The Notes

This coming Wednesday night, August 19, 2026, we continue our message series "Wacky Worship" with a look at Palm Trees.  We will give new meaning to this every day sight so it reminds us of God and draws us closer to Him.  Please remember - we are ONLINE ONLY this week at 6:00 p.m.  

Hope you will join us at 6:00 p.m. for in-person Bible study and worship as we look at another ordinary thing to show us more about our extraordinary God.  It's a little wacky, but a whole lot of positive, uplifting, & encouraging truth!

If you can't join us in person, you can always participate through our Facebook page.  We go "live" at 6:00 p.m., and you will have a front row seat.  If you can't join us live, there are 3 ways to watch the message later - on Facebook, on YouTube, or here on our website. (the "Past & Future Messages" page).  Watch anytime!  

This week's message, August 12, 2026, continued our message series called, "Wacky Worship."  It's wacky ideas that use ordinary things to connect us to our amazing and extraordinary God.  

This week, we looked at a scripture from the Old Testament - the book of Deuteronomy.  It has the ability take on new meaning for us when we realize that God knows we need reminders in life.  We need to keep being reminded of what He has done in the past so we can move forward and trust Him.  When we focus on how amazing, powerful, and caring God is, it's much easier to step into the unknown future.  

It's in that context that Moses spoke to the Israelites in the opening chapters of Deuteronomy.  He tells them they have stayed long enough on that mountain . . . they have been in the desert wilderness for 40 years . . . it's time to move into their future.  It's time to go to the Promised Land and receive the inheritance blessings God wants to give them.  Moses won't be crossing the Jordan with them; Joshua will be leading them onward.  But Moses encourages their future by reminding them of how God took care of them in their past.  Over and over he outlines their amazing freedom from slavery in Egypt, how God promised “to fight" for them, and in the wilderness, God carried them  as a father carries his son, all the way until they reached that mountain.  They left fear hold them back from moving forward, but now it is time to move beyond the Jordan River into the Promised Land.  It's land God promised and prepared for them over 500 years earlier - the promise to Abraham.  

Moses wants them to remember ow good God has been to them.   Remember God’s signs & wonders, His outstretched arm, His awesome deeds.  He says God brought you this far, and He won't leave you now.   Remember that when Sihon went to war against you, the Lord delivered him and his whole army.  And importantly, Moses reminded them that they got all the livestock & plunder.  God blessed them.  Moses said: remember that for 40 years “you have not lacked anything.”   Remember – God spoke to you from out of fire.  You heard His voice!  

Over and over Moses says to them - don’t forget what your eyes have seen.  And it's in that context that we find our verse for this week's wacky focus.

In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Moses says:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."   

To live in a way that pleases God and brings blessings in their lives, Moses says - write them where you will see them every day and be reminded.  Life will get very busy . . . we will all get distracted and lose focus . . . but don't forget what is really important.  Don't forget the most important thing - God is there.  God is with you.  God has a future for you.  You can walk into it with a calm assurance that it will be good if you will remember what He's done in the past.  So look at the doorframe each time you enter your house, and remember. 

We often turn to God in our difficult days, but ignore Him in the good days as if all that is good in our lives at that moment is because of us.  Nope.  It's God blessings us.  So we get on our knees in challenge and get on our high horse in success.  But when we see the doorpost, we can be reminded - don't worship the things God has given us, worship Him.  Don't forget His goodness and His mercy.

When you see the doorpost, be reminded that God has been faithful to you, and He requires that His people live faithful to Him.  Obey God’s law.  Don’t just blend in, but stand out.  God calls us to live differently than the world; so we should live that out inside our homes and outside.  Seeing the doorframe can remind us of who God calls us to be.  It's a daily reminder to us, and it’s a witness to others.  Writing on the doorframe says – “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

It’s also a teaching tool for our kids.  Moses urges us to tell our children, and grandchildren about what God has done and why we live the way we do.  Seeing that doorframe each day opens the door to those conversations.  Get it?  

The doorframe is the entry point to our homes; it's the threshold between private and public spheres.  In private, God speaks to us. In public, we speak for God.

In private, God becomes real to us.  In public, we show Him as real.

In private, we see God’s truth.  In public, we live out that truth.

In private, we become believers.  In public, we testify to that belief.

In private, we learn God’s ways.  In public, we obey God’s ways and live according to His laws for the world to see our beliefs.

His laws should govern not only our private life but also our public, business, and community affairs.

The doorframe is a public declaration of our faith.  And writing on the doorframe can help us do as Jesus revealed to us in  Matthew 5:13-14 - that believers are called to be the salt of the earth & light of the world.

One more visual reminder that we shared this week is the cornerstone - the foundational stone in ancient building practices.  A cornerstone was crucial for the alignment and stability of the entire structure.  It is the first stone set where two walls meet.  It joins everything together and aligns the whole structure.

Isaiah 28:16 – “So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.”

Cornerstone is a metaphor for Jesus Christ, chosen by God and precious in His sight.  And many, many years before Jesus Christ entered our world, David wrote Psalm 118:22 – “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”  That phrase refers to a stone that was initially dismissed by builders as unsuitable; it didn’t meet their standards, so it was discarded.  That imagery describes how Jesus Christ was rejected by the religious leaders of His time.  He didn't fit into their image and wasn't like them.  But Jesus was God’s chosen.  Our salvation.   1 Peter 2:6 says that “the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  He is saying when we put our trust in Jesus, we will never be disgraced.  No one who has faith in the precious Son of God will be disappointed.

But all of that compels us to this conclusion - for Jesus to be the cornerstone of our lives, all we do must be built on Him.  He must be the anchor of our hearts, our homes, and our lives.  He must align our personal living with our business living.  He must be the foundation on which we do anything and everything.  Ask yourself - is Jesus your cornerstone?  Is He holding everything together, or our you living 2 separate lives?  Acting one way in business and another way on Sunday?  

It's our prayer that every Christian will align all to Jesus.  That we live out our faith publicly and privately; that we are the same person on Sunday as we are on Friday.  And may the doorframes and cornerstones remind us!