Praise the Lord for this new day. We will gather for our mid-week fellowship and study with a special meal at 6 PM, followed by choir practice at 7.30PM. We will be studying from Chapter 1 in the Gospel according to John. Alice and I drove down to Washington, DC to Sunita and Andy's on Monday afternoon. I had my regular check-up at Johns Hopkins yesterday. While in Washington, DC on Monday Evening with Sunita and Andy we gathered for some time of prayer after the evening meal. Sunita and Andy' good friends, neighbors Rob, Jenn , and Kate, joined us for an Indian Meal and for a time of prayer following the meal. Sunita shared with me that She and Andy, along with several of her neighbors, spent part of Sunday on a prayer walk, praying for their neighbors and their neighborhood . During our evening prayer time Rob read from Psalm 103.
In Psalm 103 we find God's Catalogue of Blessings. It is not a Christmas catalogue but a Thanksgiving Catalogue. Here are 5 blessings we can Praise God for:
1. He forgives our sins
2. He heals us from our diseases
3. He redeems our life
4. He crowns us with love and compassion
5. He satisfies our desires with good things.
1. He forgives our sins
2. He heals us from our diseases
3. He redeems our life
4. He crowns us with love and compassion
5. He satisfies our desires with good things.
Most Blessings are taken for granted. Someone once said, "If you woke up this morning with more health than illness then you are more blessed than the six million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, then you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death then you are more blessed than three billion people in the world. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep then you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace then you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
What if we had to put a price tag on our other blessings? Let us look at what we would be willing to pay, in the time of a tragedy, to restore something we are currently blessed with:
Coronary artery bypass surgery $15,000 - $20,000
Heart transplant $210,000
Gastrointestinal Surgery $15,000
Kidney Transplant $42,000
Liver Transplant $115,000
Bone Marrow Transplant $106,000
Lung Transplant $105,000"
God forgives our sin. “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”
What if we had to put a price tag on our other blessings? Let us look at what we would be willing to pay, in the time of a tragedy, to restore something we are currently blessed with:
Coronary artery bypass surgery $15,000 - $20,000
Heart transplant $210,000
Gastrointestinal Surgery $15,000
Kidney Transplant $42,000
Liver Transplant $115,000
Bone Marrow Transplant $106,000
Lung Transplant $105,000"
God forgives our sin. “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”
God heals our diseases. It may be that He heals us physically, but that may not be God’s first priority. God's desire for us, in fact, is spiritual healing.
God redeems our lives. To redeem means to obtain by paying a price, or to buy back. God has paid the price to redeem us.
God crowns us with love and compassion. He has given us true honor and great honor. What greater blessing could there be than to be brought into the love and favor of God?
God satisfies our desires with good things. Let us make a list of the things we have. God gave us these things as His gifts to us. Our attitude about those things determines our joy.
God redeems our lives. To redeem means to obtain by paying a price, or to buy back. God has paid the price to redeem us.
God crowns us with love and compassion. He has given us true honor and great honor. What greater blessing could there be than to be brought into the love and favor of God?
God satisfies our desires with good things. Let us make a list of the things we have. God gave us these things as His gifts to us. Our attitude about those things determines our joy.
Half the world is unhappy because it can't have the things that are making the other half unhappy. The unhappy person isn't someone who didn't get what he or she wanted. The unhappy person is, rather, the one who got what he or she wanted and then found out that it wasn't as wonderful as expected. The secret of a joyful life is not to get what you want but to live with what you have. Most of us spend our lives concentrating on what we don't have instead of thanking God for what we do have. Let us live daily in gratitude to God for His good gifts to us.
In Christ,
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott .
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Brown Naik
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