Good Morning Church! We are God's Church and people. We are building on the cornerstone, Jesus. We are being filled, gathered and sent by the Holy Spirit and empowered to go live and love like Jesus. We are incarnating Emmanuel (Jesus, God with us) and our Hope to the world in need of God's love and salvation. We are joy-bringers as we help and bless. We are His Church! Amen! We have been created for and gathered and sent for such a time as this, just as we are, gifted and empowered by the Spirit of God and sent to bring Him alive as we go help and bless. PTL!
Seems like God has other plans for me this week than to disconnect and vacation! He stirred me awake at 3 to chat, teach and lead me to this blog. He loves you and me and wants to speak to your hearts, inform your prayers and empower you to be His hands and feet (me too)--His Church. So in obedience, here I am asking God to use and send me. And He is! PTL! Check out Our Daily Bread (below) and their discussion about being the Church. God informed me to use this for messages and to share with you . if you open your Bibles and meditate on Acts 2:36-47 you will find the passage that God has sent us to fulfill in verse 42 as we gather, study, fellowship, eat together and pray and even give sacrificially. When God leads to passages like this, I always find affirmation that I am hearing, following and leading us to be His Church operating in His ways and according to His plans. is donut day. That is table ministry and Acts 2:42 coming to life. PTL and thank Him for His provision, gathering us and bringing in the harvest and leading us to His vision and plans to go live and love like Him and make disciples that reproduce. Yes PTL and pray and ask about your part and teammates! He has awesome plans for you this holiday season. God is bringing stories of His provision, guiding and faithfulness alive (see Sarah's message below)! yes PTL! Who needs to hear your story and praise?
We began the year praying to come alive in '25 and for God to send 30 new attendees and for His, will His way to come alive, not ours. Can you see how this is happening? It is and we need to celebrate! God is faithful, with us and on the move bringing new life, renewed faith and His perfect plans to life in, through and around us! YES! PTL! We've been hearing stories of His blessings, answered prayers and faithfulness to hear, guide and supply and using us willing vessels. You may not see 30 every week, but think about all the new people that have been showing up in worship, on Wednesdays for bread, fellowship, prayer and encouragement and how many new people are joining us . evenings for food, fellowship, study and prayer. Then think about those joining Adam and Michelle Robert's House Church and how we are partnering with them. I think we have witnessed God's yes to 30 new attendees! PTL! keep praying in faith and with much !
PTL we have also experienced answered prayers as we humble ourselves and ask God to help us become me in '23--become who we are created to be; become more in '24--become more active in our created purposes; and come alive in '25--put these to the test as we truly live and love more like Jesus, as we are and as we are gifted and empowered. Yes, PTL! Celebrate and share those stories and the Good News with many of God's love and faithfulness. The harvest is ripe and many are hungry for love, hope and help ! God has created you for such a time as this and is bringing His plans to life before our eyes! PTL! I love the last sentence of The Word for You , "It's time to experience peace, knowing you're designed for your destiny[in Christ], tailored for your [God-given] tasks, and perfect for your[created] purposes." Yes you were created, saved, refined, gifted and empowered for such a time as this! PTL and go live and love like Jesus as an act of obedience and worship. He has prepared someone for you and you for someone. Go! I'm praying for you! Pray through the Connection blogs too and worship and prepare your hearts with this song, Emmanuel God with Us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9HcsERoxm8&list=RDU9HcsERoxm8&start_radio=1
ODB:
Being the Church
The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:47
On a sunny afternoon, I drew with sidewalk chalk with the Sudanese family next door. We could hear singing coming from the house next to theirs, where a small group holds worship services. The young mom I was talking with was curious about what was going on, so she and I walked over and listened in. They invited us to gather with them. A young man, standing in a tank filled with water for baptism, spoke about receiving forgiveness for his sins and committing himself to follow Jesus.
This was a unique opportunity for us to hear a testimony of salvation in the yard right next door. This group was being the church in our neighborhood.
