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Saturday, October 07 2023
Clothing Closet today from 10-1
Sun. Worship from 10-11ish in person and on Zoom with Children's Church.
Sun. Season of Prayer 2-4 in the sanctuary. (Come and go as you please) Praying for our denomination, district, church and personal needs. Do you need some prayer? Come! Or bring someone who does.
See below Sarah Boyer's prayer requests. Continue to lift the Ron Williams family as they move through grief of the loss of Ron. We buried him yesterday. UPDATE on Karen's dad Russ: He is in the hospital because the facility he lives in refuses to cook heart healthy food. The menus are loaded with salt causing his fluid retention. Pray for healing for him and for the kitchen to be open to serving healthy choices to the elderly they serve. pray for wisdom for us as we try to fight for this . Thanks!
Sarah update:
Good evening,
I have two urgent prayer requests to share with you:
Lisa Wenner has asked for prayer for her boss, Ed Shelly. We have been praying for Ed....but
right now he is at the hospital having emergency surgery for a perforated colon. He isn't doing too
good. Please pray for his medical and surgical team and for his family. Pray also that he will mend
and heal, may God's peace surround him.
Friends of Neen and mine has asked for prayer for their son, who had triple by-pass surgery today.
He came through the surgery well, and has been able to communicate verbally with his family.
Please keep him and his family in your prayers - praying that his healing goes well without any infections
Karen Kerns' father Russ is in the hospital for testing. Prayers for the doctors and those reading the test
results and pray that they find out what is going on.
Thank you church family for your prayers!
Have a great evening and weekend!!!
Blessings,
Sarah
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Good Morning Worshiping, Products of Your Choices! Everything we do can be an act of worship from doing dishes, cleaning toilets, praying, encouraging, praising, obeying God, if all you choose to do flows from a heart of worship. God has created us free to choose. We are not robots. When He draws people to Himself they all have a choice to trust and believe or reject and walk away. We see the consequences of peoples choices throughout the Bible, history and present day life. We get to choose life or death, blessings or curses. We have chosen life in Christ! PTL! Everyday, 24-7, we get to choose if we will obey or go our own way. PTL that when we choose our own way, come to realize what we are doing, that we can choose to stop, repent, be forgiven and return to God's best ways. And He always chooses to forgive, restore, redeem and help us back on track and through the consequences of our poor choices. Check out ODB and CS devos below for more on our choices. And keep choosing life, blessings and obedience! And keep choosing to praise and worship. Check out UR below. Choose to count your blessings and praise with songs of old and new songs too. Worship with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs as you choose to praise no matter the storms or good times you find yourself in.
Last year we studied a spiritual virtue each month. The Jan. virtue was joy. We get to choose how we face life. Joy is a choice--a good and healthy choice that flows from trusting God no matter what. We discussed the importance of turning off the noise around us, whatever is causing the noise, and tuning into God by casting our anxiety and fear onto God and counting our many blessings in praise. We discussed how building gratitude lists can help us to have something handy to help us to choose to refocus with praise.
Here's a song to remind you that you can choose joy as you choose to worship in the storms of life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7UE_EuFLj4
This year we are working on growing into the people we were created to be, doing the things custom made for us to do. We get to choose if we will die to self and the ways of this world and take up our crosses and follow Jesus. We get to choose how we live this life. May we all choose well today and always! Talk to God about that as you choose to be still, sit at His feet, receive and follow well. We get to choose if we live this life as an act of worship or not. PTL for freedom to choose and for helping us to know the best choices to make throughout each day! PTL for choosing you and us! Praise the Lord for being faithful to us no matter what! Here's one more very familiar hymn to offer in worship as you choose to trust and praise today, Great Is Thy Faithfulness! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN6ZgZhMOR8
Choose to have a great day as you begin with praise, worship and stillness as you sit at Jesus' feet and receive His shalom, wisdom and strength to face this day. He is faithful and worthy of all glory, honor and praise! What an awesome God we serve! Choose to worship and rejoice in this day! Yes! PTL! Amen!
Upper Room (UR):
O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory. - Psalm 98:1 (NRSVUE)
As a child I lived in a small house with five sisters, one brother, and my parents. We all shared many chores — cooking, hanging laundry to dry, and caring for the younger children. My parents, however, brightened our chores with music. When Mom sang spiritual songs in the kitchen or Daddy played guitar on the porch, the family would sing along. In time, we bought an old upright piano and learned to play. From those songs, I learned to turn my attention to Jesus when life grows difficult and to talk to God and meditate on scripture often.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he encouraged God’s people to sing (see Eph. 5:19). Maybe he was recalling the incident from Acts 16 when he and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi. At midnight, when Paul and Silas sang hymns, an earthquake shook the prison, the doors opened, and their chains fell off.
Now, many years later, I listen to inspirational music at lunch and find peace. In late afternoons, I play piano and find joy. On sleepless nights, I recall songs from my childhood and find rest. We can find comfort when we sing praise to God.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Holy God, thank you for accepting our praise, offered through joyful songs. Thank you for bringing us peace, joy, and rest through music. Amen.Our Daily Bread (ODB):
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A few weeks after the death of a dear friend, I spoke with her mom. I was hesitant to ask how she was doing because I thought it was an inappropriate question; she was grieving. But I pushed aside my reluctance and simply asked how she was holding up. Her reply: “Listen, I choose joy.”
Her words ministered to me that day as I struggled to push beyond some unpleasant circumstances in my own life. And her words also reminded me of Moses’ edict to the Israelites at the end of Deuteronomy. Just before Moses’ death and the Israelites’ entrance into the promised land, God wanted them to know that they had a choice. Moses said, “I have set before you life and death . . . . Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). They could follow God’s laws and live well, or they could turn away from Him and live with the consequences of “death and destruction” (v. 15).
We must choose how to live too. We can choose joy by believing and trusting in God’s promises for our lives. Or we can choose to focus on the negative and difficult parts of our journeys, allowing them to rob us of joy. It will take practice and relying on the Holy Spirit for help, but we can choose joy—knowing that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).
By Katara Patton
REFLECT & PRAY
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How can you choose joy in spite of your circumstances today? How is choosing joy similar to choosing life as God described to the Israelites?
Dear God, Giver of Joy, please help me to choose to follow You and believe and trust You this day.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In Deuteronomy 30:15, Moses used a figure of speech called metonymy where the effect stands for the cause. When he claimed to be setting before the people “life and prosperity, death and destruction,” he was presenting the effects of the Israelites’ decisions to help them see the significance of their choices. Obviously, no one would choose death and destruction. But their actions would lead either to life and prosperity or to death and destruction. In chapter 28, he lists the blessings for obedience (vv. 1–14) and the curses for disobedience (vv. 15–68).
J.R. Hudberg |
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Charles Stanley's God's Purpose for Your Life Devotional (CS): (Today's and Sunday's devos)
Friday, October 06 2023
REMINDER: The Rally Day envelopeswill be used to fund our new "IN" account to be used to purchase curriculum, teaching materials, and items needed for all of our "IN" gatherings and huddles.
St. Matts happenings for the weekend: Ron Williams funeral today 11am service. Clothing Closet tomorrow (Sat) 10-1, worship Sun at 10(discussing John 7 and 8. What's God saying to you?) and a season of prayer 2-4 in our sanctuary. Join us for one or all! Bring a friend!
T.G.I.F. Thank God I'm Forgiven! Amen! PTL! Hallelujah! We can know that we know that we know that we are forgiven, have new life in Christ, are putting on our new nature and His righteousness, and secure in our future destination! Praise be the Lord, our Savior, Lord, Creator, Sustainer, Helper, Friend and our righteousness. Our sins have been forgiven once and for all time and He is faithful to His promises to forgive, cleanse and direct repentant, soft hearts. He promises to take away our hearts of stone and give us soft hearts. He promises us the gift of His Spirit, our Helper and Advocate and Seal of Faith. We are God's masterpieces, made new in Christ and full of potential and ability to accomplish all His plans for us because of our believing, repenting, soft and willing hearts! PTL! PTL! Begin Your day with some praise and worship!
Good Morning Very Loved, Very Blessed, Worshiping, Other Worldly, Disciples (apprentices) and Apostles (sent ones) of Christ! We were created in love to go love like Jesus as we grow from being one way to another in Christ. We were born with great potential. As we put on our new nature and allow Christ to shepherd us and learn from Him, we put on His easy yoke and learn to walk well in faith and service with Him. PTL! We are learning to live otherworldly in this world. People talk about aliens from outer space all the time and illegal aliens too. But we are citizens of heaven and earth, aliens and strangers here learning to live for Christ as we carry on our responsibilities on earth. We are learning how to be in the world but not of it as we grow into good ambassadors of Christ. We all have a purpose in Christ and different purposes daily and, as we age. We have custom made purposes for who we were made to be in every season of our life in Christ! And we are equipped, provided for and helped to find and fulfill those purposes! PTL! We are apprenticing under Jesus and sent to live and love like Him as we grow into our fuller potential in Christ. As Pastor Al taught us it's like building the airplane as we fly it. That takes soft hearts and willing feet to tweak as we go and as we follow. God is for us and with us and can do way more than we could ever imagine! He does have plans to prosper, not harm. But we may need to go through some valleys and tweaking ourselves as we walk with Him. It is an honor and privilege to follow Him with you as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to our fuller potential and God's greater things for us! Yes PTL!
