Last Friday morning, I volunteered a shift at our local hospital. Sometimes really busy; sometimes a lull. I took with me a small book titled “100 Things God Loves About You” by Tama Fortner.

I have read it before, but it was just the right size for ‘slow times’. I got to read ten of them!

I am sharing #1 with ‘Karen’s Korner’ readers this morning:

GOD LOVES YOUR STORY
“All the days ordained for me
Were written in you book
Before one of them came to be.”
~ Psalm 119:16

“You have an amazing story. How can you be sure! Because it was written by Yahweh, the Lord God Himself, before you were born. He knew every twist of the plot and every unexpected turn. Every joy, every sorrow. Wherever you go, He has already been. He will walk before you and with you as Lord and Guide and Friend. And when you entrust your story to Him, He promises you the best of endings---a happily, heavenly, forever after.”

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Our Sunday’s worship service was especially good. They tend to all be good, but some impact us more than others! The title of it was “Discovering the Treasure!”, taken from Ephesians 1:1 – 14.

The minister was Mark Young, who is filling in for a few weeks until the ‘real’ one comes in November. Mark is our ‘new’, ‘old’ minister; he was the pastor of our church for 19 years a number of years ago.

I took notes, so here you go, If you have the time try reading those first 14 verses of Ephesians to see how good Mark’s sermon was (it was good!) and my notes are (not complete!), read them.

Here you go:

God chose us before we were born, in mom’s womb. Before the foundation of the world! The writer of Isaiah says, “God’s ways are higher than ours!”

God says, “We are holy and blameless in His sight!” He chose us; we have the right and the opportunity to choose Him! He wants to adopt us into His family. He freely gives us His Love. If we ever feel that no one cares, God cares. We are accepted by God for His Kingdom. The angels in heaven rejoice when we accept His ‘adoption plan’.

Three key points of Mark’s sermon:

1. We have the Treasure of being redeemed. He bought us back to set us free!
2. We possess the Treasure of forgiveness. We are forgiven of past, present, and future sins.
3. We enjoy the Treasure of an inheritance. We are heirs of His Kingdom.

We have the Holy Spirit which resides within each of us. It seals our ‘Father/child’ relationship. We can count on it! The Holy Spirit makes us secure in Jesus.
Some day Jesus is coming back to get us. We are His beloved child/children! Today and forever!

Praise, God!

A week ago Sunday, Gary and Karen Hobbie sat in their familiar pew at worship service, like they have for decades. On Monday, I saw the back of Gary’s head, talking in a banker’s office, when I visited our local bank. Gary and Karen, who are moving through their 80s, played cards with friends on Wednesday evening, before returning to their senior-living apartment.

When Karen attempted to wake Gary up before going to bed, she couldn’t wake him. Pulled the emergency pull cord. Medical people arrived to help her and Gary.
Gary had passed away!

What a shock wave began to pass through our church family and community!

We don’t like parting with people we love. We want them to live a long, long time. If we had our way, friends and relatives would live forever!

Same plan God has for all of us! He wants us to live forever. He couldn’t stand the thought of people He loves to live without Him. So He made a plan.

“For God loved the world (Gary) so much that He gave His only Son that anyone (Gary and the rest of us) who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

We don’t have to say ‘good-bye’ to Gary this weekend at his services. Instead, we will just say, “See you later!”

How about the rest of us? Have we made our reservations??

All we have to do is ask God, to spend eternity with Him! That’s what Love looks like! And eternity doesn’t have to start at our deaths. It starts when we ask Him to spend forever with Him. Day by day!

What a plan!!

Something from Max Lucado:

SPIRITUAL MUSCLE

"Spiritual muscle is developed not by sitting but by acting. Not by listening but by doing.
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like” (James 1:22-24 NLT).

"You turn away, pause, and wonder, Did I comb my hair? Such a question would betray one truth, and that is lack of attention. James indicts us for doing the same. We go to church. We hear a message, enjoy a few songs, but are we changed? Do we worry less and pray more? Are we less concerned about our will and more concerned about God’s? Let’s not be lookers. Let’s be doers."

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Yesterday at our ecumenical Bible study we looked at listening. Part of our discussioon:

12 Easy Ways to Improve Your Listening and Make Others Feel Heard (writer had explanations):
By Blake Glosson

1.  Look people in the eye.
2.  Face people.
3.  Put down your phone.
4. Ask engaging questions.
5.   Ask clarifying questions.
6.  Smile.
7.  Give nonverbal feedback while he/she is talking.
8.  Don’t assume you already know what she/he is going to say.
9.  Write down key details.
10. Set aside time for distracted listening.
11. Pray. (before you meet someone)
12. Follow up.

