GBC Community Update: Spiritual practices to help us draw closer to God

​Good morning. Fall is here (though the temperatures are more like July!). Are you ready for all that God has in store?  There will be lots of opportunities to serve and be ministered too coming up. Consider how the Lord may have you grow or help others to grow this fall.
 
Youth Group starts next Wednesday
Our “Alive” Youth Group Wednesday night gathering starts up next week, the 13th.  The evening consists of a relevant Bible study time, games, snack and time to hang out and build community. This is for both junior high and senior high students who are either part of GBC or not.  We gather at 6:30pm, the formal program ends at 8pm and hang out time goes to 8:30pm. If you have teens in this age group or know some who are, I’d ask you to encourage them to join us.
 
 
Precept Bible Study classes starting soon!
September classes at GBC are fast approaching.  Please register for the class of your choice.  Here’s the list of classes being offered:
NEW ON MONDAY NIGHTS - 1 & 2 Thessalonians  - Standing Firm in These Last Days (NISS - 15-30 minutes of homework each day)
 
NEW  ON WEDNESDAY MORNINGS - Lord, I Want to Know You – A Devotional Study on the Names of God  - 30 to 90 minutes of homework each week (9 lessons in fall, continuing with 8 lessons winter)
 
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS OR THURSDAY MORNINGS - Hebrews Chapters 5-10 – Jesus, Our High Priest Forever (Precept Upon Precept or In & Out, (Orientation plus nine lessons)
                            
THURSDAY MORNINGS - Acts Part 1 – Jesus’ Witnesses, Empowered by His Spirit (In and Out Workbook, (orientation plus 8 lessons)
…For further information or to register please contact Ann Clark or Donna Chapman
 
 
Summer thoughts to keep you on the journey: Spiritual Practices to help us draw closer to God
For this week I going to continue with the ‘summer thoughts’ to wrap up what I want to share.  If you recall, I’ve been talking at times over the past two months about choices as I seek to help you “keep on the journey”.  I hope you’ve been gathering that a key element of doing this is walking close to God.  This can be more than just an attitude, it can become a spiritual discipline or practice. There’s lots of ways we can draw closer to God.  One practice to consider is turning our hands up to God at various times and praying like the Canaanite woman, “Lord, help me” (Matt 15:25) or with blind Bartimaeus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mk 10:47). Or we might consider meditatively praying the Lord’s Prayer morning, noon, and evening. The verse “Give us this day our daily bread” will seem more relevant than ever. Perhaps as we take in news updates, we could imagine presenting the need or concern found in it to Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father.
Additionally, short prayers of lament can aid us in bringing our loss, anger, and confusion to God: “How long, O Lord?” (Ps 13:2), “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?” (Ps 10:1), “Come quickly, Lord, to help me” (Ps 40:13), “Lord, have mercy on us,” (Matt 20:21), and “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matt 26:39). In times like this when God can seem far away this brings him back to where he really is- as close as we let him be.
These are not practices that are meant to take us out of the moment. Instead, they are practices that allow us to remain in the moment in a faithful, redemptive, life-giving way and that helps us walk closer to God.  Bring these ideas into your daily life and you can’t help but draw closer to God.
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris