This Week:
Tue Zoom Huddle 10am
Tue: Deadline to email spiritual gifts surveys to pastor don. Here's the link: Spiritual Gifts | FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey | Assessment, Analysis, Test
Wed 10-12 Bread Ministry
Wed 6-7:30 Dinner Huddle
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Good Morning Friends! This is coming a little later than normal since I slept in and had to run to a doc appointment. But God was really speaking to me this morning and wants me to share some thoughts with you. So, here I am now! I love how God speaks to us as we still ourselves, seek, abide, listen and receive. Sometimes He makes things very obvious and affirming I/we are hearing Him and on the right track, like today.
God has been stirring me/us to begin some prayer teams and to work at becoming a House of Prayer for the Nations. Besides discovering and working on stepping into our spiritual gifts, prayer is our critical next step for growth and to be moving with God. Start today by spending some time with the Connection Blog about becoming a house of prayer. Yes God is speaking! What's He saying to you about this? Please share with Sarah or me, pray about it, and join with some friends to begin praying earnestly. The prayers of a righteous person (that's anyone who is in Christ) are powerful and effective.! PTL! As we spend time with God and in prayer together, the Holy Spirit will teach us to pray, inform our prayers and move us to be the answer to some prayers. Pretty cool! That is another part of Jesus' easy yoke for you--spend time with God, pray, love and serve just as you are. We will be having more opportunities for corporate (all church) prayer and for developing some prayer teams. Watch for those and keep asking God to lead you to pray and participate.
After some time with the connection prayer letter and starters, check out some of our devotionals for the day that were speaking to my heart and how God wants to speak to your heart. Man! He sure loves us! And He made and gifted us for such a time as this! If we turn off the noise and focus on Him, we will hear Him, feel His love and be empowered to go share it.
Yesterday we looked at parts of Acts 9-11 and realized how God was moving His people out of their comfort zone to go love, serve, and share the Good News with people who were different, maybe even people they didn't like or want to be around. Man, that is so relevant today, isn't it? We obviously live in the Divided States of America just like Israel was a divided nation. Opinions are just that--opinions. And they are usually formed from personal preferences. But like God sent the new believers to those with different lifestyles and opinions, so is He sending us today. How can we bring the love of Jesus and unity in Christ when we are divided? At times, church feels like being part of what it must've been like for the religious elite after Jesus ascended to heaven and this group called the Way began leading people away from them and their rules and ways to the love and easy yoke of Jesus. We learned that many religious elite did come to believe in and follow Jesus in those early days. Jerusalem was divided and persecutions from the elite pushed Jesus' followers out of Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and the world with the Good News. Things got very uncomfortable in divided Jerusalem and God used that to spur His true followers to go spread His love and Good News. Yesterday we experienced Peter being stretched as God sent Him to the Gentiles and God used him and verified that He was in this new things that led to many outsiders joining together with the Jewish believers. Love and unity became the new things for them all and it attracted many more to Jesus. And God's Kingdom expanded despite all the disunity and chaos and even persecution because they were one in Christ, love and mission.
So, we have to be very careful to keep our focus on God and what He's doing and off what is going on in the world around us. We need to keep politics and personal preferences out of our conversations so we can focus on what matters most, Jesus, and become more unified in Christ, His love and His mission for us to those not yet in the Kingdom. Col. 3:11 keeps coming to my mind and it applied back in those early days as well as today: "It doesn't matter if you are Jew or Greek (Gentile), slave or free, Democrat or Republican; Christ is all that matters and He lives in me." And He longs to live and love through me, you, all of us and our unity. Amen! Our questions to God and each other and our prayers should be, "How can we grow in love and unity?" and "How do You want to use us to go live and love and pray and make disciples like Jesus?" And then work on that--earnestly! God has made you for such a time as this and He has gifted you to go grow His Church. What's your part? I'm praying for you and us! Love! Joy! Unity! Prayer Warriors! Disciple Makers! True Friends of God and each other! May that be us! Amen!
Connection Prayer:
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March 3 - Becoming a House of Prayer
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A House of Prayer, besides involving an entire church, can also be a cluster of two or more believers banded together to pray for, care about, and share the blessings of Christ with those who live or work nearby. You can pray alone, but why not join together with one or more believers—your spouse, your family, believing neighbors, or fellow employees—and form a House of Prayer?
Why should I pray for my neighbors?
Your neighbors matter to God. They are precious sons and daughters whom he loves. God grieves over those who are apart from him and wants them to return “home.” Prayer will move them toward the Father, and heaven will rejoice when they come home (Luke 15:7, 11-24). Also, God commands that “requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.” “Everyone” includes your neighbors who God wants “to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4). And, as you bless others, you too will be blessed.
Can I do more than pray?
Yes! Make yourself available to God, and he will lead you into ministries of caring and sharing. You’ll have a threefold impact. By praying, you’ll release God’s grace into people’s lives. By caring, you’ll build bridges of love to them. By sharing the gospel, you’ll help people come to know Jesus Christ and be saved.
