Lakeside Community Presbyterian Church

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

and His bride has made herself ready.”

Revelation 19:7

There are a number of characteristics that the Bible uses to describe our relationship with God. He is called the King (1 Tim. 6:15, 16), He is called the Shepherd (Ps. 23), and He is called the Bridegroom (Rev. 19:7).

These are a few of the word-pictures of the type of relationships that we have with God through Jesus. It is the image of Bride of Christ that I want you to think about today.

We, the church, are the Bride of Christ. It is the final image that the Bible gives in comparing Christ and the Church. Christ, the Groom longs to have a that intimate marital relationship with those who follow Him, and in Revelation it says that the “bride has made herself ready.”

We in the Avazian family have had a number of weddings over the past few years. Three of our kids and two nephews have married in the last two years. Last month, nephew Zack was married to Hayley and we heard about their courtship and the time that they spent getting ready for their wedding day. It was months and months of conversations and discussions in getting to know each other, about their relationship, about their future and about their wedding day.

In a similar way, in our relationship with Christ, we are in a courting relationship. We are having conversations with Him (prayer), we are learning all we can about Him (study of the Scriptures) and we are planning our future with Him (more prayer).

Prayer is our connection to the Almighty and He desires us to be in intimate communication with Him. Just like a husband and wife. Things that distract or lead us away from this relationship are something that we need to keep in-check. They aren’t necessarily bad, but they can lead us away from a deeper relationship with Christ.

I hope that you can attend this weekend’s worship service as we welcome Dave and Linda Ringenberg to share about their ministry with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in Papua, Indonesia. LCPC has been a long-time partner in ministry with this family and getting a first-hand update about their ministry is always informative and exciting. Hearing about Dave’s flights into the interior of Papua and the adventures that ensue are always “edge-of-your seat” stories.

So, join us this Sunday at 9:45am for worship and hearing about MAF and the Ringenbergs.

Our Mission:

Love God,

Love People,

Make Disciples of Jesus

Many of you have probably heard or read the mission statement of LCPC. They are simple words but they remind us what the ongoing story of the Bible is all about: we are to love God, we are to love people, and we are to help each other, and show new folks that we meet what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. This Sunday’s scripture reminds of these principles.

This week as we continue in our study of the Letters of John and his basic messages of the Christian faith, we once again read about two simple principles that fit with our mission statement. We are to “love one another” and we are to “walk in obedience” (be a disciple). If you have a few minutes, find the letter of 2 John in a Bible or electronic device and read the 13 verses of this letter in preparation for our time on Sunday. If you have a few more minutes, go back to the first letter of John and reread what we have been studying on Sundays these past weeks. John is a big believer in not forgetting the basics. Each of his letters remind us of this.