Blessed Sunday to you all! 

I pray your Daylight Savings Time did not affect you too adversely and you were able to make it to worship in time for at least one of the services.

I preached and sang at Rush Creek today and I think it went well. I preached on the passage from Luke 14: 1-14.  It is the story of Jesus being invited to the home of the head of the Pharisees for lunch on the Sabbath. The Pharisees try to catch Jesus in breaking Sabbath Law by placing a person who was in need of healing in His path. And then after the very unceremonious healing of this poor soul Jesus tells the host and the guests that the people you need to invite to lunch are the poor, lame, ill, hurting, oppressed and down trodden because they cannot repay your kindness. God wants us to help these folks and make sure they are invited to the table because God has invited all of us to the table as simmers poor and needy.

Prayer: Lord, tonight I pray for our friend who is having a surgical procedure done in the morning. I pray for your Divine Presence be with him and his wife and family. May Your perfect healing grace soak into the body of our friend and spill over into all who are involved in this procedure giving them perfect skills as they perform this procedure.  Give our friend the strength of body and spirit to withstand this surgery and be healed in Jesus’ name while we ask  the Lord of Hosts to do battle for him.  In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

“On that day your will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

John 14: 20

Here is one of the cool mysteries about God. First, God is God and is capable by His own choice and design to do all things. God is infinite. God is our Creator and Sustainer of the universe. (Are you beginning to sort of imagine the vastness of  this God we love?) . We are finite. And yet, God not only lives with us, but lives within us filling us with His Divine Presence. (Ok, take a breath and think in this one.)  This is the deepest  relationship we will ever have. If you are married you think you know everything about your partner including your partner’s thoughts and feelings, but God’s relationship with us goes deeper than this because God does know our thoughts and feelings.  It is in God that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17: 28) The more we get to know our Creator the deeper our knowledge of God becomes and the more complete we become. This deeper relationship happens over a lifetime and it gives the defining relationship that gives our life meaning.

Take joy in this amazing journey remembering that hope does not disappoint. Wear comfortable shoes, throw an extra blanket on the bed, pray with a heart full of gratitude and get some sleep.  Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni, Travis and Sarah.

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.