Check out our devos below as you worship, praise. listen, receive, learn and prepare for this day! You are loved, are learning and adapting and adequate in Christ! You have doable purposes custom made for you as you travel through this life. PTL and follow well today! Maybe meditate on these songs as you prayerfully open your Bibles and read and meditate on these devos. God is speaking to you, pronouncing love and favor over you and reaching out to take hold of your hand to walk with you. Reach out to Him with a soft heart, willing feet and open ears and eyes. Ask Him to help with that and for His will to be done, in, through and around you. COME! Amen!
Here's a couple of songs to end your time of prayer, praise and worship and to prepare your hearts to follow and serve well today:
Upper Room (UR): Love Notes
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39 (NRSVUE)
Early in our relationship, my husband gave me a card with a beautiful love note. After many years of marriage, I don’t need a note to know how much he cares. It’s evident in the things he does and the way he acts toward me every day. Even though we sometimes don’t come to terms in certain situations or have a disagreement, I know his love for me is steadfast and certain. I find great comfort in this.
God’s love for us is like the steady love my husband shows me, only greater. At times, like when I lost my job of twenty years, when I faced grief, or when I heard the words of a frightening diagnosis, I shook my fist at God wondering where God’s love had gone. Yet, it was there all along: in the kindness of a friend, in the skilled hands of a doctor, in the sunrise of a new day, in the blossoms that herald the promise of a new season. These are God’s love notes to each of us. Do we recognize them?
TODAY'S PRAYER
Gracious God, your love is at work in our lives at all times. May we be instruments of this love, sharing it at every chance through kind thoughts, words, and deeds. Amen.
Our Daily Bread(ODB):
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Eric heard about Jesus’ love for him while in his early twenties. He started attending church where he met someone who helped him grow to know Christ better. It wasn’t long before Eric’s mentor assigned him to teach a small group of boys at church. Through the years, God drew Eric’s heart to help at-risk youth in his city, to visit the elderly, and to show hospitality to his neighbors—all for God’s honor. Now in his late fifties, Eric explains how grateful he is that he was taught early to serve: “My heart overflows to share the hope I’ve found in Jesus. What could be better than to serve Him?”
Timothy was a child when his mother and grandmother influenced him in his faith (2 Timothy 1:5). And he was likely a young adult when he met the apostle Paul, who saw potential in Timothy’s service for God and invited him on a ministry journey (Acts 16:1–3). Paul became his mentor in ministry and life. He encouraged him to study, to be courageous as he faced false teaching, and to use his talents in service to God (1 Timothy 4:6–16).
Why did Paul want Timothy to be faithful in serving God? He wrote, “Because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people” (v. 10). Jesus is our hope and the Savior of the world. What could be better than to serve Him?
By Anne Cetas
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What have you learned about Christ that you want someone else to know? Who could use your help and whose help might you need?
Dear God, please give me a heart to bring Your hope to those around me.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Paul’s letters to Timothy include quite a few challenges to stop false teaching in its tracks (1 Timothy 4:1–7; 6:2–5; 2 Timothy 2:14–19). In his first letter, Paul gives Timothy the tools he wants the young pastor to use in dealing with falsehoods: “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13).
By keeping the Scriptures front and center in the churches that Timothy served, he offered an antidote to the “godless myths and old wives’ tales” (v. 7) that seemed to always plague the churches. Timothy’s best defense against incorrect doctrine was Scripture itself (2 Timothy 3:16).
Jed Ostoich |
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Charles Stanley:
The Word for You Today (TWFYT)
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)
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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
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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.
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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 |
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Don 
Wednesday, October 04 2023
Good Morning Living Faith Ones! Yes the gift of our faith in Jesus is active and alive as we work on living and loving like Jesus everyday. Our faith journey is not just about knowing Christ and growing in knowledge of His Word and Way, but actually living out an active faith life as part of God's Good News Delivery Co. Our faith journey is one of knowledge and action custom made for custom made us at the season and situations we find ourselves in today. Know Christ and make Him known is our EC mission statement. I think we are well on our way to that and God has prepared us and placed us right where He wants us and we need to be to become a dynamic movement. It's all about just being you and loving like Jesus as you go about the day doing the things He did and has for you. Jesus prayed. Jesus equipped. Jesus provided. Jesus guided. Jesus met needs. And Jesus followed all God had for Him each day. And he gave us a new command to go (movement) and love as He did (action). He loaded up and then poured out Himself. Reload and rested and then poured Himself out. And everywhere He went He connected those God was drawing and leading Him to minister to the Father. He loved well--God, Himself, and all those God was drawing. That's our mission as we yoke to Jesus and walk through each day as His loving servant.
Check out ODB and TWFYT below and talk to God about your assignment for today as you abide in Him and go lovingly produce the good fruit He has ready for you! You are very loved! God has some great plans for you today or maybe some struggle to walk through with Him. No matter, He is for you nad has plans to prosper you and use you to grow His Kingdom. be still and know, refresh and receive. Then go and live and love like Jesus!
See you tonight at 6 for Family Ministries and the Chosen Huddle. Some great stuff ahead and we might even celebrate something God did through you today as He loved through you. And don't forget, Jesus sent the disciples 2x2. Who is He wanting to partner with you? Ask Him and follow well!
ODB:
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It was a natural step for Brett to attend a Christian college and study the Bible. After all, he’d been around people who knew Jesus his whole life—at home, at school, at church. He was even gearing his college studies toward a career in “Christian work.”
But at age twenty-one, as he sat with the small congregation in an old country church and listened to a pastor preach from 1 John, he made a startling discovery. He realized that he was depending on knowledge and the trappings of religion and that he’d never truly received salvation in Jesus. He felt that Christ was tugging at his heart that day with a sobering message: “You don’t know Me!”
The apostle John’s message is clear: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1). We can “overcome the world,” as John puts it (v. 4), only by belief in Jesus. Not knowledge about Him, but deep, sincere faith—demonstrated by our belief in what He did for us on the cross. That day, Brett placed his faith in Christ alone.
Today, Brett’s deep passion for Jesus and His salvation are no secret. It comes through loud and clear every time he steps behind the pulpit and preaches as a pastor—my pastor.
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life” (vv. 11–12). For all who have found life in Jesus, what a comforting reminder this is!
By Dave Branon
REFLECT & PRAY
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What’s your story of faith? What led you to understand you needed Jesus?
Jesus, thank You for the gift of salvation and for those who pointed me to faith in You.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The apostle John’s letters (1, 2, and 3 John) are considered brief—particularly in comparison to Paul’s lengthy epistles and other letters, such as Romans and 1 Corinthians. However, even 3 John—the shortest of the biblical letters—would’ve been considered long by ancient standards. Scholar Randy Richards wrote: “The average letter in the first century was 87 words.” Meanwhile 3 John has 219 words in the Greek and is the shortest New Testament letter. First John—at 2,517 words—is still quite brief yet much longer than the typical first-century letter. That common brevity in ancient letters was due to several factors including the cost of hiring a secretary, the cost of papyrus and ink (which had to be handmade), and the difficulty in getting letters to their destinations.
Bill Crowder |
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TWFYT:
Tuesday, October 03 2023
Today join us from 10-11 on Zoom for Huddle (prayer, discussion, fellowship and study)
Join us tomorrow (Wed. from 6-8 for dinner, fellowship The Chosen Huddle and Family Ministries gathering.) Come as you are and bring a friend
Ron Williams service information: A Funeral Service will be held Friday, October 6, 2023, at 11:00 AM at Stephens Funeral Home, 274 N. Krocks Rd. Allentown, PA 18106. A Viewing will be held prior to the service from 10-11.
We continue to lift Sally and the family in our prayers.
In my sharing thanks for all of our servants yesterday, I forgot our Support Team (our board). All of our members do serve in various other capacities. You have elected a great team of servants to lead our church and God is using them well. Thank each of them and pray for them to have wisdom, discernment, and to follow Jesus and lead well as they lead us! President: Sarah Boyer. Lay Delegate: Kathy Canfield. Finance: Danny Reinsmith. Secretary: Lori Rohrer. Envelope Secretary: Debbie Siegfried. Missions: Joan Fenstemaker. Member at large: Barb Schware. Worship: Sarah and Pastor Don. Property: Co-leaders Danny and Don. Family Ministries: Pastor Don. Note: the Finance team volunteers are Danny, Debbie, Lori, Gail Lichtenwalner, and Gina Fuhrman. The Support and Finance Teams' purpose is to support and provide for the church's vision and provision. They along with our PRC constitute the Vision team that discerns and shares God's vision for us and evaluates how well we are doing and what may need to change as we follow God's plans for us. Thank you to all these servants! Keep praying for them to hear, lead and follow well!
Continue to thank God for all of our servants and for our church full of servants surrendered to and following the Lord well. Pray for God to bring His dreams and vision alive and for us to follow Him to His greater things for us! Here is a link from Harvest Prayer for how to pray for your pastors and leaders. May I suggest printing and using this often! We need your prayers and coverings! Thank you! https://www.harvestprayer.com/resources/church-prayer/prayer-and-care-for-pastors/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Morning Movers and Shakers! We continue to seek, discern and move with God. We are positioning to be there as He shakes, rattles and rolls around our neighborhoods. We shake the heavenlies as we pray and move with Him. Satan is shaking in his boots as we follow well and as we join God in pulling people from his death grip. Continue to pray a covering of protection over our church and leaders and put on God's armor as you stand firm in Christ and join with Him in the battle for souls.
