Sunday Words of Encouragement January 2, 2022

We attended church for a wonderful Sunday School lesson in Revelation. Then went into church to worship and to say goodbye to our Pastor and his family as God has called them to another church. Our church is on a pastoral search again.

Pastor’s last sermon was “Eternity Matters”.
He noted that when you are young you look at life open in front of you. When you are older you may look behind. But when you are in midlife you might be thinking “What if?” both for the past and future.
When pastor was young, and even now in midlife, he is optimistic with youthful idealism. He wonders if the youth of today might be missing that idealism. And, of course, many people felt/feel the duty to spread realism to temper expectations and enthusiasm.

The church has a different idealism because God has set up His church to be His hands, feet, messenger! The church still has great years to come and we hope 2022 will see a church surge. Pasto hopes it will a year of the church through the power of Holy Spirit. The church can spread a message the world needs: a message of joy, life, love! And our God believes in us! He believes we can do this because He has directed us to spread the message.

So Pastor has been wondering - What if....?.

• Every Christian in the church came on Sunday already full?
• Every person in church felt they were being fiercely protected by every other person in the church?
• There was always forgiveness.?

Ephesians 5:21 ‘submit to one another’.
Romans 12:10 ‘love each other’.

• We all fought for unity?

We realized that the real enemy is Satan.
The church is a body. It functions as a body. It moves best in unity.

Paul wrote about unity in almost every letter. But he focused on this in Ephesians 4.

• What if every Christian in the church understood they are called by God to be a minister?
• What if every Christian asked God right now: “What are You calling me to do this year?”

God wants us to live a life worthy of His call
Build up the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:1-16.
Don't bow to society pressure.
Be “healthy and growing and full of love.”

What if we lived this life as if eternity mattered? Psalms 103:15-17.

Pastor shared this song on a video. Build Your Church.

Verses for Today:
Ephesians 4: 11-16 NIV
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.


Lord, please direct me to do Your calling from this day forward!