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Saturday, December 14 2024
Pastor Don and Karen will be on vacation after today until the 15th. There will probably be no blogs this week as we disconnect and recharge. May God bless your week ahead and our worship today! Amen!
Good Morning Redeemed, Restored, Very Loved, Loving Servants! Amen! Thanks Lord! Just pause a bit and dwell in His patient, redeeming, restoring love. You are so loved and created to be filled to overflowing with His love for such a time as this! He comes to you with open arms this morning and receives you into His loving arms. He embraces you in His love and fills you to overflowing with it. He then sends you to love like Him as you travel through each day, right where He placed you. I could spend a day contemplating and receiving and preparing and then going to share this amazing love. Just sit and dwell and worship this morning. Prepare your hearts to worship and to go in His love.
Begin with the Harvest Blog below speaking into life with our Wonderful Counselor. What's God whispering to you this morning? Think about all that becomes available to you as you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. Contemplate Our Daily Bread and your call and commission to go love like Jesus as you share the Good News of Jesus. Grow in trust as you experience His faithful love and engage with the Upper Room and their reminder that we are saved in love to go love and prepare your heart to do so. Charles Stanley continues to remind you of God's open arms of love even for prodigals that you may have been or are praying for! He runs to you with open arms of love. Sarah Young reminds us we are made for more than we can imagine and that we can come to God with open hands and hearts, just as we are, and He will receive and bless us as we find our completion in Him. And all of this leads to The Word for You Today's reminder that our words do matter and that to love others well, we need to receive God's love, embrace it and love ourselves well--even speaking His love and Truth over ourselves. Yes we are very loved, created in love, redeemed and restored in love and sent and helped to go love like Jesus. Amen! Where may He be leading you today to do so? Start by dwelling in His love and speaking His Truths over yourself and then allow Him to transform, equip and use you well! I know He has some stories to write through you! Walk with Him and in His love, peace and joy and go bring that alive today! Amen! Pray for how God wants to use your $50. to go bless someone and share His helping love. Ask Him who your partners are to team up with to grow and go in His love together. He indeed has great plans custom made for you for such a time as this. It all begins, proceeds through and is completed with and in Love! PTL! You are loved and you know Love and He lives in you and loves through you! PTL!
Have a great day of worship and week ahead as you dwell and go in love. Amen and shalom! I can't wait to hear your stories when we get back! Shalom shalom!
Harvest:
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December 8 - Second Sunday of Advent
Wonderful Counselor
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Father, I praise You, for all things come from You! You are wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom! You have sent Jesus to be my Wonderful Counselor. Thank You that the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and power rest on Him and that He is the One Who intercedes on my behalf before Your throne. Thank You for the instruction and counsel You give to me. May I always trust in You and not be dismayed by the circumstances that seem to have hemmed me in.
For the relationships in my life that are in disrepair, I ask for Your wisdom O God, and humility to serve others out of my love for You.
In the handling of my finances and in the circumstances I find myself, give me Your wisdom Father.
For the decisions that I face in the arena of life where You have placed me, I confess that apart from You I can do nothing and need Your wisdom Lord.
At the very depths of who I am may I have Your wisdom, that I might respond in each situation that I face as one who has listened to Your counsel. O how I long to hear your voice more clearly and submit to Your counsel!
Forgive me I pray, for the times that I have been wise in my own eyes, for running ahead of You or excluding You completely from decisions that I make. I have been foolish, forgive me O Lord.
By Your Spirit, help me to truly revere You that wisdom may be found in me. Like Jesus who was anointed to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the spiritually imprisoned, blind and oppressed, may I reflect His likeness and become a person of wisdom and godly counsel. Use me I pray to see captives set free!
