LifeBridge Community Church 2162 FM 2187 Rd, Sealy, TX 77474
Saturday, January 31, 2026
8:30 AM – 4:00 PM
Meal, snacks & drinks provided
Join us for community building, ASL, fellowship, and outreach
Purpose of Workshop
This workshop helps hearing friends meet and learn with Deaf people. You will learn how to communicate better with Deaf friends.
Most Deaf people in the world (about 98%) do not know Jesus. In Texas, about 345,000 Deaf people have not learned about Him yet. Many Deaf people are hard to find because they mix with hearing people.
You will learn:
Basic ASL signs
Deaf culture and community
Bible stories with acting
This workshop helps our church communicate better with Deaf members and share God’s love with more Deaf people.
We have nice China and silverware. When we were engaged we were told that’s what couples register for so they can entertain properly.
I think we may have used it 2-3 times in our 34 years of marriage.
So [Zacchaeus] hurried down and received Him joyfully.
LUKE 19:6
You may have noticed, we are not China and silver folks. Paper plates and paper towels for “napkins” works just fine, thank you very much!
Our home is small, but warm. It is clean, but not we don’t keep it in a perpetual state of readiness.
We’re just not the “entertaining type” of people.
Not knocking, of course, those who are! I am amazed by those who do – and enjoy it!
It makes me wonder what type of person that “wee little man,” Zacchaeus was.
We know he was a man of means and wealth due to his career. We know that he was despised because of it, too.
But was he an “entertainer”?
Probably? I wonder.
What we do know is that this man wanted to see Jesus and when Jesus invited Himself to his home, Zacchaeus was excited and “received Him gladly!”
Did he worry about the state of his house? Did he wonder what he would serve the Lord? Did he fret about what Jesus would think of him when he welcomed Him into his home?
I don’t think so.
He “received Him joyfully!”
The heart of Zacchaeus was joyful and glad to have the Lord come to him! His heart received Him before his house did. His heart was prepared, whether or not his house was.
Indeed, the Lord wanted Zacchaeus’ heart, not his home; his mind, not his meal; his soul, not his stuff; his strength, not his station.
Jesus wanted salvation for Zacchaeus and when that was accomplished, others were blessed through Zacchaeus as well!
What would we do if Jesus invited Himself into our home; into our lives; into our hearts?
Would we be concerned about all the preparations that need to be made; worry about the state of it all, or would we set those aside and “receive Him joyfully” regardless of how much of a mess everything is. How much of a mess we are?
Here’s a newsflash: Jesus knows the state of your heart. He is fully aware of the mess that is there.
And because of His love for you invites Himself into your mess anyway!
We may be horrified by the thought, rightly disgusted with how bad we are and unprepared for the Holy One to enter; but He wanted to come anyway.
So receive Him joyfully through the power of the Holy Spirit; for when He comes, lives are transformed! Through faith in Jesus, your life is already transformed! You are already saved! You are already able to see all the areas of your life that are wanting and seek ways to correct and improve through Him!
You are forgiven through the Cross! You are saved through faith in Jesus! He wants to come to you in every way – mess and all! Because of Him we can receive Him joyfully – always!
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving us and pursuing us; inviting Yourself into the mess of our hearts and lives. We receive You joyfully and recommit ourselves to a life transformed by You through the Holy Spirit so that our sanctification can also be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
The day we remember the importance of Scripture as the only source for knowing God and the Way of salvation in Jesus.
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
The foundation for faith. The cradle for comfort. The lamp for living. The Word and the Way.
Ok, I’ll stop.
But it’s important.
Through Scripture we learn about Jesus who sets us free from sin. Free from the Law which condemns. Free from death itself.
All of us were slaves to sin and the Law.
In Jesus we are free and saved.
That’s not just “a big deal,” it’s the only deal that matters!
Jesus is the only Way of freedom and salvation. If we “abide in [His] Word, [we] are truly [His] disciples” (John 8:31) and He sets “us free indeed” (John 8:36).
Believe in Jesus. Follow Him. Trust in Him. Abide in Him. Be free in Him.
A truly reformed life and eternity follows!
“Thank You, Jesus, for setting us free from the law of sin and death. Thank You for that Truth of eternal life and present living. Help us to hold tightly to You in our lives and share You for the lives of others. In Your precious name do we pray. Amen.”
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.”
2 Timothy 3:14
Today’s Scripture is one of my favorites. From the Scriptures “which are able to make wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15) to “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16) to people accumulating “for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3).
So much good stuff.
And so applicable for today.
False teachers who lead people astray are everywhere. “Pastors” and “preachers” who teach what they want instead of what God says. They align themselves with the culture instead of with the Christ; with the world instead of with the Word; with the secular instead of with the sacred.
And people follow them instead of Him.
This is a travesty. This is idolatry. This is heresy.
It does not lead people to paradise but to perdition.
We are called to “continue in what [we] have learned,” – i.e., continue in the Holy, inerrant Word of God and nothing else.
But to “continue” in something means we also need to have learned it in the first place.
We need to constantly and consistently be in the Word, for It is the only rule and norm for living and the only Word that leads to Christ Jesus, the Savior.
Everything else is just for “itching ears” to satisfy sinful hearts and a fallen world.
Continue in the saving Word of God, through faith in Jesus!
Every day. In every way.
“Thank You, Lord, for Your precious, holy, perfect Word, which makes us ‘wise for salvation through faith in Jesus.’ Grant us to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest It daily, so we may dray closer to You, know how to live holy lives, and be ready for all that comes our way. Help us identify false teachers and teachings and instead cling to You, live You, and teach You. Every day. In every way. In Jesus name. Amen.”
