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Celebrating a New Beginning is a joyful and transformative experience, akin to embarking on a fresh journey with Jesus. It's an opportunity to leave behind the past and embrace a spiritual rebirth filled with hope, faith, and the promise of a brighter future.
Our biggest fights actually begin inside our heads, where our thoughts wrestle and our beliefs clash. So, just like Colossians 3 mentions, we need to regularly refresh and reshape our thinking to better equip ourselves for the challenges we face in life.
At some point, we all feel unqualified and ill-equipped to tell someone else about what Christ has done for us. We may think we don’t have the right words to say or can’t do what God is calling us to do. Well, that’s good because then we aren’t relying on our own strength, but on the Holy Spirit to work in and through our words and actions. God equips those who are called. Since He has called you to Himself, He is the one who will help you through.
What a journey those Magi from ancient days must have had following the star that led them to Jesus the King of kings and Lord of lords. Have you thought about your journey with Christ? Maybe you’ve sat on the sidelines hoping for something to happen. Or maybe you’re afraid of what will happen if you go all-in for Jesus. Whatever the case let Him take control of your life, let Him have the steering wheel and one thing for sure, your life will be an adventure.
You’ve maybe heard it said that “God’s NO is not a rejection. It’s a Redirection.” God’s goal for you is to become more Christlike and often, we take a number of turns that take us off God’s intended purpose and we need redirecting. The thing is, we don’t yet see things clearly, we know things in part, and we struggle perhaps in the wrong direction, but we will, one day, “will know fully, even as we are fully known” by God. Isn’t it amazing that we can hand over all our past, present, and future to a God who knows us and desires the best for us?
As Christians, we’re not simply called to put our faith in Christ Jesus at a moment in time, we’re called to perseverance. Knowing and believing that Jesus came to take all of our griefs, sorrows, shame, and guilt upon himself is why we can persevere with joy. We can proclaim, “Blessing, and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever” because of what He has done.
As the hymn testifies, “To God be the glory great things He has done.” The greatest act of God besides creation is sending Jesus Christ to redeem the world from the slavery of sin and death. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is to be glorified and worshipped. He is the only one who deserves our praise and adoration.
In biblical days, an armor-bearer was one who actually carried the shield and armor of his leader as he went into battle, often acting as his personal assistant. The term itself originally meant to figuratively or literally lift up, support, or simply help. The basic attitude of a Modern Day Armor-Bearer is one of servanthood. We are called to lift each other up, to support one another, to encourage, equip, and strengthen each other for the fight of faith. Therefore, it's no surprise the general functions of an armor-bearer: attend to, minister to, care for, help, be of use, assist, benefit, promote, support, make easy for, nourish and encourage are found in the formal definition of "serve”. We all need an armor-bearer as we walk the Christian walk.
Did you know that the Holy Spirit is given to believers to transform them, remind them, encourage them, and provide the zeal and confidence to live out the Christian walk in a weary wondering world? It is He that convicts the world of sin so that all may know of the power of the resurrection through Jesus Christ. The Spirit is not a force, it is not a way of thinking, and it is not self-ambition. The Spirit is a gift of God through Jesus Christ left with us and in us to bring our light into a dark world.
If you think back over your week, there probably was a time when you forgot something. Maybe it was you forgot to pick up something at the store. You forgot to say something to a friend or co-worker. Or even, you forgot a special day. Memorial Day is that day that reminds us to remember. Remember those who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms. We have a pattern of forgetfulness. Maybe its in how fast paced our lives have become but we not only forget the simple things we forget the all important spiritual things in our lives. This weekend, we will gather to remember and worship the God who remembers.
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WORSHIP GATHERINGS:
Sundays at 9:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. 835 Riverside Avenue Torrington, CT 06790 See our regathering info here PHONE (860) 482-4705 OFFICE EMAIL secretary@firstcong.com GENERAL CHURCH EMAIL fcongrchurch@optonline.net |