Welcome to the Yacolt Evangelical Free Church
A Place where God is Pleased and Real Life Change Happens

Welcome to our website! We are glad you stopped by and hope you will consider joining us soon to worship our risen Savior Jesus Christ!

     Our church is currently searching for a new senior pastor. Our previous pastor of nearly 15 years answered God's call to a ministry in Spokane. His last Sunday was May 17, 2009. Our search committee meets each week to review any resumes that have been submitted and are praying over every one that God would give discernment and wisdom to lead us to the man He has chosen.To learn more about the search for a new pastor or to submit your resume please click here.

 Take Heed How You Hear!

Many of us have had those mornings! Sunday morning comes and we are not really up to going to church -- physically or spiritually. What can we do to prepare our hearts, our minds and even our bodies for worship Sunday morning?  Pastor John Piper gives several ideas to help us prepare our hearts for worship that are well worth reading. This article includes only parts of his full article. I would encourage you to read the rest of the article "Take Heed How You Hear!" by visiting www.desiringgod.org. Take some time to prepare your heart for worship so your time at the service can be more filled with the Spirit than filled with distractions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Pray that God would give you a good and honest heart. - The heart we need is a work of God. That's why we pray for it. Jeremiah 24:7 says "I will give them a heart to know Me." Let's pray, "O Lord, give me a heart for you. Give me a good and honest heart. Give me a soft and receptive heart. Give me a humble and meek heart. Give me a fruitful heart."
2. Meditate on the Word of God. - Psalm 34:8 says "O taste and see that the LORD is good." On Saturday night read some delicious portion of your Bible with a view to stirring up hunger for God. This is the appetizer for Sunday morning's meal.
3. Purify your mind by turning away from worldly entertainment. - It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch. This makes us small and weak and worldly and inauthentic in worship. Instead, turn off the television on Saturday night and read something true and great and beautiful and pure and honorable and excellent and worthy of praise (James 12:1; Philippians 4:8).
4. Rest long enough Saturday night to be alert and hopeful Sunday morning. - I am not laying down any law here. I am saying there are Saturday night ways that ruin Sunday morning worship. Don't be enslaved by them. Without sufficient sleep, our minds are dull, our emotions are flat, our proneness to depression is higher, and our fuses are short. If there is a special late night, make it Friday. It is a terrible thing to teach children that worship is so optional that it doesn't matter if you are exhausted when you come.
5. Be meek and teachable when you come.-James 12:1 "In meekness receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." Meekness and teachability are not gullibility. If we come with a chip on our shoulder and a suspicion of the preaching week after week, we will not hear the Word of God. Meekness is a humble openness to God's truth with a longing to be changed by it.
6. Be still as you enter the room and focus your mind's attention and heart's affection on God. - Psalm 46:10, As we enter the sanctuary, let us "come on the lookout for God and leave on the lookout for people." Come with a quiet passion to seek God and his power. We will not be an unfriendly church if we are aggressive in our pursuit of God during the prelude and aggressive in our pursuit of visitors during the postlude.
7. Desire the Truth of God's Word more than you desire riches or food. - 1 Peter 2:2 "Like newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." As you sit quietly and pray and meditate on the text and the songs, remind yourself of what Psalm 19:10-11 says about the Words of God "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Taken in Part from:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/1998/1105

If you would like to comment on this newsletter article please click here.

 Click here to listen to the sermon:  "Running the Race"