Dear Friends,
I hope you are doing well this morning and are walking in the blessings of God. I am looking forward to us coming together tomorrow for worship as we continue to meet with God to seek to find out how can God redeem our regrets. I am excited about tomorrow for a number of o reasons. One is that we had such a great Wednesday night together this week. Our Men’s Club fixed a great supper of sausage dogs. I have heard back from every group leader, and they all said they had a rich time of teaching, fellowship and discipleship work. Let’s keep serving God together so we can keep tapping into what God is seeking to bless us with. Also, this week, two different people in our church family have shared with me some powerful stories of God answering deep heartfelt prayers. As much as God wants to work in people’s lives as individuals, I see from both the Bible and in my experiences, the greatest gifts of God are those He seeks to give to groups of people who will unite in love for Him. If you look at tomorrow’s entry in our Lent Devotional, you will see the scripture and main thought for the message at our worship services. I listed Matthew 3:1-11 and wrote out Luke 3:7-16. Both of these passages are very similar with a few differences. Please read the Luke passage in the devotional to help you be ready to meet with God tomorrow. John the Baptist was not only helping the people of his day to jumpstart their spiritual lives back to life; but he was also showing them a great path to break free from their past. One thought I have been meditating on with these passages this week is that many of these people were walking out into the desert to hear this man preach. What John was saying had great power for them and we need to listen to his words as well. By the way, I am glad that we have given out all 162 devotionals that we printed back before Ash Wednesday. We printed some more copies on Wednesday so no one in our family will go without one. Please see me tomorrow if you don’t have a copy. I will be glad to give you one.
We have had a rash of people in need of prayer for health problems over the last few days. Coy Hughey is still in the Mobile Infirmary seeking to recover from the blood clots that are giving her a hard time. Our brother, Chris Coker, who is working in Atlanta at present was in the hospital this week with heart problems. Chris told me yesterday that they released him. Please pray for Chris and his doctors that they will manage these problems well. Many of you know that Vic Davis had surgery this week to correct a broken hip this week. I received an email this morning from his daughter, Alice, saying that he had been discharged from the hospital, but had to be taken back yesterday with pneumonia. Vic is having a hard time recovering from the surgery. Please pray for Vic and Ina during this difficult time. Yesterday, I received a phone call telling me that Marylin Mcphearson-Jones died last week. I haven’t heard anything about funeral plans. I also heard that her husband Ed has been in the hospital and is now in Ashland Place Rehab doing rebab work. I am going to see Ed later on today. Again, please pray for Ed as he is seeking to process the loss of his wife and has been very sick himself.
There is a saying that goes, “With God the future is always bright.” Why do we say that? I guess we could create a lot of theories, but the biggest truth for me is that although we don’t have control over our futures, God does. We are called to trust God in the present and on into the future. God has a good future for us as individuals and as a church. Do you believe this statement? Our God of hope has many good gifts to us as we live into the future that He has for us. I am excited about the next several weeks as a church. Let’s stay in step with the Holy Spirit so we may know God’s goodness in our lives.
Rev. Dave Rhodes