Come and worship! Rejoice in the Lord! This is the day He has made AND HE HAS MADE US FOR THIS DAY! WORSHIP!
Good Morning Worshipers! Hasn't God blessed us with some very beautiful days! PTL! He is the Lord of the Sabbath and the Sabbath was made for us according to Jesus. Abide. Rest. Revive. And enjoy this day! And come and worship live or on Zoom. God has a word for you and some great opportunities to be His hands and feet. Yes rejoice!
Check out our devos below. He is our Bread of Life! Allow Him to feed and sustain you. He loves you and reaches out for you even when you feel shame or that you are not worthy. None of us are worthy, yet He loves you and calls you by name to come abide and be restored and energized. Receive His love and help as you rest in Him and worship. He does have great plans custom made for custom you. Amen! Lean on Him and not your own understanding and choose joy . He is with you always. Amen! Come and worship!
UR: Bread of Life
[God] has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8 (NRSVUE)
I was sorting through papers and noticed a simple and delicious recipe for Irish soda bread that had been given to me by a friend. I decided to bake it for dinner. The recipe seemed easy enough: “Mix four cups of flour, one teaspoon of baking soda, a heaping teaspoon of salt, and two cups of buttermilk. Roll into a ball, place on a greased pie tin, and bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes.” I inhaled the heady aroma as the bread baked. A thick slice of warm, buttered bread was my reward for following the recipe.
If only life were as simple as following a recipe, I mused. Then I recalled ’s scripture verse that instructs us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. This basic recipe from God’s word says to fill the mixing bowl of our lives with honesty and integrity, spoon in a mixture of grace and mercy, and complete the process with an intimate but humble relationship with God. Bake the ingredients with love, and the result will be a life that is pleasing to God.
's Prayer
Dear Father, teach us to study your simple truths, to stir them into our hearts, and to share them with others. Amen.
ODB
Jesus Reaches for You
Jesus . . . reached out his hand and touched the man. Mark 1:41
Letty, a cleaner in an office building, was known for walking fast—really fast. In doing so, she could easily avoid people. Wounded by poverty and accustomed to condescension, she passed others with one hand reflexively covering part of her face. Her shame, in her words, over not being “like normal, beautiful, educated people,” was profoundly deep. When a woman at work extended her friendship, Letty began to heal.
A man with leprosy lived with a shame perhaps deeper than Letty’s. His disease rendered him revolting and ceremonially unclean by standards of the Mosaic law, separating him from mainstream society. The man’s wounds weren’t just physical; they were also lesions of the soul and spirit. With this woundedness, the leper approached Christ, begging, “If you are willing, you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). Heal me, he was saying, but also remove my shame.
Jesus responded not with repulsion but with compassion. “I am willing,” He said, “Be clean!” as He reached out and touched the man (v. 41). Just like the friendship extended to Letty by a coworker, Jesus’ gesture was one of understanding all that the man had suffered and of acceptance despite it all.
We may walk through life hiding what we feel separates us from “normal, beautiful, educated people.” May we allow Jesus to touch and redeem these things that cause us shame. May we know that as God's children, we’re accepted and loved.
By Karen Huang
REFLECT & PRAY
What makes you feel shame? How can you entrust this to Christ’s redeeming love?
After Jesus showed compassion and healed the man with leprosy, He gave him “a strong warning: ‘See that you don’t tell this to anyone’ ” (Mark 1:43-44). He gave similar warnings in Mark 1:34; 3:12 (these commands were to evil spirits); 5:43; 7:36; 8:30; and 9:9. Why wouldn’t Christ want people to know He was the Messiah? Because it wasn’t yet time for His identity to be fully revealed. Jesus was still establishing His authority over our enemy the devil with His miracles and teaching. Christ understood how seeing these miracles might cause people to jump to the wrong conclusion about His mission and purpose. Regardless, He never sought publicity. In Mark 1, because the man spread the news of his healing despite Jesus’ warning, He chose to remain “outside [the towns] in lonely places. Yet the people still came to Him from everywhere” (v. 45). We’re always drawn to this one who lovingly removes our shame as we believe in Him.
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