UNPOPULAR MESSENGER

Good day dear friends.
We had a great worship service at the park as well as at the church, as we celebrated the 160th birthday of the church. We fed over 250 people at the park, including some folks who just happened to be at the park for the day. Some even came to take park in worship and didn't eat with us. It was a great day!
Here is our study guide for today:
Monday: Jeremiah 37, 38, 39How do you explain a person like the Ethiopian, Ebed-melech, who came out of nowhere, so to speak, to help Jeremiah when no one else would?
What a difficult job Jeremiah had! No one believed him any longer for his having spoken the truth of God. And who would believe a message that said, "Surrender to the Babylonians and you will live, resist and you will die at the hands of the Chaldeans." It appeared to be a no-win situation for the king and certainly more so for Jeremiah, the prophet of God. Jeremiah had chosen to speak God's truth even in the face of hatred and resistance. The people followed the king and so they did not believe the prophet. It took an outsider, a foreigner, to believe and help out Jeremiah.
What do you do when you face those who don't believe you, especially if you're trying to serve the Lord? I believe God will send someone who does and who will help. Our call is to remain faithful to the Lord and His teachings, not cave in to trying to be popular and accepted. The call to be a Christian is never an easy one.
PRAYER: Loving God, give me courage to continue to follow You. Help me this day to speak and share that which I know comes from You. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

GOD'S MESSAGE IN GOD'S PLACE

Good day dear friends.
Our newest members to the church family have a new member of their family as well! Chloe Bluz Chamness was born to Christine and Chad last night at McKenna in New Braunfels. She was four weeks premature, but still weighed in at 7 lbs. She is facing some minor difficulties, so we ask your prayers for Baby Chloe.
Here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Jeremiah 25, 26, 27Why would God instruct Jeremiah to deliver the message of Jeremiah 26 in the Temple, of all places?
It was precisely the Temple where the false teachings were being shared with God's people. What should have been sermons of instruction and invitation back to God, the messages only reinforced the attractiveness of the culture and the path away from God. We all need, from time to time, to be told again of what God requires from us. We can't assume we're the only ones who require from God. It's the other way around. God made us for His pleasure and service. We should obey that.
It should be in church where we come ready to hear what God would share with us to truly become the people God wants us to be. As we prepare for our weekly worship, let it be the culmination of a week-long worship we do on our own as we seek to know God's will for our lives.
PRAYER: Come, loving God, and speak again to my heart. Let me know exactly what it is you would have me do for you. I praise You in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

FRUITFUL FOR THE LORD

Good day dear friends.
Please lift up in prayer Marky Vela. Marky has lived his whole short life with cerebral palsy and he is near the end of his life. Please also pray for his mother and family as this has been a most difficult time for them.
Here is our study guide for today:
Wednesday: Jeremiah 22, 23, 24If you were to deliver Jeremiah’s parable of the good and bad figs to a modern audience, what figure of speech might you use in place of his agricultural one to carry the parable’s meaning?
This is an interesting question. People understand the parable of good and bad figs; you can eat good figs but you can't eat spoiled, rotten figs. The image that came to mind was to choose between cell phones. It seems everyone has a cell phone now. But would you choose the one with no battery? Or one that was broken? The point is simple, those who wander away from God for whatever reason lose their usefulness for God. Until they return to God and submit to God, God will not use them.
This is what the people of Israel did, and this is what we do from time to time. Staying in God's favor and seeking God's will, is what will lead us to faithfulness and fruitfulness. This is what we should seek.
PRAYER: Loving God, choose me today to do what You will. Let me stay true to You all days. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
e.v.

