Today is a special day for me...23 years ago today, God saved a wretch like me and I was born again, forgiven, cleansed and made new. I was one way and in the blink of an eye another. Since then I have traveled the road of transformation that comes as I continue to draw close and follow Christ. What a blessing! Thanks Lord! Come have your way with me and continue to transform me more and more into Your image and move me to do the things I was created to do for Your glory! May I live, love, teach, lead and make disciples like Jesus! Come! Have Your way with me! Amen!
Good Morning Saved By Grace, Born Again in Christ Brothers and Sisters! Do you remember your born again story? Who might need to hear it? God has custom made us for such a time as this. He drew us and when we received Jesus as our personal Savior, we received the Holy Spirit in us, His gifts customized for us and empowerment to become the people we are created to be, doing what we are created to do. We are also gathered to His Body to unite and go love like Jesus and make disciples. Who are you in Christ? What are your purposes? That's what we want to work on in 2025 as we seek to come alive in '25 and bring new life alive to all those God is sending us to or to us. What's your part in His Good news Delivery Co.? Who are your teammates. We will be trying to figure all that out over then next few months. Ask God to draw you close, speak to your heart and direct your steps and pray for us to become His dynamic movement of disciple makers. Amen!
There are so many devotionals and things I thought I was to share today as I always go real deep in devotional quiet time on this day. Today we will discuss some of the plans God has for us during our worship time. It will sort of be a kick off for where He may be leading us into the New Year and a recounting of all His blessings in 2024. He does love you and has gathered us to go love well in His name and for His glory. That is really coming alive in and through and around us. PTL! Can you see it and sense His work coming to life? It is and we can rejoice that God is with us always and always working all things together for good. May we commit to trusting more and following earnestly into 2025 and beyond. Revival fires are lit! Let us fan them to flame and may an inferno of His love overwhelm our neighborhoods! Amen! And we all get to be part of that! How cool is that! I can't wait to see what He has for you, me and us in 2025 that's waiting to come to life!
God has spoken to me today and is speaking to some of you as you encounter Him through these devotionals below. Be still and know. Abide then thrive. he has perfect plans just for you and then for us united as His people on mission! Amen
UR: Rejoice and Give Thanks
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. - 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)
Since I was a child, I have attended Sunday school. I have always enjoyed it. In my youth, I embraced the opportunity to teach a preteen Sunday school class. For more than 40 years, my calling has been Christian education in different ministry areas of the church.
In July 2022, at 73 years old, I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. I can already feel the effects of the disease. But I have promised, by God’s incomparable grace, to continue to be in ministry as long as I am able.
The Lord has blessed me with long life, my family, and the fellowship of countless brothers and sisters in the Christian faith. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” God has been my teacher throughout my life, and I will remain grateful to God until the very end.
Today's Prayer
Generous God, thank you for your many blessings and for giving us opportunities to serve. Lead us into your kingdom. Your will be done. Amen.CS:
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When I was a young boy in Ohio, we lived near several construction sites. Inspired by them, my friends and I gathered leftover scraps to build a fort. Borrowing tools from our parents, we hauled wood and spent days trying to make our material serve our purposes. It was fun, but our attempts were poor reflections of the well-constructed buildings around us. They didn’t last long.
In Genesis 11, we encounter a major building construction project. “Let us build ourselves a city,” said the people, “with a tower that reaches to the heavens” (v. 4). A big problem with this effort was that the people did it to “make a name for ourselves” (v. 4).
This has been a recurring issue for humans; we build monuments to ourselves and our achievements. Later in the biblical narrative, this story is contrasted with Solomon’s motivation for building God’s temple: “I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God” (1 Kings 5:5).
Solomon understood that what he built needed to point to God and not himself. This was such an important lesson that he even wrote a psalm about it. Psalm 127 opens with “unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (v. 1). Like my childhood fort-building, what we build will not last, but God’s name and what we do for Him has lasting significance.
By Matt Lucas
REFLECT & PRAY
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What are you building with your life? How is your life bringing honor to God?
Father, please forgive me for the times I’ve focused on myself and not on what You’re doing in the world.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The Hebrew word rendered “build/building” in Genesis 11 is banah (vv. 4, 5, 8). This term can refer to a physical building—whether rebuilding or establishing something—and metaphorically to building a family. Both usages occur in 2 Samuel 7 (see vv. 5, 7, 13, 27). Psalm 127:1 includes the word twice: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” Daniel 4:30 includes the Aramaic counterpart to banah from Nebuchadnezzar: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” In the New Testament “to build” is a metaphor for the work of Christ in establishing His church (see Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:19-22). Building plans that fail to consider Jesus as the master builder (see Hebrews 3:4) are subject to fail.
Arthur Jackson |
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JM
TWFYT
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