From the Pastor's Desk

A Summer of Contentment and Consecration

Summer is not typically a time when churches or any organization for that matter focus on commitment and consecration. Summer is generally a time for taking a break from the normal routine. Kids are out of school, vacations are enjoyed, special camps and events are attended and people try and get away from it all.

In the church setting, many times, we cancel services and special programs and you dare not start anything extra during this time.

I will readily admit that the psychology is right and fall and the first of the year are the correct times to ask for commitments, start new programs and make special pushes. But, what I am challenging you to do is not start something new, not undertake a new program or make a new commitment, rather I am asking you to examine the commitments you have made previously and return to those thing you have allowed to slip and allowed to become less important and the business of life has squeezed them out.

I have personally been feeling for a while a drawing away from my normal routines for a special period of commitment to God as it pertains to my personal relationship with Him. After a couple of confirmations that this is the right time, I want to challenge you as individuals to consider you own personal relationship with God. My time of devotion and consecration will be extremely personal as should yours.

This year I want to challenge you – As you take a break in your mind and in your routines from other things... take time to examine your individual and family relationships with God. With our mouths we will quickly confess that our relationship with God is the most important relationship that we have, but for all of us, myself included, it is the one that is neglected the most when life gets busy. So take some of your down time and reflect, meditate and consider the level of your personal commitment to God.

The path you choose will be your own, but I do want to issue a corporate challenge to our Church leaders and Church family to open your heart to God as to how you will walk out this challenge. It could be reflected in special times of prayer... fasting...readings, study and devotions. However it is walked out please give real consideration to this challenge. I believe that this special time of dedication will produce commitment and consecration that ultimately will impact the daily routines of your life and should definitely include a recommitment to corporate worship and an examination of its importance in your life.

So join me and others at TCAC as we make this the most beneficial summer of our lives in regards to our personal relationship with God.

Deuteronomy 6:1–12 (NLT)

“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, ² and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. ³ Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶ And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷ Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. ⁸ Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ¹⁰ “The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. ¹¹ The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, ¹² be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.

Blessings,

David