Ephesians 1-4: I love gifts! I especially love a gift that is picked especially for me by someone who knows me and knows my needs. When I open that gift and see it I am thrilled because it means they took the time to think about what I would need then go and get something that would meet that need. As I read Ephesians this morning God reminded me of a gift that was picked out to meet every need I had.
Ephesians 1:13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the down payment of our inheritance until God redeems his possession to the praise of his glory.
Our gift is the Holy Spirit that we were sealed with until the day God sends Jesus to come and get us! That gift is the one who abides in us.
Ephesians 3:14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
The Holy Spirit resides in us to strengthen us, guide us, comfort us, speak God’s word to us and so much more. The Holy Spirit knows you and me intimately and is the gift that speaks every word we say straight to the Father, no waiting in line! Listen to the rest of Ephesians 3 that tells us the other thing the Spirit does.
Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Oh that we would know this great love and understand that by the power of the Spirit we are filled with all of the fullness of God. Glory in the highest!!!! What a wonderful gift! And it is waiting right here for us right now! Don’t allow the things of this world to prevent you from seeing the truth of this gift picked and given just for you. If you have any questions please feel free to message me. I love you my friend and can’t wait to see the fulfillment of our inheritance in Christ Jesus.

Acts 24-26: What’s your story? When I was a very young child I did not understand words like sanctification, redemption, or ordinances. I did know that I did wrong and it was my choice. I did understand that God loved me and sent His Son to pay for the wrong things I did. I knew I needed forgiveness and the way to get it was to ask Him to forgive me. I knew that if I asked Him to help me do right He promised He would give me a helper that would live within me to help me choose to do the right things. So as a 5 year old I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me and come into my heart. Though I did not understand all of the church terminology I believe God saved me that day. As I have grown in my knowledge of Jesus I understand more about those big church words and that I am set apart, bought with the price of Jesus’ blood and I participate in the Lord’s supper and was baptized. It was as a child though that my faith journey began.
In our scripture today Paul was telling His story. Paul knew that was his calling from God to share his story with those he would stand before. Paul’s goal was to make Jesus known and to help others know how to confess their sin and receive forgiveness. He shared with Kings and governors. He shared with those he was chained to. He shared with anyone who would listen. Did all come to know Jesus because of his story? No, but they knew that God had offered them the invitation.
My friend, that invitation still stands. You can be young or not so young. You can be of great notoriety or be in the lowliest of states. It matters not how much or how little you possess. The important part is what you do with the invitation to confess your sin and follow Christ alone. He stands waiting.
If you are a follower of Christ, He is waiting for you to do as Paul did, share your story. How did you come to understand your need of Christ? What did you do to receive that forgiveness? What difference has it made in your life? That’s your story! You my friend are the only one who can share Your Story. Tell someone today! You never know who might hear it and respond by beginning their own salvation story!

Romans 5-8: As I was praying through today’s scripture I just kept thinking “What Great Love!” Think about it, so much of what we read today was about the Law and how everyone of us breaks it. We are reminded that the payment for our not being able to keep the law was the punishment of death. We deserve death by any just judge because we are the breakers of the law God gave. The law was a written document that helped men see what God expected and though we have known these laws even from childhood it has been impossible for us to keep all of them.
BUT! Because of God’s great love for us He sent His Son to pay our debt. When Jesus died on the cross our debt for sin was forever marked Paid In Full! Jesus paid the debt we owed and now we can choose to accept that gift and be set free! Free from the fear of eternal death. Free from being enslaved to sin. Free from condemnation and free to know this great love that according to Romans 8 nothing can separate us from.
Romans 8:38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor 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. We can also know that because of this great love and our choice to accept His forgiveness we can know that all things will work together for our good.
Romans 8:28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Oh my friend receive this gift of love! It is the best gift you will ever accept. The gift has been given, it is up to you to receive it

