeting happiness long-term satisfaction you won't find it in fact if you're here today and you don't know Christ I'm gonna go out on a limb maybe you even came to church because you looked at your life and all that you had and you concluded something still missing [Music] Christ is here today and he wants to give you six measures he wants to satisfy you in ways that the world can never ever satisfy money can't do it relationships can't do it letters behind your name can't do it where you work you can't do it only Christ can just a few moments I want to make a call for someone to come to know Christ as Lord and Savior and I believe you're gonna come today you're gonna give your life to Him but I also want to speak to Christians there's there's someone here today and this this this was a right now word for you and in a words you got to put on layaway it is a word that confirms things that you've been sensing in your spirit and here's what you've been sensing I've been playing my life safe and I know there's an area or I know there's areas where God is calling me to let go the pasture I've been so fearful I just haven't done that maybe today you want to come forward to have someone pray for you that God would give you the courage to trust him for there is no greatness when we hold on to our branches so father got in the name of Jesus as we prepare to leave I pray right now that no one would leave here without saying yes to you no one would leave here Lord God without without coming to you our redeemer and receiving the fullness the satisfaction that you offer it is a satisfaction in fullness that goes beyond money in in letters behind our name and any of the other trinkets that this world offers it is a satisfaction that reaches down into my soul so father would you save someone today but secondly for those believers who are here and they know they know that there's always been like this burning sensation in their spirit as this word has gone forth they know you're calling them to let go of a branch or some branches in their life and there's fear Lord God will we know that you haven't given spirit of fear so I pray Lord God that they would come and that they would find this strength and courage and sustenance they need to let go of their branch do it father God we pray in the name of Jesus amen here's what's going on at abundant life may in August is our next men's huddle where we'll unpack what it means to be a godly courageous man in today's world through engaging stories expert teaching unscripted interviews and personal insights this study calls every man to become bold leaders in their own lives marriages churches and communities plan to join the men of a LCF community with this exciting series on Saturdays August 25th through November 10 and the cost is 25 dollars in September we've got some exciting events planned starting with an evening with Tim Keller hosted by transforming the bay with Christ pastor Tim a pastor and New York Times bestselling author speaks about the church as an unstoppable force and shares his views on what a radical Christian community looks like join us on Thursday September 6th from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the ALCS sanctuary for this unique event tickets are $20 on September 23rd we launched two classes Jesus among secular God's and the art of parenting living in the Bay Area's high tech center of the world we are often confronted with questions about science versus religion in Jesus among secular gods Valerie Saunders our director of evangelism uses a video chat workshop format to help us prepare to challenge the isms of modern belief including world and views and present compelling evidence for revealed absolute truth as found in in Jesus this six week class helps seekers to explore claims of Christ and will provide Christians with knowledge to articulate why they believe Jesus stands tall of all all other gods the cost is $25 includes child care with pre-registration also on September 23rd the art of parenting developed by Family Life today helps parents feel confident in building a foundation for their children in four key areas identity character relationships and mission this eight-week DVD small group curriculum based on Psalm 127 4 features insights and decades of expertise that Dennis and Barbara Rainey gleaned from ministry and raising six children facilitated by Zeke and Marie Harvey who will explore the following topics the goal of parenting forming character applying discipline building relationships understanding identity nurturing identity preparing for mission and the power of family the cost is $40 per couple which includes childcare with free registration space is limited to 24 couples are you new to abundant life are you interested in learning more about our story dreams and values and a welcoming environment with no pressure to join if so our guest orientation lunch is just the place for you find out what we're all about on Sunday September 9th from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. in the chapel and speaking of values going is one of a LCF supporters as born-again believers God commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:19 in order to prepare you to go we invite you to participate in one of four trains being offered each Sunday in August from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. another great opportunity to go and bring the hope of Jesus to people in need is the Johnny and Friends Bay Area Walk Android on September 15 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto join us for this one-of-a-kind fundraising event all of the money raised will bring Christ centered encouragement and practical support to special need families in the community you can sign up from August 17th through September 15 at Johnny and France org slash Bay Area now are you ready for some fun what about ALCS annual church picnic make plans to join the a LCF community for our most popular event of the year and be part of a great afternoon of fellowship fun food and games this year's event will take place on Sunday September 16th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at rings to a park in Mountain View and if you're available to help out please come to our volunteer meeting on Sunday August 12 from 12 to 12:30 p.m. to sign up for any of the upcoming events and classes go to ALCS net slash signups or the AOC FM to stay connected with everything a LCF check out the website app by weekly emails newsletter social media and remember at a LCF our goal is to make a difference in your life so you can make a difference in the lives of the people in your sphere of influence or as we like to say around here abundant life exists to make a better you for a better world [Music] [Music] I'm just thinking about

Channel: Abundant Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 1,707

Rating: 4.6363635 out of 5

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Id: aG2z4e3PNC0

Length: 54min 49sec (3289 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 26 2018