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Today’s Reading is 2 Thessalonians

So what if Jesus came back now?! Think about what’s in your life that might be left “un-done.” Paul tells us in our reading today to be prepared for Jesus’ return.

If you knew that you had 12 hours till His return, what would you do? Who would you talk to? What situations would you want to address? In Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, he encourages us to live each day NOT as the first day of the rest of your life…. But live life as if it is the last day of your life!

So how would you live today if that were true?

Scott

Today’s Reading is 1 Thessalonians

My father always us to say…”the proof is in the pudding!” I always looked in my pudding but I never found anything. No seriously, this means that you can say whatever you want but the proof is in the way that you live. Paul reminds us about this in our reading this morning. He tells the Thessalonians, “The way in which we live is proof of the truth of our message!”

As people follow me or watch me I wonder if they see that God has changed my life? I wonder if they know that Jesus is alive just by the way that I live? Gandhi, the great Hindu prophet from India, once stated that he might have become a Christian if it wasn’t for Christians. That is a strong statement that we have to look at. What is the spiritual image that you see when you look into a holy mirror? Is it one that is attractive to others, as the image of Jesus would be…. or is it one that is repulsive to others? We have to take a serious look.

Questions to ponder:
Is your life attractive to people who do not follow Christ? Why?
Does your life bring change into peoples lives? Why?

Have a great day…..see you this weekend!

Scott

Today’s Reading is Philippians

So what are the things that make you happy? Is there a difference in you life between happiness and joy? What would it be? Paul writes this book from a dark and dingy jail. He is not feed, and has bugs and other things crawling on him. He can’t be happy about his situation. But his Joy arrests what he feels about his situation. All throughout this book Paul commands and encourages us to be joyful.

Here is the tragedy. Scripture teaches us that the Joy of the Lord is our strength. However we have allowed circumstances to rob us of our joy so we live as powerless people over the struggles and hardships in this life. Many of these things we will not change, but we can change our attitude in the midst of them. Joy is the answer…and it is the strength of God in your life.

Is there a situation that is robbing your life of Joy? Allow the circumstances to be arrested by the Joy of the Lord and face it with His Strength!

Have a great day!

Hope to see you this weekend! We have a team in Punta Gorda today…I will give you an update as soon as we hear from them!

Scott