1 Corinthians 12-14: Years ago there was a song that said, “What the world needs now is love sweet love.” As I read 1 Corinthians 13 that is what comes to my mind. Look at what true love is.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or count up wrongdoing 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Oh how our world, our communities, our churches, our work environments, our families, we need love! It truly is the only thing that there’s just too little of. As we prepare to be with family and friends over the next few days let’s be proactive in loving well. Let’s be
Patient
Kind
Don’t want more than we have
Be humble
Use our manners
Let others have their way
Don’t be irritable and if you are, put yourself in time out.
Let go of the past errors and hurts
Don’t feel like we need to correct people
Rejoice in truth
Be long suffering and enduring
Above everything else including politics, choose to love deeply
There are so many things we can do to put this into action. Don’t wait until Thursday to start. Make today your start day and see if it doesn’t make a difference in you. When you find this difficult remember how God has loved you and all He has forgive you for. Then love well.

1 Corinthians 5-8: As we get ready for Thanksgiving there are many that will be making homemade rolls and cinnamon rolls. If you are the cook you know you will use a few cups of flour. You will use milk and oil measured in cups as well. One of the few things measured in teaspoons is usually yeast. Why? Because a little yeast worked through a pound of dough will cause the entire batch to rise. That small portions affects the whole.
That is exactly what Paul is saying in our reading today about sin. Though it may just be a small sin, or it may just be one person in a whole bunch of people doing it, it truly does affect the entire group. You have probably seen this in families where one spouse has an extra marital affair, but it affects everyone in the family. You may have seen it in Business where one person in the office steals or does something that is illegal and it affects the whole business. You may have even seen it in the church where the ungodliness of one can take an entire church down. My heart hurts even writing that.
We are not the first nor the last generation that has seen the affects of this. Think about Israel’s fall at Ai. Think about even some of our great patriarchs of the faith like David. None of us is perfect, but before choosing a sinful path we must all consider everyone it will affect. Sin is never a private issue. It wasn’t in Paul’s day and it isn’t in ours. Consider the cost before making an ungodly choice.

1 Thessalonians 1-5: This passage always makes me thankful for each church Les and I have had the privilege to serve.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, without ceasing mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering before ur God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even now I can’t help but smile as I remember our first church when we had a high attendance day and if we reached our goal Les got a pie in the face. That was the sweetest pie! The church grew and people were added to our number. I think about the cold baptistry when Les was baptizing a young man and he allowed a word to slip our when stepping into the frigid water. We are giggled and Les said, I will need to hold this one under a little longer. I remember Bible schools and teaching your children who are now adults themselves. I remember standing over cradles and caskets with tears in our eyes. I remember the night we saw angels as we sang God with Us. I remember Life Action revivals that pierced the heart and challenged us to be whole heart followers with a passion for God’s word. I remember women’s retreats and special events that yielded eternal rewards. The one common denominator in all of these were the people we love that God sent us to through the years.
If you have ever been a part of a church body that we served please know that we still pray for you. We still love you and consider you family. We cherish the days we have had together to as Paul writes later in Thessalonians you are our crown that we will one day present to the Father. We love you all and look forward to making more memories and leading others to heaven along with us. To God be the glory great things He has done!

Acts 17, 18:1-18: In our passages today we hear of Paul and his friends sharing the gospel in some unreached and unengaged places. Paul share with confidence the message of salvation. It is interesting to me how the people respond. Some become angry and because of jealousy start unrest. Others are intrigued and want to hear more. Their interest stops at the point of intrigue though. The others don’t just listen or ask questions. They listen and make a choice to believe what they hear and make life changes because of it.
It is important for us to see that Paul’s job never changed. He was just to tell. It was on each individual how they responded and Paul had little to do with that. It is the same way with us. We are the live the gospel message, speak it when opportunity presents itself, but we are to leave the results up to God. Over the next few weeks as we finish out 2020 let’s be intentional about sharing the hope we have in us. Here are a few easy ways to do that.
* send a Christmas card with the salvation message
* have a get together with family and friends. Ask them what was a major key to making it through 2020. When it is your turn share about your relationship with Jesus.
* share your joy and hope financially with people. There are many organizations whose primary role is to share the gospel. Share a gift card or presents with a needy family and tell them how God is their provision and strength.
* visit someone who is lonely and remind them that though people are not always around God is always present and loves them.
There are so many ways to share. Pray and ask the Lord to show you. Then share His story and allow Him to work out the results

