Celebrating Generosity: Deacons Ministry
Scripture tells us to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). With this in mind, the RBC elders have appointed a specific group of men and women in our church to help bear the burdens of those in need. The specific purpose of the Deacon Ministry of Reston Bible Church is to care for the material and financial needs of those who regularly attend our church and consider RBC their church home. Your generosity enables us to serve many people within our congregation who are dealing with a variety of difficult life circumstances. Thank you for being a generous church and helping bear each other’s burdens as an expression of Jesus’ love.
You can learn more about the Deacon Ministry at RBC at www.restonbible.org/deacons.
Preparing for Sunday | April 30
SONGS WE’LL BE SINGING TOGETHER
Glorious | [listen]
Paul Baloche, Benton Brown
Exodus 15:11
Your Promises| [listen]
Chris Brown, Mack Brock, Steven Furtick, Wade Joye
2 Peter 1:3-4a
This I Believe (The Creed) | [listen | lyrics]
Ben Fielding, Matt Crocker
Romans 1:16
Holy Spirit | [listen]
Bryan and Katie Torwalt
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Doxology | [listen | lyrics]
Thomas Ken
Jude 24-25
SERMON TEXT
Hebrews 5:11-14
Family Quest: The Rock – Peak 5 (Lesson 1)
SOUL SHERPA, LESSON 1: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR GUIDE
The work of the Holy Spirit – To manifest (make known, show) the active presence of God in the world and especially in the church.
Isn’t GPS a great thing? It amazes me that a satellite high above the earth can see me, and when combined with digital mapping software, can tell me how to get from point A to B in the quickest way possible. It amazes me even more to consider that this system can see if there is heavy traffic or an accident along my route and re-direct me around it. If I take a wrong turn, it quickly notifies me. “Rerouting.” But as amazing as this system is, it is only as good as its underlying data. How many times have you followed your GPS directions only to find out that its map data is incorrect and you are at a dead end or the address data is incomplete and you end up in a business park when you wanted to be at a friend’s house? Even when the data is good, it isn’t fool proof. An overcast day or poor cell coverage can knock your GPS out completely.
But there is a guidance system that is 100% trustworthy, 100% of the time. Its data is perfectly reliable. It works no matter how dark it gets because to it, “darkness is as light.” It is an integrated system that lights your path, turns your darkness to light, guides you on the best path possible, reroutes you when you make a wrong turn, and even provides roadside assistance when you break down along the highways of life.
That is our triune God. God’s living Word, breathed out by the Father through the Son is its database. It is empowered by his Holy Spirit whose job it is to make known the active presence of God in the world and especially in his children by guiding us into all truth. Our students need to learn early that they can depend, with ALL their hearts, on their failsafe guidance system. “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16)
BIG IDEA: We can trust God to guide us.
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Proverbs 3:5-6
Isaiah 42:16
John 8:12
Psalm 119:105
Psalm 23:1-3
SECTION VERSE:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. In all your ways remember Him. Then He will make your paths smooth and straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6
LESSON VERSE:
Guide me in your truth. Teach me. You are God my Savior. I put my hope in you all day long. – Psalm 25:5
PRAYER:
Thank God that Jesus laid down his glory, his power, and his life so that He could become one of us and show us what God is like. Ask Him to help you make Jesus the center of your life every day.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- What did you learn today?
- From our memory verse, what 3 things should we do? What will God do in response?
- Who is a leader you admire? What makes God the best leader?
LIVE IT OUT!
- Read Psalm 32:8, Romans 12:1-2, Jeremiah 17:7 and talk about them together
- Commit to spending 15 minutes each day this week to just be quiet and think about God.
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Preparing for Sunday | April 23
SONGS WE’LL BE SINGING TOGETHER
Great Things | [listen]
Mack Brock, Chris Brown, Wade Joye
Psalm 126:3
This Is Amazing Grace | [listen + lyrics]
Josh Farro, Phil Wickham, Jeremy Riddle
Revelation 5:12
Holy Spirit | [listen]
Bryan and Katie Torwalt
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Jesus Paid It All | [listen + lyrics]
by: Elvina M. Hall (1865)
Colossians 2:13-14
SERMON TEXT
Matthew 28:19-20
Preparing for Easter Sunday | April 16
SONGS WE’LL BE SINGING TOGETHER
Man of Sorrows | [listen]
Matt Crocker, Brooke Ligertwood
Isaiah 53:3
What A Beautiful Name | [listen]
Ben Fielding, Brooke Ligertwood
Hebrews 1:3
Blessed Assurance | [listen]
Fanny Crosby, Phoebe Knapp, Mack Brock, Chris Brown
1 Peter 1:3-5
Death Was Arrested | [listen]
Adam Kersh, Brandon Coker, Heath Balltzglier, Paul Taylor Smith
Hebrews 2:9
O Praise The Name | [listen + lyrics]
by Benjamin Hastings, Dean Ussher, Marty Sampson
Romans 5:8
SERMON TEXT
Luke 23:39-45
Preparing for Palm Sunday | April 9
SONGS WE’LL BE SINGING TOGETHER
Man of Sorrows | [listen]
Matt Crocker, Brooke Ligertwood
Isaiah 53:3
But God | [listen]
by: Michael Bleecker, Hunter Hall, Lauren Chandler
Ephesians 2:4-5
Jesus Is Better | [listen]
Aaron Ivey, Brett Land
Mark 9:24
In Christ Alone | [listen + lyrics]
by: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend
Galatians 2:20
How Great Thou Art | [listen]
by: Stuart K. Hine, Carl Boberg
Psalm 145:3
SERMON TEXT
Proverbs 9:10
Celebrating Generosity: Nicaragua Bike Project
RBCers have donated over 500 bikes in support of an orphanage in Managua, Nicaragua. The orphanage has developed a thriving bike shop where orphans are discipled in Christ as they learn vocational skills like bike repair, sales and customer service. Through your generosity, here is how the Lord is impacting lives in Nicaragua.
