10 reasons to give thanks today

Thanks be to God

  1. For another day of life, full of blessing, full of your presence.
  2. For the opportunities you constantly present to us; help us to see and take advantage of them.
  3. For good study resources and encouraging literature.
  4. For the message of the Bible that always instructs, inspires, and empowers us.
  5. For the power of the mind, and the gift of creativity.
  6. For free will to choose our way and the many good options to use our day.
  7. For gifts of service, that allow us to glorify your name.
  8. For sustaining life, providing necessities, offering meaningful work, allowing opportunity of employment.
  9. For your sovereign rule that guides the affairs of men toward your final goal, regardless of the evil plans and injustice of rulers and governors.
  10. For friends who love at all times, for brothers and sisters in Christ who encourage in faith, for saints whose examples remind us of our Lord and Savior.

Help me today to speak directly and appropriately to the needs of others, about the solution found always in Christ.

In the End

In the end, there’s only you and me,
For all the love that flowed endlessly
Among my closest friends and family,
Standing on the sands of a timeless sea.

Gifts and gladness filled my days and years,
You gave me strength to overcome my fears,
You taught me through the trials and bitter tears,
With faith that lasts until the darkness clears.

Final words are hard to choose and say,
Knowing there’ll not be another day,
With awe I take the very last step this way,
To live a life beyond this mortal clay.

What yet can be, for all man lost and cried,
A place to rest, where peace and joy abide;
You’ve walked with me, always by my side,
Go with me now to cross the great divide.

I want to live his life

Lord God who makes himself present among his people, thank you for coming in the person of Jesus Christ. I want to be in him. I want to live his life, having died his death. Prepare that eternal place for me, as I obey and welcome your habitation with me now.

Make today a day of joy and progress for the kingdom. Make this day a day of grace and love. Bring to us your power and truth.

Forgive and give us strength to resist temptation. Thank you for the victory in Christ. Let us keep our eyes on the resurrection, that makes all our efforts here worthwhile.

The aim of instruction

1 Tim 1.3-7

  1. The need for love: false doctrine leads away from love.
  2. The aim at love: we want to get here for God is love.
  3. The nature of love: rational “instruction” that can be taught.

The Lonely Soul

The lonely soul, O Lord, has none
of your glorious Self, or else is blind
to Nearness.

Make us see the One who came
from Heaven and works among us still
in power.

Make us hear his call to love,
to seek the lonely as he himself
is seeking.

Wise or Unwise?

By John Henson, McMinnville TN

Proverbs 20:1-7

  1. The intoxicated are unwise (verse 1).
  2. A provoked fool is unwise (verses 2-3).
  3. The sluggard (lazy) is unwise (verse 4).
  4. The deliberate, righteous one is wise (verses 5-7).

Outline: Preaching about sex

Matthew Morine published a lengthy outline on his website that deals with how to preach about sex.

He deals with “The tension of a sexual culture,” “The tension of a sacred church,” and “The tension of intertexuality.”

Consult the outline here.

To the Top I Thought

To the top I thought I’d claw
My way back to resume my place,
Only to find that you, O Lord, had lifted me
On wings of eagles, quickly, lightly,
And set me upon a wide space,
Giving me a 360-degree view,
The sun shining warm upon my face,
The spring-time breeze after winter’s thaw.

When Close to Eternal Lands

When comes the time to breathe my last,
To pillow my head and rest,
Make all my deeds and doings past
To have been the Kingdom’s best.

Upon a work let me look back
That glorifies the Lord,
In my resolve no fault or crack,
In heaven my treasures stored.

Give strength, O Lord, to heart and hands,
No cause to stumble or fall,
May I, when close to eternal lands,
Be ready to heed your call.