Pizza and Ice Cream Party at 6 in Fellowship Hall. All welcome! Bring a friend!
Good Morning Loving because Loved, Reaching because Reached Disciple Makers! Now pronounce that over you and us and step into it and your part in His Good News Delivery Company! Pray into this and release God's power over you, us, your team to go love, reach and invite to learn about Jesus and His ways. Pray for revival. It is at hand!
I did a funeral after church for a guy I am pretty sure did not make it to heaven. Only God knows for sure. But it was weighing on me early that I didn't do more to introduce him to Jesus. I shared the gospel with those partying in his memory but also may have given false hope that he is in heaven. Forgive me Lord. Thanks! But this story is one that happens all too often for most of us. We just don't feel comfortable interceding and stepping into a friends life to speak truth in love and share our hope and Good News. Who of your friends or family are you thinking of right now that you are pretty sure is going to Hell? Many come to my mind. And many of them will never come to Christ, but some might? Who are you praying for and watching for God to be at work with and joining Him. Who is He preparing you for or for you? What will you do about that. I don't want to get to heaven and hear, "You missed your chance with so and so." We are called by name to come to Jesus, join Him and walk with Him which includes leading some to Him or teaching them His ways as we make disciples. We, as God's gathered people, His Church, are being sent as well. Who are your teammates? at Bread Ministry we experience a team of servants doing what they can with what they've been given to represent Jesus and love on those we get to serve. Some are being drawn and we are focusing on those. Some are observing and wondering and we are patiently loving them. And some will never come but we still lovingly serve them and represent Jesus as best we can.
God has given us an open door in this country right now where we have freedom to share Jesus, His ways and the Truth of God's Word. Let us pray into that, prepare and seize the moment--doing what we can with what we've been given for such a time as this! How does God want you and us to go live, love, represent Jesus and make disciples like Him? Ask Him and partner up to fulfill your purposes! I'm praying for you and seeking God for what He has for you and us. I am also praying that we would have His eyes to see, heart to love and feet willing to follow and go. Join me! Jesus said, Come. Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." It's time to go fishing!
Check out these devotionals reminding us of loving our neighbors and that we only have so long to grow like Christ and fulfill our purposes before we are called home. Our Daily Bread asks us to read James 1:19-27 that we studied and then uses James 2:8 that we will study this week. It speaks of the Royal Law: Love your neighbor as yourself." That reminds me of the Golden Rule where we are called to treat others as we want to be treated. I'm thankful for those neighbors who loved me to Christ! And that leads me to want to do the same for others. Who is on your mind right now? Do something about it! Talk to me if you have any questions. You are being covered, prepared, protected, provided for and called by name for such a time as this! Go! Love well! Be a doer of the Word!
ODB
Loving Our Neighbors
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. James 2:8
After a late summer thunderstorm ripped through our city, we had to deal with tree damage to our house, plus a major cleanup of our leaf-and-branch-strewn yard. As I spent the following day dealing with the damage and the tree debris, I tried to humor myself by repeating, “We don’t have any trees!” It’s true. Other than three tiny, three-foot-tall pines, we don’t have them. Yet I spend considerable time cleaning up after storms or falling leaves due to neighbors’ trees.
Neighbors. How do we interact with them—even when something they’ve done or grown or said bothers us? Scripture is clear on this: it states “love your neighbor as yourself” nine times—including Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, Mark 12:31, Galatians 5:14, and James 2:8. In fact, this is the second greatest commandment God has given us. The first is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . soul . . . strength and . . . mind” (Luke 10:27). One of the keys to showing love to neighbors is how we interact with them. James explained this by saying, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19).
This isn’t always easy. It goes against our nature. Yet loving our neighbor is to be our first response. As God helps us, let’s shine Jesus’ light of love on those who share life with us—our neighbors.
By Dave Branon
REFLECT & PRAY
What’s bothering you about a neighbor? How can you handle this issue in love?
Dear Father, thank You for my neighbors—whether next door or the people I interact with daily. Please help me to love them with Christlike love.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
James says to “love your neighbor as yourself” (2:8), and we do that in part by our actions (1:19-20). Luke 10 also contains a reference to this commandment, but it goes one step further by answering the question “Who is my neighbor?” (v. 29) and illustrating what that entails. In an interaction with “an expert in the law” (v. 25), Jesus answers the man’s query by telling the parable of the good Samaritan (vv. 30-37). This parable reveals that God wants us to love our neighbor regardless of nationality, political party, or other distinction. Our neighbor also includes anyone who’s in distress. Just as Jesus had compassion on us, we’re to have compassion on others. When we love our neighbor, we “are doing right” (James 2:8). As Paul stated, “[Love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered . . . . Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:5-6).
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