If it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
TO PONDER
Through our faith, the Spirit gives each one of us a special gift to be used in and for the church. As part of the greater body of Christ, we all belong to each other, and are to be in service to one another.
We are called to serve not for our own glory or benefit, as no member should think of themselves greater than any other member. If we all give genuine love and prioritise someone else before ourselves, we collectively raise up and glorify the Body of Christ.
Cling to what is good. Reading this gave me the image of a baby monkey holding onto it’s mother back. The little creature holds on for dear life to their provider of food, protection and love. We must cling to our own provider and share in all the good things that God gives us.
PRAYER: Thank you, Spirit, for the gifts you have given me. Help me use them to love and lift my brothers and sisters for the glory of the church.
Today's devotion written by Josh Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Westside
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
TO PONDER
The definition of equip is: to supply with the necessary items for a particular purpose.
In the job that you work in, you need the right objects to successfully complete certain tasks. In an office you would need a computer, the internet, a printer, stationery, etc. A tradie building a pergola would need a circular saw, drills, drop saw, hammer drill, charged batteries and many other countless items. If you don’t have what you need you cannot complete the project!
This is like the body of Christ, which is the church. Not the building we go to on a Sunday, but a group of people. Jesus has given His church all the tools required for it to grow and be nurtured.
God made each one of us unique and blessed us the tools to carry out His grand project. With our daily works of service, we can lift each other up in harmony to spread the Good News.
PRAYER:Thank you, Jesus, for the tools and abilities you have given me. Help me use them to the full for your glory.
Today's devotion written by Josh Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Westside.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
TO PONDER
We all have stories of our own, or know of others who have made some poor decisions after too much alcohol. Alcohol itself is not a bad thing, but if you let it consume you by having too much, you will make foolish decisions.
We have a choice on what to fill our bodies with. This could be the short-term vices and pleasures of our physical world, where wickedness and evil are not hard to reach. A dedication and worship of such things is the pathway of sin.
We form a connection with God when we are filled with the Spirit. Dedicating our being to God’s wise plans and purpose. When we are ‘under the influence’ of the Spirit, our lives are transformed as we overflow with praise and thanks and love for God and for others.
PRAYER: Lord, fill me up with the good Spirit that only you can provide.
Today's devotion written by Josh Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Westside
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
TO PONDER
Jesus is moments away from ascending to heaven, with His final words on the earth, he leaves his lasting instructions to the disciples.
To be a witness in this era was dangerous! Jesus was telling them to stick their neck out, to step out of their local area and talk to people. They would be risking their lives in some places they would go. How would they have the courage to do this? Only with the power of the Holy Spirit.
He uses ordinary people supercharged with the extraordinary Holy Spirit to continue the mission to spread the Good News, further than one man could do.
We are also called to spread the news to our state and country and the whole world. It’s a daunting task, so how about we start with our street, or our neighbour instead? Thankfully our lives won’t be at risk in this country. The Holy Spirit is always there to help us.
PRAYER:Dear Jesus, thank you for sending the Helper, power us up to carry out God’s plan.
Today's devotion written by Josh Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Westside
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
TO PONDER
God likes to use fire to make His presence known. Think back to Moses standing on holy ground in front of the burning bush, and the Exodus for the towering pillar of fire to lead and to guard the Israelites. Again, God uses fire to signal the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
Humans understand what wind and fire are, so God uses them to bring our attention to something special.
Through the Holy Spirit, the disciples were able to speak in all the different languages of the region, to tell of the amazing news of Jesus, and ignited the early church to rapidly spread.
God has plans for many great things for us, so we must be completely filled and charged up by the Holy Spirit, leaving no room for anything else. When we put our faith in God to do this, the Helper will enable us to do unimaginable things!
PRAYER:Holy Spirit; help me! Open my eyes to your presence. Fill me up and enable me to do amazing things.
Today's devotion written by Josh Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Westside
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
TO PONDER
Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday; the day often called 'the birthday of the Christian church'. There are lots of reasons why people have referred to it this way throughout history but I think the most common and the most significant is that it is the day that the promised 'Holy Spirit', the helper or advocate that Jesus had promised he would send to the disciples arrives and it is really the first public proclamation of the death and resurrection of Jesus, beyond the group of his close followers, which also linked Jesus death and resurrection with forgiveness of sin for all who believe that Jesus is the Christ. I'm sure we'll hear more about that next week.
So today, let me just say this...the facts themselves are not enough. Just saying Jesus died and was raised to life doesn't bring joy. However, when we can articulate why he died and rose, as the disciples were able to do on that first day of Pentecost, it is a very different story.