FACING DISCOURAGEMENT

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today:
Tuesday: Jeremiah 19, 20, 21Find individual words to describe Jeremiah’s series of emotions in Jeremiah 20.
A reality faced by those who serve the Lord is that of discouragement. To serve God is not the most popular decision one can make. Not everyone will rejoice and not everyone will agree or accept what one tries to do for God. To be called by God to be a prophet was a most difficult task for all the prophets who honestly served God, and Jeremiah was not exception. He faced ridicule and scorn and the threats of harm or death. Even the high priest in the Temple had Jeremiah whipped and arrested for preaching the truth.
How do you handle discouragement that comes from trying to do what God asks of you in your life? To try and be a Christian is not easy and not everyone will support you or agree with you. Some may even abandon you for making decisions that are not popular or well accepted. But God would say to you and me, never give up. I am with you!
PRAYER: Loving God help me with moments of discouragement. Grant me vision and hope for this and all days. I pray in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
PS Don't forget this coming Sunday we will be worshiping at Rio Vista Park at 10 a.m. This is followed by a delicious BBQ luncheon and then a time of recreation and fun! No BBQ will be served at the 8:30 service. See you all there!

A PRESENCE RELATIONSHIP

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Jeremiah 4, 5, 6Identify the sins of Jerusalem described in Jeremiah 5.
I can do no wrong in the eyes of my granddaughter. She's at the age where anything I do, any face I make, causes her to smile or laugh. The only wrong I do is when she's being carried by her grandmother, and I leave the room. She cries like she is in terrible pain. As soon as I come back in, she is fine. To be fair, she does the same if I'm carrying her and grandma leaves the room. For her at her age, relationship means having both grandparents together paying attention to her.
Today's reading of Jeremiah 5 reminds me a bit of what God desires and how we react to that desire. God desired, and still does, a "presence" relationship. Just like I know my granddaughter will soon be more mobile and crawl away on her own, then walk, then run, we do the same to God. God wants us near, we want to be on our own. The people to whom Jeremiah was preaching, had chosen to leave God behind and move on to a life of sin. And what sin could that be? To wander off in search of another god.
Nothing nor no one can take the place of God. We may seek substitutes but we'll never find one. The place in your heart meant for God can only be filled by God. Money, sex, drugs, alcohol, cars, boats, planes, big houses, none of those things can fill that place.
God wants a presence relationship with you right now. Why do you hold back?
PRAYER: Loving God, I know You desire a presence relationship with me, let it be. Let me seek You at all times and in all places. Help me to see You. Let others see You in me as well. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

HOLDING ON TO GOD

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today:
Wednesday: Jeremiah 1, 2, 3List what you know about Jeremiah from reading Jeremiah 1.
Jeremiah's father was Kilkiah. His dad and Jeremiah were priests. They lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. We know when Jeremiah's call came (13th year of King Josiah's reign). We also know that this call from God was constant, it kept coming until the fifth month of the 11th year of King Zedekiah's reign.
God's message to Jeremiah was that God shaped him in the womb and knew Jeremiah well. And God revealed that His plan for Jeremiah included Jeremiah's being a prophet. God promised He would guide Jeremiah in all ways. He even touched Jeremiah's mouth and "hand-delivered" His message for His people. Jeremiah's job was to tear down and build up. His job would be to rebuild and plant. God also shows Jeremiah a walking stick as a sign that God was with him. God then shows Jeremiah a boiling pot which symbolized the coming destruction of the kingdom. But Jeremiah was to know that God had made him indestructable to anything that would come against him. God called Jeremiah a one-man defense team.
It all says the same thing: Serving and standing for God is never easy. We'll encounter others with their own opinions about life, faith, God. We'll encounter those who would like nothing better than to destroy the work of God in our midst, all in the name of doing good or doing better. But ours is a faith that says to hold on to God and to do what God would have us do.
PRAYER: Loving God help my faith in You today to stay strong. Let me seek to serve only You in all things. I pray that Your message would be strong and clear to me, and that I receive from You that which helps me to hold on. I pray in Jesus' strong Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

