Have you ever thanked the people who shared the “Lord’s message” with you?  Whether it be your parents, a preacher, a teacher, friend, family, or just someone in your life, we should be thankful for them.  The Lord used them and their obedience to share Gods hope with you!  Today, if you are able, send a message or even make a phone call thanking those who have invested in your life.

Sometimes the beauty, the imagery of the Word, can settle in your heart and strike a chord deeply within. God set the sun in the sky to give light to the peoples of the earth, but half will always be in darkness as the earth turns continually away from light, casting evening shadows over people under a slowly darkening sky. But God never turns away from His children. His light shines on us continually, not only withholding sin's comfortable darkness, but providing light by which we can clearly see the path He sets before us.

Read Acts 9.
The story of Saul, later to be Paul, is such a picture of how the Lord can change anyone, no matter their past. Saul was a part of many Christian executions, including the stoning of Stephen(Acts 7). He also was a part of the ongoing persecution and resistance of Christ followers and Christ’s teachings. Until one day, Jesus spoke to Him and changed his life.
We are never too far from Jesus’ grace, forgiveness, or redemption. Paul goes on to be such a catalyst in the spreading of the Gospel. His story shows that no matter YOUR past or present circumstance, Jesus can use you for His glory and for His good.

Fear and anxiety are friends of death and thieves of joy. They are weapons of the enemy, engineered to distract us from our purpose and interrupt our witness. They attempt to destroy hope. Rest in the knowledge that the enemy has been overcome by the only One who could never be restrained by death. His victory means our victory, so if your hope is in Christ Jesus, let your heart be glad and your tongue rejoice. Share that vibrant, living hope with someone today.

What will Jesus find the day He returns for His people? Our prayer should be that He comes to find "Faith Lived Out" all over the earth. In Noah's day Faith Lived Out looked like a large boat sitting on dry land while the first raindrops fell. In Moses' day it looked like lamb's blood on the doorpost while people inside ate in their traveling clothes.
In Jesus' time it looked like fishermen walking away from their nets to become disciples of a Rabbi who simply said, "follow Me".
What might Faith Lived Out look like the day Jesus returns? It might look like a father who wakes up an hour early each day to spend time with God in His word. It might look like a grandmother telling a neighbor child about Jesus while pulling weeds in the tomato patch. It might look like a teenager anonymously shoveling snow off his neighbor's sidewalk. It might look like a nurse holding the hand of a lonely patient, or a man changing a flat tire for a new mother on the side of a busy highway. Whatever the activity is, behind it will be God's people going about their day loving Him and loving others in obedience to His command, knowing there is a God in heaven who sees them and hears their prayers.

Luke 11:9-12
I’m always afraid that I am intruding or bothering someone. Sometimes I’ll even call someone and the first words out of my mouth are, “Hey, I’m sorry!” I even would rather get things finished myself rather than ask someone for help.
What’s so awesome is that the Lord longs us for to talk to Him. He desires a relationship with us. We are never bothering or intruding on Him. He cares for us. He wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to ask. Though we may not get exactly what we ask for, He always gives us what we need.

In chapter 7 of the Gospel of Luke, a centurion, a commander of Roman troops in occupied Israel, needed to petition Jesus for the life of his servant. He was determined to cross social and personal barriers to get the job done. He was a gentile asking a Jew for help. He was a Roman, despised by many of the people around him. He felt he was not worthy to be near Jesus.

Many people today can say they sympathize with the centurion. They know they need the Lord but feel like they are not able to come into the presence of Jesus to ask for help, healing, peace and salvation. The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ willingly gave up his life, submitting to a substitutionary death on the cross to pay the penalty for sins He didn't commit. He did this so that anyone who would come to Him can come to Him. We come to Him with the burden of our sin, and He trades it for grace.
Let 2 Corinthians 9:15 be our joy-filled prayer:
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

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Luke 5:4-5
The way Simon Peter answers Jesus in verse 5 is comical to me because I hear myself in his reply to Jesus when he asked them to “let down their nets.” “ ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.”
It's almost like Simon Peter felt the need to put a preface before actually doing what Jesus asked Him to do.
I do this sometimes because I don’t want to look silly in case something goes wrong. I’ve even said things like “I’m 99 percent sure,” just in case I am wrong I can say “Well, I didn’t say 100 percent.” (Yes I know, not the best principle).
But when Jesus calls us to do something, we shouldn’t feel the need to have to preface anything with saying, “Well it may not happen, but we can try.” If Jesus called us to do something, we should ready and willing to follow through confidently.
What is He calling you to do?

