080516 Friday Focus - “Discover the Leader Within” by Daniel Monplaisir from TeenPact

Daniel Monplaisir has been involved in leadership and speaking from the very young age of twelve. Even before then he was involved in theatrical programs in his community and church in New York City.
Now, hailing from Montgomery, Alabama, Daniel has been involved in leadership positions almost everywhere he goes. Recently, Daniel has been a Traveling Ambassador for TeenPact Leadership Schools, Chief Operations Officer for the Alabama Sports Festival and the “Let Freedom Ring!” Ceremonies, and a Cadet in the Alabama Army National Guard.
While traveling with TeenPact, Daniel had the opportunity to speak all over the country to all different age groups inspiring every person to discover their own capabilities of leadership. He spoke in several different states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Iowa, Tennessee and Nevada.
Daniel has a special talent in the Arts and has been involved with Theatre at his alma mater, Faulkner University, and has been involved with puppetry through his church and an International Dream Team.
When Daniel was eighteen, he served as President of his Toastmasters International Club, was an umpire for Dixie Youth Baseball, and was involved with Upward Basketball and Special Olympics basketball programs.
Speaking to all ages and interests, Daniel Monplaisir has inspired so many people with high energy and interactive presentations to understand leadership and to become leaders themselves. Everyone can discover the leader within!
This particular speech is an expose of Daniel’s motivational leadership style.

080418 Friday Focus with Rev. Holly Morales, Snowdoun UMC

Pastor Holly Morales and her husband Arthur are about to move back to the Mobile, Alabama area after a 3 1/2 years charge appointment at Snowdoun United Methodist. Holly recently graduated from Candler Theological Seminary at Emory University with a Masters of Divinity degree. Her pastoral skills are excellent. Her humor is disarming. Her cooking is fantastic (according to her shut-in parishioners who are fed regularly by her).

In this message Holly shares a recent spiritual development tool that helps each of us reduce and even eliminate the character flaw of complaining. Based on advice in 1 Peter 2:23-24: "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly."

She uses a recent book entitled, "How to Stop Complaining and Enjoy the Life You Always Wanted" (featured at http://acomplaintfreeworld.org) so as to accomplish some immediate verifiable ways to stop complaining.

080413 John 10:1-10 "Abundant Life" by Pastor Ron Smith

What we’re dealing with here is: “Who is Lord and Master of our lives?” Is Jesus the Lord of your life, and, if not, who is? Who calls the signals? Who calls the shots? Who is the basis of your decision making process for your life?
Now most of you are going to say to yourself right here, “well, Jesus is the Lord of my life.” But is He really? Do you really let Him call the signals and shots? Is He really the boss of your life?

There are so many gods screaming for our attention on all sides of us. We live in a multitasking world with the media piping in just some of what calls the shots in our lives. Every one of these gods asks us to bow down and serve them. Wealth and money is a god for some, because the making and acquiring of money and keeping it is what cause some people to make decisions for themselves and others. Power is a god for some, because (like some politicians) they have a “fire in the belly” to acquire power before they do anything else; they’ll sell their own grandmother to acquire power. Pleasure is god for some people, when they seek to satisfy the lusts of the flesh even to the point of loosing secondary gods of money and power – like some of our recently fallen politicians, who throw discretion to the wind. Elliot Spitzer was like King Saul who outlawed sorcerers, but sought out and used the Witch of Endor to conjure up the ghost of his mentor Samuel (I Samuel 28) in direct disobedience of that law of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

People who worship these other gods will not admit this in public. They may very well claim to worship God and follow Jesus. But when the phone rings and asks them to do something that serves the other god, then that’s where they go. So that’s how we can tell who their god is.

I don’t think there are any of those kind of people here with us right now, but our closeness to family and to our friends might be another god, too. Jesus shows us how to balance our service to God and family when He lingered at the temple with strangers, but came home when his family told Him to (Luke 2:43-52); when He submitted to God's timing, but still helped His mother at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11); and when He died on the cross for the best and the worst sinners, but first provided for His mother (John 19:25-27). We can serve God by serving our family's needs (1 Timothy 5:7-8, Ephesians 5:33 and 1 Corinthians 7:3-5). But we must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Even in the best of family relations Jesus must be the Lord of your life and mine.

