As is so often the case when it comes to my devotional I hear and read things that draw my attention to something I believe is important in our Christian Lives and life in General. This week I heard someone mention the word Gratitude. I looked it up in the Concise Oxford Dictionary and the word means being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness. There are of course other words to express these kinds of thoughts and feelings. Words such as ‘Thanks’, ‘Appreciate’, or ‘Gratitude’. So what should we as Christians express our Gratitude for? The first and most important one is our Salvation. The men’s fellowship has been looking at the first three chapters of John and honed in on John 3:16 and pointed out the following
For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not Perish, but have Everlasting Life.
25 words 12 about God, 12 about me with the Son in the centre.
Gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation should be our response to what the Lord has provided for each one who accepts this free gift. There is also much else to have “gratitude” for. Our life, our family, our friends. The simple things of life, the roof over our heads, the food on our tables and for most of us all the necessities of life. The primary and most important thing to have gratitude for is our Lord and Savior’s death and resurrection.
How do we express our Gratitude?
Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 12:24
Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you.
In Lamentations we find Jeremiah lamenting the failures of his people and yet in chapter 3 verses 22 & 23 he writes
22. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23. They are new every morning: Great is thy faithfulness.
So Gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation can be applied to everything in life as God would have us do. Praise the Lord for all He does for each of us who have accepted his gift of Salvation and make every effort to Live for Him.
Services
When: Sunday Jul 2, 2023 09:00 am Breaking of Bread 10:15 am Fellowship Time 11:00 am Family Bible Hour Speaker: Mark Andrade (read Psalm 71)
Chapel Update
The Leadership group, Terry, Frank, Doug, Art and myself met on Wednesday at Franks and discussed a number of things on behalf of the chapel.
One item was the installation of a plain wooden cross at the front of the sanctuary between the two verses.
It was approved and two volunteers have offered their services to make it.
We will meet at the chapel in the near future to discuss the size etc., and come up with a plan. Stay tuned.
There is also prayer needed to figure out what to do about the lawn (weeds) area at the front of the chapel.
The plants that are still there have been maintained but a couple in the chapel but some changes need to be made.
The two large bushes in the planters will be removed to prevent further damage caused by the folks on the street. We need a COMMITTEE of three or four to come up with some ideas for what to do out front.
Volunteers please let me know by separate email or talk to me on Sunday and we can work that out.
Still some small jobs to be done like securing the bottom of the fence in the parking lot.