I like this Face Book post from The Word FM: Today's Word: You will tell His people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the Morning Light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace. ~ Luke 1:77-79 (NLT)
Amen!
God loves you more than you can measure. He is at work all around you and always near. He is speaking to your soul right now. Turn off all the noise around you, even in your own head. (Remember Satan speaks loudest in your on voice in your head) Check out all our devos for today below. God is speaking just to you right now! What's He saying? What might you need to do about it? He has a Word just for you! Be still, receive and know that He is God!
Have an amazing time with God as you seek, listen and release His power in prayer! You are the vital and foundational part of our Good News Delivery Team. You are the key as you pray that unlocks God's plans. Thank you!!! Shalom!
Upper Room (UR): No Hole Too Deep:
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. - Isaiah 59:1 (NIV)
One day while I visited a construction site with my father, my puppy wandered away. I heard him wailing and discovered he had fallen into a hole. I tried to retrieve him, but he was beyond my reach. My father promised, “It will be alright.” He lay on the ground and thrust his arm into the hole. He strained, he stretched, he grunted, and finally his fingertips hooked my puppy’s collar. Then he lifted my whimpering pet back into the light. I brushed my puppy clean and then hugged my father. The memory remains vivid — musty soil, warm summer sun, and fear clenching my body.
That day, I believed my dad could do anything. The recollection of my earthly father’s strength encourages me to have greater trust in my heavenly Father. Even after decades of following Jesus, I sometimes think my heart embraces fear more readily than faith. But I remind myself that I am neither lost nor alone. When I see no way out, I remember the strong arm and long reach of my Savior.
No disaster can put us beyond God’s help. So when we are frightened in the dark, trapped by poor choices, over our heads in trouble, God’s arm is long enough to reach us, and God’s hand is strong enough to save us.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you for holding us in your hand and lifting us when we fall. Give us faith to trust you even when we are afraid. Amen.
Our Daily Bread (ODB):
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The optometrist helped three-year-old Andreas adjust his first pair of glasses. “Look in the mirror,” she said. Andreas glanced at his reflection, then turned to his father with a joyful and loving smile. Then Andreas’ father gently wiped the tears that slipped down his son’s cheeks and asked, “What’s wrong?” Andreas wrapped his arms around his father’s neck. “I can see you.” He pulled back, tilted his head, and gazed into his father’s eyes. “I can see you!”
As we prayerfully study the Bible, the Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see Jesus, the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). However, even with our vision cleared by the Spirit as we grow in knowledge through Scripture, we can still only see a glimpse of God’s infinite immensity on this side of eternity. When our time on earth is done or when Jesus fulfills His promise to return, we’ll see Him clearly (1 Corinthians 13:12).
We won’t need special glasses in that joy-filled moment when we see Christ face-to-face and know Him as He knows each of us, the beloved members of the body of Christ—the church. The Holy Spirit will infuse us with the faith, hope, and love we need to stand firm, until we gaze at our loving and living Savior and say, “I can see You, Jesus. I can see You!”
By Xochitl Dixon
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What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you recently as you’ve read the Bible? How has your growth in the knowledge of God changed you?
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The King James Version translates 1 Corinthians 13:12 this way: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.” Of note is the word darkly, which the NIV translates reflection. The word in the Greek is ainigma (only used here in the New Testament), from which we get the word enigma. It means “an obscure saying, something dark, abstract.” It’s believed that Paul may have had Numbers 12 in mind when he used this term. God affirmed Moses and his ministry with these words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses . . . . With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord” (vv. 6–8).
Learn more about Moses’ journey with God.
Arthur Jackson |
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Monday, October 02 2023
Sept financial statement below. Note: Rally Day envelopes will be used to fund our new "IN" Fund which replaces the Sunday School Fund. We use this fund for teaching materials, craft supplies, and food and supplies for our IN and Huddle gatherings.
Yesterday, Sarah and I were surprised and very blessed as Kathy praised God for our service and prayed over us. Thank you! You have no idea what that means to us and to Karen and me as well as she was blessed and prayed over as well. But our church isn't built on just one or two servants. We are a team. God's Good News Delivery Co. where all have a part to play and many are doing so very well. Thank You all! Praise God for Gina Fuhrman and her whole serving team at Bread Ministry, Clothing Closet and pantry. Gina, Gail Lichtenwalner, Millie Flexer, Mary Rehm, and all those non-members Karen, Barb, Sue and others) Thank you all!!! We are connecting to new people through their loved shared well and we are being God's hands and feet reaching in loving help. Thank You Lori Rohrer, our volunteer secretary and Two peas in a Pod chef. Lori just updated our website and Face Book presence. Check it our at http://www.stmatthewsec.com! People can now learn more about us, find our calendar and even read my daily blog. New families find churches on line and we are now positioned more relevantly to be considered. Thanks for all you do Lori! Then there's Debbie Siegfried, our envelope secretary and media guru making sure our zoom connections work as we reach around the country to those worshiping God with us. Thanks to Gary Bastian for keeping all our Sunday media working and for opening and preparing our building to welcome us each Sunday. Then there is the whole property Team that keeps our building operational and clean and welcoming. (Danny Reinsmith, Marshall Rehm, Jason Fuhrman, Tim Derr, Mike Canfield, and Craig Siegfried). And thanks to our Children's Church teachers Mike Laise, Barb Schware and Karen Kerns making sure our kids are meeting God and growing in Jesus as they teach Sundays and now Wednesday evenings. Thank you!. We also can't forget our vital team mates, our prayer warriors and our tithing fund-ers! You rock! We are a giving and praying church! PTL! We are family! We are a team! We prosper as we serve and worship together! Thank you to everyone!!! (sorry if I missed anyone! I always worry about that when I list our servants by name) One last thank you and that is for our Pastoral Relations Committee (PRC) that help Sarah and me be our best, stay on track and help with and concerns you raise. (Danny Reinsmith, Kathy Canfield (our lay delegate too), Gina Fuhrman, and Gail Lichtenwalner). What great servants we have! PTL and thank all for all they do to help us to continue to grow into the greater things God has for us! You are all appreciated and you are fulfilling your custom made purposes so well! Thanks again for being you and loving well!
Good Morning Very Blessed, Set Free Masterpieces Who Do the Master's Work! That's you, right? Proclaim it brothers and sisters, because it is an apt description of who you are in Christ and what you and we do as the Master's very loved, very blessed servants. We are blessed to be a blessing and get blessed back as we bless. The angel pronounced over Mary that she was a blessed and highly favored servant. I am pronouncing that over you and our church right now! Receive it and live it! It's an awesome circle of blessings that leads to much love shared and much praise lifted. Times are hard and many of us have struggles. We can keep a healthy focus as we praise, even in the storms and count our many blessings. I think of Paul's thorn in the flesh that was used by God to keep him humble as he served and worshiped. God's grace is sufficient for all of us and His mercies are new every morning. PTL!
Check out the UR below and the reminder to keep your focus up by counting your blessings and worshiping our All-Knowing Helper and Rock. Pray for those you know who are struggling right now to remember to trust God and lift praise. Then there is ODB's (below) reminder that we are God's masterpieces. We are works of art in process, allowing God to form us more fully into the finished piece of art He has in mind. I think of the Potter and the clay! I think of how old masterpieces are being restored and made new or back to their original glory. God is so God, ain't? Also check out my Charles Stanley devo for today as well as TWFYT reminding us that we are being made new in Christ (Eph. 2:10) and sent to complete our custom made missions. Only you can be you and God has something special just for you today. PTL! Go and love like Jesus.
As I read these I was reminded of our Chosen episodes from last week and this week. (Wed at 6). Last week, The Baptist said to Andrew and Joanna that when Jesus speaks there's always something there just for you. What is it? Jesus is speaking to you. What's he saying? Yesterday He spoke to us through the red letters of our Bibles, but you don't need red letters to hear His loving voice. Be still and know! I think of this week when we will watch Jesus sending the twelve out two by two as he empowered them to go do His works (just like He does for us) and how He ministered to little James. We may pause and replay that this week because it brings alive so well God's love, grace and wisdom as He uses even the handicapped to go love and bless. (You should really come check that out with us Wed!!!) God loves you so much just as you are and has great plans custom made for you today. Receive and share His love well this week! And then let's celebrate all God is doing through His loving servant Good News Delivery Co called St. Matts!
Rejoice and be glad in this beautiful day that God has given us. Thank Him for using and sending you! Thank Him for our servants church and the harvest workers He is raising up as He brings in the harvest. Ask Him to empower an embolden you to go, just as you are, His masterpiece in process, and ask Him to love through you well today. Amen! Jesus is lovingly gazing at you right now and knows all you will accomplish and He is smiling! He really loves you! Amen! Go! Be who you would be if you were Jesus! Be you and love well!
UR (Upper Room): Counting Blessings
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. - Psalm 23:6 (NIV)
One evening I saw my sister writing notes in her phone. Curious, I took a peek at what she was writing. It was a list of good things that happened to her that day. My sister was counting God’s blessings one by one. When I asked her why, she answered, “So I can always be thankful to God.”