There is a second question: Do we do what Jesus says we should do? Do we in fact follow Him, when there are so many different paths to go down? Jesus wants us to do two things: 1) Love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and might – and that’s not all that hard to do since we haven’t seen Him, but He’s given us breath and life and a land to live on and to sustain life. He’s given us Jesus and the church. He’s given us forgiveness. It’s not really very hard to love God with all our heart, soul and might. But Jesus didn’t stop there. 2) He said “. . . and love your neighbor as yourself.” Now the shoe starts to pinch, when some neighbors just aren’t all that loveable. There are some people who are awfully difficult to love. There are all kinds of people around here who beg and demand that we give them things. People say they are the “dregs of society.” And we are only a stones throw from the railroad tracks where they roll out from under the boxcars. But I have to remind myself that Jesus Christ died for each one of them, too. And in that sense there is no difference between them and me – at all! Each one of them is the neighbor that Jesus says I should love as much as I may love myself. So, loving your neighbor is much more difficult than loving God – at least it is for me.

What frightens me is how Jesus came to the end of His Sermon on the Mount and said, “Not everyone who says unto me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). But You preached in our streets – and the Lord says, “I never knew you.” I hear people praying and saying “Lord, Lord” and I wonder. Who is it that says, “Lord, Lord” who will not enter into the kingdom of heaven? That’s frightening when some give the impression of piety and thankfulness, but who aren’t going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Like John Wesley, I’ve finally gotten around to understanding that there are some who are not going to make it into the kingdom. Jesus says some will not listen and follow Him. And just following the trappings of righteousness can be scary, too. People followed James Jones from California to South America and then followed him to death by drinking arsenic laced cool-aid. That shepherd was a very poor substitute for Jesus. But the rest of Matthew 7:21 quotes Jesus saying, “. . . but the one who does the will of my Father will enter into His kingdom.” And that’s the salvation part.

Dear Heavenly Father, it has been so difficult to love my neighbor and I believe there are several others here who have the same problem. Some neighbors remind me too much of the part of me that I don’t like. Some neighbors are the enemy of all that I love like Osama bin Laden. Some of my neighbors are such ingrates and will turn around and return evil for good or just reject love and kindness. But You are all about forgiving 70 times 7 and my excuses are not better than my neighbors. Please forgive our lack of love and forgiveness in Jesus’ name, Amen.

080408 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Rev. Steve Richardson, St. Paul Lutheran

The photograph in this blog and podcast shows Pastors Ron Smith and Steve Richardson. Steve is on the path of becoming a local pastor in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. He currently serves as a lay pastor at Saint Paul Lutheran in Montgomery, Alabama, while preparing to start a mission church in the Millbrook/Prattville area just north of Montgomery.

In this message Steve interprets Luke 18:31-34 and how it deals with questions of our personal identity. His journey with these questions takes some unusual turns of events in his life, which may resonate in others' experiences.

080328 Friday Focus with Jim Roden, Gideons International

Jim Roden is among the thousands of Gideons who actively support and volunteer a great deal of time and energy to the distribution of Biblical scripture around the world.

Having God's Word can lead people to faith in Christ, and those new Christians can then grow by studying their Scriptures and even use them to share their faith with others.

For this reason, Gideons International focuses on distributing complete Bibles or New Testaments. These Scriptures are printed in more than 80 languages and are either given directly to certain individuals or placed in selected public locations where large numbers of people who may be searching for answers will have the ability to encounter the Word of God.

Distributing complete copies of God's Word also . . .