THE COMING OF THE LORD

Good day dear friends.
Reeves Perry was released from St. David's Hospital in Austin last evening after spending time there since Saturday. While mowing his grass he passed out, was found by a jogger and taken by ambulance to SD fearing a stroke. Doctors have not determined what caused this. Please keep Reeves and Marilyn in your prayers.
Here is our study guide for today:
Tuesday: Isaiah 64, 65, 66The latter portion of our reading speaks of a new day, when the Lord will rule over all. Compare Isaiah 65:17-19 and Revelation 21:1-4.
One of my favorite Bible verses as a child is found in today's reading. It was the images the verses spoke of "Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough," (Isa 65:25) that caught my attention. Though I was young I knew enough to know that wolves and lambs don't normally "graze" together. I knew what a wolf loves to graze on is a lamb, and the same for a lion and ox eating straw. The lion would naturally and normally love to rip the ox like straw and then eat it completely. So, for us to read this passage speaks of the action of God coming in an unexplainable way. And when you think about it, isn't that what the movements of God are, unexplainable, wonderful acts that we just receive and enjoy.
The passage from Revelation 21:1-4 speak exactly of what Isaiah saw: "1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Isaiah saw "17 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress."
God is doing and will do marvelous things. Are you prepared? If you are, you are seeing the marvelous things right now. If you aren't, you don't know what I'm talking about, and you're missing so much. Our attitude should be one that says, come, Lord Jesus and move in me now; let me see life in its fullness; let me be ready for the coming of Your Father's Kingdom, when all things will be made new.
PRAYER: Come, Lord Jesus, and move in me now. Let me see life in its fullness. I pray that I might be ready for the coming of Your Father's Kingdom, when all things will be amde new. Amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

IS HE YOUR MESSIAH?

Good day dear friends.
Here is the study guide for today:
Monday: Isaiah 61, 62, 63Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 in his hometown of Nazareth. Read the story in Luke 4:16-30. Why do you think Jesus’ townspeople responded as they did?
If you read the whole of Luke 4, you see Jesus had a custom or habit, of going to his church on the Sabbath. It was in this setting that Jesus shares Isaiah in the reading. Isaiah knew God's Spirit and his entire ministry was guided by the Holy Spirit and so he says, in prophetic tones that the Spirit was going to move in a marvelous way: Good news proclaimed to the poor, captives released, the blind would see, no more oppression, and the year of the Lord's favor was coming. Jesus' neighbors heard it in their frame of reference which was a great historical piece, meaning something to another era, not them, and to hear the carpenter's son say that He was the one to do all these things was received in the same way you and I would have reacted to someone we knew saying he was the annointed one.
But the more important question is how we see Jesus today. Has He fulfilled the prophecies of the coming Messiah? Is His message the one the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed waited to hear? In my opinion, yes, and more! But what do you say, and how do you live it?
PRAYER: Father, we thank You for Jesus and His message and life. We thank You for His being our Messiah. May He reign in our hearts and lives forever. We ask this in Jesus' precious Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
e.v.

TRUE FASTING

Good Lord's Day everyone. I trust this will find you preparing or already prepared to enter the Lord's House with thanksgiving and praise! Or relaxing after having spent the morning worshiping God and learning more about Him!
Here is our study guide for today:Sunday: Isaiah 58, 59, 60Isaiah 58 contains a powerful statement on fasting. Rewrite 58:6-7 in words to fit your time and place.
Prayer Time: Let us pray daily for God to stir the church so it will have a message for our time; and let us pray daily that our generation will be prepared to hear God’s word.
Here is the recommended passage in Today's NIV: 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Fasting is taking our focus off physical nourishment and placing that same energy and attention to the spiritual. It is a way of saying to the Lord, I can live on Your word rather than just on food. It is an act of worship and humbleness, and one that is sadly overlooked by so many. Yet, Isaiah says the kind of fasting God wants is the kind that gives up oppressing others, to work for justice, overcoming those barriers and thinking that keeps others down and away from true fullness of life. True fasting involves a turning away from ourselves and looking towards others, and that includes our giving so that the hungry will have food, the homeless will find shelter, and the one needing clothes will be clothed. This is true fasting.
PRAYER: Loving God, I am so good about taking care of me that often I forget You have lovingly called me to care for others. Help me be a person of true fasting so that I can give and live as I should. I pray this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

