We resumed our midweek worship services last night – with a few changes. The obvious change is that we moved from Wednesdays to Tuesdays. I am excited about this change. I have a somewhat wider speaking ministry beyond my local church. And it causes me to miss our midweek service at times. However, with our meetings being on Tuesdays now, I am able to avoid scheduling conflicts better. This pleases me to no end. I richly enjoy these midweek worship services and I hate it when I miss them.
Likewise, on last night I shifted to more of a teaching format, which I intend to use for the most part on Tuesdays. I prepared printed outlines for the congregation to use during the message. And I intend to make that a regular practice on Tuesdays. And I will not be writing out full manuscripts of Bible expositions for midweek anymore. As much as I enjoyed doing Psalm 119 last year, it was brutal doing two full expositions each week. The format I plan to use on Tuesdays will allow me to adopt a different and less grueling study schedule and preparation process. This, too, pleases me to no end.
Other than that, I think most everything else stays the same in our midweek services.
Last night, I began a new series that I am calling "Saved for Sure." Over the next weeks, I want to discuss the seven spiritual qualities listed in 2 Peter 1:5-7 that supplement faith and lead to spiritual assurance, growth, and stability. Last night was the introduction, of sorts, in which I gave an overview, of sorts, of 2 Peter 1:3-11. I wanted the congregation to get a sense of the passage as a whole before we narrowed our focus to the individual qualities listed in verse 5-7. It was a good start to the series, I believe. Pray for the Lord's blessings on this study and that our lives will be changed as we learn what it means to live to the full and practice godliness in Christ.
