July 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter

One of the great stories in the Bible is the story of Joseph and his family.  That story ends at the end of the book of Genesis when Joseph’s whole family moves down to live in Egypt.  Joseph had become a very important person in Egypt and his family were set up well for a good life in a good area of the country.  After many many years this family was blessed and multiplied into a large group of people.  In Exodus chapter 1 verse 8 we read perhaps the saddest verse in the whole Bible,  “Now a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph.”.  This is sad because the new king just saw Joseph’s family as a bunch of foreigners and felt threatened by them.  He turned them into slaves and made their lives miserable.

This leads to the story of Moses who was called by God to lead these people out of Egypt and into a new land that God was going to provide for them.  It is interesting to note that as Moses begins to dialogue with the King or Pharaoh as he was called, the request is always that the people be given permission to go out into the desert to worship God.  This is mentioned in Exodus 3:18, 4:23, 5:1, 5:3, 5:8, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, and 10:3.  We could say that the main reason God freed this people from slavery in Egypt was so that they could worship.  We could say that the main reason God gave this people their own land was so that they could worship.

We could say that the main reason God has saved us from slavery to sin and death and brought us to life is so that we can worship.  Think about this the next time you ask yourself, “Is worship very important?”,  “Does worship really matter?” or, “Should I go to church this week?”  Summer is perhaps the time when these questions come up more often.  We also remember on the 4th of July that deep in our national history is the fact that our country was founded to some extent so that people could worship.

I hope this month will bring many opportunities for fun summer activities with family and friends.

Pastor Eric