Plants powerful seeds that God can use in His timing. (I Corinthians 3:6)
Allows people to read the truth for themselves. (John 8:32)
Provides a continuing witness when the Gideon is no longer present. (Hebrews 4:12)
Makes it easier for the people we reach to in turn reach others with the truth about Jesus. (II Timothy 2:2)
Makes it possible for new Christians to learn and grow through personal Bible study.
(II Timothy 2:15)

Scriptures are distributed one by one by members of The Gideons International to these groups:

Students in the 5th grade and above
Prisoners and police, fire, medical and military personnel
Anyone else Gideons witness to individually
Scriptures are placed in certain locations, including:

Hotels and motels
Hospitals, convalescent homes, medical offices and domestic violence shelters
Prisons and jails

080325 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Kevin 'Sinclair' Nero, WVAS Radio Announcer

Kevin is on the board of directors for the Nat King Cole Society in Montgomery, Alabama. He is an avid Jazz enthusiast and promoter. For several years he has programmed and announced the local Jazz program on the Public Radio Station in Montgomery broadcasting from the Alabama State University campus.
This message is his very touching autobiography that focuses on his family heritage and identity. For most of his life his family kept a "secret" from him about his being adopted. The mother and father who raised him were actually cousins and one of his cousins turned out to be his biological father. He has never met his biological mother, whose last name is Bently (his middle name).
Below is Kevin's biography that his has proved for publishing on this podcast and blog syndication.

Kevin ‘Sinclair’ Nero
Born: January 25, 1956
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York – Childhood spent in Queens, New York
In August of 1974 – I moved to Daphne, Alabama (new permanent residence)
Started my college career at Alabama State University – January 1975
I received a “walk-on” - 4 year - athletic scholarship in track – March 1975
Graduated in the summer of 1980 with a BS degree in Computer Information Systems
Currently working on my Masters in Human Resource Development
Full – Time Position – Program Manager for the sustainment of Legacy Supply Systems for the United States Air Force.
Part – Time Position – Radio Announcer for WVAS FM 90.7 – The Voice of Alabama State University

WVAS –
I started working at WVAS, as a volunteer, August 1984 and became a paid member of the staff January 10th 1985
Known as the “Vagabond of Jazz”
Created the “Night Service of Sound”
The sole host of the Top 20 Countdown for the past 6 years

I have interviewed:
1. Rachelle Ferrell
2. Nancy Wilson
3. Norman Connors
4. Lizz Wright
5. Al Jarraeu – 3 times
6. Marcus Miller – 2 times
7. George Duke – 3 times
8. Michael Ward – 4 times
9. Dianne Reeves
10. Angela Bofil
11. Norman Brown
12. Phil Perry
13. Will Downing – 3 times
14. Nathan East – 2 times
15. James Ingram and John Tesh
16. Debra Franco
17. Eric Essix – 5 times
18. Euge Groove
19. Frank McComb – 4 times
20. Stanley Clarke
21. Earl Klugh
22. Kurt Elling
23. Najee
24. Nnenna Freelon
25. Joe Sample
26. Lalah Hathaway – 2 times
27. Michael Franks
28. Sean Franks
29. Jeffery Smith
30. Bluey Maunick – Incognito
31. Maysa Leak
32. George Benson
33. Jeff Golub
34. Joyce Cooling – 3 times
35. Ronnie Loew
36. Ronnie Laws – 2 times
37. Wayman Tisdale
38. Larry Carlton
39. Rick Braun
40. Ronny Jordan
41. Boney James
42. Roy Ayer – 2 times

