Hey MABC family,

Couple of things to remind you about. One, don’t forget the missionary coming tomorrow evening to MABC. She will be speaking about 6:15 pm in the Fellowship Hall. It’s always great to hear from those we support through the ABC. Bible study this Wednesday is bumped up a little bit. Steve has moved praise team practice up 30 minutes to allow us to start earlier. We will show the video on campus at 7:00 and then at 7:15 we will start Facebook live for the discussion. I will be trying something a little different for this week’s lesson to see if we can make it more engaging. We will keep trying until we get it right. Email me if you need the link to the video source (PastorMABC@outlook.com). There is one more upcoming mission reporting session that I want to get the word out well enough in advance for you to get it on your calendar. On February 4 th , Gordon and Lee Ann Hwang, ABC Missionaries to India, will be sharing at Prairie Homestead Vespers. Time for that is 3:00 pm.

Today we tackled a tough topic – sin. More importantly, being aware of our own sin. Unless we fully recognize the gravity of sin it is hard to fully comprehend the magnitude of God’s grace.  German minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about cheap grace in his book The Cost of Discipleship.  “Cheap grace”; he said, is “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ”; When we fail to acknowledge the magnitude of sin, we cheapen the grace offered to us through Jesus Christ’s death. The Romans devised crucifixion to be painful and excruciating. It was to be an example of what happened when you crossed the Romans. Prior to being hung on a cross, Jesus was beaten so badly, disfigured beyond recognition (Isa. 52:14). Jesus endured great pain and anguish because of my sin, your sin and the sin of the world. Let’s never take that for granted. “Repent” John the Baptist exclaimed as he readied the world for the coming of his cousin, the Messiah, Jesus. What have you done that you need to repent of today?

Next week, we get a great look at what happens as we become active participants in revival, helping others to experience and awakening. One of two things will happen and we will follow the adventures of Paul and Silas as they set out in obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission.  What will it take for us to be active participants in the next Awakening? I will share one aspect with you right now because we have talked about it previously in our series. Paul and Silas were men of prayer. We must continue to be a people of prayer. We need to seek God’s will individually and corporately. I can tell you from my past work that we need to be in serious prayer about reaching out into our community. One of the major reasons churches plateau or decline in attendance is a lack of evangelism. We are looking at making a major push to connect with our community for Easter. Begin to pray for that outreach now even though Easter is slightly more than two months away. Pray that God would provide the laborers and that the hearts of the people we try to reach will be softened to hear our message.

Enjoy the warm up this week. For the “old ball coach” anything above freezing is shorts weather!
Pastor Rick