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Happy Late Morning Team! Been a strange day in the Kerns household this morning. First I slept until 7--what? Karen was awoken by our very sick Maggie Mae at 5. Maggie is on hospice with an enlarged heart. She was very lethargic and wouldn't take her meds (lots of meds) and I spent some time on the floor loving on her after I got up. She recently bounced back some (she heard Karen call the vet!) and took her meds. She seems to be holding her own now. PTL! Needless to say, my quiet time was a bit late and different this morning. BUT GOD! He was speaking and He has a word or two for us to meditate upon today.

I have been working on Sunday's message (which has been a mess, really) On Matt. 24 and some of 23 and 25. It's Jesus' teaching on the end times. There are so many interpretations by man of the end times and so many false teachings and half truths that it boggles the mind as I endeavor to always bring His Truth and not add to or take away from it as commanded. I'm starting to really appreciate my old Lutheran pastor's take, "The end will come." AMEN! I'm often asked about the end and if we're in it and thought, "Let's see what Jesus says". This morning, Maggie had me thinking about how many will be clueless and helpless with what will happen. God has given me a mandate to prepare all who will listen to listen to Him and be prepared for anything anytime and to be ready to stand firm, persevere and maybe even face death for our faith. Are you ready? I pray I and many are. We are taught that the ones who persevere to the end will receive eternal life. Is that me? Will that be us? Help us Lord! All we know for sure is that we are further along in the end of times from when Jesus and the apostles taught about it. He's coming like a thief in the night. We know that. And we are not to put dates on it. We know there are cycles of revival and deep faith and cycles of falling away and apathy and there is always a remnant. Are we experiencing a cycle of revival? Maybe with what's happening on campuses around the world. And we are a remanent of faithful followers. Thanks Lord! I'm praying about if God really wants me to bring this word on Sunday and if so to bring only His Truth and not man's or my interpretations. Prayers appreciated! Thanks!

But no matter what, until we are called home or Jesus comes back, we are called to be faithful followers that obediently live and love and make disciples like Jesus. Let's focus on that and the rest will fall into place. Today's devotionals lead us to a facet of loving others that we are and can do. It's an affirmation to me that we are on the right track. God is Love. Love saved us and lives in us and longs to love through us. We are doing that. I heard all kinds of responses to our love from Sunday's visitors and guest at donut day yesterday. We are growing and becoming known as the Body that loves like Jesus and cares and helps. Amen! Keep it up team. We are building treasures in heaven! We are becoming a dynamic movement of God! Adam and I discuss this often and how God is growing, uniting, and using both our expressions of worship. He is on the move in and through us and reaching our communities! PTL! He has great plans and new converts for us to discover and teach as we model His love in action! Check out our devos below and how they teach us to live and love and bring hope and help like Jesus. And keep teaming up, putting into practice and praying in revival and new connection points for His love! Amen! Let us be found living and loving well when He returns! And may we bring many more along. Help us and Shepherd us Lord! Amen!

ODB

Prompted by Love We remember . . . your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 READ 1 Thessalonians 1:2-7 LISTEN ONLINE Emily Kenward walked down Lavender Street in Brighton, England. Having recently become a believer in Jesus, she now saw the street differently. She noticed how many homes had their curtains drawn in the daytime, and how few older people were about, despite the area’s high elderly population. It spurred an idea. Emily found out where Brighton’s elderly lived and invited them to an afternoon tea. Those who came told a similar story. Now living alone, they often went months without seeing anyone. What they longed for, they said, was a visitor. Believing in Jesus changes how we respond to the world and its needs. We see this happening to the Thessalonians. Having turned to God (1 Thessalonians 1:9), they had become a model of faith to others by their transformed lives (vv. 6-7). The apostle Paul noted their “work produced by faith” and their “labor prompted by love” (v. 3). True faith had moved them to acts of service that brought honor to Jesus. Emily was so moved by what she heard at that afternoon tea that she started a charity linking Brighton’s elderly with volunteer visitors. She remembers one woman hugging her tightly, sobbing, grateful for finally feeling seen and heard. The work grew, inspiring others to do the same. It makes me wonder what labors prompted by love the Holy Spirit might inspire you and me to do today. By Sheridan Voysey REFLECT & PRAY What need do you see in your community? Listening to the Spirit, what would a labor prompted by love look like to help meet it? Holy Spirit, please fill me afresh to love others well!

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Acts 9 introduces us to a believer in Jesus who was prompted by love to serve others. “In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha [Dorcas] . . . ; she was always doing good and helping the poor” (v. 36). The Greek word at the root of the word translated “helping the poor” means to “have mercy” or “pity.” In Joppa, there was a specific group of people who benefited from Tabitha’s “acts of charity” (v. 36 esv). We read how “all the widows stood around [Peter], crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas (Tabitha's Greek name) had made while she was still with them” (v. 39). Her legacy of love for Christ included acts of mercy and kindness for vulnerable people. Her example as well as that of believers in Thessalonica remind those who’ve been “loved by God” (1 Thessalonians 1:4) to allow the Holy Spirit to help us find ways to tangibly show love to others. Arthur Jackson

UR A Strangers Blessing

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. - Exodus 14:14 (NIV)

One Easter Sunday at 2:30 in the morning, my husband and I got a call that our 17-year-old son had been arrested. As we walked into the jail, we noticed an older man walking behind us, pulling a cooler. With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, I approached the reception window where a woman told us to sit down and wait. The man who had come in behind us told the woman that he was there to deliver treats for an Easter sunrise service. He proceeded inside while my husband and I waited in silence, a range of emotions stirring within us.

Then we saw the man walk out of the jail after delivering the treats. A few minutes later he walked back inside, toward us. With caring eyes, he looked at us and said, “I don’t know if you’re Christians or not, but I’d like to pray with you.” Tears poured forth, but at the same time a peace overcame me. The three of us joined hands in that empty jail waiting room, and this stranger prayed for our family. Immediately, I was filled with love and peace in one of the darkest moments of my life.

God sent this man to love and comfort us when we needed it most. While it didn’t make all of our troubles disappear, it reminded us that God cares for us and is with us through it all.

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Today's Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for your comfort in difficult times. May we be a blessing to others in their time of need. Amen.

TWFYT

 

Prayer Points

Praise God that he is a provider, meeting “all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). Thank God that you do not need to believe in luck, chance, fate or fortune. Confess any times in which you have believed in yourself as your provider. Commit yourself to not being “anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (4:6). Ask that God’s peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus (4:7). Pray that specific non-Christians whom you know will be struck by the futility of living without God and will seek out a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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.