Starting in January 2021, I had many troubles — one blow after another. I was stressed, and as a result it was hard for me to be thankful to God. Then I remembered my sister’s example to count God’s blessings. So every night I tried to give thanks to God for at least one blessing. At first it was difficult. I would wonder, What blessing did I receive today? But, day by day, I came to realize that God’s blessings were abundant. No longer was I stressed. I gave thanks to God and felt content.
In today’s scripture reading, David celebrates God’s presence in his life. Even though he faced many troubles, David knew God’s goodness was with him every day. Life has many troubles, but it also has many blessings. We can give thanks to God always.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Open our eyes, God, to the abundant blessings you give us every day of our life. May we always give thanks to you. Amen.ODB:
|
Writing in The Atlantic, author Arthur C. Brooks tells of his visit to the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, which contains one of the largest collections of Chinese art in the world. The museum guide asked, “What do you think of when I ask you to imagine a work of art yet to be started?” Brooks said, “An empty canvas, I guess.” The guide replied, “There’s another way to view it: The art already exists, and the job of artists is simply to reveal it.”
In Ephesians 2:10, the word handiwork, sometimes translated as “workmanship” or “masterpiece,” is from the Greek word poiēma, from which we derive our word poetry. God has created us as works of art, living poems. However, our art has become obscured: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (v. 1). To paraphrase the words of the museum guide, “The art [of us] is already there, and it’s the job of the Divine Artist to reveal it.” Indeed, God is restoring us, His masterpieces: “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive” (vv. 4–5).
As we go through challenges and difficulties, we might take comfort in knowing that the Divine Artist is at work: “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Know that God is working in you to reveal His masterpiece.
By Kenneth Petersen
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
What are some of the ways that you, as God’s artwork, have become dimmed? How do you feel He’s working in your life these days?
Creator God, thank You for making me one of Your masterpieces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Ephesians 2:1–10 contains three significant shifts. First, Paul speaks of a shift from death to life: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (vv. 4–5). The second shift is connected to the first. When we were brought from death to life, our actions changed. We shifted from following “the ways of this world” (v. 2), being “disobedient” (v. 2), and “gratifying the cravings of our flesh” (v. 3) to “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10). Finally, Paul switches between the second person you and the first person us. This unites all who call on the name of Jesus into one family.
J.R. Hudberg |
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Stanley Devo:
TWFYT (The Word for You Today)
Sept financial statement below. Note: Rally Day envelopes will be used to fund our new "IN" Fund which replaces the Sunday School Fund. We use this fund for teaching materials, craft supplies, and food and supplies for our IN and Huddle gatherings.
Yesterday, Sarah and I were surprised and very blessed as Kathy praised God for our service and prayed over us. Thank you! You have no idea what that means to us and to Karen and me as well as she was blessed and prayed over as well. But our church isn't built on just one or two servants. We are a team. God's Good News Delivery Co. where all have a part to play and many are doing so very well. Thank You all! Praise God for Gina Fuhrman and her whole serving team at Bread Ministry, Clothing Closet and pantry. Gina, Gail Lichtenwalner, Millie Flexer, Mary Rehm, and all those non-members Karen, Barb, Sue and others) Thank you all!!! We are connecting to new people through their loved shared well and we are being God's hands and feet reaching in loving help. Thank You Lori Rohrer, our volunteer secretary and Two peas in a Pod chef. Lori just updated our website and Face Book presence. Check it our at http://www.stmatthewsec.com! People can now learn more about us, find our calendar and even read my daily blog. New families find churches on line and we are now positioned more relevantly to be considered. Thanks for all you do Lori! Then there's Debbie Siegfried, our envelope secretary and media guru making sure our zoom connections work as we reach around the country to those worshiping God with us. Thanks to Gary Bastian for keeping all our Sunday media working and for opening and preparing our building to welcome us each Sunday. Then there is the whole property Team that keeps our building operational and clean and welcoming. (Danny Reinsmith, Marshall Rehm, Jason Fuhrman, Tim Derr, Mike Canfield, and Craig Siegfried). And thanks to our Children's Church teachers Mike Laise, Barb Schware and Karen Kerns making sure our kids are meeting God and growing in Jesus as they teach Sundays and now Wednesday evenings. Thank you!. We also can't forget our vital team mates, our prayer warriors and our tithing fund-ers! You rock! We are a giving and praying church! PTL! We are family! We are a team! We prosper as we serve and worship together! Thank you to everyone!!! (sorry if I missed anyone! I always worry about that when I list our servants by name) One last thank you and that is for our Pastoral Relations Committee (PRC) that help Sarah and me be our best, stay on track and help with and concerns you raise. (Danny Reinsmith, Kathy Canfield (our lay delegate too), Gina Fuhrman, and Gail Lichtenwalner). What great servants we have! PTL and thank all for all they do to help us to continue to grow into the greater things God has for us! You are all appreciated and you are fulfilling your custom made purposes so well! Thanks again for being you and loving well!
Good Morning Very Blessed, Set Free Masterpieces Who Do the Master's Work! That's you, right? Proclaim it brothers and sisters, because it is an apt description of who you are in Christ and what you and we do as the Master's very loved, very blessed servants. We are blessed to be a blessing and get blessed back as we bless. The angel pronounced over Mary that she was a blessed and highly favored servant. I am pronouncing that over you and our church right now! Receive it and live it! It's an awesome circle of blessings that leads to much love shared and much praise lifted. Times are hard and many of us have struggles. We can keep a healthy focus as we praise, even in the storms and count our many blessings. I think of Paul's thorn in the flesh that was used by God to keep him humble as he served and worshiped. God's grace is sufficient for all of us and His mercies are new every morning. PTL!
Check out the UR below and the reminder to keep your focus up by counting your blessings and worshiping our All-Knowing Helper and Rock. Pray for those you know who are struggling right now to remember to trust God and lift praise. Then there is ODB's (below) reminder that we are God's masterpieces. We are works of art in process, allowing God to form us more fully into the finished piece of art He has in mind. I think of the Potter and the clay! I think of how old masterpieces are being restored and made new or back to their original glory. God is so God, ain't? Also check out my Charles Stanley devo for today as well as TWFYT reminding us that we are being made new in Christ (Eph. 2:10) and sent to complete our custom made missions. Only you can be you and God has something special just for you today. PTL! Go and love like Jesus.
As I read these I was reminded of our Chosen episodes from last week and this week. (Wed at 6). Last week, The Baptist said to Andrew and Joanna that when Jesus speaks there's always something there just for you. What is it? Jesus is speaking to you. What's he saying? Yesterday He spoke to us through the red letters of our Bibles, but you don't need red letters to hear His loving voice. Be still and know! I think of this week when we will watch Jesus sending the twelve out two by two as he empowered them to go do His works (just like He does for us) and how He ministered to little James. We may pause and replay that this week because it brings alive so well God's love, grace and wisdom as He uses even the handicapped to go love and bless. (You should really come check that out with us Wed!!!) God loves you so much just as you are and has great plans custom made for you today. Receive and share His love well this week! And then let's celebrate all God is doing through His loving servant Good News Delivery Co called St. Matts!
Rejoice and be glad in this beautiful day that God has given us. Thank Him for using and sending you! Thank Him for our servants church and the harvest workers He is raising up as He brings in the harvest. Ask Him to empower an embolden you to go, just as you are, His masterpiece in process, and ask Him to love through you well today. Amen! Jesus is lovingly gazing at you right now and knows all you will accomplish and He is smiling! He really loves you! Amen! Go! Be who you would be if you were Jesus! Be you and love well!
UR (Upper Room): Counting Blessings
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. - Psalm 23:6 (NIV)
One evening I saw my sister writing notes in her phone. Curious, I took a peek at what she was writing. It was a list of good things that happened to her that day. My sister was counting God’s blessings one by one. When I asked her why, she answered, “So I can always be thankful to God.”
Starting in January 2021, I had many troubles — one blow after another. I was stressed, and as a result it was hard for me to be thankful to God. Then I remembered my sister’s example to count God’s blessings. So every night I tried to give thanks to God for at least one blessing. At first it was difficult. I would wonder, What blessing did I receive today? But, day by day, I came to realize that God’s blessings were abundant. No longer was I stressed. I gave thanks to God and felt content.
In today’s scripture reading, David celebrates God’s presence in his life. Even though he faced many troubles, David knew God’s goodness was with him every day. Life has many troubles, but it also has many blessings. We can give thanks to God always.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Open our eyes, God, to the abundant blessings you give us every day of our life. May we always give thanks to you. Amen.ODB:
|
Writing in The Atlantic, author Arthur C. Brooks tells of his visit to the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, which contains one of the largest collections of Chinese art in the world. The museum guide asked, “What do you think of when I ask you to imagine a work of art yet to be started?” Brooks said, “An empty canvas, I guess.” The guide replied, “There’s another way to view it: The art already exists, and the job of artists is simply to reveal it.”
In Ephesians 2:10, the word handiwork, sometimes translated as “workmanship” or “masterpiece,” is from the Greek word poiēma, from which we derive our word poetry. God has created us as works of art, living poems. However, our art has become obscured: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (v. 1). To paraphrase the words of the museum guide, “The art [of us] is already there, and it’s the job of the Divine Artist to reveal it.” Indeed, God is restoring us, His masterpieces: “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive” (vv. 4–5).
As we go through challenges and difficulties, we might take comfort in knowing that the Divine Artist is at work: “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Know that God is working in you to reveal His masterpiece.
