Tag: Church

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The Empty Cup

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This week is going by so quickly. Tomorrow I leave to go to NY to watch our grandson and his jazz group perform at Carnegie Hall. What a memory this will be. Our daughter and I will have the blessing of going to watch and listen to this amazing talented group of young people perform from a stage which few get to be. So I don’t have to tell you how excited we are to go. Sunday we will still be in NY and will be sitting in Brooklyn Tabernacle worshiping and praising our Risen Savior with complete strangers, but bonded together by His Spirit. What a wonderful weekend this will be.
Last Sunday our pastor preached on Eph 2:1-3, which is a part of scripture that reminds us of our sinful hearts. No matter how good we think we are, there is “no one good besides God” and we need to feel the conviction that leads us to repentance and humble ourselves before God asking Him to forgive us.
Each week our services end with Communion. Each week as we bow our heads in remembrance of what Jesus did in taking our place on the cross for our sins, we are not only reminded of His sacrifice, but the love that He has for us. We end our time breaking bread and drinking from the cup which signifies Jesus Blood that was shed for each and every one of us. We give thanks and praise Him for His love and grace to us.
This past Sunday was probably one of the most meaningful Communions I have ever experienced. Our pastor announced that we would have the plates passed around as normal, but this time, there would be no “bread” or juice in the cups. The cups were empty. We were instructed to take one of the empty cups and hold it as we “lamented” our sins, realizing what it would be like if there was never anything in the cup. As we were led in prayer, he reminded us what it would be like if we indeed had no hope. What if there had not been a crucifixion? What if Jesus had not died for our sins or been raised to life, which gives us our hope and our salvation? As we sat there in the quiet of the morning reading scripture describing us as a people who needs God’s forgiveness and a people who truly needs to “lament” of our sins, we left with a new awareness of what Easter really means.
Easter, a time of renewal! Easter….a time of reflection! Easter….a time to worship the one who came to give us life and give us life abundantly. Because He did die and rose again, we do have hope, we do have life eternal and we do have a Savior who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

Glory to God in the Highest! Hosanna (God Save Us) Hosanna in the Highest! To God Be the Glory, Great things He hath done, for you and for me!
May we never forget His sacrifice and love. Worship together with your family this Easter. May we bring our humble hears before Him in Worship and Gratitude!

What occupies our minds the most is what we worship. Where does your hope lie?

Matthew 28: 1-7
Early on Sunday morning as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, because an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled aside the stone and sat on it. His face shone like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him and they fell into a deep faint.
Then the angle spoke to the women, “Don’t be afraid!, he said, I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples he has ben raised from the dead and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. you will see him there, Remember, I have told you.”

Psalm 95
Come, let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving. Let us sing him psalms of praise.
For the Lord is a great God, the great King above all gods. He owns the depths of the earth and even the mightiest mountains are his…
Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the sheep of His pasture.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

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Love Reaching Down From Heaven

