​Happy Wednesday, Church Family,

Please continue to lift the Boyd family in prayer as they hold a home going service for Pastor Doug's mom, Kathie Boyd, today in California. Losing a loved one is never easy. Jesus understood this powerful human emotion with his friend Lazarus. "Jesus wept" from John 11 is typically talked about in a conversation about the shortest verse of the Bible, but when someone asks why Jesus wept, blank stares abound. Jesus wept because he lost his close friend - Jesus loved Lazarus. Weeping for those whom we love is natural. Mourning their loss on earth can only be assuaged by the hope we have of seeing them again in Heaven. Jesus provides this hope because of His sacrifice. We celebrated that sacrifice all this week - Holy Week.

GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE
We will combine with Bedrock Community Church once again this Friday at 7pm in the Sanctuary. Come ready to reflect upon and worship Jesus and His sacrifice. Please park in the North parking lot and enter through the North entrance. Igelsia El Buen Pastor will also be holding a Good Friday Service on campus in the Fireside Room. They will be parking in the West parking lot and entering the West entrance.

EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE
Our service will begin at 9:30 and we hope you'll join us as we have not met for Easter all together since 2019! We will not have a discipleship class this Sunday but will resume next week. Please feel free to bring friends, family, your One, etc. for the Easter celebration. Christ's resurrection will be celebrated in message and song. Come worship with us.

Blessings,

Pastor Roger

This is Pastor Roger filling in today to update you. It is with a difficult heart that I inform you that Pastor Doug's mother passed away yesterday (Friday) morning. Please keep Pastor Doug, Rose, the kids and the entire family in your prayers as they go through this time of mourning. Doug's mother, Kathy, recently had back surgery and was recovering. An unexpected heart attack is the initial understanding of her passing. We are comforted knowing she walked a long life with the Lord and will see her again.

Day 36 in 40 Days with Jesus devotional that we have been going through offers this hope:

The best part of your life lies ahead - stored up for you in heaven, awaiting your arrival. This is true for all Christians, both young and old...When you "graduate" to heaven, your soul-Joy will instantly expand - exponentially!

And God, will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. -Revelation 21:4 

As we turn our attention to Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter, let us be reminded of the living hope we have in Jesus. We are all broken vessels but await that glorious day when we will be in heaven with our Savior & Lord!

This Sunday, at 9:30am, we will combine in worship with Bedrock Community Church as Pastor Nathan leads us to observe Palm Sunday. Please consider joining us in-person. You can also join me in Pastor Doug's office at 8:45am for a time of prayer before our service begins.

NOTE:  Our Sunday service continues to meet at 9:30am, with two options for participating.

1.  Attend our live "in-person" gathering.  No reservations are required and we will continue to follow all necessary COVID guidelines.  Please wear a mask so we can keep everyone safe and healthy!

2.  We value our online church community and will continue to livestream our church service at 9:30am for those who wish to participate. 

NOTE:  For our "after-church" zoom gathering, we will be joining our newest discipleship class led by Larry Annes.

Discipleship Study:  Not the Way It's Supposed to Be
10:45am to 11:45am
In-person and Zoom options 
Link for zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84125779768

Let me also invite you to our GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE at 7:00PM at Parkside. This will be a time of rejoicing and preparing our hearts for Resurrection Sunday. Iglesia El Buen Pastor will also be holding a Good Friday Service in the Fireside Room. In keeping with COVID protocols, we ask that Parkside Fellowship members park in the north parking lot and enter through the north entrance prior to the service.

Thank you for being a church that prays!

See you Sunday!

Pastor Roger

​Jesus knew it.  He knew before the war was over, he would be taken captive.  He knew that before victory would come defeat.  Jesus knew that before the light of Sunday would come the darkness of Friday.

Never had Jesus felt so alone.  "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," Jesus confesses.  His humanity begged to be delivered from what his divinity could see.  Jesus, the human, peers into the dark pit and begs, "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me."

Did he know the answer before he asked the question?  Did his human side hope his heavenly Father had found another way?  Regardless, Jesus asked God for an escape plan.  He begged for an exit strategy that involved something other than suffering a horrific death on a cross.  There's an old hymn titled, "He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels" that speaks to the ability of Jesus to forgo the cross and return to his throne in heaven.

But he couldn't

He couldn't because, as he knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, begging his father for another way, out of the corner of his spiritual eyes, he saw you and he saw me.  He saw you living in a world that isn't fair.  He saw you betrayed by those you love.  He saw you with a body that gets sick and a heart that grows weak.  He saw you staring into the mouth of your own pain and suffering and he didn't want you to be alone.

He wanted you to know that he understands, for he too has lived in a messy, broken world.  He too has been plotted against and betrayed by those who claimed to love him.  He knows what it's like to smell the stench of Satan.  And, perhaps most of all, he knows what it's like to beg God to change his mind and to hear God say, "No."

For that is what God says to Jesus and Jesus accepts the answer.  You may have thought the battle was won on Golgotha.  It wasn't.  You may have thought the sign of victory is the empty tomb.  It isn't.  The final battle was won on a dark, lonely night in Gethsemane.  And the sign of conquest is our Savior, at peace with what lies before him.

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus proclaimed, "I would rather go to hell for you than to go to heaven without you."

Join us tonight as we reflect on this unbelievable act of compassion and love by Jesus.  Our Good Friday service begins at 7:00pm.  There will be times of reflection around the Lord's Supper, special music by members of Parkside Fellowship and El Buen Pastor and a Good Friday message by Pastor Daniel from El Buen Pastor.

Finally, plan to stick around after our service and join with El Buen Pastor, Anthem Church, Global Community Church and members of Common Ground as we gather in the Fireside room for a time of fellowship.

See you tonight.

Pastor Doug