By Kenneth Petersen
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
What are some of the ways that you, as God’s artwork, have become dimmed? How do you feel He’s working in your life these days?
Creator God, thank You for making me one of Your masterpieces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Ephesians 2:1–10 contains three significant shifts. First, Paul speaks of a shift from death to life: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (vv. 4–5). The second shift is connected to the first. When we were brought from death to life, our actions changed. We shifted from following “the ways of this world” (v. 2), being “disobedient” (v. 2), and “gratifying the cravings of our flesh” (v. 3) to “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10). Finally, Paul switches between the second person you and the first person us. This unites all who call on the name of Jesus into one family.
J.R. Hudberg |
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Stanley Devo:
TWFYT (The Word for You Today)
Sept financial statement below. Note: Rally Day envelopes will be used to fund our new "IN" Fund which replaces the Sunday School Fund. We use this fund for teaching materials, craft supplies, and food and supplies for our IN and Huddle gatherings.
Yesterday, Sarah and I were surprised and very blessed as Kathy praised God for our service and prayed over us. Thank you! You have no idea what that means to us and to Karen and me as well as she was blessed and prayed over as well. But our church isn't built on just one or two servants. We are a team. God's Good News Delivery Co. where all have a part to play and many are doing so very well. Thank You all! Praise God for Gina Fuhrman and her whole serving team at Bread Ministry, Clothing Closet and pantry. Gina, Gail Lichtenwalner, Millie Flexer, Mary Rehm, and all those non-members Karen, Barb, Sue and others) Thank you all!!! We are connecting to new people through their loved shared well and we are being God's hands and feet reaching in loving help. Thank You Lori Rohrer, our volunteer secretary and Two peas in a Pod chef. Lori just updated our website and Face Book presence. Check it our at http://www.stmatthewsec.com! People can now learn more about us, find our calendar and even read my daily blog. New families find churches on line and we are now positioned more relevantly to be considered. Thanks for all you do Lori! Then there's Debbie Siegfried, our envelope secretary and media guru making sure our zoom connections work as we reach around the country to those worshiping God with us. Thanks to Gary Bastian for keeping all our Sunday media working and for opening and preparing our building to welcome us each Sunday. Then there is the whole property Team that keeps our building operational and clean and welcoming. (Danny Reinsmith, Marshall Rehm, Jason Fuhrman, Tim Derr, Mike Canfield, and Craig Siegfried). And thanks to our Children's Church teachers Mike Laise, Barb Schware and Karen Kerns making sure our kids are meeting God and growing in Jesus as they teach Sundays and now Wednesday evenings. Thank you!. We also can't forget our vital team mates, our prayer warriors and our tithing fund-ers! You rock! We are a giving and praying church! PTL! We are family! We are a team! We prosper as we serve and worship together! Thank you to everyone!!! (sorry if I missed anyone! I always worry about that when I list our servants by name) One last thank you and that is for our Pastoral Relations Committee (PRC) that help Sarah and me be our best, stay on track and help with and concerns you raise. (Danny Reinsmith, Kathy Canfield (our lay delegate too), Gina Fuhrman, and Gail Lichtenwalner). What great servants we have! PTL and thank all for all they do to help us to continue to grow into the greater things God has for us! You are all appreciated and you are fulfilling your custom made purposes so well! Thanks again for being you and loving well!
Good Morning Very Blessed, Set Free Masterpieces Who Do the Master's Work! That's you, right? Proclaim it brothers and sisters, because it is an apt description of who you are in Christ and what you and we do as the Master's very loved, very blessed servants. We are blessed to be a blessing and get blessed back as we bless. The angel pronounced over Mary that she was a blessed and highly favored servant. I am pronouncing that over you and our church right now! Receive it and live it! It's an awesome circle of blessings that leads to much love shared and much praise lifted. Times are hard and many of us have struggles. We can keep a healthy focus as we praise, even in the storms and count our many blessings. I think of Paul's thorn in the flesh that was used by God to keep him humble as he served and worshiped. God's grace is sufficient for all of us and His mercies are new every morning. PTL!
Check out the UR below and the reminder to keep your focus up by counting your blessings and worshiping our All-Knowing Helper and Rock. Pray for those you know who are struggling right now to remember to trust God and lift praise. Then there is ODB's (below) reminder that we are God's masterpieces. We are works of art in process, allowing God to form us more fully into the finished piece of art He has in mind. I think of the Potter and the clay! I think of how old masterpieces are being restored and made new or back to their original glory. God is so God, ain't? Also check out my Charles Stanley devo for today as well as TWFYT reminding us that we are being made new in Christ (Eph. 2:10) and sent to complete our custom made missions. Only you can be you and God has something special just for you today. PTL! Go and love like Jesus.
As I read these I was reminded of our Chosen episodes from last week and this week. (Wed at 6). Last week, The Baptist said to Andrew and Joanna that when Jesus speaks there's always something there just for you. What is it? Jesus is speaking to you. What's he saying? Yesterday He spoke to us through the red letters of our Bibles, but you don't need red letters to hear His loving voice. Be still and know! I think of this week when we will watch Jesus sending the twelve out two by two as he empowered them to go do His works (just like He does for us) and how He ministered to little James. We may pause and replay that this week because it brings alive so well God's love, grace and wisdom as He uses even the handicapped to go love and bless. (You should really come check that out with us Wed!!!) God loves you so much just as you are and has great plans custom made for you today. Receive and share His love well this week! And then let's celebrate all God is doing through His loving servant Good News Delivery Co called St. Matts!
Rejoice and be glad in this beautiful day that God has given us. Thank Him for using and sending you! Thank Him for our servants church and the harvest workers He is raising up as He brings in the harvest. Ask Him to empower an embolden you to go, just as you are, His masterpiece in process, and ask Him to love through you well today. Amen! Jesus is lovingly gazing at you right now and knows all you will accomplish and He is smiling! He really loves you! Amen! Go! Be who you would be if you were Jesus! Be you and love well!
UR (Upper Room): Counting Blessings
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. - Psalm 23:6 (NIV)
One evening I saw my sister writing notes in her phone. Curious, I took a peek at what she was writing. It was a list of good things that happened to her that day. My sister was counting God’s blessings one by one. When I asked her why, she answered, “So I can always be thankful to God.”
Starting in January 2021, I had many troubles — one blow after another. I was stressed, and as a result it was hard for me to be thankful to God. Then I remembered my sister’s example to count God’s blessings. So every night I tried to give thanks to God for at least one blessing. At first it was difficult. I would wonder, What blessing did I receive today? But, day by day, I came to realize that God’s blessings were abundant. No longer was I stressed. I gave thanks to God and felt content.
In today’s scripture reading, David celebrates God’s presence in his life. Even though he faced many troubles, David knew God’s goodness was with him every day. Life has many troubles, but it also has many blessings. We can give thanks to God always.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Open our eyes, God, to the abundant blessings you give us every day of our life. May we always give thanks to you. Amen.ODB:
|
Writing in The Atlantic, author Arthur C. Brooks tells of his visit to the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, which contains one of the largest collections of Chinese art in the world. The museum guide asked, “What do you think of when I ask you to imagine a work of art yet to be started?” Brooks said, “An empty canvas, I guess.” The guide replied, “There’s another way to view it: The art already exists, and the job of artists is simply to reveal it.”
In Ephesians 2:10, the word handiwork, sometimes translated as “workmanship” or “masterpiece,” is from the Greek word poiēma, from which we derive our word poetry. God has created us as works of art, living poems. However, our art has become obscured: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (v. 1). To paraphrase the words of the museum guide, “The art [of us] is already there, and it’s the job of the Divine Artist to reveal it.” Indeed, God is restoring us, His masterpieces: “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive” (vv. 4–5).
As we go through challenges and difficulties, we might take comfort in knowing that the Divine Artist is at work: “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Know that God is working in you to reveal His masterpiece.
By Kenneth Petersen
REFLECT & PRAY
|
|
What are some of the ways that you, as God’s artwork, have become dimmed? How do you feel He’s working in your life these days?
Creator God, thank You for making me one of Your masterpieces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Ephesians 2:1–10 contains three significant shifts. First, Paul speaks of a shift from death to life: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (vv. 4–5). The second shift is connected to the first. When we were brought from death to life, our actions changed. We shifted from following “the ways of this world” (v. 2), being “disobedient” (v. 2), and “gratifying the cravings of our flesh” (v. 3) to “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10). Finally, Paul switches between the second person you and the first person us. This unites all who call on the name of Jesus into one family.
