Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ,

Well, fall will be upon us soon. The temperatures will be falling and soon the leaves will as well. Before we know it, we will feel the chill of winter. In the Gospel according to Luke in chapter 9, verse 51, it states that, “Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem.” He knew that he faced ridicule and even death; and yet he was determined to go.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons for the decline in church attendance in most churches today. Too many people have not made up their minds to be a part of the church. Too many are not determined to go to church.

Jesus went to Temple in order to stand up for what is right. People were being ripped off there. There is a problem in our churches, our communities and even our nation. We have stopped standing up for what is right. We have become apathetic. “It’s not my problem. Let someone else take care of it.”

Friends, if we want our churches to flourish, we must make up our mind to be committed to Christ and the church. We must make up our minds to stand up for what is right. We must be a part of the solution not part of the problem. We must be determined to be the Church.

As United Methodists, we must continue to pursue what John Wesley called Christian Perfection. This is stated by Jesus and the most important commandments. We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. When we do this, we will find that everything else will take care of itself.

Will you make up your mind to commit to the church? Will you make up your mind to stand up for what is right? Will you make up your mind to be part of the solution? Will you be determined to be the Church?

God bless you and guide you as we are the church together.

Pastor Bill