080120 John 1:29-42 "Getting the Names Straight" by Ron Smith

I’m going to end this talk with “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen (which means ‘so be it’).” This invocation of names means something to all Christians, because we don’t just recognize Him as the Savior (Yeshua), but the Christ (the Messiah, the Chosen One) and most importantly “Lord” the One whom we serve as our Living God – representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When I was 16 and the president/founder of the FROGS social club at Henry Grady High School, I got a mysterious call from a girl who would not identify herself. My mother yelled through the house, “Ronnie, telephone call.” I could tell the voice was familiar, but I didn’t know immediately who it was. As she talked, I could guess. It was probably one of the members of the SNAPS social club trying to figure out what my moral and ethical make-up was about. She made a lot of suggestive statements that I cordially continued to ask questions about, but I could tell she was as uncomfortable about asking the very forward and even immoral suggestions – I sensed that there were others “listening in” somehow. I knew my character was on the line and I had to behave respectful, friendly, but reserved. Apparently, I passed the test. And a few days later, I was named the “Sweat Heart” of that social club and the FROGS reciprocated by making one of the SNAPS leaders our “Sweat Heart.”
God says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
And God reveals His identity with special names that speak of identity, power and grace. God reveals who and whom. God is. God loves. And we love and devote ourselves in return.
John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world!” John admits that he didn’t really know who Jesus would be, but that His behavior would get God’s people ready for the Holy Spirit. John watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him.
John was much more than a mysterious caller from a high school social club. He didn’t just want to tell whether Jesus was a clean living, honest, young man who would not betray His trust with certain people in a select group. John the Baptizer was focused only on obeying “The One” who authorized him to baptize with water. And “The One” told him that when the Spirit appeared like He did on Jesus, then He is the “Son of God.”
Andrew and the other disciple followed up on the Baptizer’s initial call. They would share the message that Jesus is “God’s Passover Lamb.” Then they went after Jesus.
Jesus shows that He isn’t impressed with the great names people were using about Him any more than He would have been impressed with “Sweet Heart of the SNAPS social club.” He didn’t need to just rest on laurels or titles. So He said to His new followers, “What are you after?” They said, “Teacher,” “where are you staying?”
And Jesus invited them to follow Him were He was staying. “I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells” (Psalm 26:8).
After Andrew and the other disciple saw where he was living, they stayed with Him. Immediately, Andrew went to his brother Simon Peter, and told him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”).
He immediately led him to Jesus. That’s what being with Jesus is about. If you are living with Jesus you are bringing others to Him. You bring others to where Jesus lives in truth and in spirit. And when you do this, start listening to what Jesus wants to call your friend you brought to Him. Will your friend have to answer to “What are you after?” – like Andrew and the other disciple. Or will the one you bring to Jesus receive a new name like Simon, who became Cephas (or Peter, which means “Rock”). Jesus transforms you when you get the names straight or, better yet, when you have to live with Jesus like Andrew and all of His true disciples.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing Yourself in Jesus Christ, who in turn reveals who each of us really is – by behavior, calling, and true character – to Your service and glory. Help each one of us to fulfill our function with You as Your obedient children and with others as truly forgiven and loved sisters and brothers – in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