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This morning, our preacher spoke from 1John of God’s love for us and what that truly means. During the Christmas season, we are continually reminded of that love, in that we see the nativity scenes everywhere and hear the stories of God sending his Son to earth for us. But in our everyday life, do we really stop to think of what this great love really means? This morning in his sermon, he gave the analogy of when one of our children fall, do we just look down at them and tell them to “get up and get over it, that fall wasn’t that bad.” Or do we instantly bend down and scoop them up and tell them that it will be alright; That we are there and will take care of them. That is what God does for us. We are His own and He cares for each one of us. He ask us to think about the last time we truly felt God “love on us”. It was at that moment that I remembered a Christmas miracle, which happened this past week. It was one of those incidents which, at the time, reminded me that nothing is impossible with God, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that indeed, He was truly “reaching down and showing me that He loved me and cared about even the small things in my life. Here is the story:
A few weeks ago, I mailed a package to a friend for her combo birthday/Christmas present. It was a book she had been wanting and an apron that I had made for her. She is a strawberry fanatic and so the apron was made from material which had cute little snowmen and chocolate covered strawberries piled up around the snowmen. I was so excited to send these to her, knowing that it would make her so excited when she opened the package. In my haste to get it in the mail, I reused an envelop that I had received a Amazon order in. Because it was a bubble envelop, when I tried to write my return address on it, it began to poke holes, so I didn’t put anything except my name. No address whatsoever. When I looked up her address in my contact list, I used the correct street address, but ended up using her old town and zip code, not the new town she had moved to over two years ago. Into the PO I ran and dropped it in the slot. I texted her and told her to be expecting a present in a couple of days. After a week, she still had not received it. At 5 am one morning, I awoke with a awful thought. It dawned on me what I had done. As soon as I could, I drove to the PO and told the guy at the window my story. I ask him if there was any way to track it. He assured me that because I had not put a return address on it, I would never see it again. That the package would go to their unclaimed mail station in North Carolina. I was so distraught. Realizing that not only was the present lost, but when was I going to learn to not do everything in a hurry. I texted my sweet friend and told her what I had done. It bothered me so much of what I had done and I began to pray, telling the Lord that I knew that nothing is impossible with Him.
This week, on Tuesday, to be exact, I came home and Randy is outside. He tells me to go in the house and look on the dining room table. Asking why, he quickly tells me that the package was on the dining table. What? But how? there was no return address, how could it be here? I ran in (yes, I did run,because this was truly a miracle) and there it was. Apparently, someone had seen my name and had taken the trouble and time to peel off the top label to see where it originated. So they had returned it and here it was! Thanking the Lord for Him giving me a Christmas miracle, i still didn’t think about what this really was. After today’s sermon, it made me realize that God does give us those special little blessings to show His love for us, even during the routine days.

Today, after church, Randy and I went to eat lunch. As we finished our meal, the waiter came to tell us that the couple sitting at a table over had already paid for our lunch. We were taken care of. Randy, of course, remarked, “well, shoot, if we had known that, I would have ordered the bigger breakfast”. He is such a dear. We walked over to thank them and they just said, “Merry Christmas”
This Christmas, my prayer is that I will be more conscious of God’s goodness to me. To look for the unexpected gifts that He sends to me and to also open my heart to someone who might just need to feel God’s love reaching down to them.

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Tell Of His Wondrous Acts to Perform

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We are instructed in Psa 105, to “O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name; make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto him; talk ye of all His wondrous works.” When we pray asking the Lord to guide us, that is what we are suppose to do. To allow Him to guide us, not walk ahead of Him; but that is exactly what I have been doing.

When we moved to Arizona, we had spent many hours in prayer asking the Lord to lead us to the church home that He wanted us to be in service to Him. After visiting churches around the area, we found a church that had amazing preaching and people who were so very easy to love. Even though it was very different from the churches we have been members in both Texas and California, we felt that this church had great folks and great preaching, so we decided that this would become our church home. Each week, we would leave the service and get in the car and I would get teary eyed. Randy would take my hand and say, “I know this is not what we are used to, but churches out here are very different and I guess this is the best it’s going to be.” I know this is not the attitude that we should have, but I began to think that if we joined, maybe it would feel more like our “home church” and being a member would make us feel better about things. So I began to tell Randy that we should begin the church membership process. This is certainly not something that I am proud of, and is exactly why we are encouraged to allow the husband to be the head of the household. I could tell he was not feeling the same about joining, but after me continuing to say that “we need to do this”, he agreed and we went forward in preparing the church membership videos. The appointment was set to meet with one of the pastors and we went. The entire hour we met with this sweet young man, I felt a check in my spirit, but just decided that maybe it was because I was still trying to “make it happen”. So we joined. The two Sundays after joining, each week, we would leave the service and get in the car. Tears would fill my eyes, and we both knew that we had indeed got ahead of the Lord and was not in the place where we should be.

