From our Desk

Messages for This Month

From the Pastor,

Dear Riverside Baptist Church family,

Do you have friens, neighbors, or coworkers who enjoy hunting? The outreach committee is planning an event that they will be interested in. On Saturday, October 16th, Riverside is hosting The Riverside Sportsman's Banquet! Tickets are now available at the church office for teens and adults to attend for only $10, which includes a meal catered by Basket Case Catering.

You can also purchase tickets 15 minutes before and after the Sunday morning worship service. Even if you don't care for hunting or the outdoors, why not get a ticket for your friends, and bring them as your guest to this event? They will hear the Gospel.

Our keynote speaker will be Bill Jenkin, who is the president of Continental Baptist Missions, as well as an experienced deer hunter and elk hunter! Another guest speaker will be Brian McReynolds, a member of our sister IL-MO church in Shelbyville, who is a Department of National Resources officer. He will give hunting safety tips, and other valuable information.

There will be door prizes, and a grand prize drawing for a gift card to sportsman's retailer Gander Mountain. This event is open to teens, men, and women. Sign-in for the event (only for those with tickets) takes place from 4:30 to 5:00 pm on October 16th, and the program promptly begins in the main auditorium at 5:00 pm. The deadline to sign up is at noon Sunday, October 3rd. Hope to see you there.

Pastor Norris

 

 

 

Although it has been an unusually warm winter and as such I have not seen much of it, I love the snow. Not only because of the fact that it is the one time of year that I can assault people with snow balls. (the only people I attack is of course family and the teenagers that I work with). There is another reason however that I love the snow – it is pure. Before the plows scrape it, before the dirt discolors it, in those brief and fleeting moments before it is darkened, snow is crisp, white, and pure. It is this image that the Scriptures draw upon in Psalm 51. As David is confessing his sin, he calls out and says, “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” (ESV)

Sin darkens and taints all that it touches, and our lives were full of darkness until God penetrated our darkness with the light of life- His Son Jesus Christ. But when we confess our sins Christ’s perfection is given to us and before God we are blameless and as white as the purest snow. The snow falling is a reminder of the perfection of God’s plan, and the purity that we have when our identity is in Christ alone. My prayer for you in this new year is that you will serve the King who graciously purifies our lives, despite our dirtiness, and will wash us whiter than snow!

Pastor Sabin