NEWSLETTER January 2019
Peace Talk
House of Prayer on Parker and Main
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ~Romans 12:4-5
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Grace, mercy and Peace to you from God Our Father and Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Compare the church with your own body. You’re snuggled in your bed nice and warm on a cold day. Your eyes open and you look at the clock. Dang! It’s time to get up. Maybe there’s some stiffness, a little morning breath, you rub your eyes as you pivot on the edge of the bed and plant your feet on the floor. Everything is functioning, more or less, the way you want it to. Your body is reacting to the commands from your brain. What if, instead when you woke up, the left eye opened but your right eye stayed closed. The alarm is going off but your dominant arm is flapping around like a dying fish out of water on the bed because your hips refuse to let your body roll toward the clock. You're trying to move your other arm but the fingers in rebellion are grasping the headboard of the bed for dear life. One foot is on the floor but the other sticks straight up in the air. Other body parts decide they don’t want to be what they are.The elbow wants to be the heart. The heart wants to be the stomach. The stomach wants to be a lung. Another year is about to begin and soon the gyms will be filled with people with the New Years resolution of toning their muscles, increasing their stamina, strength and endurance. The ability of the body to meet its goals, however, depends on each part fulfilling its individual role. The church is the body of Christ, as such it too needs to exercise. Our goals for the coming year, ok every year, are to become more knowledgable of the scriptures, spend more time in prayer, outreach to our inactive members, and work to prevent our members from becoming inactive by having everyone use their gifts to the glory of God, to re-connect to our community and share Christ not just with each other but with those who don’t know Him. Now, like all those resolute New Year people at the gym, we can’t expect that we will enter the gym like a ninety-eight pound weakling and exit after an hour looking like Arnold Schwartzenegger. But we can make a good start of things. It’s not likely that each of us will jump into a new daily routine. We can’t expect that a one size fits all program will meet everyone’s needs. What and how we start will differ for every person. But I would like to challenge you to spend one hour a month, Twelve hours for the year on one of the goals above, or all of them. You might do it with a 5 minute devotion each day or spending 15 minutes extra in prayer each week. Maybe you’ll help a child at the academy for 1 hour a month or host a bible study at your home for two hours every other month. Perhaps you will start a new ministry day event that will take twelve hours between preparation and execution. Whatever form it takes if you need support please let me know! Maybe your ministry or growth opportunity will be the way others fulfill their twelve hour time of growth. Working together as one body, by the Grace and for the glory of God, He will use us for Great things! May God bless you all with a joyous New Year and the inspiration of the way you will work in His kingdom this year! SDG, Pastor John If you find yourself unable to attend worship on Sunday, head over to Facebook and during the readings and sermon portion of the service we will go LIVE on “God’s Peace at Parker and Main”Facebook page. Now you can stay connected to God’s word and and Pastor message each and every Sunday. Past Sundays are available now on the “Video” section of the page.