Today: 10-12 Bread Ministry; 6-7:30 Dinner Huddle Pizza Party (end of season gathering)
Sat. Clothing Closet 10-1
Sun Worship at 10 (Collect for Everlasting Life Ministry) NOTE: There is a Spring Offering envelope in your giving envelope boxes. This will be used to help offset the cost of an organist that you voted for. So far we have collected about $1000 of the $10,000. needed)
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Good Morning Cheerfully Trusting Ministers of the Lord! Amen! let's choose that as we step into God's new things and plans for us today! Rejoice! Praise! Trust! And allow God to love through you! What joy and peace we can know as we get to choose and do these things! We are made for such a time as this! Let's start choosing to live it! May we always be known for a love, joy, unity, and hope that attracts many to Jesus! Keep praying for God to draw and more and use us. Keep praying for dreams and visions and ideas for how to connect to new people and connect them to God. Keep praying for revival and for us to be God's vessels for that. Keep praying for us to let go of the old traditions that are not reaching and ministering to new people and trust God to lead us to His new things that are relevant to the lost and new believers as ways to connect to God better. He has a plan that includes pruning, abiding and stretching and transforming us to be His ministers of reconciliation and new life. Ask Him what he desires of you and us and to lead you to your part. Ask Him what He may be wanting you and us to crucify as we die to self and allow Jesus to lead us to His new things and easy yoke. You are loved! Coming as you are does not mean you get to stay as you are! Meditate on that today. What is God's desire for you and us to allow, even invite Him to, mold us, shape us and transform us for such a time as this. He loves to answer those kind of prayers and to change us and our ways to His image and ways. Seek first the Kingdom, Let go of the rest. Trust God and choose joy as you follow Him today. And build those gratitude lists because there is so much praise and worthiness of God to focus upon. rejoice and know His peace. Amen!
I'm very late. Gotta fly! Below are the devos that tie to the above. What's Gid saying to you? How might He want to transform you or what you are doing so that you are ready and willing to go live and love like Jesus and make disciples. How might he want to transform us and what we do? Ask! And Praise! We get to choose these! PTL! And as we do we come to know Him better and become and do more of who we are created to be and gathered and gifted to do. yes PTL! Shalom! "Behold! I AM doing a new thing! Can you sense it?" (That's God speaking through Isaiah. What's He saying to you? What do you need to let go of? What new thing does He have for you and us? Choose joy, trust and to follow Him!
I to We
ODB
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The stray cat mewed pitifully, stopping me in my tracks. I had just walked past a pile of food that someone had carelessly discarded on the ground. Wow, God's provided a meal for this hungry cat, I thought. The food was hidden behind a nearby pillar, so I tried to lure the emaciated cat to it. It moved toward me trustingly—then stopped and refused to follow me further. I wanted to ask, Why don’t you trust my directions? There’s a whole meal waiting for you!
Then it struck me: Don’t I act similarly in my relationship with God? How often have I responded to His directions thinking, I do trust You, God, but I don’t think Your instructions are reliable—not realizing that His divine provision might be waiting right around the corner.
God’s paths are trustworthy, for He loves us and has our best interests at heart. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you,” He tells us (Psalm 32:8). Yet He doesn’t treat us like animals that need to be controlled (v. 9). He desires for us to follow Him willingly and promises His everlasting presence as we do so: “The Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him” (v. 10). All we need to do is just keep following Him, knowing that He’ll be with us every step of the way.
By Leslie Koh
REFLECT & PRAY
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What fears or concerns keep you from trusting God completely? What is He guiding you to do at this time?
Dear Father, please teach me to trust You completely, for I know You love me and desire nothing but the best for me.
For further study, read A Prayer for Wondering if God Is There.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
A penitential psalm is a personal lament where the author confesses sin, expresses sorrow in repentance, and entrusts himself to God’s mercy and forgiveness. David wrote five of the seven penitential psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 143). Scholars also attribute the remaining two—Psalms 102 and 130—to him, though the author isn’t identified. For about a year after his adultery with Bathsheba, David refused to repent until the prophet Nathan confronted him (2 Samuel 11-12). The superscription to Psalm 51 indicates it was written when “Nathan came to [David].” Many scholars believe this was also the background of Psalm 32. David speaks of the crushing burden of guilt in his denial of sin (32:3-4) and the joy of receiving God’s forgiveness when he confessed and repented (vv. 1-2, 5). He contrasts the blessedness of repentance (vv. 1-2) with the anguish of living with unconfessed sin (vv. 3-4). Repentance reveals our desire to willingly follow God and experience His purifying presence (1 John 1:9).
K.T. Sim |
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UR: A Cheerful heart
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. - Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)
I began noticing a distinct link between the condition of my heart and mind and the condition of my physical body. When I was stressed, I got headaches. When I was frustrated, my neck and shoulders ached. When I was worried, my heart pounded in my chest, leading to sleepless nights. Not only were negative emotions harming my spirit, but they were functioning as a potent poison to my physical being.
Reading Proverbs 17:22, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones,” I began thinking of ways to have a more cheerful heart. Would a more cheerful heart positively impact my physical body? I asked myself.
I began spending time with God each morning, listing things for which I was grateful. On the drive to work, instead of formulating a to-do list for the office, I listened to praise and worship music. In moments of frustration when it seemed everything was going wrong, I deliberately focused on just one thing going right.
Over time as I embraced these simple new habits, I began to enjoy a more peaceful, grateful, and joyful heart. And with that cheerful heart — like the good medicine it is — I felt stronger, healthier, and more energized.
Today's Prayer
Dear God, help us to possess more gratitude in our hearts, exuding thankfulness and joy in all situations. Amen.
TWFYT
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