Category: First Steps

Posted on

First Steps – June 25, 2018

An old saint once said:

“Doctors sometimes learn about a person’s health by looking at the tongue.  The tongue can also be a guide to diagnosing the condition of the soul.  Our hand quickly moves to the location of pain, and our tongue goes for what we like.  If we are truly in love with God, we will speak frequently of him in ordinary conversation.  ‘The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and the tongue he speaks with is just’ (Psalm 37:30).”

What does your tongue reveal about the condition of your soul?  Is it pleasing? Is it embarrassing? Maybe a little of both.

In the end, if we want to change our tongue, we have to change our heart.  Focus this week on a changed heart.  Invite God into your desires.  Allow the Holy Spirit to work within you.

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 1 Corinthians 12
  • Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 13
  • Wednesday – 1 Corinthians 14
  • Thursday – 1 Corinthians 15
  • ​Friday – 1 Corinthians 16

Please Pray for:

  • Leaders and participants of St. Paul summer activities.
  • The Ukraine Mission Team as they travel to Ukraine and abroad. (Click this link to get a list of needs.)
  • ​Unwillingly absent members.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
Posted on

First Steps – June 18, 2018

From the Book:  Which Way, Lord?

“When a storm raged on the Atlantic one night, John Wesley’s English companions screamed and cowered; surely Wesley felt fearful himself. But he marveled at a group of German Christians called Moravians who worshiped and calmly sang hymns while the storm raged. What accounted for their composure? One Moravian explained to Wesley that the group was “not afraid to die” – strange words to a man who believed he had to be sanctified, that he had to live a holy life, before God would accept him.

Like Paul’s moment of reckoning on the road to Damascus, the episode began a lengthy period of discernment for Wesley that led him to learn more from the Moravians. Upon his arrival in Georgia, he sought out a Moravian pastor who posed the question: “Do you know Jesus Christ?”

“I paused,” Wesley wrote in his journal, recounting the conversation, “and said, ‘I know He is the Saviour of the world.’ ‘True,’ replied he, ‘but do you know He has saved you?’ ”

Wesley wrestled with this question even as he struggled to bring people to Christ. Two years later he departed Georgia, depressed and defeated. “I who went to America to convert others,” he wrote, “was never myself converted to God.”  Imagine his desperation at this point. How many times do you think he was driven to pray, in so many words, Which way, Lord?…

Wesley realized he didn’t have to earn God’s acceptance. He’d found the starting point to a new, God-inspired direction. His purpose grew from God’s love, and he lived out that purpose by taking the message of this boundless love to his parishioners. Eventually, Wesleyan theology would spread throughout the world.”

I like the last paragraph!  He realized he didn’t have to earn God’s acceptance.  How about you?  Do you know you don’t have to earn God’s acceptance—you have it in Jesus Christ.  Now, go and live knowing that you are accepted into the beloved.

 

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 1 Corinthians 7
  • Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 8
  • Wednesday – 1 Corinthians 9
  • Thursday – 1 Corinthians 10
  • ​Friday – 1 Corinthians 11

Please Pray for:

  • Leaders and participants of St. Paul summer activities.
  • The Ukraine Mission Team as they travel to Ukraine and abroad. (Click this link to get a list of needs.)
  • ​Unwillingly absent members.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.

 

Posted on

First Steps – June 11, 2018

Oftentimes, we are not sure how to pray or even know what to pray while praying. We can pray for ourselves, for others, and for the world. We can pray in lots of different ways – silently or aloud; while moving or still; with others or alone. There are thousands of excellent resources available to help us develop meaningful prayer lives. All of them will express the need for practice – practice praying.

We practice prayer because it is the means by which we practice our faith. When you pray you practice what you believe. Prayer centers us on our relationship with God, brings into focus the joys and sorrows on our minds, and can even be a way to be present in the lives of others.

Summer is the perfect time to practice prayer. It is in this season that we have a “slower” schedule. We see time differently in the summer; therefore, use this time to practice prayer. It will tone our faith muscles so that when summer is over and life resumes at a faster pace, we are ready.

