O Divine Presence,
We are so blessed and we give You thanks. Sometimes the trials and tribulations of daily living overwhelm us and we look past those people, events, places and attitudes that come to us as blessings. Forgive us, O Lord, when we are that shortsighted. May we approach today with open eyes and open hearts. May we embrace all of life and celebrate the goodness, Your goodness, that we encounter. In Jesus name we pray. AMEN.
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The Church Leaders Retreat was a great success. We had 50 people present. No specific plans were made, rather we began to “stir the pot” by 1) discussing the main function/mandate for the church, 2) reflecting on the internal culture of Central Christian Church, and 3) considering what it means to equip and empower lay leadership.
Please continue to pray for the families of Shera Shirley and Jacob Burrell. Both services are pending.
The scripture for today is Romans 7:1-6:
Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
The Psalm for this week is Psalm 10:1-14:
Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor— let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart, those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”; all their thoughts are, “There is no God.”
Their ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of their sight; as for their foes, they scoff at them.
They think in their heart, “We shall not be moved; throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.”
Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
They sit in ambush in the villages; in hiding places they murder the innocent. Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert; they lurk that they may seize the poor; they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.
They stoop, they crouch, and the helpless fall by their might.
They think in their heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed.
Why do the wicked renounce God, and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”?
But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief, that you may take it into your hands; the helpless commit themselves to you; you have been the helper of the orphan.
Grace and peace,
John McLemore
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