Monday, December 29, 2014

Grace

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph. 2:8-9 Aren't we glad that God's Word tells us His grace does not depend on our performance?? Man, I'd be in a bad place if it did…anyone else with me? As 2015 starts, many of us do New Year's resolutions. I think it would be great if we can do one together. How about we commit to reading the Bible? You can commit to a daily thing or 4-5 times a week. You can do books at a time or just chapters or verses to meditate on. The point is to do it more than you do it now. I'd like you to write your commitment to yourself (and God) on a paper and put it in an envelope and seal it. No one else will see it, but sometimes we do better with a promise to ourselves if we write it down. Put your name on the front of the envelope and give it to us. We will keep them until we break for the summer. You are welcome to list other things that you want to commit to, but right now I want you to set your goal to be of the spiritual nature and think of a way that you can grow more in that area. I'm sure that all of us could use that, right? If you want some additional help, just let us know. We have lots of devotional books and blogs that we can list, as a matter of fact I'm reading an app right now that is pretty great. It's called SheReadsTruth and there is a free version. There are also versions in this that you can purchase, but I'm doing the free one and it is wonderful. There are others that are great too in the app store: Jesus Calling, d365 Daily Devotionals, Girlfriends in God Devotional… If you can do this by Thursday (Jan. 8) and bring it to class and give it to us you can get into class free that night. So, get your letters written. Do it for yourself! We pray this will bless you (and grow you) in 2015! Kacey and Candace

Monday, December 1, 2014

Luke 2:1-20

Luke 2:1-20New International Version (NIV) The Birth of Jesus 2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. So have you ever really thought about the meaning of the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus? Gold represented royalty, frankincense was a substance used to worship God (in Jewish culture) and myrrh was a perfume like material that people used to help with burial. These men knew that Jesus was the KING, that He was indeed divine and that he came to die on the cross for us. To me this is so cool. These wise men knew who Jesus was and what he was coming to do and I think they were showing their support of him. Makes me sit in awe for a bit… Now, come back to present day. What gift can you give to Jesus this holiday? We are going to challenge you to spend time with him this season. Go here:https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/11/happy-holidays-our-christmas-devotionals-are-here/ and scroll down and select this: Christmas for the Faithful Woman (and any other topic you are interested in) Then you can go to the right side and put your email in and you should get daily advent devotionals. So cool! We can all do this together. Merry Christmas!! We love y'all!