I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.*
I have borrowed the words of the apostle Paul above in order to tell you all how much I love you and how thankful I am for the responsibility and privilege that God has given me to be a pastor in this fellowship. I am sometimes struck by a sense of my own unworthiness for this calling and by a deep sense of gratitude for the fact that God continues to hold on to me. I find that my thanksgiving is always mixed with requests for more. More harmony. More openness. More ministry and more engagement of our world. I pray that God will make our love abound more and more. That He will increase our insight into one another and our depth of knowledge of His ways. That the seed of Christ’s life will be planted ever deeper into our lives and that it may bear increasing yields of goodness, mercy, joy and thanksgiving. That God will make us a blessing to our brothers, sisters, and neighbors.
In this sense, I am not merely giving thanks for the past but for the future as well. A future that has been purchased and secured for us by the sacrifice of Jesus. My thanksgiving wish this year is that God would work through us even more in the next year than He has in the last. I pray that we will have ever more reason to celebrate the changes that God has wrought and the wonders He has manifested in our fellowship with each passing year. And may all of this be to the glory and praise of God. That is a future worthy of thanksgiving.
* Philippians 1.3-11.
3 comments:
Sam your love for God's people and the way you express your feelings into words always amazes me! I love it that you speak with passion in your voice as you bring the messages that God places on your heart! Although I'm not in church all of the time. . . I thank God that he chose you to lead Gilead! What a blessing you and your sweet family are to ALL of US!
Rhonda Nichols~
I have to ditto Rhonda's comments. I frequently don't immediately understand what is making you come to tears when you're preaching, but it makes me think on it. That brings more revelation that only the spirit can give, as undeserving as I am. Thanks for being not a vessel, but a sieve.
Dennis & Rhonda, I appreciate your encouragement. Please continue to pray for our Pastors, leaders, deacons and our Church. I want to ensure that we are all yielded to His direction. Sam
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