The week after joining, a friend called me to tell me that they felt that they had found their church home. She began to tell me about it and let me know that it had a traditional service and had Sunday School and a Women’s Ministry, which is something that has always been such a passion of mine. As she spoke, I remembered the whole past year of both Randy and I praying and asking the Lord to allow us to find a church which had Sunday School and a traditional service and a Women’s Ministry. Randy had heard the whole conversation because I had my phone on speaker phone. This was on a Thursday. Right then I decided that for once, (yes I do get ahead of God so many times) I would not even mention this to Randy, but to let him be the one who suggested that we attend Grace Community Church. Calling my BFF in Dallas, I began to relay the whole story to her when she spoke up and said, “Trudy do you not remember me mentioning Grace Community to you when you first moved there?” No I didn’t remember. She had heard about it from her daughter who lives in Scottsdale and had friends who attended Grace. The next Sunday morning, we got up and began to get ready for church when he quietly said, “what do you think about going to visit Grace Community this morning?” Quickly I responded, YES! So off we went. After the service, we walked out and got in the car and just looked at each other. As he looked over to me, I said, “what did you think? He told me that he loved it and we both said that it was a church we could see ourselves growing old in and serving” The next 3 weeks, we went back and have begun visiting Sunday School classes. But now the burden of telling our sweet friends who have been not only our small group leaders, but my ladies Bible study leader who invited us into their small group. We left for a couple of weeks for vacation and we ask friends in California to pray for us as we felt badly for now telling these folks who had become such sweet friends to us, that we would be leaving the church. But God….He truly goes way beyond our needs and answers prayers which still amaze! When I talked to Marilyn, she was just so sweet and kind and told me she totally understood. Then she told me a story. She said that as soon as she got my email explaining our story, she went in to tell her husband. It was then that he revealed to her that he had just received an email from a couple who had tried once before to get in their small group, but there wasn’t room. The man had written to Bob and had ask him if there was still no opening in their group, as their small group had disbanded and they were desperate to be in a small group. So us leaving allowed them to be able to invite this couple into theirs. All that happened on the very same day. A confirmation from the Lord that we were being called to a new place. So from this circumstance, several things were learned.
1. Do not try to “make things happen”. Allow God to lead in His timing, not mine.
2. Don’t settle for something less that what God has intended to give you. We had been praying for a year for a church that was more like our home church in Texas and California. We didn’t wait, but took it upon ourselves to get ahead of the Lord, thinking that this was as good as it was going to get. God never gives you anything but His best. Why can I not learn that?

3.When we don’t wait on God and lead ourselves, instead of allowing God to lead, there are consequences. Yes, He forgives our trying to control situations, but my consequences were that I had to go back then and tell precious friends that we had made a mistake and acknowledge that this was just not the place for us.

4. Quit trying to be the spiritual leader of our home. Randy was not ready to join, and had I listened to him, we would not have signed a church membership covenant.

Lord, there are so many times when I try to get ahead of you and think that I know better than you how to live my life. Forgive me Lord and may I learn to trust You more and more and may my faith in You grow no matter the circumstances.

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mark 11:24

2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

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King Herod,Scribe or Wiseman?

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img_3799Just returning from Christmas Eve service, we are sitting in the house, waiting for bread to rise, kids to arrive and watching a rain storm descend upon us. Most of us have our meals planned, probably have most of it prepared and are just waiting for that special time when the houses are full of friends and family to feast upon the food we have taken so much time to plan and prepare. As I sat down to think about what we heard at church today, it made me realize that we certainly do spend so much of our time at Christmas, shopping, wrapping, sending our best wishes through cards, planning those special meals and then preparing the houses and tables to look just perfect. How much of my time did I leave to prepare my heart for worshipping the One who this holiday is suppose to be about?

As we sat in church today, Luke  (yes, his name is Luke and no, I didn’t get it mixed up with the Bible scripture we read today, I’m old, but not that old yet)preached on the familiar story of Matthew 2  and the passage when the wise men traveled to see the newborn King. As he continued to preach, he pointed out that there were 3 groups of people giving 3 different responses to Jesus birth and which one represented each of us the best.

