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What are you doing with your gifts?

God bestows upon all members of His church in every age spiritual gifts which each member is to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and of humanity. Given by the agency of the Holy Spirit, who apportions to each member as He wills, the gifts provide all abilities and ministries needed by the church to fulfill its divinely ordained functions… When members employ these spiritual gifts as faithful stewards of God’s varied grace, the church is protected from the destructive influence of false doctrine, grows with a growth that is from God, and is built up in faith and love.  – Excerpt from the Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #17

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A Closer Look

As we come to the end of another year I hope that you take the time to reflect on what has taken place in your life over these past 12 months.  Socrates put it this way “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  Paul in 2 Corinthians 13: 5 shared this instruction to the church, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” The prophet Jeremiah was a little more passionate in Lamentations 3:40 when he said, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!

Each one of these writers inspired or otherwise, identifies the need for all of us to take a look at the life we each lead. The words of Jesus help me to put my life into perspective – “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”- Luke 10:27.  Following that vein here are some questions you might ask yourself as this year draws to a close:

  • Am I closer or farther away from God today than I was December 2011?
  • What have I chosen to remove from on my life because of my relationship with Christ? If nothing what should I have?
  • What have I chosen to add to my life because of my relationship with Christ?  If nothing what should I have?
  • What have I spent the greater part of my time on, and does it have long term, or even better, eternal consequence?
  • Outside of my circle of friends and family how many lives have I touched in a meaningful way?
  • What have I done to better myself this year in each of these categories: physically, spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually?
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Update for Mission

“We don’t create great services to make money, we make money to create great services.” – , founder of Facebook.

What if we were to take the same idea and put it to work in the church? The idea to put all the resources (time, talent, treasure) that we have to use in the local church to work in whatever God leads us to do to save souls.  I believe that the results would be world changing. One of the church founders – Ellen White – made it more than a suggestion.  She put it this way…

“Those who barricade the soul, refuse the invitation to the gospel feast; those who hoard up their talents to rust, unemployed, unimproved, must not think that such action in any way relieves them from responsibility; for God holds us responsible for the good we might do if we took up the yoke with Christ, lifting his burdens, learning more of his meekness and lowliness of heart day by day. The interest continues to accumulate on buried talents; and instead of decreasing our responsibility, the burying of our talent only increases and intensifies it. Let the human agent consider the solemn fact that the day of reckoning is just before us, and that we are daily deciding what our eternal destiny shall be.” – Review & Herald April 21, 1896.

Consider this year how you (individually & corporately) are going to use the talents given to you in the service of the Lord, and then do it!

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Welcome Joshua!

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Today we welcome the newest addition to our family. His name is Joshua-Ray Caden Nugent. He was born at 9:09 am on September 7, 2012. He is 7.03 lbs, 21 inches. So far he is doing fine, and has even latched on for a 15 min first feeding. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

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Not Welcome Here!

Luke 9: 51-56

The people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.

The Samaritans of the town had been passed over, treated unfairly, discriminated against time and time again.  On a normal day this would occur, but more so when the special times of the year came around and people who traveled to Jerusalem were seeking to “keep themselves pure”.  No one could blame them for being fed up, not wanting to take it anymore. And so when another traveler comes to town looking for a place to stay the night on their journey to Jerusalem they decide to put their communal foot down and turn him out of their city.  We are not going to help you in reaching your destination, you are not welcome!

Little did they know that this was Jesus; the Son of God, God with us, and the Promised One.  To them they only saw his disciple with a hand out and a request.  They could not know that this was to be the Lamb of God who would take away their sins as well as Israel’s.  They could only see another Jew on his way to Jerusalem. And as a result of their prejudice they turn away He who would be the most important visitor that would every grace the gate of their city.

There have been times in my life when, with good reason, I have been less than welcoming to another person.  The sum total of my experience with “their kind” has taught me to be wary of “them”, is what I tell myself. But what if in my passion to protect SELF, to express my displeasure, to do right by ME I have turned my Savior away?

Prayer: Lord, you are welcome in my soul today, and every day.  And may it be that when you enter that your first order of business will be to place a sign in the doorway of my heart that says, “Prejudice, Not Welcome Here!”