Our Bible verse was “Don’t ever forget that it is best to listen much, speak little…..” (James 1:19 a).

The Bible Commentary: “When we talk too much and listen too little, we communicate to others that we think our ideas are much more important than theirs. James (writer) wisely advises us to reverse this process. Put a mental stopwatch on our conversations and keep track of how much we talk and how much we listen. In our conversations, do others feel that their viewpoints and ideas have value?”

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Jesus Calling:  Enjoying Peace in His Presence” by Sarah Young from yesterday, September 1:
 

“Seek Me with your whole being. I desire to be found by you, and I orchestrate the events of your life with that purpose in mind. When things go well and you are blessed, you can feel Me smiling on you. When you encounter rough patches along your life-journey, trust that My Light is still shining upon you. My reasons for allowing these adversities may be shrouded in mystery, but My continued Presence with you is an absolute promise. Seek Me in good times; seek Me in hard times. You will find Me watching over you all the time.”

~ Taken from Deuteronomy 4:29; Hebrews 10:23; Psalm 145:20

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When we read the Bible, it is pretty easy to trip over something which is pretty relatable to our everyday lives. Such is today's 'korner':

"And because we are His sons, God has sent His Spirit of His Son into our hearts, so now we can rightly speak of God as our dear Father. Now we are no longer slaves, but God's own sons. And since we are His sons, everything He has belongs to us, for that is the way God planned."

~ Galatians 4:6 -7 LAB

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Bible Commentary:  "Under Roman law, an adopted child was guaranteed all legal rights to his father's property. He was not a second-class son, he was equal to any other sons, biological or adopted, in his father's family.

"As adopted children of God, we share with Jesus all rights to God's resources. As God's heirs, we can claim what He has provided for us---our full identity as His Children."

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"Thank You, Father, that we can be adopted into your forever family.  
We are rich!
In Your Son's Name. Amen."

Something written by Paul for the Thessalonians, which was good news for them.......and for us!

"I can tell you this directly from the Lord, that we who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet Him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with this good news."

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - 18 LAB

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Bible Commentary on these verses:  "Because Jesus Christ came back to life, so will all believers. All Christians including those living when He returns, will live with Jesus forever. Therefore, we need not despair when loved ones die or world events take a tragic turn. For God will turn our tragedies to triumphs; our poverty into riches; our pain to glory; and our defeat to victory. All believers throughout history will stand reunited in God's very presence, safe and secure. As Paul comforted the Thessalonians with the promise of the resurrection, so we should comfort and reassure one another with this great hope."

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This is today's message from Max Lucado. He says to think outside the box and pray bold prayers. I don't think I do that, but I want to listen to Max and God!

DARE TO THINK THE UNTHINKABLE

"Dare we think the unthinkable? That God will hear our prayers, that he will listen when we speak? If you were to pray a faith-empowered prayer, what would you say? Then say it! Let faith fuel your prayers. And let prayers put starch in your faith.

"Will God give you what you request? Yes, he will. He may do so in a different form than you ask for or a different time frame than you prefer, but “it is [Jesus] who is the ‘Yes’ to all of God’s promises” (2 Corinthians 1:20 GNT).

"Let’s renew our commitment to unreasonable, unquenchable, unthinkable prayer.  Let’s ask God to resurrect hope that has perished and dreams that are buried."

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My sister, Jill’s doctor, told her to drink two glasses of water first thing each morning to ‘wake up’ our internal organs. Especially as we age.

I don’t always do that but I do drink at least one early.

The same thing might be said about ‘waking up’ our spiritual natures. As Christians, the Holy Spirit resides within each of us.

We can start the mornings by reading the Bible, watching a dynamic speaker on television, listening to the radio, repeating a learned Bible verse, offering a brief prayer, or some other acknowledgement of Jesus and God in our lives. Whatever works for us!

 
"Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path."  

~ Psalm 119:105 NIV

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Bible Commentary:  "A walk in the woods at night makes it obvious that a light is necessary to prevent one from tripping over tree roots or falling in holes. In this life, we walk through a dark forest of evil in a world that has turned its back on God. But the Bible can be our light to show us the way ahead so we won't stumble as we walk. It reveals the entangling roots of false values and philosophies. We can study the Bible so we can see our way clear enough to stay on the right path."

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