Jesus is building His church around the world. In the days before His ascension, He told His followers that He would send the Spirit to live in them and that they would be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He would build His church through their Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching. And immediately God began to add “to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).
We can be a part of building Christ’s church by being His church as we live out our faith in our neighborhoods and share with others what He’s done for us. He gave His life and was resurrected so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. And He’ll help us learn how to serve others in His church .
By Anne Cetas
REFLECT & PRAY
In what ways might God be using you to build Jesus’ church? What more might you do?
Dear Jesus, thank You that You’re adding people to Your church daily.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Acts 2 offers a glimpse of early faith communities after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (vv. 1-13). In response to hearing that forgiveness, salvation, and the “gift of the Holy Spirit” (v. 38) were possible because of Jesus’ resurrection as “Lord and Messiah” (v. 36), “about three thousand” people became believers in Christ (v. 41). These new believers’ faith was deepened through “[devoting] themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (v. 42) and giving “to anyone who had need” (v. 45). God’s Spirit draws people into faith and deepens it through fellowship and service in community.
Monica La Rose
UR: Three Way Vision
Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” - Matthew 14:29-30 (NRSVUE)
A few months ago, I was laid off from my job of over 11 years. I’ve been laid off twice before, but this one hit me so hard I became physically ill. A couple of weeks later, The Upper Room devotional featured Matthew 14:22-33 as its reading. The writer reminded me that instead of looking down into the stormy waters, I needed to look up. From then on, whenever I was getting discouraged about my job search, I reminded myself to “look up.”
Soon after, my pastor’s sermon talked about looking up in trust, looking back in gratitude, and looking forward in hope. I realized that in addition to looking up, I should look back and be thankful for the great jobs God has provided for me. Looking in both of these directions gives me the strength also to look forward in the hope that God will provide for me again.
Since then, I’ve encountered that same passage of Matthew in two subsequent issues of The Upper Room. These devotionals, along with the words from my pastor, have reinforced my resolve to continue to “look up in trust, look back in gratitude, and look forward in hope.”
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's Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank you for reminding us to trust and follow the path you set for us. Amen.
TWFYT
cONNECTION bLOGS
- Opening Earth to Heaven’s Influence
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will” (Romans 8:26-28).
Search the Scriptures and you will search in vain for any prayer in which Jesus didn’t know what His Father wanted done. There were a few times when He was surprised (e.g., the faith of the Roman centurion compared to the faithlessness of His own people). However, even in those instances, He would wait to understand what God wanted done, and then He would pray in perfect, sinless harmony with God’s purposes. Through that praying, the will would be done on earth, just as in heaven. His role, as the Second Adam (of both earth and heaven, dust and Spirit), was to bridge the two realms, invoking heaven’s presence and power through the mediation of His earthly nature.
Heaven and earth intersected in the man Jesus and opened earth to heaven’s influence. Through being joined to Christ Himself (by virtue of His atoning death and His Spirit residing within) heaven and earth intersect in us too. Our praying also opens earth to heaven’s influence as well. Through our intercessions, we act as a conduit through which the power of the Lord can flow through us to reshape the fallen creation back into something that suits God’s purposes. That is the thrust of Romans 8:18-30. We are to discern what God would have us pray, rather than simply to pray, “God do this, if it be Your will.”
Holy Spirit, I am a weak created being without Your power! I am never at a loss for expressing my heartfelt needs to God because Your groaning bursts forth on my behalf, aligned with the perfect will of the Father. You allow heaven and earth to intersect in me…a deep and holy realization! How I give thanks for the privilege of praying the purposes of God into reality upon earth!
Praise the God who lays claim to the entire world and all that live in it (Ps. 24:1).
Thank him for the food, shelter, and clothing that sustains you and gives comfort to your life.
Confess the times when you have failed to acknowledge God’s riches in your life.
Commit yourself to examining your acts of stewardship.
Ask God to give you a heart of liberality, knowing that all you have comes from him (1 Chron. 29:14).
Ask God to show your family new and creative ways to share the abundance of your lives with families who have much less.
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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