Will my prayers really make a difference?
Yes! When we pray, God works! The Bible says, “The prayer of a righteous [person] is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). All of the power in prayer is God’s power, but God has chosen to have this power directed to persons and places through our prayers. Things will happen as you pray that won’t happen if you don’t pray.
In Michigan, for example, House of Prayer members reported that in the neighborhoods they prayed for, people got out of drugs, unemployed people got jobs, a father stopped drinking, two persons were miraculously healed, a person was delivered from an evil spirit, a Bible study began, and five persons came to know Christ.
After a Mississippi church formed Houses of Prayer, the pastor reported, “When we began our Houses of Prayer, almost immediately we saw people begin to come to church who hadn’t been in church for years. We see new faces almost every week. Our attendance in Sunday school has increased by forty percent, and worship attendance by 30 percent. The presence of God is evident weekly.”
How should I pray?
Always pray with a clean heart. The prayers of the righteous are “powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Pray with compassion. Be like Christ, who was moved with compassion toward the needy (Matthew 9:36). Pray with persistence. God listens to those who pray earnestly (Acts 12:5; James 5:17).
How do I start?
Start by saying yes to God. Pray a commitment prayer like this: “God, I know that my neighbors matter very much to you and that you have commanded me to make ‘requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving’ for them. So, out of obedience to you and out of love for my neighbors, I commit myself to ask for your blessings for them for five minutes a day, five days a week, for the next five weeks. I’ll do this, with your help, to the best of my ability. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
–Adapted from Shine His Light: A Simple Way to Pray, Care and Share Jesus in Your Neighborhood by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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- Praise God, whose kindness toward you will last forever and ever.
- Thank God for loving you with an everlasting love and drawing you with lovingkindness (Jer. 31:3).
- Confess any ways in which you have not reflected that kindness to others.
- Commit yourself to considering God’s kindness to you (Rom. 11:22).
- Ask God to clothe you with compassion, kindness, and humility (Col. 3:12).
- Pray that you might have an opportunity this week to tell someone of the many kindnesses of the Lord to you (Isa. 63:7).
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| Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount. |
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Sarah Young:
ODB:
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One winter day in Michigan, a delivery man noticed an elderly woman shoveling snow off her driveway. He stopped and convinced the eighty-one-year-old to let him finish the job. Concerned that he’d be late delivering his other packages, she retrieved another shovel. They worked side by side for almost fifteen minutes as her neighbors watched from afar. “I’m thankful you helped me,” she said. “You’re God-sent.”
During a conversation with an expert in the law, Jesus redefined the concept of loving our neighbors (Luke 10:25-37). When Jesus asked him to interpret the law he knew so well, the expert said, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (v. 27).
Then Jesus shared a story about two religious leaders who ignored a robbery victim. But a Samaritan—a person most Jewish leaders in those days considered inferior—sacrificed to help the man in need (vv. 30-35). When the expert of the law realized that the one who had mercy on the man had loved like a neighbor, Jesus encouraged him to do likewise (vv. 36-37).
Loving others isn’t always easy or convenient. But as Jesus overwhelms us with His love, He’ll help us love all our neighbors like the Good Samaritan did.
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
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How has God shown you His love through an unexpected neighbor? Who can you show God’s love to in a practical way this week?
Dear Jesus, please give me opportunities to love all the people You created and who You call my neighbors.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Luke 10:27-37 features one of Jesus’ more widely known parables—the Good Samaritan. What makes it so remarkable is that Samaritans were outcasts. As a result of Assyria’s invasion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the Israelites intermarried with Assyrians, resulting in this mixed-race people. Though hated by the Jews, Samaritans were clearly people Christ cared about, as seen not only in this parable but also in John 4:1-42 in His encounters with a Samaritan woman and in Luke 17:11-19 with a Samaritan leper. God’s care for the Samaritans is just one example of the comprehensive nature of His love described in John 3:16.
Bill Crowder |
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UR: The Power of the Invitation
Jesus said, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:20 (NRSVUE)
No one knows the right time or place to invite people to become a Christian and into the fellowship of the church. Christians must always be open and willing to provide the invitation.
During my mother’s funeral the minister told a story about my mother. He said, “I wouldn’t be here today if your mother had not invited me to church.” When the minister was a teenager, our church was having a revival. My mother invited his family to come and sit in the pew with us. This began their regular attendance at our church and later a commitment to become Christians and join the church. This changed his life and later inspired him to become a pastor. My mother’s invitation to his family changed his life.
No one knows the time or place that people will be open to an invitation into a fellowship with Christ; as Christians, we must remain open to the leading of God’s Spirit.
Today's Prayer
Dear God, when the opportunity presents itself, help us to be bold and willing to offer Christ to others. We pray the prayer Jesus taught us, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil” (Lk. 11:2-4, KJV). Amen.
Pastor Don
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