For those who don’t want "Alexa" listening in on your conversations, they’re making a male version "Alex"… it doesn’t listen to anything! Thanks to Linda.
-pastor mike
LET'S PRAY TOGETHER Lord, let our souls rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Lord, in these troubled times, You are present. Pour out your Spirit on your people Show us how to be the church even now. As Your body, show us how to give grace, love, And serve without hesitation. May the peace of the Lord Christ go with us: wherever He may send us; may You guide us through the wilderness: protect us through the storm; may You bring us home rejoicing: at the wonders You have shown us; may You bring us home rejoicing once again into our doors. Amen
MEDITATION May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify(cleanse) you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Thessalonians 5:23-24 NIV On the farm, all my work clothes get incredibly dirty. I am dealing with fermented feed, slop, compost, manure, soil, and (in this weather) lots of sweat. I kneel in the garden, shovel out the stalls, and gather armfuls of hay. When I climb in and out of pens and over fences I create tears and rents in my clothes. Sometimes, when I need to run an errand in a hurry, I forget what I look like. I just jump in the truck in my giant floppy sunhat and filthy crocs and go. It’s always a shock to see my reflection in the store window! What a mess. Cleaning these clothes is no easy task. It requires something more than being tossed in the wash. Sanctification is even more powerful than the Gain, Tide, or the sanitize cycle on my wash machine. Sanctification is the process by which God makes us clean or holy. As the verse above says, “sanctify(cleanse)… through and through…(our)whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless.” These are very practical and important concepts for us to understand. In the day to day, we are looking for the kind of transformation Paul is talking about. We want to be good, kind, loving and patient, but it’s hard. The battle between our old nature and God’s Spirit in us takes place daily as we “work out our salvation” by being obedient to God’s Spirit and Word. Salvation is God’s part and daily choosing obedience to God is our part. Let’s watch the BibleProject video on holiness to better understand the concept and how it appears throughout the whole of the Biblical story. Holiness is what we are destined for, completely cleansed, we will live forever in God’s presence. How this happens is both a miracle and mystery in many ways. God has decided that who and what we are matter, rather than just “fixing” us He wants to work with us for our transformation. While my work clothes will never be truly clean, God is not only going to cleanse us but we are becoming better than new, we are becoming holy just like Him.
-nicole
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
Our daily scripture reading comes from the following link… http://listenersbible.com/devotionals/biy/ If you have any insights into our daily readings, please feel free to share them with me. I would encourage you to visit https://bibleproject.com/explore/1-2-kings/ for an overview of the book of 1st and 2nd Kings and https://bibleproject.com/explore/acts/ for an overview of the book of Acts. These videos will help with the “big picture” and the main themes. 2 Kings 23:1-24:7 Josiah did some amazing things for the nation of Judah. How does the author of 2nd Kings describe him? (23:25) Now, we are told that God would not relent from his anger. What I find interesting about this history, is that while Josiah was this amazing man of God, the generations before him and the generations to follow, did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The story of the nation of Judah is bigger than any one of its kings, even though certain kings will stand out, for good and bad. Along with Egypt, we will see Babylon raise to a place of power in the region. It’s an interesting history. Romans 1:1-17 And we begin Paul’s letter to the church in Rome… We are moving from "history" to "theology." Having read Paul’s story in the book of Acts, there should be several things that jump out at us. First, who is Paul? (1:1) Second, who is Jesus? (1:2-4) Third, what was Paul’s mission? (1:5-6) Do you hear any echoes from Acts in this first chapter of Romans? For example, where did Paul begin his preaching when he arrived in a new city? What did that preaching include? Why is Paul eager to come to Rome? (8, 12, 13) Paul will make the comment, regarding salvation, in verse 16, “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” What do you think this means? Psalm 84:1-7 We have moved beyond the psalms of Asaph, to a psalm from the sons of Korah. What I love about this psalm, is that it is an amazing example of a psalm of praise. It calls up to worship. It revives our soul.