Jesus died, so we could be forgiven. He was raised again to life so we could have joy and peace and that we might overflow with hope by the power of the Spirit. - The facts themselves are not enough. Even the explanation itself is not enough. It is only as we encounter the person of Jesus, the son of God, the word made flesh, by the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit that the joy of that news hits us as it should and the hope that is within us begins to overflow and impact others.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Please help me to see and hear where the Holy Spirit moves and is at work in my life. Please help me to see and to hear where he leads and how I should follow. Help me to trust more in you as you lead and guide me to the places and the people you have prepared in advance for me to encounter in your name. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
TO PONDER
I have just finished attending a conference with the theme of "Community and Worship". One of the speakers shared that in his opinion, the word 'worship' has lost its true meaning and it is something we need to reclaim before the word becomes meaningless. I was sceptical at first but as he continued to explain, I began to wonder if he had a point.
These days we use the word 'worship' more often as and adjective, a describing word. We have worship services, worship leaders, worship pastors, worship spaces, and worship music just to name a few. But worship was the response of the disciples to the kind of 'inexpressible and glorious joy' talked about in today's reading. Upon realising the reality of their salvation in Christ through his death and resurrection, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with 'great joy' (Lk 24:52).
Worship is not our gathering on Sunday, although our Sunday gatherings certainly involve and include worship. Worship is not the songs we sing to God, although they are one way we can try to express our inexpressible and glorious joy to God for who he is and all he has done for us. Worship is not a feeling although when we live lives of worship, we might find our feelings and attitudes change.
Worship is simply giving 'worth' and glory to God for who he is and what he has done. You can do this on your own, in your house, at the shops or anywhere else. You can do it together with other believers as you gather together in buildings on a Sunday, or as you gather together in each others homes, or at your kids sporting events or your local coffee shop. It might include singing, it might not. However you do it make sure you know what it is you are doing... You are giving your best human effort to express an inexpressible joy to an incomprehensible God for his eternally enduring love and mercy toward you. Trying to put expression to the value and importance and 'worth' of who God is and what he has done. Our worship will never be enough to fully express the worth of God and his love and grace towards us... and yet ultimately, it is all we have to give.
PRAYER: Lord God, I'm sorry when I lose sight of the glory and majesty, awe and wonder of who you are and all that you have done to claim me as your own. Please help me to grow in my understanding of how deep and wide and high your love is for me and for all people. Help me to show more of that love today and to never stop giving you all the glory. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
TO PONDER
I don't think this verse describes many people these days. How many people in your social circles would you describe as being joyful in the presence of the Lord? More likely people find the idea of Jesus and of Christianity as a killjoy or a buzzkill. The common perception these days seems to be that Jesus and his teachings - if followed correctly - inhibit us from doing whatever we want and ultimately limits our freedom and therefor our experience of Joy.
However, as any parent can tell you, not everything that a child wants to do is necessarily good for them. Part of our role as responsible parents is to help our children understand that not every desire we have as broken and filled humans is healthy or helpful and to put in place some boundaries to support healthy choices and 'fulness of life'.
God has shared the path of life with us - it is faith in Jesus; it is his presence with us by the Holy Spirit; it is in being where he is and doing what he asks us to do. When we recognise that God's heart towards us has always been one of love and care, then following Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, is not a chore or a limiting restriction of life but a loving and caring boundary in which human life can flourish and be all that God intended it to be.
What a joy it truely is to live in God's presence.
PRAYER: Gracious Heavenly Father, I know that at times I am prone to seek life and joy apart from you. I thank you for your love and mercy which invites me back into the joy of your presence through Jesus Christ. Please help me to know more deeply the joy of life in you that I may help others to also see the joy of living in your presence. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
TO PONDER
Not the reaction I would have expected from Jesus disciples. Their risen and victorious Lord leaves them and is taken up into heaven and they are filled with joy! I would have thought fear and apprehension were the more likely response.
But, having been brought to understand everything that Jesus had done and the implications of that not only for themselves, but for all of the world, they have only 2 responses, worship and joy.
I think I have shared this before, but when I got the phone call to say I had better plan a trip home because my dad was losing his battle with cancer, I got in the car and started driving. To be honest, I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind to be safe on the road but I had packed and started driving so quickly that the only CD I had in the car to play over the 6 hour drive to my parents house was a Rend Collective worship album. Worship turned my sadness and anxiety into peace and yes, even into joy as I was reminded through song that even in difficult circumstances, our God is with us. I knew God was with me, just as he was also with my dad and in some weird kind of way that made us united with Christ and I began to actually gift thanks and praise to God for all his goodness even while driving to say farewell to my dad for the last time.
I wouldn't describe my joy as great, in that circumstance, but there was a peace and an understanding that even though this life has its challenges and its inevitable end, we can still rejoice because of what Christ has done.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I know that sometimes circumstances can make you feel distant but that you promise you will be with us even to the very end of the age. When I fell alone and afraid, please help me to remember that I can always thank and praise you for all you have done for me and be brought back to joy as I praise and worship you for all you have done. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.