September 19--Swimming Party Reminder & Lesson Review

REMINDER:
I apologize for forgetting to mention the swimming party scheduled for next Sunday during our announcements this morning. Please mark your calendar and plan to join us at the Emerald Forest Swimming Pool and Clubhouse after church next Sunday, September 26, 2010. We have rented the pool and clubhouse until 2:30 p.m. We chose that weekend because there is no Aggie game next weekend. I hope you will bring the kids and join us for a few hours of fellowship and fun with the family and with our class. Please bring a picnic lunch for your family and a little extra to share in case there are folks there who did not bring food. Also, please bring a salad item or dessert item to share with everyone. We will provide ice, water, and tea. We will be able to put our food in the clubhouse. We shall look forward to seeing you and your family at the party.

Jimmy


FIVE THINGS GOD USES TO GROW YOUR FAITH
We began our study of the Andy Stanley series, "Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith" today. In our class discussion prior to the lesson, I found it interesting that class members identified many of the same concepts as those identified by Andy Stanley--those things God uses to grow BIG faith. We talked about people in the church who demonstrate big faith as being good examples, we talked about learning from God's Word and prayer, we talked about good and bad experiences in our lives that often grow big faith, and we talked about learning from our children and from other important people in our lives.

As we watched Andy Stanley, he described the following five things God uses to grow our faith:

1. Practical teaching from the Bible
2. Providential relationships
3. Private disciplines
4. Personal ministry
5. Pivotal circumstances

I hope you will consider these concepts this week and contemplate their role in growing your own faith. I suspect you will find that all of these things have been at play in your life. While we may use other terms to describe some of these concepts, most of us would agree that these are significant influences in the development of our personal faith. Next week, we will begin looking at each of the concepts above in detail. I look forward to seeing you in Sunday School next Sunday.