Blessed Sunday! 

Our senior pastor was out of town attending a men’s retreat with several of the men from our congregation, so Rush Creek was blessed this morning to hear a sermon by my preaching professor.  Dr. Pape preached the most wonderful sermon about the pearl of great price.  Thank you Dr. Pape.

My intermediate ordination interview is tomorrow (Monday at 3:15) at University Christian Church.  Please offer a prayer, my friends, that I do well in this interview.

Prayer: Dear God, I want my life to count.  My heart’s deepest desire is to live a life that makes an eternal difference in the lives of those around me.  Father, I want Jesus Christ on the inside to be what the world witnesses on the outside, Amen”

“But do you want to know, O foolish man that faith without works is dead.”

James 2: 20

If you are a regular reader of this journal I wrote about a similar passage from James a few weeks ago.  Our works are the outward and visible actions of our faith.  While our faith is invisible, genuine faith will eventually reveal itself.  What we do in our lives for the kingdom of God paints a portrait of our faith.  “Faith plus works does not save us, we are saved by a faith that works.”  (I really love that line.)

True faith in God is never invisible. Faith on the inside produces action on the outside.  My meditation tonight cites some scripture passages of faith in action.

·             Abel in his more excellent sacrifice (Heb. 11: 4).

·             Joseph in his perseverance and forgiveness of his brothers (Gen. 39—48).

·             David slinging a stone, fully expecting God to slay a giant (1 Sam. 17:  45-50).

·             Daniel at peace in the lion’s den (Dan. 6: 22, 23).

·             Isaiah saying, “Here I am! Send me” (Is. 6: 8).

·             Nehemiah leaving his job to go join God in rebuilding the wall (Neh. 2ff).

·             A nameless woman as she presses through the crowd to grab the hem of Jesus’ garment (Matt. 9: 20).

Good works uncover our faith which makes our faith visible to the world. When faith is visible to the world, it produces results which leads people to glorify God. 

So my friends…here is the question for the night…what kind of faith do others see in us?

Take joy in this journey of faith.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all and thank you for your prayers.  Peace, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com     

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am only moved by what I believe and I believe God.