Dear Ren friends and family,
This week I'm not going to take the time to give you all the details of regular happenings. Hopefully by now you know that we meet Wednesday night at 7pm, Sunday at 10am and 5pm.
What is most on my heart is the spiritual health of the community. Ren is like a hospital in a way. Hospitals aim to get people better physically. The church aims to get people better spiritually. I suppose the comparison isn't perfect because the church not only aims to help people get better but it also aims to move them into the full expression of who they were created to be. I want you to know that this is our greatest passion at Ren. We want each of you to be free and to grow into a deep fruitful relationship with Christ.
When I hear of brothers and sisters in our community who, for whatever reason, are not doing well spiritually, it produces considerable anguish in me. It hurts my heart. I constantly pray for each of you that you'd be strong, rooted in God, firmly established and fully assured. That is my greatest concern.
I know sometimes it may seem like church is just a nice thing to do on a Sunday. Just a little inspiration to kick off the week. A place to see friends and sing a few songs. But there is much more to it. God Himself is present in our midst and the things spoken through the Word are from His heart to refresh, revive, correct and train us. As your pastor I am wrestling, studying and listening to His voice all week to essentially receive from the Lord what He wants you to have. Do you realize the significance of that? Not that I am important - I am just a messenger - but that God has chosen to build us up through the preached Word.
I was mentioning to someone recently that it's strange being a preacher in a time when people in the church have access to the podcasts of guys like Francis Chan, Andy Stanley, Jim Cymbala, John MacArthur, Tim Keller and Alistair Begg. They even have online sermons of great preachers who are dead! So why is another message needed each week at Ren by me? And I hardly compare to these podcast heroes of preaching (ha).
I just want to encourage us to not miss the significance of the local church and having a pastor who labors to hear from God. I may not compare in eloquence or scholarly depth to these podcast superstars, but what God gives me each week is especially prepared for you. It comes from God and is the only sermon with the tag "to Ren from the Father". I'm not suggesting that I always hear perfectly or that my message each week is what God is saying verbatim. Not at all. I'm just saying that I am giving everything I have every week to let God place into my heart what He is saying to this specific church called Ren.
I'm saying this because I feel sometimes like the message I am speaking each week is easy to take for granted. As I said, for some of you, it's the 20th sermon you've heard that week. But I think others see the message as a teaching from Scott rather than a word from God. If what I preach on Sunday is just my thoughts and opinions then, by all means, take them lightly and view them as mere suggestions. But if the message is from God's heart I beg you to receive it as such. In other words, don't just listen, do it.
I'm stirred about this Sunday as I'm already hearing so much from God's heart for you. I'm praying that the power of God would be upon us and that lives would be transformed. Pray with me this week that God would have His way fully!
–Pastor Scott A.