J.R. Hudberg |
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Stanley Devo:
TWFYT (The Word for You Today)
St Matthew’s Financial Update
|
September
2023
|
Monthly
Revenue
|
Monthly
Expenses
|
YTD
Revenue
|
YTD
Expenses
|
|
General Fund
|
$7,855
|
$18,729
|
$114,580
|
$138,541
|
The figures for the “General Fund” include all revenue and all expenses for the month. This includes all revenue from offerings, rent, and other income. The expenses reported above are actual expenses for the month. The totals reported for Missions and the Rebuilding Fund are also included in the “General Fund” figures.
|
Missions
|
$576
|
$2,030
|
$8,391
|
$12,270
|
|
Rebuilding Fund
|
$295
|
$3,365
|
$3,810
|
$4,859
|
St Matthew’s Financial Update
|
September
2023
|
Monthly
Revenue
|
Monthly
Expenses
|
YTD
Revenue
|
YTD
Expenses
|
|
General Fund
|
$7,855
|
$18,729
|
$114,580
|
$138,541
|
The figures for the “General Fund” include all revenue and all expenses for the month. This includes all revenue from offerings, rent, and other income. The expenses reported above are actual expenses for the month. The totals reported for Missions and the Rebuilding Fund are also included in the “General Fund” figures.
|
Missions
|
$576
|
$2,030
|
$8,391
|
$12,270
|
|
Rebuilding Fund
|
$295
|
$3,365
|
$3,810
|
$4,859
|
St Matthew’s Financial Update
|
September
2023
|
Monthly
Revenue
|
Monthly
Expenses
|
YTD
Revenue
|
YTD
Expenses
|
|
General Fund
|
$7,855
|
$18,729
|
$114,580
|
$138,541
|
The figures for the “General Fund” include all revenue and all expenses for the month. This includes all revenue from offerings, rent, and other income. The expenses reported above are actual expenses for the month. The totals reported for Missions and the Rebuilding Fund are also included in the “General Fund” figures.
|
Missions
|
$576
|
$2,030
|
$8,391
|
$12,270
|
|
Rebuilding Fund
|
$295
|
$3,365
|
$3,810
|
$4,859
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Sunday, October 01 2023
Today we celebrate worldwide communion at 10 am with Children's Church in person and on Zoom. We are also collecting for Everlasting Life Ministries. (If communing with us on Zoom have your elements ready for communion. Crackers, bread and juice)
Below find Brian and Missy Wagner news letter
Good Morning Prayerfully Meditating Students of the Living Word! Jesus is the Living Word. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He holds all things together. John 1 teaches us that in the beginning was the Word. When God spoke creation into existence, His Living Word created. If you have a red letter Bible, Jesus' words are written in red. Today during worship we will be focusing on, meditating on, and processing the red letters of John 6:26-69. The Holy Spirit brings alive God's Living Word to us and we will ask Him to do so today as we contemplate this "hard teaching" of Jesus. God is speaking all the time through His Living Word and all three of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit are present and can be heard and understood as we prayerfully meditate on His Word and process it with others. What's He saying to you?
This year we have been challenged to read through the Bible in a year and now reading and studying through the Gospel of John for the rest of the year. We are prayerfully meditating on God's Word and beginning to learn to hear His voice, understand and do what He says. It's all part of the Become Me in '23 challenge as we work on growing into our true created identity and doing the things we are created to do. Check out TWFYT below. They share some helpful tips for beginning students of the Bible. Our focus on prayerfully meditating and processing through the Gospel of John is partly to help us learn how to use God's Word to disciple others. These thoughts can be applied to that as well. Are you hearing God? You can as you pray, meditate and open His Living Word! Note this too: What you are hearing may be different from others as the Holy Spirit highlights things just for you. He may also highlight things for others and even our fellowship. Look for others to process with. Plan to join us each week as we engage with God's Living Word in huddles Tues and Wed and Sundays during worship. God is always speaking. We just need to make time, turn off the noise and tune in.
This week we will be reading Ezekiel 1-21 and John 7 and 8. Consider prayerfully opening God's Word and meditate on what He is saying to you as you study with some others and process to put into action what God is revealing just for you. As we study John we are asking three questions of what we read. We can apply these three questions to any Scripture we read: What's going on in this passage (are there any promises or commands?)? What's God saying to me? What specific and measurable steps will I take towards doing this? Invite God to speak to your heart and direct your steps as you still yourself and listen. His Word is so sweet and powerful and effective when pronounced and released in prayer.
Today, let us prepare your hearts for worship and release some of His powerful words as we use some prayer starters from my prayer starter book, Patterns of Prayer by Alvin Vandergriend:
"Shout Hallelujah! to the Lord God Almighty. Praise God for His power and glory. Thank Him for salvation (Rev. 19:1). Confess how rarely recently you have meditated on God's wisdom and strength. Commit yourself to thinking more about what you can do for God, rather than what God can do for you. Pray for family members and friends who hold God at arms length. [remember, we are praying for God to give us five people that don't know Him or walk in His ways, for someone to bring along to any of our gatherings and for God to add to our numbers weekly those who are being saved.] Plead for personal peace and joy in Christ, so they will want what you have. Pray for your worship leaders to be sensitive to those with unusual personalities or special needs. Many parts form God's Body (1 Cor. 12:12-31). [Pray for us to become a house of prayer for the nations including all who God sends] Pray that Christians will be willing to examine and change even time-honored forms of worship--if such changes draw unbelievers to God and salvation and growth. [Thank God for our openness to trust and follow God to His new things!] Pray that unsaved people who feel empty will find salvation and be drawn to God through our worship and obedience. [Thank God for all our servants at St. Matts who go, welcome, and love like Jesus!]
Phillips Brooks said, "Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance, but taking hold of God's willingness." Amen! We hear what He wants us to pray and release His willingness as we prayerfully meditate and study His Word. His Word does not come back void and the prayers of His righteous in Christ servants are powerful and effective. Thank God for that and process and pray with others, even today. God is willing and able to do way more than we can imagine! Amen!
Next Sunday Oct 8th from 2-4 we will have a season of prayer in our sanctuary to release God's willingness and power. We will be praying for our denomination, district and churches to become a dynamic movement of God as prophesied by our bishop. We will also be praying for and releasing God's willingness for individual needs as well. Pray into this day. Plan to join us. Bring some friends along. Prepare the soil in prayer.
TWFYT (The Word for You Today)
Wagner's news:
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We welcomed these 5th and 6th grade boys into our home and hearts at the end of August as a new school year began. Two are brand new to RVA and three returned to our dorm from last year. They are so much fun to have around and have transitioned well into school. When not in school, they love to play board games, build with Legos, ride the zipline across the playground, and jump on our trampoline. Their parents all serve in three East African countries, sharing the love of Jesus with those they meet. We are already heading into the sixth week of this new school year with midterm break just around the corner.
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Spiritual Emphasis Week is held every year just after midterm. RVA invites a speaker and visiting worship team to come for five days to share Jesus in a focused and deliberate way. This year is especially exciting for us as the speaker is an RVA alumnus who we have known for many, many years, and it will be a blessing to hear from him now. The worship team is coming from one of our Pennsylvania supporting churches who has been praying faithfully for our family and RVA students for more than twenty-five years! How cool to think that this church was praying during the years our speaker was a student here on this campus!
Would you commit to praying diligently for our students during SEW? We know the evil one will be trying to distract, discourage, and fill minds with doubt. |
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- PRAY that RVA students might know Christ more fully during this time (Eph 1:17-18)
- PRAY that RVA students will delight in God’s Word and not neglect time in it (Psalm 119:9-16)
- PRAY that RVA students will know Christ’s love and let it dwell in their hearts (Eph 3:16-19)
- PRAY that RVA students will be able to discern what is best and be filled with righteousness (Phil 1:9-11; Rom 12:1-2)
- PRAY that RVA students will love to meet with other believers and be a contributing part of the body (Heb 10:25; Rom 12:3-8)
- PRAY that RVA students will fight temptation and bear much fruit (1 Cor 10:13; Col 1:9-12)
- PRAY with thankfulness and joy for RVA students, confident that God will complete the work HE started in them (Phil 1:3-6)
- PRAY that RVA students will raise up in their youth and do even greater things for God’s Kingdom (John 14:12; 1 Tim 4:11-16)
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| As was mentioned in our July update, we will be returning to the States for an 8-month home assignment, early December 2023 to early August 2024. We have already scheduled several church visits and conferences and would like to remind you to contact us directly in the next few weeks if you’d like us to come and share with your church or small group. We really enjoy sharing with smaller group gatherings, so feel free to ask about daytime or evening events during the week. We are excited to connect and share the exciting ways God is moving all over Africa. |
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| Some more ways to PRAY! And maybe YOU can be part of the answer to these PRAYERS! |
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As we prepare to land in PA just two months from now, we still have one BIG need. We are looking to purchase a mid-size, reliable vehicle, with good gas mileage, as we will be traveling many miles to visit with family, friends, churches and RVA alumni. Please contact us if you have any good leads for us to explore. Above all, would you commit to PRAY with us for the right vehicle?
We are also still waiting for confirmation on who will be covering our dorm for the two terms we are away. PRAY for God to reveal the couple he has chosen to love and care for our fabulous five! We are thankful that Missy has been able to begin training the one who will be stepping into the Admissions Director role. PRAY for clarity and understanding as there’s a lot to learn in a short period of time.
Finally, it would be great if someone would like to teach a couple of AP Calculus classes for at least one term (from January through March) or even the remainder of the year through July. Perhaps you or someone you know is a retired Calculus teacher who wouldn’t mind leaving behind some cold winter weather for some African sunshine and 32 amazing students in Calculus AB and BC. PRAY with us that someone will respond to this opportunity soon. Please reach out to us directly if you or someone you know might be interested.
All of our grown kids and their spouses are doing well and we are so looking forward to spending quality time with them soon. PRAY that God would orchestrate our travel schedule with solid blocks of time to visit with family. PRAY, too, for good health for Luke, Rachel, and our grandson coming soon! Isn’t our Father so good to bless us with this precious gift at the very beginning of our home assignment?!
