Sunday Services: 10:30 AM
505 South Sixth St. Burbank, CA
91501

FaithView, For Storm Riders:
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”—Jonah 2:8

Idols: an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship.

Ubiquitous: existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time; omnipresent.

Idols are ubiquitous…They’re everywhere. We’ve got idols that are clearly visible, easy to spot and most people will steer clear of them. The dangerous idols are the ones we set up personally for ourselves.

Fame, fortune—the lot—can lead us to idol chasing. Hero worship of individuals is another form of idol worship that we will dance with. And I’m not saying that these people we look up to are bad…These are probably good people who are just hoping to inspire…But we often turn them into something more than that. We begin to live and die on their every word or act.

For example…The Protestant will get on the Roman Catholic’s case for venerating Mary or the Pope….Meanwhile, the Protestant sees no similarity between that and hanging on every word that comes out of the mouth of Billy Graham…Tony Campolo…Rob Bell…Frances Chan…or a General Superintendent of the Church of The Nazarene.

In theological circles, it often happens that Pastors/Believers will treat the words of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon as if they were right out of the New Testament canon.

When we look beyond Christ and beyond the written Word found in the Scriptures, we cross the fine line of being inspired by a man or woman of God…and run the risk of turning them into idols.

And no matter how good they are…how well intended they are…they are worthless compared to the truth of Christ and the Scriptures.

Am I saying we shouldn’t study the views of others? No, but if the Scripture warns us to be on our guard because the enemy is like a prowling lion looking for an opportunity to pounce…Then we should be on heightened watch when we are studying the interpretations of others when it comes to the Scriptures. There is amazing insight to be gained from godly teachers, but we have to remain on guard. We are irresponsible and foolish when we are not.

As it is, Believers will fall into the trap of turning their denomination into an idol…Then the generation after them will turn their professors/teachers at their universities into idols after they’ve called them to rebel against the denomination…But once church has been thought, re-thought, re-re-thought and re-re-re-thought what do we end up with?

Have you seen the condition the church-universal today? The confusion? The spiritual chaos? The look of an individual trying to marry what they’ve read in the Bible to what is coming from the pulpit?

We got our cool look; we got our robes, we got our candles, we got our pillows, we got black painted walls, incense, vestments, labyrinth, responsive readings…And we declare it holy.

But when compared to Christ…it is worthless.

James 4:10 reads: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

He will lift us up…He…Us…He will lift Us up…The grace talked about in Jonah 2:8 can be ours…Directly from the Creator of the Universe without having to be circuited through some theological agent.

How can we look to something else?

How can we seek the truth of God–and hope to find it–by departing from the truth of Scripture?

Boom!
***

A VBS Unlike Any Other:

VBS Goes to Rome: The theme for Vacation Bible School this year is “Rome: Paul & The Underground Church”

The dates are June 26-30…Look at your calendar…share with your friends…Pray for Seana Zilbert, who is directing…Make plans to volunteer.

You can sign up your child and their friends here on our website. Look the button up top, click, and follow.

***

Burbank Faith now has a Twitter account. You can follow us at; @BurbankFaithNaz

***

Eric Canto has created a Burbank Faith channel on YouTube and has placed all of our recent services there. Go check it out.

***

July is Camps Month: Remember July is camps month…Junior High, High School & Kids will all have separate camps at Granite Ridge.

District Assembly is July 12-14
(It is one month later this year due to General Assembly (Indianapolis) being held June 21-30.)

SrHi Camp: July 16-21
Kids Camp: July 23-28
JrHi Camp: July 30-August 4

***

Did You Know?
On this date:

…In 1945, V-E Day; Germany signs unconditional surrender, WWII ends in Europe

…In 1978, ABC TV airs “The Stars Salute Israel at 30” …Could that be shown today?

***

Church Calendar:
May 9: Women’s Bible Study—7:00 PM
May 10:
All Church Prayer Time: 7—to—7:30 PM
Worship Team Practices: 7:30 PM
Adult Bible Study—1 Samuel 18—7:30 PM
May 14: Mother’s Day Sunday Service, 10:30 AM…Sunday evening “Prayer Hour” from 6-to-7:00 PM
May 21: VBS planning meeting, following morning worship.
May 29: Memorial Day
June 3: Men’s Breakfast at Harry’s, 8:00 AM
June 26-30: VBS Week

As believers, we have to remain in continual prayer for all of our first responders…all our leaders…not a political party but for those carrying the heavy burden of leadership in our country and communities.