James 1-5: The last 9 months has been like a powder keg of emotions. Fear, anger, anxiety are but a few of the emotions that take very little to set them off. As a person that rarely gets angry over much I have found myself on edge more than I can remember in a long time. Of late I have had to put myself in time out to simmer my anger down over things that would not normally set me off. As I have sat by myself thinking through my emotions there has been one verse that has been pounded into my spirit by the Father.
James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
I long to be a walking image of my heavenly Father, but when I allow the enemy to shift me I fear my anger reveals I still have a long way to go to walk like Him. I praise the Lord I am more sensitive to the anger before it breaks out and rains the sulfur of my tongue on people most of the time, but the truth is that my humanity is still very much a part of this soul and I run quickly to the Father when I blow it. In the current climate I have just had to turn off negative influences and do some serious deep soul surgery to find the source of my anger and deal with it at the root. Not always an easy exercise but it is definitely needed. In the end the answer is the same. My struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of darkness. (Eph. 6) I know who the real enemy is and as a child of the King I must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. I must take my thoughts captive especially when angry and bring them into submission to the character of God that I want to walk in. I pray that my sisters and brothers that find themselves struggling with identify the true enemy and his tactics and choose to subdue the anger and live in peace. Keep praying for this soul. I am still under construction. lol.

Acts 12-14: From the day our daughter was born she has been leaving. lol. She is the child that always wanted to go. Her first work abroad to tell others the good news was when she was 9 and from then on she had her suitcase ready and traveled to make Him known. The week after she graduated from high school she picked up that suitcase and traveled to Africa for a year. During that time she began writing blogs about the people who were in desperate need not just for earthly provisions but for spiritual life and encouragement. She began signing her posts “To the Ends of The Earth”. Today as I read look what I found:
Acts 13:47 For so the Lord has commanded us, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
I almost cried when I saw it. My baby girl and her family are now serving some of the same Gentiles that not just Paul, but many of the other early christians went to serve. They are being that light still today some 2000 years later. I am so grateful to our God who loves all of us so much that He continues to bring light into some of the darkest places all around the globe to the ends of the earth. Our kids are doing well. They are working hard on language and in days to come will take another test that will allow them to move forward in making The Name known in their part of the earth.
My hope is that you will pray for all workers abroad especially as we prepare to celebrate the holidays. They all miss their families, but they consider the work they are doing worth leaving all of the earthly comforts and family to do just as the early disciples did. To Make Him Known is their number one goal. Please also consider giving toward the Lottie Moon Christmas offering at your local fellowship. The money given to this offering goes directly to the needs of those serving abroad. It is money well spent in Making Him Known without even having to pack a suitcase. And we will are going by our gifts To the Ends of the Earth. May He be made known!

Acts 9-11: Have you had a total change since you came to know the Lord? Saul is a great example of a life totally changed. Prior to His experience on the road to Damascus he worked hard to annihilate the people who followed Jesus’ teachings. He even held the coats as Stephen the first Christian martyr was killed. He considered himself righteous because he was doing what he thought God would have him do. When he was blinded by the light on the road to Damascus it became evident that what he thought was right was not. Jesus was the true Son of God. Paul immediately had a change of heart and mind. During those days of blindness I wonder if it was a time of catharsis where he reconsidered all his life had been about. When the scales fell from his eyes he was a changed man from the inside out. His changed in vision resulted in a change of action. He no longer persecuted people but now tried to convince them of the truth of God’s Son. As he preached some refused to befriend him thinking he must be playing games to entrap them. Barnabas was one of the first of the Christian leaders outside of Damascus to befriend and serve alongside Paul.
So what does this have to do with us? When God calls us to be His own He expects us to change from the inside out as well. Our sins are forgiven and we change from doing things how we think is right to what He says is right. It isn’t easy, but to walk right with God it means we choose to put away airway to walk in His. This life change isn’t just for a season, but forever. That is why we can say we die to self in order to live in Him!