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 1 Corinthians 2
  • Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 3
  • Wednesday – 1 Corinthians 4
  • Thursday – 1 Corinthians 5
  • ​Friday – 1 Corinthians 6
Please Pray for:
  • Leaders and participants of St. Paul summer activities.
  • ​Unwillingly absent members.
  • The Ukraine Mission Team as they travel to Ukraine and abroad. (Click this link to get a list of needs.)
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
Posted on

First Steps – June 4, 2018

I like Brother Lawrence. He reminds me of those who have street knowledge. There are some in life, who are not highly educated, but have wisdom. They are observers of life, people, and things. They can see beyond the immediate to something on the horizon. Lawrence was extremely gifted this way.

He is famous for his religious life as a kitchen aid for a monastery. What made him unique was that in his common daily routine he practiced living in God’s presence. It wasn’t in worship or in lengthy prayer or mission but in the everyday common task that he found God. He said, “We can do little things for God. I turn the cake that is frying in the pan for the love of him. And when I have turned it, if there is nothing else to call for my attention, I worship God [in the kitchen].”

There lies the lesson for us. When you do your everyday common task—at work, at school, at home—do it in the name of God. Imagine that you do the task as if Jesus is right beside you. Do it as an act of worship. It is then that you will practice the presence of God in all things.

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Galatians 3
  • Tuesday – Galatians 4
  • Wednesday – Galatians 5
  • Thursday – Galatians 6
  • Friday – 1 Corinthians 1

Please Pray for:

  • Leaders and participants of St. Paul children and youth summer activities.
  • Unwillingly absent members.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
Posted on

First Steps – May 28, 2018

John Wesley was almost in despair.  He did not have the faith to continue to preach. When death stared him in the face, he was fearful and found little comfort in his faith. To Peter BĂśhler, a Moravian friend, he confessed his growing misery and decision to give up the ministry. BĂśhler counseled otherwise. “Preach faith till you have it,” he advised, “and then because you have it, you will preach faith.”

John acted on the advice. He led a prisoner to Christ by preaching faith in Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. The prisoner was immediately converted. John was astonished. The Moravians assured him their personal experiences had also been instantaneous. John found himself crying out, “Lord, help my unbelief!” However, he felt empty within and wasn’t motivated even to pray for his own salvation.  On this day, May 24, 1738, he opened his Bible about five in the morning and came across these words, “There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature.” He read similar words in other places.

That evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate.  Someone read from Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m. “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

It took him some time to learn how to live the life of faith; for he was not always joyful and thought he had fallen from salvation. It took time for him to see that it is not Christ and good works, but Christ alone who saves and that leads to good works.

As time went on, John Wesley was mightily used of the Lord to reform England.  His Methodists became a national force.  John rode thousands of miles, about 20,000 a year, preaching as only a man filled with the Holy Spirit can preach, telling the gospel of salvation by faith to all who would listen.

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Mark 14
  • Tuesday – Mark 15
  • Wednesday – Mark 16
  • Thursday – Galatians 1
  • Friday – Galatians 2

Please Pray for:

  • A safe Memorial Day weekend.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, workplace, church, and community.
  • Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
Posted on

First Steps – May 21, 2018

Thomas a’ Kempis once said:
“Why are you upset when things don’t go the way you wish? Who gets everything his/her way? I don’t. You don’t. No one does. Not one person on earth—not even a king or a pope—has a problem-free life. Do you know who can deal with troubles best? It is the person who is willing to suffer something for God. Thoughtless people say, ‘Look at the happy life that person leads! Money! Prestige! Power!’ But if you consider the riches of heaven, you will see that these earthly things are inconsequential, undependable, and more a burden than a privilege.  They are always accompanied by anxiety and fear.  Our happiness does not depend upon owning a lot of things.  Having enough to get along will do.

Life on earth involves misery. The spiritually perceptive person is even more aware of this because that person sees clearly the effects of human corruption…Friend, don’t give up your spiritual journey.”

If no one gets everything their way and life involves some misery, then perhaps our efforts in life should focus more on the one who brings comfort and peace. Faith in God transcends circumstances. Trust in him in all things and you will find what you need in all things.

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Mark 9
  • Tuesday – Mark 10
  • Wednesday – Mark 11
  • Thursday – Mark 12
  • Friday – Mark 13

Please Pray for:

  • Our Military –  leaders and soldiers
  • Our families, workplace, church, and community
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones
  • Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking
Proudly powered by WordPress