Dear Grace Family,
Perspective is so easy to lose right now. Being separate for so long seems so unnatural, and an effect is that we can lose altitude in our thinking. God helped lift my mind and heart up a few thousand feet this week. There was a gathering of pastors, church leaders, and faithful believers at our City Hall Plaza on Thursday, braving the heat and the occasional social distance. I had the privilege of walking around for an hour with a pastor and former elder at Cornerstone Simi as we prayed for churches in Simi, our government, schools, businesses, media, families, and first responders. What a refreshing, powerful time! Brothers and sisters seeking God's face, proclaiming His glory, and requesting that His glory would fill the earth. We remember that we are not only long to be back together, but that we are also united in Christ with other believers of other churches who are seeking the same God through the same Lord by the same Spirit that we are. When we pray to the same God, we are united together, and our perspective is in the right place.
This weekend we will have an opportunity to honor our moms (if you have not shopped yet, please go get some flowers at least...Trader Joe's flowers are lovely), we will talk about future elders, and continue our discussion on being ministers of Jesus Christ in discipleship. Please continue to familiarize yourself with 1 Timothy 4 and Colossians 1:24-29. We continue to confess the mystery of godliness, the Lord Jesus Christ. No restriction, closure, or separation can stop that. So we press on, nourishing ourselves in God's Word and training ourselves for godliness.
Love you all.
In Him,
Pastor Jordan Bakker
