Welcome Home to Lakewood!
What is home? Home is more than just a house. A house is, of course, a structure which provides some level of comfort and protection. But home goes beyond that. As the old saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.” There is an emotional attachment to our homes, even the homes in which we no longer live, whether it is on the other side of town, or on the other side of the country or world. In short, home is love.
The place that you call home is almost certainly the place where you have experienced the most love.
In a spiritual sense, those who have placed their faith in Christ alone for salvation understand that the earth is not our eternal home. We have a home in glory with our heavenly Father, through the work of Christ our Savior. When we recognize the troubles in this world, the Truth of God’s word and His love for His people give us a faith and a joy which keeps us moving every day. And we love to sing about it, and teach this to one another.
In a physical sense, the greatest earthly expression of our heavenly home is the church – God’s people gathered in like-mindedness in glory of and praise to Him. And just like the home you grew up in, like-mindedness does not mean that we all agree on every-single-thing. We never will. But what like-mindedness means for God’s church is that we will always agree that serving Him and bringing glory to the risen Savior through obedience to all that
He has commanded is our priority. We will always agree on that.
It is a new day at Lakewood Baptist Church, and not simply because there is a new pastor. The newness of Spirit is evident in the love that the Lakewood family has for one another. Maybe you have called Lakewood your church home for years and years, or perhaps you previously attended Lakewood but now are a faithful member of another church body, or maybe you’re currently at a place in life where you don’t have a church home. Regardless of these things, we are honored to have you as our guest today, and we are grateful that you are worshipping the Lord with us. If you do already have a church home, we encourage your continued faithful service there. If you do not have a church home, I humbly recommend that you join us at Lakewood each week for worship and discipleship as you seek the Lord’s direction in these things. You are loved here.
Blessings,
Pastor Bruce
bruce.cullom@gmail.com