|
Tuesday, March 26 2024
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday worship at 10 am live in person and on Zoom. We will receive new members during this service (Don't for get your rocks!). After worship, join us for brunch in the Fellowship Hall! All welcome! Invite a friend!
Good Morning Peace-Bringing, Extravagant-Loving, Powerful Disciples and Apostles of Jesus! That is our Church and that flows from prayer, relationship, time in God's, and processing with teammates. Pronounce this salutation over you and us in prayer and out loud. We are students and sent ones of Jesus. We are sent to incarnate, bring alive, and distribute His peace, love, Good News, hope and help and we are doing so already! PTL! And He has so much more for us as we learn, discern and follow Him! Pray into that! What's your part, distributor? Where does He want to use you as you go about your daily routine? Where has He sent you to be more intentional in your distributing? How does He want to bring to you and then incarnate through you His peace, love, and Good News? He is our power source and He has some great things ahead for you and us today and this year as we earnestly seek to become more in '24 and be used more powerfully. Amen!
Check out our devos below and process them with God and some friends and then go and live and love more like Jesus today! He is with you! Amen! Invite Him to be your Lord today.
Harvest Prayer Blog:
March 23 - Let Your Peace Come
|
|
|
If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. (Matthew 10:13)
Jesus had peace within him. He could not only speak of peace, but could offer it to others. And in a wonderful transference, he gave that ability to his followers. When the peace of Christ becomes a living reality within us, we not only speak of it, but we offer it to others. In practical ways that means we pray God’s peace for others, we model living in peace in front of others, and we offer the good news of the Prince of Peace to those who do not know him. When we do this, we become distributors of the peace of God!
One very practical and historical way of doing this, and of regularly reminding ourselves that we can indeed give peace, is the “passing of peace” during a worship service. I did not grow up in a church tradition where this was practiced, but I find it to be a helpful way of speaking peace into others’ lives and receiving peace from others.
The following excerpt gives some insight into this ancient and modern practice:
“Christian worship is filled with profound actions: heads bowed in prayer, arms raised in praise, standing in reverence during a Scripture reading, coming forward to give an offering. One ancient and significant gesture in worship is the passing of the peace. Passing the peace is a tradition rooted in Scripture that embodies our identity as peacemakers (Matt. 5:9; 2 Cor. 5:20) and trains ours hearts, hands, and tongues in the ways of peace.
From the beginning Christians have exercised this practice. Peace be with you’ is a greeting Jesus himself used with his disciples (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 26). The apostle Paul opened each of his letters with the words “Grace and peace be with you” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2).
Today in many congregations, we may pass the peace during a mutual greeting, after words of assurance, prior to celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or at the conclusion of a worship service. At these times we leave the comfort of our seat, turn to our neighbors, grasp their hands, and speak the words, ‘The peace of the Lord be with you’ and receive the words in turn, ‘And also with you.’
The gesture is simple, but the meaning is profound. When we extend our hand to another, we identify with Jesus, who extended his life to the point of death to make peace with humanity (Col. 1:20-21).
What’s more, in the midst of divisions, we symbolize our unity through handshakes and hugs (Eph. 2:14-21). Likewise, when we regularly pass the peace, we practice God’s call to make every effort to maintain the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3).”
—from ReformedWorship.org, Issue 99, March 2011
Whether you choose to “pass the peace” in worship gatherings or not, we all need to accept our role as those who are emissaries of the Prince of Peace. We live out his peace in our lives. We look for ways to give his peace to others. We learn to shout with the angels outside of Bethlehem long ago, “on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
Choose today to whom you will give the peace of Christ. Ask the Lord to open the door for you to do so.
Lord, thank you for giving me your peace. You literally spoke it into being in my life and I am so grateful. Help me to carry your peace with me wherever I go. Forgive me when I have failed and instead brought division and dissension. Show me how I can give your peace to those around me today.
--Adapted from Prayer, Peace and the Presence of God (A 30-Day Journey to Experience the Shalom of Jesus) by David Butts.
|
|
ODB:
|
My seatmate on the flight told me she was nonreligious and had immigrated to a town that was home to numerous Christians. When she mentioned that most of her neighbors went to church, I asked about her experience. She said she could never repay their generosity. When she brought her disabled father to her new country, her neighbors built a ramp to her house and donated a hospital bed and medical supplies. She said, “If being a Christian makes one so kind, everyone should be a Christian.”
Exactly what Jesus hoped she’d say! He told His disciples, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Peter heard Christ’s command and passed it on: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12).
Our neighbors who don’t have faith in Jesus may not understand what we believe and why we believe it. Don’t sweat it, as long as there’s one more thing they can’t understand: the extravagance of our love. My seatmate marveled that her Christian neighbors continue to care for her even though she isn’t, in her words, “one of them.” She knows she’s loved, for Jesus’ sake, and she gives thanks to God. She may not yet believe in Him, but she’s grateful that others do.
By Mike Wittmer
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
Who do you know who needs Jesus? How can you love them for His sake?
Heavenly Father, let Your light shine through me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In the books of 1 and 2 Peter, the apostle Peter writes to comfort and encourage Jewish believers in Jesus “who are living as foreigners” (1 Peter 1:1 nlt)—known as the Jewish diaspora—throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and are now facing persecution because of their faith in Christ (vv. 1, 6). As a disciple of Jesus, Peter understood, for he too was persecuted and even jailed three times for sharing the gospel. The apostle most likely wrote his letters around ad 62-65 from Rome, where it’s believed he was martyred during Emperor Nero’s rule. At this time in the Roman Empire, Nero initiated a great persecution of believers in Jesus who were tortured and killed for their faith. Peter wrote to encourage believers in Jesus to live in such a way that nonbelievers would be drawn to Him—with lives characterized by good deeds, even though they were far from home and in difficult circumstances (2:12).
Alyson Kieda |
|
|
|
|
|
UR: Our Source of Power
The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. - Matthew 4:16 (NIV)
It is six o’clock on a cold winter morning, and I am in darkness. The power will be off for more than two hours, as our national power grid is no longer sufficient to supply the needs of our population. To eke out and share the available power, we have rotational power outages known as “rolling blackouts” or “load-shedding.”
But the world outside is not completely dark. In the street, the bright lights of cars move boldly through the darkness. These vehicles carry within themselves a power source that constantly regenerates.
I liken these vehicles to faithful Christians, who relentlessly move forward in an often dark world. When the power of the world is no longer sufficient to sustain us, we have a continuous and never-failing power source available to us — the light of Christ. We carry Christ’s love within ourselves and regenerate it through studying scripture, worshiping, and loving others even as we move forward in the darkness.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Source of Light, we praise you and thank you for all the beacons that you place along our path to direct us and lead us to your never-failing light and love. Amen.TWFYT:
|
|
LISTEN ONLINE
