Q & A

Our summer message series - revelation - is now in progress! Last weeekend we overviewed chapters two and three which contain seven letters dictated by Jesus to John and written to real first century churches. We said that these letters can be explored on three different levels.

• On one level, we can explore what the letters meant to the real first century churches to which they were written.
  
• On another level, we can explore how these letters might apply to our church.
  
• On still another level, it has been suggested that these letters are something like time-lapse photography of Church history from New Testament times right up to the Second Coming of Christ.

A couple people who heard the message have asked me whether I think the letters were written to and relevant to the seven real first century churches. The answer is yes! Definitely! First and foremost! With each letter, I tried to develop that context before moving on to application, etc., but should have been more clear. Excellent question and I appreciate the opportunity to clear up any confusion.

In God We Trust – or do we? By DARREN BROCK

I volunteer at my oldest daughter's school every Monday.
I get to do a little grading, copy some needed permission slips.
I get to assist in answering questions, helping them write or do math.

This last Monday the teacher was covering the topic of wants and needs.
The object was to differentiate between the wants and needs of survival.
Let me just say, it’s an unfair lesson!
I discovered I not only need water to survive, but the more I justified it, I realized I also need my coffee and not just any coffee – Starbucks!. There’s no way I can survive without it! It’s part water! I realized that there are categories of survival. There’s no way to survive on plain food. My body needs spices and sauces! How could you survive on plain or worse, raw vegetables? Also, clothing isn’t just clothing. It’s Calvin Klein, Polo, Express, and Banana. All the others, don’t fit as well. Needed to survive? Yes! I can justify it. I had my list finished in record time.

We live in the richest country in the world and it shows, that’s why we have lists like this…yet we have this “poor me” mentality – or better put, “me poor!” mentality.

I don’t think we realize just how rich we truly are.
Because if we did, I think it would make all the difference in the world what we did with our income.

That’s what we’ll be talking about this weekend.

1st Wednesday

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer but we're getting an early start at Calvary Austin. Join us tonight for 1st Wednesday - our monthly interactive worship gathering where, among other things, we celebrate communion. Tonight guest artist Toby Walters will be performing and leading worship. Actress Mylinda Royer will give us insight into how we can pray for the entertainment industry. At prayer stations throughout the auditorium, we will have the opportunity to connect with God in prayer for government, media, education, church, and families. It all starts at 7 p.m. at our North Austin campus. See you there!