Dear New Life Family,
I’m reaching out to take a moment to touch on the shooting that happened the evening of Saturday, July 13, at President Trump’s rally in Butler.
After hearing about the horrific events yesterday, I committed them to prayer and felt led by God to pause, compose my thoughts, and share them with you in this format. Let us use this event as a reminder to pray for our country, our leaders, and for God’s Kingdom to come to Earth. Let us also pray for those injured, scared, and for those grieving lost loved ones. As a community, we must actively pray for God’s Kingdom to come to Earth. We must be willing to share His truth and love with each we encounter this week. Our collective efforts are crucial in this mission.
After the weekend worship services today, several of you who were at the Butler Farm Grounds when this terrible act happened shared how this weekend’s message was exactly what you needed to hear after yesterday’s tragic events. Our God is good, He knows exactly what will happen, and planned this message for today!
I want to take a moment to look at what we learned today and why the message affected those of you who were at the rally so profoundly. I also want to speak about how the message can affect us all as we process and react to the situation at hand.
Let’s pray God transforms our eyes to see every situation from His perspective. When personal or national tragedies occur, we know God can use them for His glory. Let’s look for ways to have conversations that point to Jesus. Since the shooting occurred so close to home geographically, the topic will be in your conversations right now. When people are scared, stressed, or angry, let’s point to the security, peace, and joy that Jesus brings to every situation.
Let’s pray God transforms our hearts so we become people of Jesus Christ’s love. When those we interact with experience God’s love through us, they will know Jesus, and once people come to know Jesus, they’ll become people of love. Let’s pray that people in our country will experience the love, joy, peace, and healing that Jesus offers us. We can go the extra mile this week, loving people we agree and disagree with!
Let’s pray God transforms our minds so we understand the work ahead of us and the hope to come. This week, we get to do God’s work, and with God’s work comes sacrifice. This week, the sacrifice might be bringing up Jesus when conversations about the shooting occur. It might be time invested in praying for our country, our leaders, the upcoming election and one another. Let’s understand the importance of the work we have before us and the power that the Holy Spirit must transform us into the image of Jesus! When we don’t know what to do or say this week, let’s pray immediately where we are and say, “Holy Spirit, give me the words I need and the knowledge of what to do!”
Thank you for being such a wonderful church family. Together we will pray for our community, nation, and world this week and join God in what He’s doing. He is at work all around us, and He wants each of us to help bring His Kingdom to Earth!
May the words Paul wrote to the church in Corinth be of comfort:
“For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
1 Corinthians 15:56-58 NLT
In Jesus’ Love,
Alex DeRosa