Good Morning Worshipers! Prepare your hearts to worship at 10 live and on Zoom with Children's Church. Who ya bringing along? May we worship in spirit and truth today and spur each other on to the good works God has for us! Amen! Enter His courts with thanksgiving!
Do you ever feel like your just going through the motions? How about disconnected from God? That's been me since vacation. It feels like I'm in this fog that never returned fully and in some ways like I'm living on borrowed time. Yet aren't we all? Our days our numbered. Are we making the most of them? I had to cry out to God to draw me back. Forgive me. Help me to get back in the game and have some mojo. I asked for me to shed the old and put on the new nature fully and to stay connected and reactive to what God is doing in each moment. I prayed for wisdom to lead like Jesus and make disciples. I asked for help to die to self and be all in doing all that He created me to do. I expect those prayers to transform me this week from being one way to another because of Him! Thanks Lord! How about you? What's God wanting to do in and through you? Talk to Him about that and process with others! (Maybe God is rewriting today's message?) I know He is speaking to me and maybe some of you as well right now! COME! Speak Lord! Have Your way with me and us and bring revival and lead us to your best! Amen! Prepare our hearts to worship in Spirit and Truth as we enter your courts with praise!
God used me and spoke to my heart Friday evening aS WE FELLOWSHIPED WITH SOME FRIENDS. God spoke to my heart this morning as someone reached out in possible despair to encourage and share through our devotionals. I hope we can process some this week and seek clarity and direction for both of us. God is at work and wanting to speak to your heart and use you to bless others. Sometimes He allows testing of our faith to grow us and prepare us. he knows our needs and provides as we seek Him and put Him and His ways first. Don't lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him and process with others and allow Him to direct your steps. Plus He has some helpers for you and is preparing and sending you to help others. Rejoice! Start with counting your blessings, dying to self, taking up cross, acknowledging Him in all your ways. Then yoke to Jesus and allow Him to lead you to His best and use you, as you are created, to bring Him glory. Amen! Know His shalom! Follow Him! Amen! See you soon! Day Lights burning! It's time to get back in the game! Help Lord! Amen!
You matter! He has great plans for you! He's speaking to your heart right now and calling you by name. He's wanting to lead you from being one way to another. Will you seek Him and allow Him to lead you to His best and your custom made purposes? It will be great and the best life you could ever know this side of heaven! Come and see as we follow together! Nothing is impossible nor too small for God! Amen! We all matter and we all have a part in His Good News Deliver Co. As we fulfill our created and gathered purposes and follow Him out to others, we and the world around us will be changed! We will move from what was to His new best and things will be different! PTL! get used to different and allow Him to move you and us from being one way to His best way! Amen
Charles Stanley:
ODB:
|
Lando, a jeepney (a form of public transport in the Philippines) driver in Manila, gulped down coffee at a roadside stall. Daily commuters were back again after the Covid-19 lockdowns. And the sports event today means more passengers, he thought. I’ll get back lost income. Finally, I can stop worrying.
He was about to start driving when he spotted Ronnie on a bench nearby. The street sweeper looked troubled, like he needed to talk. But every minute counts, Lando thought. The more passengers, the more income. I can’t linger. But he sensed that God wanted him to approach Ronnie, so he did.
Jesus understood how difficult it is not to worry (Matthew 6:25-27), so He assures us that our heavenly Father knows exactly what we need (v. 32). We’re reminded not to be anxious, but to trust Him and devote ourselves to doing what He wants us to do (vv. 31-33). As we embrace and obey His purposes, we can have confidence that our Father who “clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire” will provide for us according to His will—just as He provides for all creation (v. 30).
Because of Lando’s conversation with Ronnie, the street sweeper eventually prayed to become a believer in Christ. “And God still provided enough passengers that day,” Lando shared. “He reminded me my needs were His concern, mine was simply to follow Him.”
By Karen Huang
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
What anxieties weigh on your heart? What steps can you take to surrender your cares to God?
Dear God, I don’t need to worry because You’ve promised to care and provide for me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The observance of the Sabbath was a contentious issue for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day (Matthew 12:1-12; Mark 3:2-5; Luke 13:10-16). But here in Matthew 6, Christ outlines the heart behind the Sabbath as God instituted it long ago.
The Sabbath was intended to remind the Israelites that God would care for them. They could put aside gathering food and supplies one day a week and one year in seven. It was a rhythm of putting into practice exactly what Jesus said: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (v. 25). Sabbath has always been seeking first the kingdom of heaven.
Jed Ostoich |
|
|
|
|
|
UR: An Army of Helpers
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
Several years ago, a close family friend and brother in Christ was diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer. Along with the diagnosis came a multitude of concerns. Our friend was the principal breadwinner, so how long could he work to support his family? It was a frightening time.
The apostle Paul admonished the church in Galatia to bear one another’s burdens. Through our friend’s long struggle with cancer, God taught me and others the true meaning of Paul’s words. To carry another’s burden, we must sacrifice something, whether time, energy, or money. Some families combined resources to pay our friend’s rent and bills. Some gave gift cards for groceries. Some volunteered to drive him back and forth to chemotherapy appointments. A veritable army of helpers stepped up to bear this family’s burdens. Above all, we were in constant prayer for our friend’s healing.
We also learned that when God calls us to bear one another’s burdens, it doesn’t mean that we must carry all of it alone; we only need to carry the piece we are given. My piece might not look like your piece. But if we each carry our part, then it lessens the overall load. In carrying others’ burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ — to love one another as God has loved us.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear Jesus, teach us how to love others as you love us. Help us to bear the burdens of others with compassion. Amen.TWFYT:
LISTEN ONLINE
