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Weekly Devotional

May 7, 2012

God's Peace

1 Thessalonians 2:5-13  ⁵ As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed;  ⁶ nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others,  ⁷ though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle¹ among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.  ⁸ So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.  ⁹ You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters;¹ we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.  ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers.  ¹¹ As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children,  ¹² urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.  ¹³ We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers.

                May brings about the end of many things:  school, the Easter Season, and spring.  People are getting ready for vacations, time off, and a general slow down to work.  But in the church, especially at Springs of Grace, things are ramping up.  Not only do we have the upcoming service at Lake Bowen, but we also have VBS that will be happening in a month.  Our men’s group is helping with the bluegrass concert on the 19^th.  We will also celebrate Pentecost on May 27.  As much as we want to take a breather, now is not the time.  Now is the time to keep the energy going.

                I can say with confidence that things at Springs of Grace are booming.  We had another couple visiting with us yesterday.  Council is meeting this week and we will talk about all the upcoming evangelism projects, and we will continue preparing for those that will be happening in the fall.  It seems to me the more we grow, the more ministry we are doing, and that is a good thing.  But it can also be very tiring.  This is where all of you come into play.  For this church to continue succeeding, everyone has to be involved in some way.  Not only will it reduce the load of a few that do too much, but it will make our relationship with one another that much better.  I’m not asking that one individual do everything, but instead, let’s make sure we are sharing the load of ministry that we have going.  We are on a great path, let’s keep it up!

In our prayers this week:  Bobby, Pat, Ann, Daniel, Jim A., Norm, and Mike C.