Pastor Greg made a point Sunday in his message, "Grace in the Gap", that stuck with me all this week. Zacharias and Elizabeth were blameless before God. Not that they were perfect or sinless, as we see clearly when we read through chapter 1 of Luke, but blameless. They received a precious gift toward the end of their life. A son in their later years after a lifetime of childlessness. While their peers raised families and knew the joys and struggles that came with children and grandchildren, Zacharias and Elizabeth focused on "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord" even as they prayed for God to send them a son. Although those long years must have been difficult, God answered their prayer, and their faith was rewarded at last. When the day came to name their precious boy, they could easily have glorified Zacharias' name by giving that same name to their son. In fact, their friends and family assumed that would be the case. But as pastor said Sunday, "when we ascribe glory or praise to anyone or anything else, it is an affront to a righteous God." Both Zacharias and Elizabeth knew that their son already had a very appropriate name. His name is John, which is translated, "Jehovah is a gracious giver". They formed their attitude toward God, even in their struggle, even when under reproach as Zacharias was during those months of silence, into an attitude consistent with repentance. They remained grateful for the gifts and grace God chose to give them, and eager to glorify His name. When we feel like we are being forgotten, as Elizabeth may have felt, or when we are under reproach for unbelief as Zacharias was, we can decide to glorify God and be grateful for His grace toward us.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14
Are you one of those people that would rather do things yourself than others do it so it “gets done right?” Or if something isn’t getting finished, you just take control and do it yourself? While that may be okay every now and then, we can’t do it all. We, as individuals, have to have others.
The Lord created us for fellowship and unity. We are meant to work together. We were made for each other to fulfill His calling. Sometimes in order to fulfill His calling, we either have to step aside or step up.

The day we have set aside to "Give Thanks" has passed. Feasts were held, stories were told, laughter was heard, and naps were taken. The ones already gone home to be with the Lord were missed and reminisced. The fancy dishes were cleaned, dried and put away to sit empty until the next party. It was a lot of work, but they are clean and ready. Clean and ready, but they did not clean themselves, and they do not make their own plans.
Proverbs 20:9 says
"Who can say, 'I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin'?"
We may try, we may work at it really hard, but only faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross will cleanse us from sin and make us ready for the plans He has for us. We have but to ask.

Friday Devotion:
Luke 15:31-32
We should ALWAYS rejoice when someone turns their life around. We should ALWAYS be ready to welcome back those who want to ask for forgiveness.
The Father’s love is unconditional, therefore He will always be willing to love His prodigal children.

Colossians 3:4
One of my my favorite lyrics of all time is from the song “What a Day That Will Be.” It says, “There’ll be no sorrows there, no more burdens to bear. No more sickness and no more pain. No more parting over there, but forever I will be with the One who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be.”
When Christ who is our life appears, there will be no more sickness or pain. Burdens will no longer exist. But, most importantly, we will be WITH Him IN glory.

I like stuff. I don’t like to throw away stuff. I have a hard time throwing away something, especially if it has a memory attached to it. But, while it may not be wrong to keep certain things, I can easily run out of space in my house if I want to keep everything.
I have learned recently to be more intentional with not putting sentiment on every little thing. To not store up my “treasure” in things or stuff.
It is so easy for us to get caught up in putting our hope and trust in the things of this world, things that will eventually fade away. We sometimes equate how much stuff we have with how much joy we should feel.
Instead of gathering earthly treasures, we should focus on the act of “laying up our treasures in heaven,” where our treasure never will tarnish or fade; that is our hope in Jesus Christ.

Love never fails...
The LORD is making a bold statement that we might, at first glance, want to argue with. We draw from our own life experience and lament that love has failed us all at one time or another.
But God, who LOVES with pure affection, complete benevolence, and a perfect will, leads us to love the way HE does. Through the death of His Son He demonstrates that perfect love. (While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8)
When we love with the love of Christ our sole purpose is to bless another; love never fails.

Some days, it’s hard to love people. Whether it’s an enemy, a friend, or even someone in your family, loving others unconditionally, like Jesus loves us, can be tough.
He LOVES us even though He KNOWS us. We are tough to love yet Jesus loves us with no limit or bound. Therefore, we should love others the same.