January 2023 Thought

A new year is here…2023! As with every turn of the calendar to a fresh year, we evaluate that which has passed and endeavor to make changes in the year that is before us.

Our foremost aim out to be the deepening of our relationship with God. To know Him and follow Him better in the days ahead. One way we do this is a regular time of reading God’s Word and pausing to reflect on all that we have read.

Could I challenge us all to commit to such a worthy goal? A tool that Angela and I have used for the past couple of years is the Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble. This plan involves a daily Scripture reading along with listening to a brief 7-9 minute commentary on the reading by Tara-Leigh. You can find this plan at bible.com - https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/17553-the-bible-recap-with-tara-leigh-cobble. To listen to the commentary follow the links at http://www.thebiblerecap.com/start. The Scripture and commentary is also available in book form that is shown here in this newsletter. These links will also be found at the church website.

It all begins on Sunday, January 1st! Jump in and grow in 2023! This can definitely change your life!

Thought for November 2022

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. — Psalm 100

This is the month where we celebrate thankfulness. Certainly appropriate, but are we limiting ourselves? Are we too cautious? Is one day or one month of our year enough to express all of our thanks to God? I would suggest it should be a regular, moment by moment response to our God throughout each and every day that we live. Have we not come to realize that He is GOOD, His love ENDURES FOREVER, and His faithfulness CONTINUES even to our generation? I know that I have!

So in these days may we not withhold our thanks and praise from Him! Let’s shout for joy and worship with gladness as we praise His name. May we come out of our passive, reserved shell with truly expressive words and actions in the days ahead that have been given to us by our great God.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! — 2 Corinthians 9:15

Thought for October 2022

As a church we are just getting started in our Sunday morning study for the fall months in the book of 1 Peter.

This letter has been described as a “traveler’s guide for Christian pilgrims”. Written to believers that were scattered far from home, Peter reminds them that they are temporarily in the place they find themselves, strangers looking forward to a true homeland. During this time they were suffering - in fact, that key word “suffering" is used 16 times. Dr. Robert Gromacki says that Peter writes "to explain the relationship of trials to God’s purposes”.

This is a book that teaches them (and us) how to live, even when things are hard. Peter writes to give instruction as well as hope. This is what we need most in these days - an understanding on how to live and a hope that strengthens us and others!

As we seek to become better followers of Jesus, this could not be any more timely or important. I am praying that the combined study of 1 Peter on Sundays, along with the weekly devotionals highlighted by the book, “Not A Fan”, will aid us greatly in continually becoming the people that God desires us to be.

Let’s grow together!

Online Devotion September 25 - October 1, 2022

 

Online Devotion September 18-24, 2022

 

Online Devotion September 11-17, 2022

 

Thought for September 2022

Fall is a welcomed time of year. The change of season is very evident all around us through the falling temperatures and the magnificent colors of the changing leaves on the nearby hills. As well, life seems to switch back to a normalcy that can potentially be much busier than our carefree days of summer.

As a church, we are called to gather together and live lives that are connected because of the saving grace of Jesus our Savior. Our love for each other is the best evidence of a chosen, changed, and set apart life. John 13:34-35 remind us that others are watching to see if we really are the followers of Jesus that we claim to be.

Thought for August 2022

Summer is here in all of its splendor!

As our schedule is maybe a little more relaxed and we spend some of our vacation time, let’s not forget to spend some of that time in reading God’s Word. Working through this series in Proverbs remember to read one chapter a day - the chapter number that corresponds with the day of the month. Join us in reading through the book of Proverbs in August and gaining wisdom!

In this series we are learning to “develop skills for living well in God’s world”. Wisdom is taking what we know and putting it into practice. We know that we are to love one another, so let’s continue to pray for each other and encourage each other. We know that we are to love God, so let’s continue to faithfully meet with Him each day and then meet together with our church family each Sunday. We know that we are to share the Good News with those around us, so let’s pray for opportunities to speak and serve.

May we be praying for God to do His good work among our church and community in the days ahead.