Praise the Lord for this new day.
Exactly one month from today -- yes, in just 30 days-- we will be celebrating
Christmas. WOW! We had some snow yesterday. Though it was blustery, it was
brilliant. Reports came in that it snowed at least 6 inches in Marathon
yesterday.
The Lord blessed us wonderfully in His
House yesterday. Alice preached at Wesley. I preached in Union Center. Both
of us preached on the theme of Thanksgiving. The Evening worship service at the
First United Methodist Church was a great blessing. The music and hymn sing
were powerful. The preaching by Rev. Jan Divine was anointed. We came home
blessed and challenged.
In the worship services yesterday, I
used part of Psalm 103 in my preaching and made reference to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Be joyful
always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's
will for you in Christ Jesus."
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for
this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" ... These are powerful, life-giving
words. The words "give thanks" are a
command. They indicate that thanksgiving is God's plan for your life. Moreover,
this command is in a Greek tense that means "keep on giving thanks" — in every
situation, every occasion and every circumstance. This verse does not say "Give thanks for all
circumstances", but "Give thanks in all circumstances". With this command comes
the knowledge that God will use every
circumstance (whether good or bad) for the good of those who are His through
Jesus Christ.
Two women met on a college campus during an
alumni gathering. They had not seen each other for a few years. The
conversation went something like this:
"I've gotten married
since we last met."
"Oh, that's good."
"Well I don't know about that. My husband is
twice as old as I am."
"Oh, that's bad."
"Well I don't know about that, he's worth a
hundred million dollars."
"Oh, that's good."
"Well I don't know about that. He won't give
me a cent."
"Oh, that's bad."
"Well I don't know about that. He did give
me a five million dollar house."
"Oh, that's good."
"Well I don't know about that. It burned
down last week."
"Oh, that's bad."
"Well, I don't know
about that. He was in the house!"
"Oh, that's…" Sometimes we don't know
whether something is good or bad, but one thing is certain, and it is the fact
that we can always be thankful that God is working for our good in everything.
It is written, "God was reconciling the world
to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." (2
Corinthians 5:19)
We can give thanks in every circumstance
because God will use that circumstance (whether good or bad) for our good to
bring good into your lives. As Joseph said to his brothers, after they had done
some despicable things to him: "Don't be afraid. You intended to harm me, but
God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of
many lives." (Genesis 50:19-20)
In Christ,
Brown
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