It's Donut Day! 10-12 and Chosen Dinner evening 6-8. All welcome to either or both! Come and see!
Good Morning Seed and Water Bringers, Fertilizer, Harvesters! We can be one or all of these. God has a plan for you, me, your team and our church! PTL! Let us seek and follow well . Check out the flow trough Our Daily Bread, Upper Room and Connection blog. Read and meditate on Eph.4:1-6.11-16. Live a life worthy of your call. Remember ePH 2:10? yOU ARE gOD'S MASTERPIECE, MADE NEW IN cHRIST, TO DO ALL hE CREATED YOU TO DO! sTEP OUT IN FAITH WITH YOUR ACTIVATED GIFTS TO ENCOURAGE AND BUILD hIS CHURCH. aMEN! I have to fly! But think about these things and what Gid has for you . What will you do?
In 2017 I asked God what's next? In 2019 I asked Him to lead us to People of peace (new connection points). In '24 I begged Him to raise up harvest workers and thanked Him for the harvest. I asked Him to help us fulfill our mission. These prayers progressed from my daily prayer guide. Some of the one for is at the bottom of the Connection blog. The other devos flow to and through and remind me that Gid is still at work and bringing us alive and to the harvest and the harvest to us. I am reminded we all have a part and we all have some teammates to pray, process and go with. What's God saying to you about all of this? How does He want to use you ? Will you join Him? I'm praying for you! Shalom shalom. Go in love and perfect peace! Deny yourself. Take up your cross daily. And follow Jesus well . Amen!
ODB
Jesus’ Work
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1
In 1997, Iowa State University named its football stadium after the school’s first black athlete: Jack Trice. Tragically, Trice had never even played in Ames, Iowa—he died from internal injuries sustained during a play in his second college game, played in Minneapolis, Minnesota on , 1923.
Trice wrote a note to himself the night before the game, bearing witness to his determination:
“The honor of my race, family, and self are at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will! My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about on the field . Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part.” Trice profoundly understood that what he did flowed from the honor and dignity of who he was, infusing his character with courage.
The apostle Paul says something similar in his letter to the Ephesians, challenging believers to let who they were in Christ influence every decision: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). Paul challenges us to embrace a way of living shaped by Jesus’ work for us, in us, and through us, which yields humility, gentleness, patience, unity, love, and peace (vv. 2-3) as we use our God-given gifts to serve one another (vv. 15-16).
By Adam Holz
REFLECT & PRAY
What’s the connection between our beliefs and actions? What gifts has God given you to serve others?
Dear Father, thank You for inviting me into a life filled with meaning and significance. Please help me to love and serve others with the gifts You’ve given.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
God’s love poured out through the creation of a new community made up of believing Jews and gentiles—something Paul calls “the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4)—is the foundation for the apostle’s encouragement to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (4:1). Jews and gentiles—two groups long estranged from each other—were called to devote themselves to cultivating the unity created through Christ’s Spirit (v. 3). They needed to serve one another “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2 esv). , we’re also called to love and serve others with the gifts we’ve been given.
Monica La Rose
UR: The Miracle of a Seed
Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” - John 12:24 (NIV)
When traveling in northern Mexico, I have noticed that during late summer and early fall it is common to see large strings of chili peppers, known as “ristras,” hanging from buildings and fences to dry. Ristras are an old tradition used to preserve the bright red chilies until they are needed. Some homes in the desert southwest of the United States now use these colorful chili ristras as front porch decorations.
One spring day, a very old ristra hanging over my porch began to dry up and fall apart. Small, paper-thin chili seeds were scattered everywhere. Most of these seeds blew away in the wind or fell to the rocks and gravel below, but a few seeds fell into my garden. With good soil and regular water, it did not take long for these old, dry seeds to sprout new chili plants. Seeds that appeared to be dead quickly came to life in fertile soil. Those plants grew and produced many chili peppers along with countless more seeds. What a miracle!
Like seeds in fertile ground, it takes only a few faithful believers sharing God’s word to reach people who are receptive to Jesus’ message of love. And when we provide continuing encouragement, we can nurture new communities of faith.
's Prayer
Faithful God, give us the courage to share your good news with others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Connection
- God’s Redemptive Plan
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).
Over the years God has laid nations on my heart, both personally and in the heart of churches I have pastored. There has always been a cost involved in asking God for these nations. When He has granted them to us, we have had to be willing to become involved with them and obediently follow through with God regarding His plans for them. Asking God for the nations has also had an effect upon our children as they too have acquired a heart for the nations: one serving in Norway, one in Germany and two others making their way into the nations of Africa. Although this has been “costly,” it has brought much joy with Jesus (Jn. 15:9-16). Jesus said the reason He told them all this was so His joy would be in His disciples and their joy would be full. This has been preeminently true in our family; even as I write, two of my sons and my wife and I are ministering in Africa. Our involvement with God in the redemption of the world is vital.
Again, it must be as God has eternally purposed it. God loved the world and sent His Son into the world. But we are reminded that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). God was working in and through His Son to redeem the world. Gethsemane’s, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Lk. 22:42) was preeminently the Father’s moment of victory. All the Father had purposed and accomplished over the centuries now rested in His Son’s total obedience. The Father, in Christ, now completed His work to redeem the world. This is still true . The salvation of the world now rests on us, His children. It rests on our total denial of self, then picking up of our cross, and our obedience in following our Lord. This is why Jesus prayed for His disciples, and not the world. As goes His disciples, so goes the redemption of the world. We pray more effectively for the world by praying not for the world, but for God’s people.
Lord of the Harvest, please give me a deep desire for the salvation of the nations, and the courage to act despite what it may cost me and my family. Help me to press into Your compassion for the world by interceding fervently for workers to go into Your ripe harvest fields, understanding that one of them could be me, or someone in my own family! May I be ready to sacrifice with a heart of joy in order to participate in your redemption of the world!
Thank him for using ordinary people to prompt effectiveness in the Christian movement.
Confess those occasions when you knew God was calling you to take a stand . . . and you didn’t.
Commit yourself to depending on God’s power with renewed faith to act on those opportunities which shape the church of (Col. 4:5-6).
Ask, “Lord, what can I do to bring about positive change in your church?”
Pray that your worship together reflects a celebration of who God is. Pray for the empowerment of all God’s children to use their gifts and talents in service of the sovereign Lord.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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