A WHOLE AND COMPLETE LIFE

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today
Saturday: Isaiah 55, 56, 57How does Isaiah 55, addressed to Isreal, address us also?
God's promises to Isaiah are our promises as well. Seek God and you will be blessed. Seek your own way and you'll end up lost. Seek God and you will be satisfied and blessed. Seek your own way and you'll end up empty and still hungry.
God's main promise for His people is the same for us: A whole and complete life. It's ours for the asking. Why don't you ask? You've tried the rest, now try the best!
PRAYER: Loving God of life and the fullness of life, fill me today with You! Let me quit seeking that which does not satisfy. I ask it in Christ Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

THE HOLY CITY OF GOD

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today, but no telling when yahoogroups will get it to you!
Thursday: Isaiah 50, 51Again in Isaiah 51 Jerusalem is assured of restoration and of God’s care. Why was Jerusalem so important?
Jerusalem is the City of God. So named or called because of the place it has held for centuries as a holy city. The heyday of Jerusalem was when David made it the capital of Israel and it symbolized through Solomon's reign and building program, the greatness of the Jewish people. It was the major city of their faith, it reflected their military and political power, and it was a center of commerce. It was a city that said, "With God, all things are possible!" Think about what Jesus said about the great city and the image of a New Jerusalem we have in the last book of the Bible.
Jerusalem can also be a symbol of the ideal in our lives. A model of what can be if we trust wholly in God. For the people listening to Isaiah it was a call to repentance and restoration and for us the same. If your life is not as it should be, if you're not right with God, Jerusalem becomes that which should be and can be, if you trust in God.
PRAYER: Loving Father, may we all come to the holy city in our lives, where You reign as King and we serve You as subjects. Make my life whole and bring me closer to You, I pray in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

NEW IN THE LORD

Good day dear friends.
Yesterday's devotional I thought had been mailed out. Nellie asked me late last night if I had sent it and I said I had. And now that I'm way behind this morning, the first thing that pops up is that yesterday's message is "Awaiting Approval." Great. Sorry it's late.
Here is today's study guide:
Wednesday: Isaiah 46, 47, 48, 49Isaiah 49 speaks of the restoration of Jerusalem, which was fulfilled as the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile. To what degree might this passage be applied to later times, including our own day?
In all our dealings, both at home and at work, we are to be known as God's people. There should not be a compartment where we try to keep God or our godly living. All areas of our lives should reflect the glory of the Lord in us. Restoration speaks of making new what was once broken. In other words, in God's hands, all things can be made new. Listen to that, not "like new" which is always a gamble as you try to be something that has been "reconditioned" or "almost new." NEW! That's restoration. That's life in God's hands. All who ask to be made new are so made.
What's cracking up in your life today? Turn it over to God through prayer and faith and wait upon the Lord. You'll be amazed and blessed.
PRAYER: Lord, you better than anyone know what is cracking up and breaking down in my life. I turn those over to You and trust You. Make all my life NEW! I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

WHO'S THE REAL IDOL?

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today:
Tuesday: Isaiah 43, 44, 45What are our modern equivalents to idolatry? In what fashion are we worshipers of idols?
When our parents were growing up, roughly 80% of the people in the US went to church every Sunday. During our childhood (the Boomers) that number was about 50%, our kids' generation only 30%, and it is feared that by the time our grandkids are adults that number will have dropped to 10%. That generation will know "Adam and Eve" as perhaps in the form of a joke. The names of Samson, Moses, Noah will not be common. And even sadder, the Name of Jesus may not be known as Lord and Savior. What does that say about modern equivalents to idiotry, I mean, idolatry? That some actually make themselves idols and cater only to their needs. Others make staying in bed on Sunday, or having fun on Sunday with their cars, boats, planes, etc. their idols. And anytime we place anyone or anything above God, we are indeed worshiping idols.
The people of Isaiah's time suffered what they did because they did not know God. They placed their faith in what their neighbors did, which was to buy an idol and place it in their home or in a neighborhood temple, and God told Isaiah to tell the people that they were wasting their time, for nothing comes of idol worship. Not even today.
Go back and reread the Ten Commandments and see what God says about Himself. Know that our God is a living God, and one who doesn't take second place to anyone or anything.
PRAYER: Loving God, let me make You number one in my life again today. Never let me be distracted by idols or the worship of anything or anyone other than You. Forgive me the sins of my past. I pray these things in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

