Week Ahead:
Sunday at 10 with new member installation followed by brunch at 11:30 (All welcome plenty of warm soup and fellowship!)
Sunday evening Christmas Concert at Revival Church 5PM (meets in our sanctuary) followed by a reception meal
Tuesday:
10-12 Bread Ministry
4PM Christmas Eve worship with communion followed by a quick meal for those that need one. Who are you inviting or bringing along?
Wed. For unto us a Savior has been born! Merry Christmas!
Reminders:
1. Don't forget to update your directory entries or add yours!
2. Don't forget to get your cards form the Christmas Mailbox in the lobby
3. Don't forget to pick up your giving envelopes at the back of the sanctuary
4. Sun Dec 29th is the deadline to use your $50. to bless the Kindness Project. If you haven't found someone to bless and want to give to the Kindness Project, put your $50. in an envelope marked for the Kindness Project and place in the offering plate. (We will send a check to them after the 29th)
5. Year end reports need to be submitted shortly
6. Our annual Congregational Meeting is Sun. Jan. 19th after worship in the sanctuary
7. PTL for 15 new members and some other new attendees in 2024! Begin praying for Him to double that in 2025! Who are your five that you are praying for?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Morning Abiding in Christ, Up-Held in God's Hand, Purposeful Followers! Today is a great day to chill at home and abide in God's Word, Love and presence for a spell and to fill up with Hs love. Jesus came to incarnate God's Love and make a way for all to be forgiven and to dwell in God's love forever. Why not start or continue today to abide, receive, prepare and then go to love as He loves us. God created you for such a time as this and has allowed all you have experienced and learned to be prepared to fulfill your purpose which is to incarnate His love. That's put flesh on His love. And remember "love" is an action word. How might His purposes for you be fulfilled today as you abide in His love, fill up with His love and allow Him to love through you? That is really what Christmas is all about. Receiving and sharing God's love. He is Love and He lives in you to love through you! Amen! So how might that play out today and in the days ahead and who might He be partnering you with to go? Do you have a story to share of how God loved through you with our $50. Giving Challenge? I and others would love to hear those stories! Is God stirring you to partner with some of us in the New Year to go love more like Christ and incarnate Him and His love? Let's make some plans! All of us need to be sowing in prayer into what God has for us and for some of us, we need to begin planning to go. Spend some extra time this morning in God's presence and with your open Bibles and our devotionals below. What's he saying to you? What will you do about it! I'm praying for you and us to be guided by his Spirit to his perfect plans and that we all would have open hearts and moving feet to follow well. Amen!
Time to get out and play in the snow as I get ready to get our and about and allow God to bless through me today. How does he want to bless through you? Ask Him and do something about it! Go love as you have been loved! Amen!
Charles Stanley
Upper Room: Safe in God's Hands
Be still, and know that I am God! - Psalm 46:10 (NRSVUE)
When I was a child, every summer our family would rent a cabin on a lake for our vacation. I remember my father trying to teach me how to float in the water while we were there. Standing chest deep in the lake, he instructed me to lie on my back in the water in front of him while resting on his extended arms. Then he told me to relax as he slowly lowered his arms a few inches in the water below my body. And for a brief moment I was floating! But when I couldn’t feel the touch of his arms and fell slightly lower in the water, I started flailing about, trying to save myself from sinking — which ironically caused me to sink faster. But my father never left my side. He was right there to catch me if necessary. I simply needed to relax and trust him.
Whenever I find myself flailing about emotionally over some new frightening or overwhelming situation, I think of this experience and hear the words of our heavenly Father: “Be still, and know that I am God!” God, the Creator of all that exists, is right here with me — with all of us — loving, caring for, and protecting us. How comforting and reassuring it is to know that God will take care of us no matter what happens!
Today's Prayer
Gracious God, help us continually to be aware of your presence and to remember we face nothing alone. Amen.
Sarah Young
The Word for You Today
