One of the most important issues in any of our lives is that of making choices. We make them every day - big ones like who to marry, what career to choose, what city to live in. But equally as significant are the everyday decisions that we make, the consequences of which add up to be just as significant as the momentous decisions.

The choices we make are going to determine our destiny. I've heard someone say that most decisions can be made by any reasonably competent person of average intelligence. But there are a small number of decisions that are life-changing. Even the small decisions end up really making a difference because we make them on such a regular basis.

When I was in high school, I looked at all the career opportunities that I could pursue. I thought about going into business, becoming a journalist, and also about teaching. But in the end I couldn't avoid the sense that I should become a pastor. There were all kinds of good and bad things that factored into that decision, but let me tell you the bad.

The bad is that I made a separation between everyday work and spiritual work. Do you get what I mean? It's like I made two lists. One one list I put ordinary secular work: business, commerce, construction, law, writing, teaching. On the second list I put things like pastoring, being a missionary, teaching in seminary - that's about it. I thought that you can do ordinary, everyday work, or you can do spiritual work that really matters.

I don't know where I came up with this view, but I know I'm not alone. If you follow this to its logical conclusion then all of you work to make a living and to support those of us who are doing important work. But nothing could be farther from the truth.

Today I want to look at what the book of Proverbs says about work. I hope that it will change the way that you think about career and vocation. I want to ask three questions:

• What does it say about work?
• Why does it say what it does?
• Finally, how does this impact what you do?

Sermon from June 22, 2008 by Darryl Dash - Audio | Transcript

You might expect the Bible to tell you to work hard. What's surprising is the reason behind why we should work. Join us Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as we look at what Proverbs says about work, and why it's different from what you might think.

Sermon from June 15,2008 by Darryl Dash - Audio | Transcript

Words Matter

Let me see if you can finish a sentence that I begin. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but..."

You're right, you got it. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." I don't know who ever thought of this saying, but they lied. It's not true at all. Sticks and stones will hurt your bones, but words can actually break your heart. Words matter.

Let me ask you: What's the meanest thing that anyone ever said to you? You may have heard of the person who pretended to be a 16-year-old boy on MySpace. She became "friends" with Megan Meier, age 13. After starting out nicely, the person, pretending to be a teenage boy, started sending Megan messages like, "I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends." More messages like this came. Tragically, Megan became so upset by these messages that she took her own life. Sticks and stones can break bones, but words can break a heart. Words can kill.

This Sunday is our monthly family service. People of all ages will join us for our worship service. We'll be looking at the power of words from the book of Proverbs, and praying that we will have wisdom in our relationships to use words that will bring life. Join us on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Sermon from June 8, 2008 by Darryl Dash - Audio | Transcript

Sermon from June 1, 2008 by Darryl Dash - Audio | Transcript

Sermon from May 25, 2008 by Darryl Dash - Audio | Transcript

I'd like to ask you to think for a minute about what you desire the most in your life. It could be anything, really: a better house, success in your career, an accomplishment, popular acclaim, marriage, children, a comfortable retirement. But for everyone here, there is something that you think about, that you're working towards, that gives your life some meaning. As someone has said, "There is woven inside each of us a desire for something more - a craving to be part of something bigger, greater, and more profound than our relatively meaningless day-to-day experience" (Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More).

I'll give you an example. Remember Rocky, the first one way back in 1976? When Adrian, his girlfriend, asked him why he trains so hard, beating up meat in the freezer and running up those stairs in Philadelphia, Rocky answers, "I just want to go 15 rounds cause then I'll know I'm not a bum." There is something in your life that you are striving towards. It gives you identity, and if you attain what you're hoping for, then you know you're not a bum.

Come hear what God is doing through the Macleans! Date: Thursday June 19.

A potluck will take place from 6-7 PM - If your last name begins with a letter between A-K, please bring sandwiches. If your last name starts with L-Z, please bring salad or veggies and dip. The seniors ministry will provide dessert. NOTE: This will replace our regular Sunday potluck for June. Please sign up in the foyer to help with the potluck.

A presentation by the Macleans will take place from 7-8 PM. Childcare is provided for children between nursery and grade 5.

Envy is considered one of the seven deadly sins. But what's so bad about it? Join us Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as we look at what the book of Proverbs says about envy. We will also celebrate communion.

Garage Sale

Yesterday's garage sale at Richview was a phenomenal success. I have to admit being very nervous when I realized the sale would be moved indoors due to weather, but in the end things worked out better. We made about three times what we did last year. So far the total is around $9,800 and climbing. This money is going to be used for water projects in Guatemala through Living Water International, as well as to send some of our youth to help out there or in some other country on a short-term trip.

There are lots of individual stories to tell about the sale, but the highlight for me was seeing the number of people who gave tons of energy and time to making this happen. God answered our prayers; what an amazing day. More pictures here. Thanks to our Junior and Senior High kids and leaders for making this happen.

I really don't know what I was thinking when I planned this series. Last week we talked about sex, and this week we're talking about money. I seem to be heading into all kinds of trouble. You don't get much more personal than talking about sex and money, but both are recurring themes in the book of Proverbs. That's why we're talking about them. We can't live wisely unless we learn to live wisely when it comes to our sexuality, and also with our money.

We had mice in our house a few years ago. I set out all kinds of traps. One day I went to a trap and discovered a mouse there. I took the trap over the garbage and released the trap, expecting the dead mouse to drop into the garbage pail. Instead it ran away. That dumb mouse was smart enough to play dead until it could escape. That mouse may have been smart enough to escape the first time, but I'm pretty sure I captured it again, and that time it didn't get away.

Here's what we need to know: There are some traps that we tend to fall into. These traps have been around for thousands of years. The writer of the book of Proverbs has identified some of these areas, and offers advice to us on what we need to do to avoid setting off the traps and therefore ruining our lives.

One of the areas in which there are a lot of traps is the area of money. So today I want to look at what the book of Proverbs says about money. There's no way that we can look at everything the book of Proverbs says about money. I would encourage you to do what I end up doing with each of the topics we're looking at: to read through the entire book and to select the proverbs that have to do with a particular topic.