OUR TRUST IN GOD

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Isaiah 30, 31, 32Why did the prophet speak so vigorously against an alliance with Egypt? What spiritual factors were involved in such an alliance?
There are a myriad of ways to make decisions. Yet, two concern the Isaiah relates God being concerned and interested: Those decisions made with God in mind, and those made with us in mind. The two don't always intersect. And to make a decision to join in an alliance with Egypt truly went against God. Egypt was not known as one of the countries in which God was worshipped. Their history should have told them that the great showdown between Moses and Pharoah was really a showdown between a man who claimed to be a god, and the one true God. Moses represented God, and Pharoah represented his office which was believed to be Egypt's god. And we know who won that contest.
To make a decision to enter into a treaty with Egypt was go enter into a treaty with another god. And our God is a jealous God. We either trust God completely or we don't. There are no other gods in whom we can place our trust, especially in the sacred matter of our salvation.
Where does your trust lie? Are you walking with and trusting God or have you put your trust somewhere else?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I thank you for my salvation through Your Son, Jesus. Help me to make decisions that reflect that commitment I have in You and that You have in me. Help me to tell others. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

PLEASING GOD

Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today:
Tuesday: Isaiah 24, 25, 26In what sense does Isaiah 24 refer to a specific, coming time, and in what sense is it a kind of general warning, intended to bring listeners and readers to repent?
The entrance question to join the early Methodist society was, "Are you willing to flee the coming wrath of God?" Quite a question! Very pointed. Some today would ask, what sort of question is that, or, I wouldn't join a group that asks such questions! Sadly, the Israelites thought much along those lines as well. They didn't care about angering God or that a result of that anger might bring destruction to them and their nation.
The passage from Isaiah 24 is indeed a general warning to all who hear it and receive it, to turn away from sin and towards God. The images the prophet is sharing are serious ones: "God's about to ravish the earth and leave it in ruins..." The list of who's to be included is simply everyone, no one will escape. Everyone has violated the covenant they had with God and they could care less.
This was mentioned in my sermon on Sunday; we think we're growing more sophisticated and mature, and we dismiss altar promises made yesterday as sentimental or emotional decisions that we can't accept today, we dismiss things we once saw as miracles as nothing special, and as Isaiah said in his first chapter, we've become dumber than the ox. At least the ox knows its owner. We've forgotten, and we find ourselves far from Him.
May we strive today to please God with our thoughts, words, and actions. May we seek to be a light to those still walking and living in darkness. May we offer God's love through our life.
PRAYER: Holy God, make me holy. Remind me of Your great love. Help me to seek ways to please You and glorify You. May my life be an example to others. I ask this in Christ Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.

THE PEACE OF CHRIST

Good day dear friends.
Happy Labor Day to everyone! I hope you all enjoy a restful day, with safe travel either for you or your loved ones!
Here is today's study guide:
Monday: Isaiah 20, 21, 22, 23Make a list of countries referred to in these prophecies. What significance, if any, do you find in the list?
The names may have changed, but the ages-old conflicts continue. Egypt, Assyria, Israel, Tyre, etc., all in the same area, all with the same hatred towards each other. According to the Bible, these are all related. From the common ancestor, Abraham, came Ishmael, the father of the Arabs, and from Isaac, came the Jews. Separated at birth by anger, that anger continues to this day and it seems that nothing will ever bring peace to them.
Sadly, this carries over in our own families at time. Though we might not be separated by anger, sometimes hurt feelings and resentments last through years and a funeral or pending funeral brings out the worse in us, and what good does it do? We need the peace of Christ in our hearts and allow that to govern us, and we'll see the family, the community, the world, would all be better places.
PRAYER: Loving God of love, send me the peace of Christ so that I can be a person of love in all places, starting with my family. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.