Good morning and welcome to Harding Street Church of Christ! We are so glad you chose to worship with us today and hope you plan to stay for our potluck after services. Even if you didn’t bring a dish, we hope you stay because there is always plenty of good food to enjoy. After potluck today we are going to try something new. Once we are finished eating, we are going to join together in singing songs of praise in the annex. If you have ever been in the annex when we have sang, you know that it sounds just beautiful up there. So again make plans to join us for this time of fellowship and praise immediately following our classes today. Afterwards, we will be dismissed for the day and we will not meet for evening services. We hope you take this afternoon to spend time with your family, or visit another congregation in the area that you may have not been to in awhile.
Two verses stuck out to me this week from the daily verses from my Bible app on my phone. The first was Proverbs 11:25, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” Are we truly living generous lives? Are we striving to refresh those who are in need? This time of year especially, there are so many people who are in need. Those in need of warm clothes, shelter, food, and many other things. All around our community there are events going on to gather resources to help those in need. If you haven’t already, look for ways you can help the people of our community. Find a food drive to donate to, donate to the care center, buy a gift for a family in need, donate clothes to help those who are stuck in this cold weather. If we are generous and refresh others, then our God will be generous and refresh us. Make sure during these holiday times, we are looking at just how blessed we are and we are searching for ways to spread those blessings to others who are in need.
The second verse that stuck out to me was 2 Corinthians 12:10, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Sometimes we are not in a position to be generous, sometimes we are the ones who are struggling with hard times. But, when we are stuck in these hardships and difficulties, we have to remember to look for the good in them. We must look for the ways we can grow and learn to trust in God through our trials. If we can learn to lean on God when we are struggling, we will be made stronger for future trials.
-Geoffrey Bane
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