Announcements
Poinsettia—This
Sunday will be the last day to order them. Please sign up in the
Narthex. $7.00 each.
Wednesday
Night Suppers—The last Supper of the year will be
12/19.
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class with discuss
Haggai.
Potluck—This
Sunday! Please bring a dish to share.
Pray
For:
Karen
Sanislo, as she begins a new journey in the Army!
Pray
for those who do not know Christ.
Links
Keith's
Random Thoughts
I don't have too many thoughts today. I'm pretty tired of being
sick, and I'd really like to be healthy. I don't know which
medicines to take, although I'm pretty sure that I know which ones
not to take. A medical degree would have been handy.
My spiritual life isn't that different. I'm tired of making
commitments to prayer or devotion and finding myself breaking them
later. I'm tired of sin, and wish that I could turn from it. I know
that I will never shake sin's presence this side of heaven, but I
desperately wish to live a life faithful to the Gospels. The only
problem (alright, one of many problems), is that I'm not entirely
sure what to do, although I know there are certain things that I
should definitely not do!
It's hard to rely on God for our everyday needs. We can't see God,
and we don't always know exactly what God wills for us. I do believe
that if we commit ourselves to growing in faith and spending time
with God, each and every day we'll grow a little closer, each and
every day we'll be a little more faithful, each and every day we'll
fall a little more in love with God. It's not a matter of our works
earning revelation from God—it's a simple matter of tuning our
minds to search for God's presence in our lives. The more we pay
attention, the more we see. If you're driving home tonight and look
for red cars, you'll notice a lot more red cars. There aren't any
more than there would have been otherwise, but you're looking for
them, and so you notice them.
I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I worship a Savior
who would have come and died to atone for the sins of one individual,
let alone any and all who come to him. He loves me more deeply than
I can fathom, and I give thanks, bowing low before the cross and
praying for his love to enfold me, that I might go forth in my feeble
way and serve him, serve others, and in so doing take part in God's
kingdom here on earth.
Text
for this Sunday
Ephesians
2:1-10
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once
lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the
power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are
disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our
flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by
nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he
loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us
up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable
riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your
own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that
no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of
life.
I've entered a new stage of parenting, one previously witnessed but never completely grasped. I have entered the stage of life that will be primarily defined by finding Cheerios in every possible place. 