Preparing for Sunday | April 2
This week, we will be singing a new song that we’ll also sing on Easter. It’s called “Death Was Arrested.” Hebrews 2:9 tells us that Jesus came to this Earth to suffer death on our behalf. We are adopted into the family of God because Jesus tasted death on behalf of everyone, “bringing many sons to glory.” May we sing this truth together knowing that, as the Psalmist cries at the end of Psalm 22, “all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord…He has done it!”
I can’t wait to gather this Sunday and sing this beautiful truth together.
SONGS WE’LL BE SINGING TOGETHER
Death Was Arrested | [listen]
Adam Kersh, Brandon Coker, Heath Balltzglier, Paul Taylor Smith
Hebrews 2:9
Come to Me | [listen]
Elizabeth Akers, Jeff Capps, Michael Bleecker
Matthew 11:28-30
Holy Spirit | [listen]
Bryan and Katie Torwalt
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Rejoice | [listen]
Dustin Kensrue, Stuart Townend
Philippians 4:4
SERMON TEXT
Matthew 13
Celebrating Generosity: Global Missions
The RBC Missions program officially began in 1978 supporting 3 missionaries with a total annual budget of $5000 per year. Since those early years, our involvement in what God is doing around the world has exploded. Each year we are blessed to send multiple teams of RBC adults and youth on short term missions trips to support evangelistic efforts, construction projects, camps for children and more. Additionally, 19 of our RBC families and singles are currently serving the LORD oversees long-term and it is our great privilege to be their home sending church.
Because of decades of your continual generosity, today your giving extends to 59 countries supporting 191 missionaries including many nationals serving in their country of origin. Through your prayers and giving, and our missionary family, God is planting churches in areas where none exist, caring for refugees and bringing them to salvation in Jesus, training pastors in oversees bible colleges and seminaries, translating Scripture into other languages, supporting urban & rural churches, ministering to orphans and children and much more.
Through you and your generosity, God is reaching the nations with the love of Christ.
From our humble beginning of allocating $5000 to overseas missions, your faithful giving to the general fund has expanded the annual budget for these global mission efforts to over $1.5 million per year. The results since 1978? Over $36.8 million given towards world missions. Even more importantly, God has used you to bring tens of thousands of lives to a saving knowledge of Himself, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So again, I thank each of you for your generosity. I encourage you to keep keeping on, for our Lord is worthy of it!
Update on Dr. John Brewer’s Reinstatement
Many weeks ago, we made an announcement that Dr. John Brewer and been recommended for termination as principal of Dominion High School. By now, many of you know that the Loudoun County School Board concluded their discussions last Monday and voted 6-3 to reinstate John as principal beginning April 17.
On behalf of John, his wife Rachel and their daughters, they wanted us to pass on their deepest gratitude for the outpouring of support and prayers you showed them during the time of uncertainty. The LORD Jesus answered our prayers by having the School Board reinstate John as principal, and so we rejoice with the entire Dominion community that he will be back serving there soon.
While we care about John returning to his position as principal, we care even more for the reputation of his character when it is maligned. The incomplete facts found in newspapers, web sites and uttered elsewhere is partially due to not having access to all the facts. So much of what has been written and said could easily leave people suspicious of John’s basic character and integrity on a number of fronts.
A few things to bring to your attention: Several weeks ago, an independent hearing officer chosen by the Loudoun County School System heard two days of testimony from the Superintendent, school attorney, John and his attorney. The testimony centered on eight specific charges on why John should be terminated as principal. The hearing officer concluded that none of the specific eight charges – considered either individually or collectively – warranted termination. In summary, the hearing officer ruled 8-0 in favor of John as it pertains to termination. Nevertheless, the hearing officer did recommend some form of probation.
In order to place John on any form of probation, legal technicalities required that his current contract first be terminated so a new contract with terms of probation could be offered. That is the reason the board first voted 9-0 to terminate John. The first vote was not to agree with the Superintendent’s recommendation to terminate, but to satisfy legal requirements regarding his current contract. If this technical procedure had not been required, then the School Board would have voted once with six members voting to reinstate John and three voting to terminate him.
John acknowledges that there are some process and procedural matters that he should be more cognizant and alert to. Keep in mind that in his many years in the Loudoun County School System, there is no pattern of problems, even in those areas that he will be more attentive to. Furthermore, he has never ignored or treated lightly any allegations of misconduct by any teacher or student, and he has never coerced or manipulated any student to ever attend Reston Bible Church. It is also noteworthy that the teacher who was the catalyst for all this applied to multiple school systems around the country including the one in Florida. Each of them, except Florida, contacted either LCPS or John to further inquire why the band teacher abruptly resigned. After hearing a fuller explanation, all of them declined to extend an offer. Again, only the school system in Florida did not perform the due diligence all the other school systems did.
This does not constitute our full opinion on this saga or address other important issues, but we hope as you think of John and Rachel in the future please continue to pray for them, the Dominion High School community and everyone involved in LCPS administration according to each one’s need. John and Rachel have been an excellent example of the admonishment in 1 Peter 2:12-23, which we hope you’ll take some time to read.