You, too, are a blessing! Thank you for your prayers.
Brian & Missy |
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Saturday, September 30 2023
Joe Toy News at bottom. Collecting for Everlasting Life tomorrow and celebrating the Lord's Supper at 10 with Children's Church.
Sad news to share this morning, Ron Williams passed away last evening. Please keep Sally and family in your prayers. God promises to comfort those who mourn and to bring His peace and strength. Pray for me as I minister to the family today. Thurs, I visited Sally's mom, Doris Hausman (103 years old). We had a great conversation about her love for Jesus and how God is still using her to be a blessing as best she can in her situation (mostly spends time sleeping.). She sleeps cuddling a Jesus rag doll. I reminded her that soon, Jesus will be cuddling her like that. She said, "I'm ready. He is near." Now Ron is has stepped into Jesus' loving arms of welcome. And so as we mourn we can also find joy knowing we will be reunited some day soon.
Good Morning Praying Comforters! God is a God of comfort. He knows our struggles and hurts and draws near. He loves and comforts through us as well too. He is Shalom! Below is my Charles Stanley devotion for today reminding us that God does encourage us and wants to encourage and love through us. Ask Him to use you today, daily, to be His hands of comfort and peace.
TWFYT reminds us to do what God says to do? What's He saying to you right now? Don't be afraid. Be bold and courageous and follow well in faith. Step by step we walk with Jesus to our fuller potential and His plans for us. Trust, obey, listen and follow well. Earlier this year some of us gave words to work on to help us grow more fully into the people we were created to be. As I was praying through those words today and for the names attached to them, I was wondering how people are doing with that and how I might be able to help them. Words like faith, hope, boldness, courage were some of the words. We get those and get to choose how we grow in Christ when we ask for His help and wisdom. Proclaim your faith, courage, boldness and value in Christ and step out one step at a time with Jesus as we learn to live and love like Him better and bring His promises alive as we do. You are God's masterpiece and He has very good plans for you today.
ODB reminds us about all the obscure, least likely people God uses. We don't need to be superstars and high profile Christians. We just need to be ourselves. Come as you are and allow God to use you. He specializes in using the obscure, least likely people that have sold out hearts for Him to accomplish great things. We may not know it now, but someday we will be greeted in heaven by the people we impacted. Check out the UR reminder that God does miracles and uses us to comfort and encourage. We often have to just let go, trust God and He will use us as we allow Him to direct our steps. Die to self, take up cross and follow Jesus well is really learning to live and (agape) love like Jesus. What's He wanting to do through you today? Trust and obey! He does have some great things instore! Come as you are!
I'm praying for you to draw near to Gid, hear His still small voice, understand what's next for you and to follow Him well today and always. He really loves you and learning to love like Jesus is really all about just being who you are and allowing God to use what you have to be a blessing. We are very blessed, highly favored and very loved creations sent to love. May it be so Lord! have Your way with us and use us well. Thanks! Amen!
Charles Stanley:
TWFYT: (The Word for You Today)
ODB: (Our Daily Bread)
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Hollywood gives us larger-than-life spies who are dashing drivers of flashy Aston-Martins and other luxury sports cars. But Jonna Mendez, a former CIA chief, paints an opposite picture of the real thing. An agent must be “the little gray man,” she says, someone nondescript, not flashy. “You want them to be forgettable.” The best agents are those least likely to appear like agents.
When two of Israel’s spies slipped into Jericho, it was Rahab who hid them from the king’s soldiers (Joshua 2:4). She was seemingly the least likely person for God to employ as an espionage agent, for she had three strikes against her: she was a Canaanite, a woman, and a prostitute. Yet Rahab had started to believe in the God of the Israelites: “Your God is God in heaven” (v. 11). She hid God’s spies under flax on the roof, assisting in their daring escape. God rewarded her faith: “Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family” (6:25).
Sometimes we might feel we’re the least likely to be used by God. Perhaps we have physical limitations, don’t feel “flashy” enough to lead, or have a tarnished past. But history is filled with “nondescript” believers redeemed by God, people like Rahab who were given a special mission for His kingdom. Be assured: He has divine purposes for even the least likely of us.
By Kenneth Petersen
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In what ways do you feel “in the background”? What do you think might be the mission God has for you?
Dear God, please help me be ready for Your calling, for the mission You might have for me.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute who’d put her faith in Yahweh even before she met the two Israelite spies (Joshua 2:9–10). The New Testament commends her for her faith in God (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). Rahab wasn’t only delivered from death (Joshua 6:17, 22–23) but was raised to a position of honor. She married Salmon, an Israelite, and was blessed to be an ancestor of King David as well as the Messiah (Ruth 4:21–22; Matthew 1:5). Rahab was one of four non-Israelites (also Tamar, probably a Canaanite; Ruth, a Moabite; Uriah’s wife [Bathsheba], probably a Hittite) and one of five women listed in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:1–17).
K. T. Sim |
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UR: (Upper Room)
Finding A Miracle
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NRSVUE)
When my husband was hospitalized for kidney stones, I was hoping for a miracle. I hoped the stones could be dissolved without major surgery by his drinking a lot of water or coconut water. But the stones were already very large and would not dissolve.
During that time at the hospital, God led me to comfort a patient in the next room who had burns all over his body. Nobody came to visit him because he was a migrant in our city and all of his family lived in another city. Together, we chatted, laughed, sang, and prayed. And as I comforted him, I was also being comforted by God.
Today’s reading from 2 Corinthians reminds me of the comfort that God gives. I often feel God’s comfort when I comfort others. During that time at the hospital, I hoped there would be a miracle for my husband, but he did not experience one. Rather, when I chose to comfort the patient next door, I found a different kind of miracle from God.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for comforting us in all circumstances so that we may offer comfort to others. Amen.
Joe Toy (one of our supported missionaries)
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September 2023
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us:”
Dear Friends,
One of my favorite quotes when out preaching at an event is, “If you come to Raleigh, you will hear about Jesus.” I am blessed to work with a great group of men who are serious in proclaiming Jesus in the harvest fields of The Triangle, which is the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. A few weeks back, we had a group of eight men at a street festival at North Carolina State University called the Packapalooza. We were able to pass out hundreds of tracts and converse with many people. One young woman engaged in conversation with Peter Firth and committed her life to Christ, which brought much joy to Peter’s heart as he said, “It’s been a long time since I have seen someone get saved.”
Peter and I have preached at a number of Friday Night on White St. events in Wake Forest this past summer and conversed with a number of folks and passed out many gospel tracts. This event draws out a lot of teenagers who do not have much church background. It does provide some great gospel opportunities to teach Biblical truth to them. As usual, our “Are you going to Heaven? Free Test” sign draws out a lot of curiosity in them to approach us. |
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The late summer brings us to another college football season at NC State games. The first game of the season had us sitting in the SUV waiting for a thunderstorm to let up. As it finally let up, we began to walk to the stadium in the midst of some serious thunder and lightning. It had me wondering if I had made the right decision. The storm pushed away and gave Paul Infranco and I two-and-a-half hours of outreach time. As we finished up and headed back, the rain began again as we reached the car. PTL. The games provide an opportunity to get the gospel to thousands of football fans on game day.
Our second game of the season was a beautiful warm afternoon. We were blessed to give out thousands of tracts and have a few conversations. I was approached by a group of young women who asked me if I was homophobic. I asked them if they meant was I afraid of homosexuals? Their reply was, “Yes.” I proceeded to tell them that the Bible tells me to love people. This brought a big smile to their faces and opened up an opportunity to share Christ.
One young man who was tagging along stayed awhile to hear a clear gospel presentation and thanked me as he left. It is amazing how the Lord works. I have learned through the years that if we are faithful out there, the opportunities come.
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One of the things we look forward to through the summer is getting back on the college campuses, where the Lord gives us many opportunities to share Christ. I was telling our small group at church that it is also a way to reach the world as there are many international students on campus.
Both UNC and NCS had some sobering events early this semester as a grad student
shot and killed a professor at UNC and a student committed suicide on Labor Day at NCS. We saw a lot of somber faces on campus after these tragedies and a greater willingness to receive gospel literature. Already, we have seen two professions of faith on these campuses.
Recently, we had a young man named Eli preach with us at UNC. He is a student, who believes that the Lord has called him to preach to his fellow students. His passion and compassion is touching as pleads with tears for them to come to Christ. It is an honor to support him.
The Moore Square Bus Station is another one of our keys spots of ministry. The Lord has built up a good team of men who are committed to reach the needy who struggle with homelessness and drugs. We are developing a lot of good relationships with folks who trust us now. It is not uncommon for about ten or more Bibles to go out each day that we are there. Also, we are blessed with some folks who are donating water, reading glasses and Blessing bags, which helps to provide for some basic needs. Keep us in prayer. The Lord is at work. God Bless!
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Don
Friday, September 29 2023
TGIF! Thank God I'm Forgiven! We do have so much to be thankful for everyday! Begin this day with some praise!
