Keith McNamar, Lead pastor
Worship Style - Contemporary
This particular church caught our attention since it is close to our home, but also because it seems to have a lot of life. They have a sign out front that announces various events and different things going on at the church, such as a food bank, vacation bible school, suppers, etc. So, as we ended our "staycation", we decided to stay close to home this week. We attended the 11:00 AM service, instead of the 9:00 AM; as we said, we were on vacation. There were approximately 75 people in attendance. They began the service with praise music and some announcements. Then the service began with a reading from Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father and mother, that you may live a long, good life in the land the Lord your God will give you."
Pastor Keith told the story of thinking his parents were being dumb, insisting that he and his brother go to church every Sunday. He spoke of wanting the freedom to not have to go to church. He suggested that all of us have thought that our parents were dumb at one time, and then as we got older, they seemed to somehow get smarter. But Pastor Keith was really challenging us to consider what the Word is telling us - that honoring our fathers and mothers is how we live a long and good life. So what is so important about honoring our fathers and mothers? He found the answer in Luke 2 : 51-52, " Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor." The Scriptures are telling us that even Jesus was obedient to His parents even when He, in fact, being God, did indeed know better. Why? Jesus role-modeled for us how we are to honor our parents, in order to show us how to gain wisdom and divine and human favor. Pastor Keith went deeper, addressing the question of needing to honor "bad" parents. It is not about the parents; it is about honoring God and His decision to place you with those parents and trusting that God has used them in your relationship to Him. Pastor Keith stated, "Look at your parents as a gift of God's grace in your life. And then, he further challenged us to actually go to our parents and indicate that we see God's grace in their relationship to us. Very powerful challenge!!
Worship Style - Contemporary
This particular church caught our attention since it is close to our home, but also because it seems to have a lot of life. They have a sign out front that announces various events and different things going on at the church, such as a food bank, vacation bible school, suppers, etc. So, as we ended our "staycation", we decided to stay close to home this week. We attended the 11:00 AM service, instead of the 9:00 AM; as we said, we were on vacation. There were approximately 75 people in attendance. They began the service with praise music and some announcements. Then the service began with a reading from Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father and mother, that you may live a long, good life in the land the Lord your God will give you."
Pastor Keith told the story of thinking his parents were being dumb, insisting that he and his brother go to church every Sunday. He spoke of wanting the freedom to not have to go to church. He suggested that all of us have thought that our parents were dumb at one time, and then as we got older, they seemed to somehow get smarter. But Pastor Keith was really challenging us to consider what the Word is telling us - that honoring our fathers and mothers is how we live a long and good life. So what is so important about honoring our fathers and mothers? He found the answer in Luke 2 : 51-52, " Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor." The Scriptures are telling us that even Jesus was obedient to His parents even when He, in fact, being God, did indeed know better. Why? Jesus role-modeled for us how we are to honor our parents, in order to show us how to gain wisdom and divine and human favor. Pastor Keith went deeper, addressing the question of needing to honor "bad" parents. It is not about the parents; it is about honoring God and His decision to place you with those parents and trusting that God has used them in your relationship to Him. Pastor Keith stated, "Look at your parents as a gift of God's grace in your life. And then, he further challenged us to actually go to our parents and indicate that we see God's grace in their relationship to us. Very powerful challenge!!