The responses were:

King Herod Matthew 2: 3-5(rejection)-he struggled with hearing that there was a new king born and was afraid that this new King would take his place. He wanted control and did not want to share any part of his life or title with anyone. Saying he wanted to know where this new King had been born so he could go and worship him, but really wanting to know so he could have him killed.

Scribes Matthew 2 :5-6 (apathy)-when ask where this new King might be born, they read the prophets of old predictions and sadly, just answered the questions which the WiseMen had ask, but didn’t even care enough to go see for themselves.

Wise Men Matthew 2: 1-12 (worshipful)- The Wise Men were so excited about this new born King they traveled weeks, maybe a couple of months to take these precious gifts to the Christ Child, the Messiah, the New Born King.

So what is my response, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, do I sometimes reject His love and guidance, because I don’t want anyone being in control of my life? Am I like the Scribes who strutted around, thinking that they had read the prophets, they knew the scriptures, that was all they really needed, they didn’t need to see Him personally or invite Him into their lives. They had all the head knowledge of Him they needed…do I live sometimes like that? Do I think that just because I know the scriptures that will be enough to live a life worthy of Him? Have I personally invited Him into my life to dwell in my heart and allow Him to guide my days?

Or Will I be like the Wise men and go and seek Him, whatever it takes? Will I be willing to travel the distance  in my commitment to go and worship? Do I want to give my best gifts to Him? Is my heart leaving room for Him? Am I really acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior?

May we all pray and ask God to take any part of our hearts that are like King Herod or the scribes and make us Wise Men who will seek more of Him in 2017…Merry Christmas to all of you and may we be a people who “proclaim the greatness of the Lord, and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior because He has looked with favor on the humble condition of His slave…to shine on those who live in darkness and the shade of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Mark 1:46-48a, 1:79

Daily Thoughts

VBS Is A Life Saver

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photo-6My daughter called this morning on her way home from dropping Caleb, our 3 year old grandson off at Vacation Bible School. I asked her, ‘oh I thought he went last week to VBS” and she politely told me he did, but this was another one.  In the sweetest little voice she could muster, she remarked, “mom, don’t judge me”. Now, I began to think that maybe she was just wanting Caleb to have a definite idea of if he might want to be a preacher when he grew up and she was showing him what it would be like to be around the church all day, every day. But before I could begin to quote the Ten Commandments, she told me that she had signed him up for 4 different VBS’s this summer, as a way to keep her sanity. Now, I do admit that Caleb is rather, hum…how do I put this? a very “active child with a great and very active imagination” but I’ve got the feeling that Caleb is going to have the same reputation around Phoenix church’s as Randy does around our area Costco’s……don’t let him in.

While Randy eats Costco’s profits up walking around the store “snacking” on all the “free” samples, churches will be having teachers retire before their time. The positive outlook on his being taken from church to church this summer is the fact that by the time he is older, he will think that going to church is just the normal thing to do and maybe will realize that that is a better place to hang around, rather than the mall. Just a thought and a hope. Jodi then began to tell me how excited she is about a friend of hers calling and telling her about a VBS that is at night. I am jealous that I didn’t think of that when Jodi was growning up. I’m smiling thinking about all the “crafts” from all the VBS’s  that Jodi will be having to display around the house; the gold sprayed macaroni necklaces that she will have to wear to not hurt Caleb’s feelings, the popcicle stick house she will have to dust around, in order not to knock it down and my favorite, the potholder that is so thin, you get burned every time you use it.

So moms, if you are going crazy this summer already wondering what to do with the little ones, get that church directory out and enroll them in every VBS you can find. It is a great babysitter and it is free and who knows, they might just actually learn about some of life’s important facts, that God is real and that He loves each and every one of the little darlings, no matter how many VBS’s they attend…….and that’s the truth. Saint Caleb called me when he got home today and told me.