Sunday, June 30, 2013

Prayer Request

We have an unspoken prayer request for Amelia.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

New Changes

If you use Google Reader to get your God's Grace Blog, we have some bad news for you.  After Monday, July 1st, Google Reader will be no more.  BUT fear not!  We, at God's Grace have other options for you, and you will still be able to get your daily devotionals. 

On the right-hand side, a short distance from the top, you will see the word 'Followers'. Under Followers, you will see 'Follow us by Email'. This is one way to make sure that you receive every posting in your email. You simply type in your email address and submit it.
Under that, you will see 'Follow us with Twitter', and a Twitter button.  Under the Twitter button, is one of our favorite ways to follow blogs, Bloglovin'.

We are sure that you will find one of these ways acceptable. If you know of another reader or social network that we may use, please let us know via a comment.

Thank you for your understanding.


Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday's Thoughts

Thank you for coming back to God's Grace...! Your host has been having technical difficulties, along with some medical problems. All is well now, and we are going to continue "What on Earth Am I Here For?" on Monday. Today, I would like to share with you some thoughts that I have been mulling over this week. It has been "Neighborhood Bible Time" in our church. 

Last week, the message in our church was based on Exodus 3:10, "So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." This was the first and second commands to us from God, through Moses. God was telling Moses to listen to His message and then to go tell His people. His words that we can find in Exodus 3:5 – 10 are telling Moses that God is merciful to His people; that God has an all – encompassing love for His people; that God will give His people in the grace that they need to get through any trials that may confront them.

We all need to heed God's words and go out and share them with others. Spread the seeds and watch as they grow into God's beautiful garden.

Have a wonderful day, and God bless you all.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Delay of Posts

Your host is having some medical problems which are preventing her from posting. Thank you for visiting the blog, and please check back often for the next post.

God bless.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Experiencing Life Together ~ Part 2

Each one of you is 
part of the body of 
Christ, and you 
were chosen to live 
together in peace.
       Colossians 3:15


Yesterday we talked about what real fellowship was, and how it helps our lives. Fellowship takes place in a small group situations such as a Sunday school class a Bible study or a home fellowship group; where as, worship takes place in a large gathering, such as a church. In a real fellowship, we experience authenticity. It is a place where we can share our true feelings, hurts, failures and doubts.

In real fellowship we experience mutuality. Mutuality is the art of giving and receiving. The Bible says, "The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part" (1 Corinthians 12:25). Mutuality is what we build relationships on, meaning we share responsibilities and help each other. Paul said in Romans, "I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you" (Romans 1:12).

When we share mutuality, our faith in God grows. Sharing mutuality includes mutual accountability, mutual encouragement, mutual serving, and mutual honoring (Romans 12:10). The Bible tells us to make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification (Romans 14:19). We are responsible to everyone in the Body of Christ. God expects us to do whatever we can to help them.

In a real fellowship, we experience sympathy. Sympathy is not trying to solve another's problem; it is sharing the pain of others. Sympathy says, "I understand what you're going through." Today we might call this "empathy", but the biblical word for this is "sympathy". The Bible says, "As holy people… be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient" (Colossians 3:12). 

When we sympathize with others, we help them meet two human needs: the need to have their feelings understood; and the need to have their feelings validated. Every time we sympathize with another, we build fellowship. What prevents fellowship is when we are so caught up in our own hurts, that we cannot feel for others.


Due to technical difficulties, this lesson was cut short. We will continue tomorrow. God bless you.





Monday, June 3, 2013

Experiencing Life Together ~ Part 1

Each one of you is 
part of the body of 
Christ, and you 
were chosen to live 
together in peace.
       Colossians 3:15

God intended for us to share our lives with each other. This is called fellowship. The word fellowship now is used to describe casual conversation, socializing, food, and fun. When we say, "Where do you fellowship?", we often mean, "Where do you go to church?" This just skims the top of what fellowship means. Real fellowship means to experience one another's life together. Real fellowship is unselfish. It includes loving, sharing, serving, comforting, giving, and all the other commands in the New Testament that deal with relationships.

Fellowship is more meaningful in smaller groups. The larger the group gets, the more likely that someone will be left out. We can worship in a crowd but, when it comes to fellowship, smaller is better. Remember, our true goal in fellowship is to share one another's life experiences.

Within a church, there are several groups of fellowship; this could be a home fellowship group, a Sunday school class, or a Bible study. These groups are where the sharing takes place. The big group, our church, is where the worshiping takes place. "If you think of your church as a ship, the small groups are the lifeboats attached to it" (Warren).

God has made a promise to the fellowships, "For where two or three have gathered in My name, I am there in their midst" (Matthew 18:20). Unfortunately, at times, some groups will not experience true fellowship, even though they are small. What is the difference between real and fake fellowship?

In real fellowship people experience authenticity. Real fellowship involves heart-to-heart sharing. We are honest about what is happening in their lives. We share our hurts, our feelings, our doubts, our fears, our failures and our weaknesses. We asked for prayer. It is only when we become open about our lives, that we experience real fellowship.

"If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other… If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves" (1 John 1:7 – 8). God says that intimacy occurs in the light, not darkness.  We often use darkness to cover our sin. Darkness hides all of the things that we share openly in fellowship.


Since fellowship requires the courage and humility to share our deepest secrets and fears, it involves risk. Why would anyone do this? The answer to this question is easy: because it helps us to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed" (James 5:16a).

Next time, we will discuss more about fellowship.  Thank you and God bless you.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

A Place to Belong ~ Part 4

"You are members of God's very own family, 
citizens of God's country, and you belong in
 God's household with every other Christian."
                                                       Ephesians 2:19b

We have been talking about why we need a church family. A church family identifies us as a genuine believer; a church family moves us out of self – centered isolation; a church family helps us develop spiritual muscle; a church family will share with us Christ's mission in the world; and a church family will keep us from backsliding. Being a part of a healthy church is essential to having a healthy life. 

God created the church to meet our five deepest needs: a purpose for which to live; people to live with; principles to live by; a profession to live out; and power to live on. The church is the only place where we can find all five of these benefits in one place. God's purposes for the church are identical to His purposes for us. The church gives us fellowship, which helps us meet life's challenges; discipleship, which builds our faith, ministry, which helps us to find and strengthen our gifts, and evangelism which helps fulfill our mission.

We are all born to the family of human beings. That comes automatically when we are born into this world. It is our choice to receive God into our hearts. When we do receive God into our hearts, we are born again. God wants us to, not only attend church, but to be a committed church member. He wants us to get involved in the Ministry. He wants us to contribute to His church. He wants us to commit to our spiritual brothers and sisters. We can jump from church to church in search of the perfect church, however it does not exist. Churches are filled with  imperfect sinners, and God calls us to love them, just as he does. The Christian life is more than just a commitment to Christ, it is a commitment to other believers (2 Corinthians 8:5).

Point to Ponder:

I am called to belong, not just believe.

Verse two Remember:

Romans 12:5

Question to Consider:

Does my level of involvement in my local church demonstrate that I love and am committed to God's family?