If you have time for nothing else today, click this link, meditate and pray along with Harvest Kim's blog (I often pray like this and experience God's faithful answers): https://www.harvestprayer.com/a-prayer-to-be-christlike/

Don't forget it's Brunch Sunday (as well as new member installation) All are welcome! Who are you inviting?

 

Good Morning Saved, Delivered, Redeemed, Restored, Filled with Overflowing Love, Co-Laborers! Amen! Thanks Lord! Your Kingdom come and will be done today in, through and around us and all for Your glory. Amen! Today's devotionals below flow through this salutation to your mind and fill your heart with God's loving Word for you and us. Be still. Know. Receive. And follow well today. What love we know and get to share! Thanks Lord! Come alive to us and through us today. Amen. And remember part of God's best plans for you includes others--teammates--co-laborers--pray-ers--encouragers--friends of God! Keep praying for how God wants to use you as a co-laborer and for 2-3 to unite with on His journey of love and rescue. He really does have great plans for you, just as you are and for us as His Body. Seek first His Kingdom and righteousness. Don't lean on your own understanding. Unite as one in Christ and allow Him to use you for your purposes in His Good News Delivery Company. Then watch for the great fruit to come that has already begun to bud as we move from pruning, abiding, growing, to great fruit. Amen!

God sent His Son just for you. He loves you and is calling you by name to come shelter under His wings and to grow in Him. He will then launch you to fulfill your purposes. He will be glorified as you do and His Kingdom will burst forth in a harvest of many blessings! Amen! Come Lord! Have Your way with me for Your glory! Yes Your Kingdom come and will be done in, through and around me and us today. Amen

Our Daily Bread reminds us that Jesus came to rescue and deliver us and to open up heaven for us. PTL! Sarah Young reminds us that sometimes we are feeling far from God, unlovable and empty. BUT GOD! Jesus says bring that to me and as you abide in me you will grow closer to me, know my heart for you and be able to take that next step of faith I have for you. The Upper Room continues this line of truth with the reminder that God promises to turn our burdens to joys, if we allow Him to do so. He may even be sending you to help someone with this or bringing to mind someone that can help you. Will you reach out with or to receive His loving help? Charles Stanley brings to light the truth that we are commanded to love like Jesus and to love one another as part of our mission here on earth. As we do and as we focus on God and joining Him with his plans for us, we will be refreshed and refocused and able to praise and be used by Him. He does have great plans for you no matter your circumstances. Seek Him and invite Him to send you today. The last devo is a new one that I will be using with our Vision Team and some of you in the new year. It's all about God's plans to unite us as one on mission with Him to light up the world around us and make disciples together. We are called to move from individual focuses to a unity of Body and mission to go be Jesus and bring Him and His ways alive together. As we do we are able to refocus from self to God and others and able to experience His best for us and others. How cool is that! Rejoice! Abide and then thrive together for His glory! Amen! I'm praying expectantly with much thanksgiving for what God has planned for you and us in 2025. yes he will come alive in '25 and we get to be part of that! PTL!

ODB:

Jesus Our Rescuer You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21 READ Matthew 1:18-25 LISTEN ONLINE What began as a normal cable car ride across a Pakistani valley turned into a frightful ordeal. Shortly after the ride began, two supporting cables snapped, leaving eight passengers—including school children—suspended hundreds of feet in the air. The situation sparked an arduous twelve-hour rescue operation by the Pakistani military, who used ziplines, helicopters, and more to rescue the passengers. Those well-trained rescuers are to be commended, but their work pales in comparison to the eternal work of Jesus, whose mission was to save and rescue us from sin and death. Prior to Christ’s birth, an angel instructed Joseph to take Mary home because her pregnancy was from “the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18, 20). Joseph was also told to name his son Jesus, because He would “save his people from their sins” (v. 21). Yet, while this name was common in the first century, only this child was qualified to be the Savior (Luke 2:30-32). Christ came at the right time to seal and secure the eternal salvation of all who repent and believe in Him. We were all trapped in the cable car of sin and death, suspended over the valley of eternal separation from God. But in His love and grace, Jesus came to rescue us and bring us safely home to our heavenly Father. Praise Him! By Marvin Williams REFLECT & PRAY What significant mission would Mary’s baby have? What does the rescue Jesus secured mean to you? Dear Jesus, please help me to rejoice in the reality that though I once was lost, I can now be found because of Your grace.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Matthew clearly states that Mary was pregnant “before [she and Joseph] came together” (1:18). Joseph would have considered this apparent violation of their engagement to be the same as adultery, which carried the death penalty (Leviticus 20:10). That Joseph, who was “faithful to the law” (Matthew 1:19), planned to divorce Mary discreetly reveals his gracious character. Just as important, he believed what the angel told him (v. 24) and married Mary. This exposed them both to public ridicule. When Jesus later returned to “his hometown” to carry out His ministry, the people wondered, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? . . . Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (13:54-55). But He was more than just “the carpenter’s son.” He was the Messiah. Tim Gustafson

SY:

 

UR: Burdens into Joys

Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son. - Genesis 18:14 (NIV)

I am at a point in my life where nothing seems to be working out. I am a college freshman with too many bills to pay, parents who are on the verge of separating, and lots of anxiety about the future. I do not know what lies ahead.

What I do know for sure is that God is a miracle-working God. But there are moments when I find it difficult to see even a tiny glimpse of hope. I find myself wondering, Does God actually care? Can God turn my heart’s burdens into joy?

There are so many reasons for my heart to worry, to be anxious, to be restless. But I find peace knowing that nothing is impossible for God. After all, God was able to give Abraham and Sarah a child despite their old age. Remembering this, I find myself rejoicing in all my battles. The story of Abraham and Sarah is a call to trust the Lord even more in situations that we cannot understand. It is in those situations where God’s name is glorified. We may not be able to see the solutions for our problems, but we can trust that God can. Nothing is impossible for our great God.

Today's Prayer

Dear Lord, help us to trust your timing and your plans. You are our source of hope. Amen.CS:

 

I to We: Jesus' Word to you: "I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit that will last."