Posts by courtnut02 (Page 26)
We Don’t Know
Often, I wonder what is going on in a church member’s life. We see their outward appearance and actions, but we do not know what is going on inside them. 1 Samuel 16:7 says: “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” We may not know what is going on, but God does! And God wants to help them with anything and everything. We too should be loving…
New Beginnings
New beginnings. That’s what we think of when we start a New Year. God has blessed us with the dividing of the moments of life and history into units of time. This allows us to break into smaller pieces the things that go in life. Thus a new year becomes a great opportunity for us to start over in some way. God is, has always been, and will always be the same, He never needs to start again for His…
Living Sacrifices
Last Sunday, I shared a message from Romans 12:1-8 titled Living Sacrifices. I encouraged the listeners to consider spiritual changes for the new year. I asked them to make changes to be more like Jesus, to examine themselves and make the changes that God wants us to make, and to be about serving God and others this next year. This coming Sunday night, we will have our Committee Kickoff event at 5 pm. If you are serving on a committee…
Upcoming Christmas Events
Sunday was a sweet time of worship as our Worship Choir presented Comfort and Joy. I want to thank each one of our choir members as they led us this past Sunday. Also I want to express how grateful I am for Beth as she played beautifully in leading us. EBC is blessed to have such a gifted pianist and choir. I pray that your Christmas season will be enriched because of Comfort and Joy. Christmas at Emmanuel continues this…
Discouragement
All of us deal with discouragement from time to time. Recently I read an article by Todd Gaddis of Lifeway, titled 8 Ways to Defeat Discouragement. Discouragement destroys our joy and our enthusiasm. In the Bible, Elijah got discouraged and there are some things can learn from him. Todd suggested four traps to avoid, traps that discourage us. These traps are: the enemy trap, don’t become obsessed with your enemies, try to love them, pray for them, talk with them,…
Comfort and Joy
Comfort and Joy. These two simple words express what many of us feel at Christmas. If they do not express what we feel they do exemplify what we want to feel. All of us want a place or a state of being where we feel loved no matter what, where we are comfortable and can give comfort. As we desire comfort, we also seek joy. We will do whatever we can to bring that feeling of joy into our lives.…
A Season For Joy
I love the Christmas season. I love the way folks treat each other during December. To me, folks seem to be more giving and more loving than the rest of the year. I recently came in contact with a book by Jeff Spadafora titled The Joy Model. Jeff say: “Joy is more about perspective than circumstances.” This is so true, we can have joy in the midst of all our circumstance because we have a heavenly perspective. Jeff suggests an…
Upcoming Christmas Programs
The period of time after Thanksgiving ushers in the Christmas season. We have decorated our church and are working on the Christmas musicals and services that will proclaim the news of Christ’s birth. This is an exciting and joyous time, yes it is filled with stress and worry over wanting everything to go just right but it is the occasion and purpose that we do these things that causes us to be this way. Celebrating the birth of our Savior…
Traits of God (2)
Last week, I referred to a “Pastor To Pastor” article by Gregg Allison and Chris Castaldo, authors of the book The Unfinished Reformation: What Unites and Divides Catholics and Protestants After 500 Years. In their article, they list 16 traits of God that we all should agree on. These traits remind me of how great a God we serve. The second eight traits of God are: Truthfulness and faithfulness, God always tells the truth and always fulfills his promises; love,…
Thankful
Living joyously with a thankful heart requires us to constantly seek God and His truth. If I allow myself to do this in my own power it may work for a few days but sooner or later those things that drag me down rear their heads and I find myself being petty, selfish and sometimes even mean. Then, when I repent and turn my heart back to God, it turns my life around. This Thanksgiving, surround yourself with the goodness…