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Thursday, October 05 2023
Good Morning Ready to Go Harvest Workers! Hi Ho Hi Hi it's off to work we go...whistling while we work and sing praises to Almighty God! Why? because we love doing the things God created us for and even though we may be walking through the valley, we will not fear for God is with us! Amen!
Check out ODB below and meditate on Philippians 1:21-30. What's God saying to you? Are you all-in-sold-out and ready to go if God is calling you? Are you living your life in Christ to the fullest as if Christ is all that matters? We have and can no the freedom from worry because we know God's love and promises that in the blink of an eye we will be with Him. PTL! Can you earnestly say, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."?  That is our mission, hope and motivation. Enjoy your life in Christ. Love God and go live and love like Jesus with full abandon today! We are secure and God has great plans for you! 
Gotta fly! Running late. Pray for my homebound communion visits today to be filled with God's love and presence. Pray for our Support Team meeting tonight for wisdom and God to lead as we continue to work at stewarding well ALL His blessings. Pray for the Clothing Closet Sat. to bring God's love alive as we meet needs. And pray for our prayer gathering Sun. from 2-4 for some to show up and for God to lead our intercession and prayers. Thanks!
Have a very focused and blessed day! God does have plans to prosper, not harm! He is for you and He is looking at you with great love and open arms. Shalom!
Our Daily Bread (ODB)

Ready to Go

I desire to depart and be with Christ . . . but it is more necessary . . . that I remain. Philippians 1:23–24

READ Philippians 1:21–30

During the coronavirus pandemic, many suffered the loss of loved ones. On November 27, 2020, our family joined their ranks when Bee Crowder, my ninety-five-year-old mom, died—though not from Covid-19. Like so many other families, we weren’t able to gather to grieve Mom, honor her life, or encourage one another. Instead, we used other means to celebrate her loving influence—and we found great comfort from her insistence that, if God called her home, she was ready and even eager to go. That confident hope, evidenced in so much of Mom’s living, was also how she faced death.

Facing possible death, Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. . . . I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Philippians 1:21, 23–24). Even with his legitimate desire to stay and help others, Paul was drawn to his heavenly home with Christ.

Such confidence changes how we view the moment when we step from this life to the next. Our hope can give great comfort to others in their own season of loss. Although we grieve the loss of those we love, believers in Jesus don’t grieve like those “who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). True hope is the possession of those who know Him.

By Bill Crowder

REFLECT & PRAY

How would you describe your response to the threatening realities in our world? How could intentional hope change your outlook on the struggles of life?

God of all hope, please remind me of Jesus’ death-conquering victory.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

In Philippians, Paul models the complete transformation that being “united with Christ” (2:1) brings. Even death can become an occasion to honor and draw closer to Jesus, to “not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (1:29). The apostle’s words that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (v. 21) aren’t a death wish but a celebration of the freedom Jesus brings from a paralyzing fear of death. In both life and death, we draw closer to Christ as we follow His example of self-giving love (2:3–8), “becoming like him in his death” (3:10).

Monica La Rose
Don  
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St. Matthew's EC Church

5th & Ridge Streets
P.O. Box 433
Emmaus, PA 18049
Telephone 610.965.5570
Email: stmattsecemmaus@gmail.com

ABOUT US

We are learning to live and love like Jesus. 

We are working on becoming who we were created to be and doing our custom made purposes well. 

We are part of the Evangelical Congregational Church http://www.eccenter.com/

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