College and Singles Weekly News: March 16th-23rd
Take The Step:
Sharing the gospel is an important aspect of the Christian life. Yet, taking that step out of our comfort zone to share isn’t something we are always quick to do. The purpose of the Take the Step class is to help you feel more confident to have faith conversations. The class is designed to help you share the good news naturally in your daily conversations. Our next offering is Sunday, March 27, at 10:30 am. Register now at naobc.org/takethestep.
Men’s Ministry:
Men, come Saturday (March 19th) and enjoy breakfast with a devotional at 8 am, and then we’ll have our spring workday from 9-Noon. These workdays are a great community builder and will help us get things looking good around here for the spring as we head to Easter.
Business Meeting:
The first business meeting of the year will be on Wednesday, March 30, at 6:15 pm in the Fellowship Hall (114).
Great Commission Offering:
The GCO is a missions-giving campaign that begins in December and culminates on Easter Sunday. Through the GCO, we support an array of missions efforts occurring locally, nationally, and globally.
The GCO provides us great flexibility in how we allocate our missions dollars by allowing us to support missions efforts historically important to us as Southern Baptists (i.e., Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering) while also giving to other missions efforts our congregation is specifically passionate about (i.e., Reaching & Teaching, Love the Ville, 5 Loaves, SOS Ministries).
Our 2022 GCO goal is $106,000. Give TODAY!
Areas of Service:
If you are looking to serve the Church in any way, we have lots of openings OR we will make an opening for you! Please talk to your BFG leader or an intern in your Singles/College group if you would like to be connected to areas of service!!
Singles Group:
- BFG (Bible Fellowship Group) Sunday Morning 10:30 AM, RM 202
- Sunday Worship: 9:00 AM
College Group:
- BFG (Bible Fellowship Groups) Sunday Morning 9:00 AM, RM 202
- Sunday Worship: 10:30 AM
Our Week in the Word comes from Dr. Howell, one of our College BFG Leaders!
Proverbs 3:21–24
21 My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
23 Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
We talk a lot about wisdom, but we don’t often meditate on the value of wisdom. In Proverbs 3:21–24, Solomon encourages his son to keep “sound wisdom and discretion,” but then continues, explaining (1) what wisdom will be for him, (2) a quasi-promise for keeping wisdom and discretion, and (3) the restful sweetness of the wise life.
So what is the payoff for keeping wisdom and living with discretion? First, these are the very things that “will be life for your soul.” This is not just having good days. This refers to the flourishing of your soul, the deep-rooted delight in who God is for you rather than the wishy-washy emotions of life circumstances. This kind of deep-seated joy is “adornment for your neck” so that the rest of the world will see the holiness and grandeur of God in your wise living. Keeping sound wisdom is, to some extent, evangelistic. Others will see the resulting joy of your wisdom and wonder why you are so contented all the time.
In verse 23, you get somewhat of a promise. We’ve mostly been taught that Proverbs are not promises and we can’t “name it and claim it.” However, I wonder if sometimes we sell God’s word short by dismissing quasi-promises like verse 23. If you keep sound wisdom and discretion, “then you will walk on your way securely.” In other words, wisdom and discretion are the God-given means by which he keeps us on the narrow path. If, by God’s grace, your fear of God drives you to wise living, then you are living out the God-ordained means of keeping your foot from stumbling. Don’t be surprised then when God sustains this promise by filling you with the Spirit such that beauty of God, in Christ, allures you to live wisely. This doesn’t mean that you will never stumble; but it does mean that wise-living is the God-ordained means to keep you from stumbling.
Lastly, wise discretion gives us sweet, restful sleep. I often find myself waking up in the middle of the night with the worries of tomorrow on my mind. I can confess that this is because I feel like I need to accomplish my agenda for the day or else the world will not be able to carry on. To be fair, we all have responsibilities we must fulfill. However, part of living wisely is living in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit sustains us in our efforts. Hence, when we sleep at night, we can know that God will not only empower us for tomorrow, but he will keep the universe spinning while we rest. Keeping sound wisdom and discretion, in some sense, reminds us that we are not God. He will keep the universe in order apart from our laborious responsibilities and we can rest easy at night.
While there is more that could be said about the benefits of living wisely, Solomon only addresses a few here. But take some time to meditate on these images of beauty, adornment, sweet rest, the straight path, life, etc. Solomon intentionally chose these pictorial outcomes so that you would be allured to pursue (and keep) sound wisdom and discretion.
