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Wednesday, April 24 2024
Good Morning Pursued, Celebrated, Unique, Very Loved, Attached to the Vine, Part of God's Body! If you are in Christ--born again--that is you! Jesus created you for unique purposes and made you just as you are. He pursued you and led you to receive His love and be born again. As a new creation, He gifted and empowered you with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts to do the very purposes He created you to do. As we stay connected to the Vine and sink our roots deep into God and His Word, we may be, well most likely will be, pruned. Why? So we can produce good and lasting fruit as we learn to stay connected to Jesus, our Vine, and do our part as one of His branches to produce the fruit we are created to produce. Amen! May it be so Lord!
When you think about all this and meditate on who God is and all He has done for you, you can't help but feel loved, want to worship and become motivated to do your part. He sings over you and encourages and helps you to be all you are created to be and do all you are created to do. Now that will take some pruning and testing. Receive it with thanksgiving and abide in the Vine and allow Him to grow you into your fullest potential. There is so much joy and satisfaction when that becomes the norm. We all have a part to play as part of His Body or vineyard.
Here's another really cool thing: new branches are being grafted into our Vine and we are growing stronger and being prepared to produce new, good and lasting fruit. Amen! Check out our devos below and how God threaded this message together. He's speaking to your heart, singing over you and molding and shaping you to be His best steward and producer. Amen! And He's brought us together and is adding new branches so that we will produce more fruit and connect to new branches that are awaiting being grafted into our Vine. It's really cool to see and watch as God leads us to His new things for you and St. Matts. I'm stoked and can't wait to see what the next few years hold for us as we connect to more and more and make more and more disciples of Jesus! I praise you all too for letting go of expectations and releasing what lies behind and focusing ahead on the new things God has for us that will allow us to be relevant to new generations, join God in the new things He has for us, continue our legacy of being His people on mission with Him and changing the world around us one soul at a time. Keep surrendering, inviting Jesus to be your Lord, attaching to His yoke and following to your purposes as you continue to run your race well and do your part in His Good News Deliver Co. He has great plans for you and us! Keep living and loving like Jesus daily and partnering with friends to go and grow together! Amen! You are God's masterpiece, made new in Christ to do the things He planned for you from long ago. (Eph. 2:10). PTL! What's He have for you today to grow you into your fuller potential and/or go connect to some new branches? He's wanting to seek and save the lost and use you! PTL!
Charles Stanley:
ODB:
In his essay “Service and the Spectrum,” Professor Daniel Bowman Jr. writes of the difficulty of navigating decisions about how to serve his church as an autistic person. He explains, “Autistic people have to forge a new path forward every single time, a unique path that takes into account . . . mental, emotional, and physical energy . . . alone/recharging time; sensory inputs and comfort level . . . time of day; whether or not we’re being valued for our strengths and accommodated for our needs rather than excluded for perceived deficits; and much more.” For many people, Bowman writes, such decisions, “while reorienting people’s time and energy, likely will not undo them. Those same decisions might well undo me.”
Bowman believes that the vision of mutuality Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12 could be a healing solution. There, in verses 4-6, Paul describes God uniquely gifting each of His people for “the common good” (v. 7). Each is an “indispensable” member of Christ’s body (v. 22). When churches come to understand each person’s unique, God-given wiring and gifting, instead of pressuring everyone to help in the same way, they can support their members to serve in ways that fit their giftings.
In this way, each person can find flourishing and wholeness and be secure in their valued place in Christ’s body (v. 26).
By Monica La Rose
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How have you been blessed by others’ unique gifts? How can churches encourage diverse ways to serve?
Dear God, thank You for creating us all uniquely. Please help me to value every member of Christ’s body.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Paul couldn’t have chosen a better metaphor for the harmonious working together of the church than the human body. Instinctively, the members of our bodies work together for useful, purposeful living. Before commenting about body parts functioning differently according to design (1 Corinthians 12:14-26), the apostle elaborated on what believers in Jesus have in common (vv. 4-13). The same trinitarian God (“Spirit,” v. 4; “Lord,” v. 5; “God,” v. 6) is at work in and through the dynamic but different kinds of gifts, services, and workings in the church. The same Spirit at work in those with speaking gifts (v. 8) sovereignly manifests Himself through other gifts (vv. 9-10). “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit” (v. 11). Understanding our “spiritual sameness” liberates us to love, accept, and serve others who are different.
Arthur Jackson |
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UR: God Provides Strength
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. - Hebrews 12:3 (NIV)
I loved coaching the eight-year-old Rangers Little League team. They learned an important life lesson during the season-ending tournament. The Rangers had yet to win a game, and the team and their parents couldn’t wait for the season to be over.
Fully expecting to lose, we played our first game of the tournament and won. The next day, we won again. The third game was against the best team in the league. They had dominated the league all season. Our team said, “We don’t stand a chance.” But I told them anything is possible, and that is why we play the game. We won the final game by a landslide.
As I contemplate the lesson the Rangers learned that day, I am reminded of our passage in Hebrews where we are instructed to run the race that has been marked for us. Although we face opposition, we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and should not grow weary in our efforts. We must never give up or lose heart. When we face challenges that seem insurmountable, we need only to place our focus on God and God’s promises. Our God will provide the strength we need for what lies ahead.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, as we run our race, help us to fix our eyes on you and not grow weary. Amen.
TWFYT
Don 
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