Good day dear friends.
We were richly blessed yesterday first with an old-fashioned hymnsing during our special 8 am worship service. This was a very moving service in which some of the OLD standards were lifted up in praise to the Lord and we felt the Spirit speak to us in each word and verse. Then at 10 a.m. folks gathered at the Harrison Ranch for the church's 159th Birthday bash and we enjoyed the music of the Open Doors Band, Luci True Tomlinson's baptism and food and fellowship. The weather lent itself to our being outdoors and perhaps our prayers drove away the rain altogether! We estimate about 200 folks were at the ranch.
As we begin our time of prayer together please remember Vanessa Trejo in your prayers. She is the young lady diagnosed with lupus and she has been under medication and today an exam will be done to see how her kidneys are functioning. Her parents appreciate our prayers and we pray that God's healing be with her.
Our BIRTHDAY message was from Deut. 30:11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
We asked the question: Would San Marcos be a different community if a Methodist church had never been founded? And the answer of course is yes, but not necessarily for the better. We spoke of the faith of the founders who knew the coming of a church would bring
Blessing
Inspiration
Relevance
Transformation
Healing
Deliverance
Answers
all dependent, like the people of Israel in the passage above, knowing it is Your choice!
If your computer is allowing you, you can see that spells out birthday and it spoke to our hearts about what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in our midsts if we open ourselves to Him.
I also shared how in an online survey we took about our church, most members rated our church low in Faith Sharing. So, I also shared three simple words that you can use in a conversation at the right time, with someone who needs to know about faith. God is good. See if you can't work that out in a talk you're having with a spouse, child, co-worker, student, employee, employer. You plant a tiny seed, but you've still shared your faith. Next Sunday we'll receive three more words and we'll continue working on being a faith sharing congregation.
God is good.
PRAYER: Father, you are good and we seek to be. Speak to our hearts, minds and spirits today when we can share a tiny word about our faith. Let us indeed proclaim not just with our words, but our actions as well, that You are good. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