I trust in Your Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me in all truth and I thank You Father for the promise of Your Word that You will be a sure foundation for my times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. In the midst of the pull of the world, remind me I pray, that revering You is the key to this great treasure. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Isaiah 28:29; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 11:2; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Psalm 16:9; Isaiah 28:16; James 1:5; Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 3:7; Psalm 111:10; Luke 4:18; Psalm 73:24; John 16:13; Isaiah 33:6)
--By Tiece L. King, author of the Pray the Word series: Pray the Word: 90 Prayers That Touch the Heart of God, Pray the Word: 31 Prayers That Touch the Heart of God, Pray the Word for Your Church. These resources are available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise God for confiding in those who love him (Ps. 25:14).
- Give thanks for this developing relationship God has established with you.
- Confess those times when you have refused to share intimately with God.
- Commit yourself to seeking his companionship daily.
- Ask God to create within you a desire for intimacy, total honesty, acceptance, and joy in his presence.
- Ask God to give you the opportunity and courage to befriend a person seeking a meaningful friendship. Ask that Jesus will be the center of your relationship.
Prayer Pointer
“It is not possible to explain the power and effectiveness of the New Testament church without reference to prayer.” —Anonymous
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ODB:
New Life in Jesus
Repent and be baptized . . . in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Acts 2:38
READ Acts 2:29-39
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Growing up together in Central Asia, Baheer and Medet were the best of friends. But when Baheer became a believer in Jesus, everything changed. After Medet reported him to government authorities, Baheer endured excruciating torture. The guard growled, “This mouth will never speak the name of Jesus again.” Though badly bloodied, Baheer managed to say that they might stop him speaking of Christ, but they’d never “change what He has done in my heart.”
Those words remained with Medet. Some months later, having suffered illness and loss, Medet traveled to find Baheer, who had been released from prison. Turning from his pride, he asked his friend to introduce him to his Jesus.
Medet acted on the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the same way that those who gathered around Peter on the feast of Pentecost were “cut to the heart” when they witnessed God’s outpouring of grace and heard Peter’s testimony about Christ (Acts 2:37). Peter called the people to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and some three thousand did. Just as they left their old ways of life behind, so too did Medet repent and follow the Savior.
The gift of new life in Jesus is available to everyone who believes in Him. Whatever we’ve done, we can enjoy the forgiveness of our sins when we trust in Him.
By Amy Boucher Pye
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How do you think Baheer felt when Medet asked him to introduce him to Jesus? How does a relationship with Him help us in the time of trial?
Saving Jesus, thank You for dying on the cross and rising to new life. I place my trust in You.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The aim of Peter’s preaching in Acts 2:14-41 was to help his hearers find new life in Jesus. The apostle knew his Jewish audience (vv. 14, 22, 29). Because they were a Scripture-informed people, his preaching included references to the Old Testament Scriptures: Joel 2 (Acts 2:17-21), Psalm 16 (Acts 2:25-28), and Psalm 110 (Acts 2:34-35). Finally, Peter instructed his hearers how to embrace Christ and the new life they’d heard about: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Arthur Jackson |
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UR: The Gift of Love
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. - 1 John 4:10-11 (NIV)
As a child, I always looked forward to Christmas because we usually traveled back home to visit our extended family. We gave and received lots of gifts and ate nice meals together. I remember my mom and aunties cooking large meals together — spending almost all day in the kitchen. Those meals were served to us in large dishes and trays while we all sat together on the floor and enjoyed them. We also shared gifts and food with villagers in need. Spending Christmas together like this created a special bond. The love we had for each other was easy to see, and it has stayed with me throughout my life.
My Christmas experience as a child reminds me of what God expects of us, which is to share God’s love for us through our love for others. The season of Christmas is a great opportunity to spread the love of God to family, friends, and everyone around us by spending quality time with them, sharing gifts and meals, and even sharing the word of God together. Through these actions, we can radiate the love of God, teach others how to love, and create long-lasting memories with the people around us.
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, give us the strength to follow your example. Help us to love those around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Charles Stanley
Sarah Young
TWFYT
Don
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