The Abandoned Life - Fixing our Focus

Starting this week, I will try to post a weekly devotional that will incorporate our Life School lesson. I hope that it will encourage you in the faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Living a life that is recklessly abandoned to God requires us to fix our focus - not on problems or people, but on one person - Jesus Christ. If we use the analogy that was given to us in Hebrews,our life is a race. What kind of race is it? Certainly not a 100 meter dash, no, it is a cross country trek. It is a race to be run with patience, perseverance, and endurance. We often find ourselves hurrying through life and wonder where the time went. No doubt, you have many demands on your time, but remember what Jesus told Martha, "only one thing is needed." If we fix our focus on Him, then all the other things that try to distract us will not seem quite so important and demanding. As we run this race, we must view our family, our friends, our jobs, our churches, everything through the eyes of Jesus. Can you think of a more focusd person? From his birth to his death, he remained single-minded. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame. What was the joy set before him? YOU WERE! He wanted free, uninterrupted, unbroken fellowship with you and he knew his death & resurrection was the only way to secure it. That's focus! Nothing mattered more than obeying the will of his father. As we begin to live our lives in the same way with single-minded determination to obey the will of our Heavenly Father, we will be free to give our lives over in complete surrender to him. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can live a life of reckless abandon - a life that can say with the apostle Paul , "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:8. Amen!

New Addition to our Site

We have added a Dates to Remember section on the right side of our blog. We hope that it will help keep you informed about upcoming events, so that you can plan accordingly. As always, if you have any questions, please contact Stacy at 770-867-8888 or churchwinder@windstream.net.

Life School Update

We will be finishing up Kay Arthur's Teach me to Pray this Sunday. It has been an awesome study! Over the next few weeks, we will be learning about The Abandoned Life. No workbooks, no videos. We will have some guest speakers and we will also take time to wrap gifts for our Yargo friends, participate in the Happy Birthday Jesus! party, and share testimonies. On January 4th, we will start a new video-driven study called Can We Talk? by Priscilla Shirer. Join us on Sunday mornings at 9:30AM in the Fellowship Hall. Hope to see you there!

September's Ladies Night Out

Our September Ladies Night Out will be Tuesday, September 30. We will meet at the church at 6:30PM to go to the Savannah Room at the University of Georgia. All ladies are invited to attend.

Sunday Life School

Lord, Teach me to Pray started on August 31 and we are excited with our new setup, our new name (Life School), and our large attendance. If you have not joined us yet, we would love to have you. This Sunday, September 14, we will meet in the sanctuary at 9:30AM to hear from Murray Tilles, the director of Light of Messiah Ministries. We will meet back in the Fellowship Hall on September 21 at 9:30AM to continue our prayer series.

Record Attendance in Sunday School

We had a huge turnout for our Ladies Sunday School this past Sunday. What an awesome sight to see so many ladies show up to preview our fall Bible Study line-up. As one lady pointed out, having food didn't hurt our turn-out at all!! We are excited to be offering three different studies that will start this September. Our facilitators did a wonderful job of previewing our selections and now it's your turn to sign up. Sign-up sheets have been placed in the church foyer and will be available until the end of August. Our Sunday night study will be Elizabeth George's A Woman after God's Own Heart. It will meet from 6:00-8:00PM Sunday evenings starting September 21. Cindy Clark will serve as facilitator. On Monday nights starting September 8 we will have two studies running from 6:30-8:30PM. You can join either Staci Eldredge's Captivating or Beth Moore's Stepping Up. Cassandra King will facilitate the Captivating study and Gloria Stancil will facilitate Stepping Up. Call the church office at 770-867-8888 if you would like more information.

Dinner at Dominick's

Our Ladies Night Out for August will be Tuesday, August 26. Meet at the church at 6:30PM. We will enjoy dinner together at Dominick's in Lawrenceville.