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The song goes, “This is the day, this is the day, this is the day the Lord has made.” Each day is one the Lord gives for us to love Him and love others to build us up and become a kingdom of priests through the blood of Jesus. God is working, moving, forming and transforming us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus each and every day for it is the Lord’s Day.
Are you a fan or follower of Jesus? Fans like that He came down, spent some time and gave us some morally right tools to use to live this life. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t match up to who Jesus truly is— the anointed One, the Savior of the world, the Overcomer, God incarnate. Now, if you’re a follower, you’ve given up all of who you are to step in the steps of Christ— His life loving others, His death to sin, and His resurrection of the body. As we celebrate Holy Communion this weekend, let us remember that Jesus, God incarnate came in human form so that He could suffer, die and rise again so that as disciples, as followers of Him, we too may recognize the cost and follow wholeheartedly.
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 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.
Each and every day brings us closer to the return of Jesus Christ. Today, we celebrate in remembrance His birth in the fullness of time. When the exact time God-ordained, He came in order to set the captives free from sin. That is why we can throughout this season have joy, peace, and hope for Jesus came and is nearer than we realize. He is coming! Soon and very soon. We invite you to join us as we celebrate His coming and His return.
Jesus defines who is our neighbor. He told the parable of the Good Samaritan to show us that love extends beyond wealth, religious titles, the color of our skin, and education level. Our neighborhood is as wide as the love of God. Being a neighbor, loving our neighbor means acting on behalf of others regardless of who they are or where they are from. Join us this weekend for worship as we once again discover who is our neighbor?
This week, we are traveling about 2 miles east of Jerusalem to the small village of Bethany. There are about a dozen references found in the Scriptures of this town. It was the home of Simon the leper, it is the place where Mary anoints the feet of Jesus. It is where preparations start for Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But most of all it is probably best known for being the hometown of Jesus' good friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And, we too can look at Jesus as our friend.
As believers, we are called to make most of our time. How are you doing on that directive? Our time might seem like it is ours to spend and do as we think we ought, but in fact, each moment of every single day is given to us by God. We ought to strive to make our days glorify the Lord in all we do and say.
This week we will bring Joy to the World through our praise. God’s Word has so much to say about praise it could be a sermon series in and of itself. But as we look at the characters of Moses and Mary, we find that we can rejoice for our hope has come… and Jesus will soon be returning to restore all things. Now that is something we can have an expectation of praise shouted from the mountain tops!
There is no sitting on the fence, there is a choice to be made in each one of our lives whether or not we are willing to follow Christ and move forward or not. Scripture tells us that we cannot be lukewarm Christians. God would rather have us either hot or cold, but not sitting on the fence in our faith.
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