The Blessing of Less

38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word.

40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself? Then tell her to help me.”

41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;

42 but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
- Luke 10:38-42 (NASB)

“(1) Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to (2) God becoming more marginalized in Christians’ lives, which leads to (3) a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to (4) Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to (5) more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload.”
– Michael Zigarelli, Charleston Southern University

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.
- Matthew 6:33 (NASB)

‍

Mixer

Did you watch any of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? What inspired you?

‘Neighborly’ - Daily Devotional

To get the Daily Devotionals delivered to you every morning, text ‘dailydevotional’ to 97000.

1. In Pastor Harry’s 8/3 entry, Messed Up, he reminds us that each one of us is the kind of person Jesus hung out with: messed up. Jesus invites us to stand before him just like we are - we don’t have to pretend to be someone else. Do you believe that? Does that bring you some relief? How have you moved from feeling lonely in the world to vibrantly alive in your relationship with Jesus? What do you do to spend time “being” with Him?
2. In Pastor Pam’s 8/5 entry, So Blessed, she reminded us of the power of life-giving words. She asked us to think about our life: “Who has spoken a blessing over you? How has it made an impact on you? Now ask God who YOU need to speak a word of blessing over. It may just change their life!” And Pastor Jared’s challenge on Sunday was to go out and be a blessing. What will you do?

Sermon Questions

On break for July & August! If your group still plans to meet, we still have church on Sundays to uncover the work God wants to do in us and through us! Here are some Inductive Bible Study tools from LOGOS.com to help you unpack Sunday’s message:

1. What impacted you most about Sunday’s message? Read the Scripture(s) used in the message.
2. Observation: What does the text say (who, what, when, where, how, why)? Also note uses of words like: therefore, after, now, but, if/then, etc. Notice repeating words or themes, lists of words and their order and definitions, etc. Use multiple Bible versions and compare.
3. Interpretation: What does the text mean? Look for what the writer is trying to communicate: cultural/historical context; about the author, about the person/people, about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit; what other Scripture that can interpret this text; what is the clearest meaning (being careful to not read into it what it doesn’t say, or what you want it to say)?
4. Application: What does the text mean to me? “We don’t study the Bible just to gain knowledge. We study to gain knowledge so we know how to live our lives in light of what we’ve learned.” (LOGOS.com) Together with your answer to Question #1, what do you hear God saying to you about you, Him, priorities and decisions, relationships, faith, conflict, spiritual warfare, difficulties, setbacks, and hope? What one action step will you take with this new knowledge?

Go Deeper - with Goodbook

Dr. Mark Strauss and Pastor Ken Ingold

REMINDER: Goodbook is now on summer break and will relaunch in September.

Serve

• There is always more room for smiling faces on Sunday mornings! Ushers/Greeters, Coffee Team, Communion Team - contact sal@thechurchrb.org
• You could become a memorable blessing in a child’s or student’s experience with Jesus! Vacation Bible School and MS/HS camps just happened! These experiences cannot happen without the dedication and enthusiasm of our volunteers! One VBS volunteer is a mom that has been serving at VBS for 17 years - her kids all went through it - but she comes back every year and her teen daughter comes too. What a dream team! Another volunteer attended a Table Group and heard about VBS and said “I want to do that!” - and came enthusiastically dressed up for all the Theme Days to rally her team’s spirit! Blessed to be a Blessing! (Last week’s Sunday message 8/1/21)
• If you are ready to work with the Spirit of God to be a blessing in our NextGen Ministries, come chat with us!
• CRB Kidz - contact Pastor heidi@thechurchrb.org
• Middle School - contact Director cristina@thechurchrb.org
• High School - contact Pastor caden@thechurchrb.org

Pray

Pray this week for students, their families, and teachers preparing to return to school! Pray for good health, smooth transitions, and for a school year full of unique opportunities for every student to succeed and find joy in learning!

‍