Good Morning Called, Faithful, Giving Servants of the Most High God! The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God of St. Matthew's; and the God of you! He is our Savior, Shepherd, and Lord! PTL! Worship, adore, and submit yourself to Him today. Give Him your heart, your love, your hands and feet, your best, and all that He has given you. Allow Him to shepherd you and to be the Lord of this day and weekend. He has custom made you for your purposes for today and everyday. He is calling you by name and wanting to hang out and love through you. Be still and know that He is God and He is with you and has given you His authority and power to go transform the world you walk through each day. PTL! And when we fail or sin, we know that we will be forgiven as we repent and get back on track. Everyday we are called by Jesus to die to self, take up our cross and follow Him. As we think about the sacrifice He made for us, can we do any less? Confess, repent, and believe the Good news today! Then just worship! And willingly give back to Him from the abundance of blessings He has bestowed upon you! Offer a sacrifice of praise!
here's a song to meditate on as you sit at His feet...I'm Forgiven! (PTL!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avJ4lDnZWRU. Yes PTL and may your day be filled with joy as we walk from your cross and follow Jesus!
Below you will find the Upper Room, Our Daily Bread devos and a copy of my Charles Stanley devo for today. Yesterday as I was visiting some of our homebound, God impressed on me that I should walk in and pronounce His love, acceptance, blessings over them and then remind them of their daily purposes just as they are. Jesus is looking at you too and saying, "I love you! I know you! I made you for something special today. Come! Let me lead you to my best! Let me love you and love through you today!" Do you sense His loving presence right now. He is sitting with you and listening to you and trying to align your heart beat to His. Be still and know. Be open and receive. Be filled with His love overflowing! He came just for you, His masterpiece. He is making you new in Christ. And He has some great things planned for you, even today! Rejoice! Worship. Love God and others and enjoy this day! You are known, called, forgiven and very loved. Jesus can be, not only your Savior, but your Lord and Shepherd. Surrender and give Him all of you and follow well!
God's been speaking to me a lot lately through the 23rd Psalm. One, many of us have memorized. Sit and mediate on this and receive Your Shepherds love and heart to walk through this day! Shalom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypzobDJT7f8
Charles Stanley Devotional:
Upper Room: Comfort In Scriptures
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. - Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
Years ago, I wore a shirt with the inscription “I depend on Jesus.” But it was not until after I was diagnosed with cancer that I began to understand how important depending on Jesus is. Shortly after being diagnosed, I started a series of radiation and chemotherapy treatments, followed by surgery. After the cancer was removed, my condition went from life-threatening to lifestyle-changing. The surgery and treatments caused side effects which I have to live with every day.
I have come to realize just how important memorizing scripture can be. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, for example, Paul refers to a thorn in his flesh, but he adds that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. We will have troubled times, but Matthew 28:20 assures us that Jesus will be with us to the end of the age. The Bible contains thousands of God’s promises and God is faithful to them all (see Ps. 145:13). What a comforting thought! We serve a mighty God. Now I live each day confident that nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ (see Rom. 8:38).
TODAY'S PRAYER
Thank you, loving God, for staying with us when life gets tough and for your promise of an everlasting life. Amen.ODB:
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On our last day in Wisconsin, my friend brought her four-year-old daughter Kinslee to say goodbye. “I don’t want you to move,” said Kinslee. I hugged her and gave her a canvas, hand-painted fan from my collection. “When you miss me, use this fan and remember that I love you.” Kinslee asked if she could have a different fan—a paper one from my bag. “That one’s broken,” I said. “I want you to have my best fan.” I didn’t regret giving Kinslee my favorite fan. Seeing her happy made me happier. Later, Kinslee told her mother she was sad because I kept the broken fan. They sent me a brand-new, fancy purple fan. After giving generously to me, Kinslee felt happy again. So did I.
In a world that promotes self-gratification and self-preservation, we can be tempted to hoard instead of living with giving hearts. However, the Bible says that a person who “gives freely . . . gains even more” (Proverbs 11:24). Our culture defines prosperity as having more and more and more, but the Bible says that “a generous person will prosper” and “whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” (v. 25).
God’s unlimited and unconditional love and generosity continually recharge us. We can each have a giver’s heart and create unending giving cycles because we know God—the Giver of all good things—never gets tired of providing abundantly.
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
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How has the generosity of others helped you get closer to Jesus? How can you put someone else’s needs above your own this week?
Dear God, help me give as generously as You’ve given to me.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Proverbs 10–22 are a collection of individual wisdom sayings compiled by Solomon. In Proverbs 10–15, most of the proverbs appear in contrastive form, in which a wise choice is advised and then compared to the negative result of foolish behavior. It can be difficult to identify a specific thread in any given section of these proverbs, but in the second half of chapter 11, the theme of wealth and its appropriate use is clearly in view. In verse 15, we’re warned against using our wealth as collateral for a stranger and are reminded that caution in making commitments is wise. In verse 16, wealth is contrasted with honor, and wealth is seen as vastly inferior. Verse 18 warns against “deceptive wages” and instead extols “righteousness.” And in verse 24, a generous heart brings “even more” to the giver, while stinginess will lead to “poverty.”
Gain wisdom from the Bible on how to handle finances.
Tim Gustafson |
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Thursday, September 28 2023
Mark your calendars: Sun Oct 1st 10 am, Worldwide Communion worship.
Wed Oct. 4th Dinner gathering of Family Ministries (all ages) and The Chosen Huddle from 6-8pm.
Sun Oct 8th, worship at 10. And 2-4pm will be season of prayer for our denomination, district, churches to become a dynamic movement of God and for personal needs. (Our bishop has called us all to a season of prayer)
Wed Oct 11th 10-12 Donuts and discussions during our Bread ministry then 6-8pm Family Ministries/Chosen Huddles dinner and discussions.
All are welcome to any of our activities.
Good Morning Being Transformed Followers of Jesus. One of the popular sayings in The Chosen is, "I was one way, but, now I am another!" Amen! Last night at our Chosen/Family Ministries dinner and huddles (plan to join us next Wed. at 6-8 and bring some friends) we discussed this. Every day we journey to become more like Christ and towards fulfilling our custom made purposes in Him. As long as we are breathing the air of this world, God want to pour out His love on us and grow us towards our created potential as He prepares us for the days when we will be breathing the air of heaven. In our journey to Christlikeness and towards becoming more fully who we were created to be, we will have days of advance and days of backsliding. But as we look back and assess how we are doing in our walk with Jesus, Lord willing, we will see that we were one way and now we are another. PTL! God loves you and created you just as you are to accomplish your custom made purposes each day and along the way. He is with you, has gifted you and enables you to continue to grow to the greater things He has for you. Allow Him to do more than you could ever imagine--His will. What a gift we receive when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior! Yes we were one way and now another and next year we can be another better way in Christ. That's being a disciple of Jesus. Who are you taking along in your journey? Ask God to show you who to invite.
Many around us are struggling and depressed, even believers, because they have not found or understood their created purposes. Do you know yours? Seek God and the counsel of some believers as you process together who you are in Christ and what Hiss plans are for you. They are good! Last evening Family Ministries discussed John 10 where Jesus teaches that He is our Good Shepherd and that His sheep (us) hear His voice and follow Him. Are you hearing Jesus speaking to your heart today saying, "I love you! I have great plans for you today! Follow Me!"? You can as you open His Word and sit as His feet with open ears and prayerful heart. Ask Him to speak to you and for ears to hear and heart and mind to understand. But understanding and knowledge is just the beginning. Ask for feet to follow and hands to serve as you walk with Him through each day. That's all He asks. Be you and do what He has for you to do. Live and love like Jesus as you are and as you go. And ask God who He wants you to travel with. He sent His disciples two by two and continues today to send us with partners. Ask God to help you find someone, even this week, to help find their purpose in Christ and to learn to walk with Him into His greater things for them. (Make disciples!)
Today I begin homebound visitations. I have observed two kinds of people: those with hope and purpose and those without. You can figure out which have joy and which are miserable and depressed. As long as we live here, each day God has some purposes for you--plans for you. Good plans! No matter what you are going through, your age, physical health, and abilities, You are here for a purpose. Choose to seek, trust, obey and follow well each day and you will be filled with joy as you enjoy the abundant life God promised you. We are blessed to be a blessing and get blessed back as we bless. What joy! Maybe God is pinching you to encourage some friends who are isolated and struggling to find purpose and joy? Maybe your purpose for today is to break out of your slump and go love like Jesus? Great joy and abundant life await as you move from being one way to another!
We are reading through John 6 this week and will be discussing it Sunday. When we completed our study of Ecclesiastes a few weeks ago we were reminded that life is meaning less with out God. But we know Him and are being made new in Christ and our lives have meaning. Solomon concludes with our purpose: Love God and enjoy life. Amen! Be you and love well today! That leads to the abundant life we are promised. In John 6:27 Jesus commands us to, "Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man came to give you." This is not a ""works" kind of thing trying to earn our way to salvation. He's saying stop striving so hard and worrying about your needs in this world that He promises to provide. He's calling us to focus on Him and growling into our fuller potential in Him as we invest into our future heavenly purposes. In verse 29 He says, "This is the only work God wants from you, believe in the One He sent." We believe! We have assurance of our future address. And we have purposes each day as we prepare for the day when we will be a whole new way, just like Jesus and with Him for eternity.
So what hungers are you seeking to fulfill today? Col 3:11 reminds us that in this life Christ is all that matters and He lives in you. PTL! Feed your spiritual hunger and seek first His kingdom and all other things will be added. He provides! Trust Him! Seek Him and follow well as you go love like Him today! Drink deep of the Living Water--the pause the refreshes. Love God. Be you and enjoy this day! Before you know it, you will be another way too! Amen! And Shalom!
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