080119 "Obstacles to Grace" by Pastor Ron Smith

The most unpopular subject in the universe is sin. Gary was 9 and I was 11. When our next-door neighbor Mrs. Nix hired us to dig out a cave under her house, we crawled under the side of her house to dig out a place for her canned preserves under her wooden floor. After about an hour of digging with shovel and pick I heaved a load of dirt out the door of the crawl space and accidentally struck Gary’s ear with the sharp edge of my shovel. We rushed to stop the bleeding and after a lot of emergency measures my brother’s ear was stitched back together and a couple of months later there was no apparent scar or pain. But the memory of that experience has taught me a lot about what gets in our way from receiving and sharing God’s grace.
This is Ron Smith presenting a talk about OBSTACLES TO GRACE. Transcripts will be given afterwards, but please take notes.
I still suffer from the consequences of negligent sin. This is just one example of how even accidents can be obstacles to grace and keep us from enjoying God’s loving relationship. Sin is the absence of God. God-less self-centeredness is what is portrayed on daily television must of the time instead of God-centeredness.
John said, Jesus Christ must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). The flame on this candle first flickered, and then steadied. We don’t notice its soft and forgiving presence, because the other competing light around us that would take away our focus on it. We may miss out of the streams of smoke and the smell of molten wax. The flame will lengthen and the candle will become smaller. Is this moment special? – Is it lasting? – Will this experience mean anything the next day? "Never forget - Christ must increase; I must decrease." Obstacles to grace keep us from being aware of God.
When my day care children sing about inviting Jesus into their heart – “into my heart, into my heart – come into my heart Lord Jesus” then I know Jesus is real aim of God’s love.
Sin - “Hamartia” misses the mark or target of being in God’s will. We miss the mark and miss out of God’s love when we disobey God’s law. Something or someone gets in the way of your relationship with God. Something “messes with” your relationship with others. These are the vertical and horizontal obstacles to grace.
Exodus 32:19 says that Moses threw the tablets of the law from the mountain to those worshipping a Golden Calf. I felt like one of those people when I saw my brother’s bleeding ear. I had worshipped the money Mrs. Nix was going to pay us instead of focusing on God’s ways of moving slower and more carefully. Deuteronomy 5:7 mandates that when I just worked hard for money from Mrs. Nix without reverence for the safety of my brother, then this was Idolatry to false gods. I didn’t curse God, but the potential of blasphemy was in my heart so that when I heard others speaking irreverently or profanely about God I remembered this hardened hearted feeling of blame toward God (Deut. 5:11). 1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns against my intentional resistance against God. And Deuteronomy 5:12-15 seems to say that I’m still guilty for just negligently ignoring God for not taking care to protect my brother, Gary. My disobedience is sinfully rejecting a relationship with God, who only wants the best for me (Luke 9:ll-27). Every time I experience unbelief, then this is my failure not God’s. I may ignorantly alienate myself from God and others. But Jesus points out in the Beatitudes in Matthew 6 that when I pridefully focus on myself rather than giving honor and glory to God (verse 5) or when I chose not to forgive God or others, I cannot be forgiven (verses 9-15).
Horizontal obstacles would prevent loving relations with others. If I had swung my shovel just a little bit harder I would have killed by brother, accidentally. This would not have been intentional murder, but its consequences would have been a devastating obstacle to my relations with my parents and others. I didn’t become addicted to drugs or sex or anything like that, but I had the same symptoms like masking my feelings of guilt, my brother’s rejection and my sense of shame with denial on an addictive scale. I lied to myself and to others about how much hurting my brother hurt me, too. This acted like gossip or slander in my soul, because it spread a lie of whether God, my brother or my parent’s really loved me. This was like sinful theft that stole something valuable from other people that didn’t belong to me. My sense of guilt stole deeper loving feelings for my brother and my parents. I coveted my brother’s position as the innocent little brother. I even became lazy about caring for other people and things because I felt unable to be a good steward of the life, gifts, graces, property, and power that God had entrusted to me. I had dishonored my parents and others. My only hope then and my only hope today is to pray a sinners pray and ask for God’s forgiveness and for others like my brother to forgive me and receive forgiveness grace-fully.
Please pray with me right now this personal prayer so that God will remove our obstacles to His grace.
Dear Heavenly Father, please send Your Holy Spirit right now into my heart. Help me to pick of my cross of victory and love each day and follow Jesus and His way. Take away my bitterness. Remind me of how You baptize me with Your water, fire and spirit. Teach me how to avoid each obstacle and resist evil and renounce the forces of the evil one. Restore my love for enemies and neighbors. Help me to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Give me Your grace that is greater than my sin. Thank You for making sure that no obstacle can separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus. Thank You for all the colors “De Colores” of Your love and grace in Him, Amen.

080118 Friday Focus - Dale Osterman YMCA

Dale Osterman's career has been devoted to managing YMCA programs. He now manages the downtown Y and oversees the greater Montgomery YMCA with it's board of directors. Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church has maintained a long standing relationship with the Y and currently send our underprivileged inner city youth to summer, Christmans holiday and Spring break YMCA camps.

Dale is a lay leader in the Prattville United Methodist Church and a member of the Walk to Emmaus community of Central Alabama. In this message we hear his personal testimony of ministry in the Y and his passion for helping others find Christian fellowship and personal development through this organization.

071212 Faith Radio Interview of Pastor Ron Smith

This interview covers annual Christmas season events at Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church.

071130 Friday Focus - Rev. Lenny Howard, St. Mark UMC

This message is focused on the phrase "promise yourself."
Lenny was originally ordained a Southern Baptist preacher, but is now the pastor of St. Mark United Methodist Church, which has the following details:

District: Montgomery - Opelika
Building Address: 1785 Taylor Road, Montgomery, AL 36124
Phone: (334) 272-0009
Service Times: 10:30 am CT
Summer Service Times:
Other Worship Times: Sunday: 9:00 am Fellowship time 9:15 am Sunday School 5:00 p.m. UMYF Mid Week, Weekly 5:45 p.m. Prayer 6:30 p.m. Choir/Meal 6:30 p.m. Youth Bible Study
Sunday School Times: 9:15 a.m. CT


Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 240247
Montgomery AL, 36124-0247

Email: offsmumc@bellsouth.net
Website: http://www.smumc-al.org

071127 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast - Rev. Ed. Deabler, Delraida UMC

Ed Deabler was born in Chambers County, Alabama, in the Chattahoochee Valley. His maternal grandparents lived in Lanett, which remained his home base as his parents moved often around the Southeast. Ed attended Lanett High School for two years and Smith’s Station High School for another two years, graduating from there in 1970. He attended Southern Union Junior College for a year before transferring to Auburn University where he became engaged to Nancy. They commuted from Lanett to Auburn together and worked for West Point Pepperell Mill while pursuing degrees in education. They did their student teaching together and graduated in 1975.
Ed taught special education and coached both junior varsity and varsity football at Tallassee High School from 1975 until 1983 when he felt the call to preach. He attended Emory University’s Candler School of Theology from 1983 until 1986 when he received a Master of Divinity Degree. Ed served two churches in Opelika while attending Emory, Community and Pepperell United Methodist Churches. He has served on several boards and agencies in the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Ed enjoys fishing when he has an opportunity. He and Nancy have a daughter, Taylor Cathryn, who is in seventh grade.
This message is based on Luke 1:67-80 where Zechariah prophesied about his son John the Baptist.

071118 Luke 21:5-19 "A Time to Testify" by Pastor Ron Smith

Peterson’s Message interpretation of today’s gospel reading is entitled “Watch out for Doomsday deceivers.” Our own flesh tells us that we can take care of our bodies, because they are “the Temple of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 3:16). But we deceive ourselves when we try to hold on to our fleshly existence and the material world around us. “The time is coming when every stone in each physical building will end up destroyed.”
Jesus says that you and I don’t have to worry about WHEN our end or the end of the world is going to take place. All kinds of doomsday fear-mongers are on television and in the news. Maybe some of you have friends and family that seem to panic with every major disaster or routine wars or uprising. We all have questions and answers about what this or that means. Is it a sign of good or bad things to come?
We buried our sister Louise Baker last Friday morning and it was very evident that her messages to her loved ones throughout the years and the messages that they shared at her funeral spoke of good things to come in heaven. In that memorial service I reminded them that we all walk around with pockets full of disturbing questions and answers. But Jesus asks you and me to reach deep down into those pockets and give Him some change.
Do you hear the truth in that imagery? What will you give Jesus in this life full of questions and answers? Will you give Him only some more questions and answers about the next loved one that dies, about “Nations fighting nation and rulers fighting rulers,” about “huge earthquakes and famines,” about whether the sky is falling, about how evil-doers might “arrest you, hunt you down, and drag you to court and jail?”
Or will you give Jesus change in your life? You can choose to go from good to better instead of bad to worse. Choose to share steadfast loving kindness instead of dog-eat-dog self-preservation. Jesus will accept the change in your life instead of all your doubts, worries and guilt. Even if all the world’s bad things might happen, Jesus promises that our changed person of the Spirit will live on. Every detail of your new body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—are in His care.
If you are willing to follow Jesus and live in the Spirit instead of the Flesh, then nothing of the sanctified and purified “you” will be lost. If you are dying to self everyday, then Jesus will give you a new person, a new creature to live in your place and you will forgive and even forget the old dead self you left behind. And you will live on. Then you can staying with it in this new life in Him. You can stay with Him to the end of this impostor life and find the real heavenly life in the kingdom of heaven at hand – right now! You can claim the change in your life instead of all the questions and answers. You can share with each other new relationships and new beginnings of the eternally new day in heaven with the heavenly host and with Jesus. Don’t be sorry. Don’t feel guilty about leaving all this behind – all the regret and guilt and sin will be forgotten and every tear shall be wiped away and you’ll be saved for ever and ever, Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the eternal joy that You provide in Jesus. When we look in each other’s face we know that we don’t have to see through a glass darkly – even now. We can see face to face. We can refuse to sleep in our old dead selves and be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye. Please help us to grow in our new spiritual bodies of holiness and righteousness. Raise us right so we can help others to be “raised right” in reflection of our brother, Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ. We change in and because of the name of Him, Amen.