Today is a great day!  God IS God and He is in charge of our present and future.  In Jesus Christ, God has declared victory over sin and death and given us hope for eternity!  This week our focus is "How We Grow Together In the Face of Tragedy."  We've all been shocked and challenged by Alex Summers' death this past week.  Today, we focus on how God can use us to help each other grow to be more like Jesus, even in -- or especially in-- times of grief and loss.  The memory verse for this week is:  Encourage each other and build each other up.  1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) 

Encourage each other and build each other up.  I've experienced so much of that this past week!  People have encouraged me, prayed for me, and built me up with hugs, with affirmation, and with assurances that Jesus would get us through this.  And Jesus IS getting us through this!  I have never seen a community come together as it has this past week.  The challenge is for us to keep coming together this week and the next and the next, because as time passes the temptation will be to go back to life as "normal."  What if life as we experienced it this past week, with everyone encouraging each other and building each other up is normal?  According to Scripture it IS.  Tragedy can focus our attention like few other events in our lives, but that focus will be easily distracted.  God calls us to maintain our focus on Him, His Son, Jesus, and the power of His Spirit in our lives.  The devil will seek to get us back to our old ways as soon as possible.  He knows when we encourage and build one another up, he is truly history.  (He already is history, but we often give him more credit and influence in our lives than he deserves--which is none.)

I encourage you to join us in worship today at 8:45 or 10:15 a.m.  Come and encourage each other and build each other up.  Come and BE encouraged and built up!  Come and hear the Good News that Jesus is Lord of EVERY circumstance in our lives and that in Him we can grow even in the face of tragedy.  I pray that this time in our life together will truly be a pivot point for us, a time when we will look back and say, "In this terrible event God worked His infinite good among those who loved Him and were called according to His purpose." (See Romans 8:28).  It starts with deciding to grow together in the face of tragedy.

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for who You are and for always being with us, for never leaving us nor forsaking us.  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may encourage and build each other up today and every day.  This we ask in Jesus' name.  Amen.