Good Morning Thanks Living Brothers and Sisters in Christ! May God abundantly bless you as you share all the blessings He has given and choose to live life out of your true identity with contagious joy that flows from living life out of deep gratitude!
We had a great gathering to feast, celebrate and fellowship last evening at our Thanksgiving Eve Eve gathering. Today we get to share bread, God's love and blessings with our neighbors in need. Thursday and in some cases Friday or Saturday, we get to share family time and gather with much thanksgiving. Saturday we gather to decorate and prepare for our Sunday Brunch and Sunday we get to worship, celebrate, feast and bless. We have so much to be thankful for and so many blessings to share. I can't wait to hear the stories of what God did this week with, in, and around you and our gathering opportunities. Sunday at Brunch we will share some Kingdom stories of what God has been doing. Come prepared to share and celebrate with our brunch guests. Let us restart Kingdom stories Sundays during brunch. Our guests need to hear the Good News of what God is doing and see us celebrate!
Check out the devos below and talk to God as you pray expectantly and thank Him for all the blessings! Live thankfully every day. rejoice! Praise the Lord! Share your story and some Good News with some others the next few days! Shine Bright children of the Light! Shalom!
ODB:
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The first thing I noticed about the city was its gambling outlets. Next, its cannabis shops, “adult” stores, and giant billboards for opportunistic lawyers making money off others’ mishaps. While I had visited many shady cities before, this one seemed to reach a new low.
My mood brightened, however, when I spoke to a taxi driver the next morning. “I ask God every day to send me the people He wants me to help,” he said. “Gambling addicts, prostitutes, people from broken homes tell me their problems in tears. I stop the car. I listen. I pray for them. This is my ministry.”
After describing Jesus’ descent into our fallen world (Philippians 2:5–8), the apostle Paul gives believers in Christ a calling. As we pursue God’s will (v. 13) and hold to the “word of life”—the gospel (v. 16)—we’ll be “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation” who “shine . . . like stars in the sky” (v. 15). Like that taxi driver, we’re to bring Jesus’ light into the darkness.
A believer in Christ has only to live faithfully in order to change the world, historian Christopher Dawson said, because in that very act of living “there is contained all the mystery of divine life.” Let’s ask God’s Spirit to empower us to live faithfully as Jesus’ people, shining His light in the world’s darkest places.
By Sheridan Voysey
REFLECT & PRAY
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How can you focus on Christ today, rather than the world’s evil? How can you shine His light today in your neighborhood?
Dear Jesus, thank You for being the Light of the World who brings me out of darkness.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
As believers in Jesus, we’re to “shine among [nonbelievers] like stars in the sky” (Philippians 2:15) as we obey the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). Christ said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). He brought light into the world, yet many people still loved the darkness (evil) (3:19). Knowing He’d be with His followers on earth for only a short time, He called them (and all of us) to spread the good news of the gospel—to be “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). As “people of the light” (Luke 16:8), we have the Holy Spirit to help us “not run or labor in vain” (Philippians 2:16).
Alyson Kieda |
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UR: Praise God!
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. - Acts 16:25 (NIV)
I have usually made a point to arrive early to worship so that I have time to listen for God’s message for me. But then my church began playing praise music ahead of the service — music I am not familiar with and really do not enjoy. So I started arriving just prior to the sermon, thinking this is the only thing I need from God.
One Sunday the sermon was based on Acts 16:16-40. The story of Paul and Silas in prison spoke directly to my heart. Rather than dwell on their pain and suffering into the night, they began to pray and sing praises to God! That message had a powerful impact on me. Praise is a sign of love we can always offer to God, who is faithful, generous, and compassionate. More than that, praise is the affirmation of God’s love for us.
Moving forward, I began to join in every praise song, whether I was familiar with it or not. Later, I would search the internet for the less familiar songs so I could learn them. Now I don’t want to be late for worship because I don’t want to miss the songs of praise. Being present and fully prepared to participate is something I have come to value — and enjoy!
TODAY'S PRAYER
Heavenly Father, attune our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth. May we all find joy in praising you. Amen.
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