Scripture
– NIV
Luke
1:26-38 –
In
the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named
Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to
her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary
was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might
be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor
with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him
Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord
God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over
Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How
will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The
angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of
God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and
she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word
from God will ever fail.”
“I
am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then
the angel left her.
Ephesians
2:10 –
For
we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
Acts
1:8 –
But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.
Bob’s
thoughts:
We
drove to North Carolina to see our southern granddaughters in a Christmas
program and were blessed to be there for worship also. I really appreciated the
wide aisle spacing where we were as I needed to stretch a bit to ease the pain
in my legs.
I was
pleased to hear the voice of the female lead during worship and later we got to
hear our granddaughters sing in the program.
The
pastor’s message wove around our supporting role in God’s plan. It is most
humbling to realize God plans to use us, requiring our obedience.
A
favorite thing to me about worshiping here, besides being with family, is the
lead pastor’s style. He doesn’t have to get loud to emphasize his points. Worship
is always joyful with this group of believers.
Jan’s
thoughts:
We
were in North Carolina visiting our daughter and granddaughters, so it was
ironic that the pastor was just returning from two weeks away following the
birth of a grandchild. Yes, grandchildren bring almost as much change as
children do.
This
is a large church with two services (three on Christmas Eve). They are very well
organized with an abundance of volunteers and countless outreach programs. I’m
thrilled our family members are part of this church family.
As
I search for my new role in life, the message, Fulfilling Your Role in God’s Plan, was of particular interest to
me. The pastor spoke of God’s sovereignty and our supporting roles in His plan
to make known the name of Jesus everywhere (Luke 1:31-33). The Holy Spirit
equips us for our roles and our part is to respond to God’s Word with humility,
faith, and obedience. In this respect, our role model should be Mary, who
responded to the news that she would give birth to the Christ Child with, “I
believe; I am the Lord’s servant; I submit to Your Word.” This is a worthy heart-attitude
and I hope I can live up to it.
We
returned to the church at 4:30 for the Christmas play entitled “Back to the Manger” in which both
granddaughters had singing parts. I was overjoyed to see this outstanding
production! The storyline was imaginative (based on “Back to the Future”) and all the students were just marvelous.
By
the time we left, the 11.5 inches of snow that caused the week-long school cancellation
was mostly melted and the rain had stopped, but what an amazing day it had
been.
Our
prayer for this church:
Lord,
we pray You will protect Your church from the demonic warfare that comes with
obedience. Strengthen them, we pray. Amen.
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