When all the conversations have taken place regarding church growth, the bottom line is that most folks are drawn to churches because of relationships.  I am confident that many of us at Monterey visited this church for the first time because a friend invited us.  We have that unique opportunity daily—to invite friends, neighbors, co-workers, and other family members to participate in worship assemblies, Bible classes, and other activities at Monterey.

The other piece of this story is that many people will choose to attend church at special seasons of the year even if they don’t attend church on a regular basis.  That is true for the Easter season, and so I especially encourage you to invite those you know to join us for the next two Sundays.

The theme for the next two weeks is GPS:  God Positioning System.  I don’t have a GPS in my car, and given my technology skills, my learning curve would be pretty steep.  I know what it’s like to be lost—and because I like to be in control, my family knows how difficult it is for me to stop and ask for directions.  The reality is that all of us need to seek God’s directions for our lives.  At the heart of God’s positioning system is the cross and the resurrection, and those central tenets of Christianity will be the focus of the messages the next two weeks.

Here is the schedule:

Palm Sunday—March 16
Worship Assemblies—8:15 and 10:45 a.m.
Message:  The Way of the Cross
Bible Classes—9:45 a.m.

Easter Sunday—March 23
Worship Assemblies—8:15 and 10 a.m.
Message:  Where Will You Be When You Get Where You’re Going?
No Bible Classes

Cards, for you to give to friends as you invite them, are available at the Welcome Center this morning.  Please take several—pray for friends who don’t know Jesus, and please have the courage to invite them to join us these next two weeks.  You have heard me say on numerous occasions that we need to be a church that puts in a good word for Jesus everywhere we go.  Let’s make special efforts to do that very thing in the next few days.  Our prayers, words, and invitations may make an eternal difference in another person’s life.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  II Corinthians 5:16-21

—Barry Stephens