News (Page 21)
From our daily devotional to relevant local, state, national, and international church news, you can find information from Good Shepherd UMC here.
Daily Devotional: January 2nd, 2020
Seeking the Lord Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7 At the start of a new year we all can look to have a fresh start and look to turn to the Lord to ask for the forgiveness and mercy that only God can give…
New Sermon Series: Becoming Us
January begins our new sermon series Becoming Us. Over the next several weeks we all have a chance to get a new start in a new year on the road back to God so that we can all live more fully into who we were created to be. Becoming Us is focused around something that has become popular in Christian circles over the last couple of years.It is called the Enneagram. It has gotten a lot of press lately. People…
Daily Devotional: January 1st, 2020
New Year, New You Happy New Year! We’re now in the start of a new decade and the challenge now becomes, how can you start this year off with a new perspective on life? Reflection Think how you are going to define your year. Are you going to let the world events, politics, and everything that is negative define your year or will you look to aim for a higher goal to grow personally, professionally, or spiritually?
Daily Devotional: December 31st, 2019
New Year’s Eve As we set back and reflect today on 2019, can you look back and see a year focused on the right things? Or do you find yourself wondering where the year went? Think back to the promise Noah was given in Genesis 8: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” “As long as…
Daily Devotional: December 30th, 2019
E+R=0, THE CHRISTIAN EQUATION, EVENTS PART II In Part I, we focused on defining events in our lives, let’s look at how we categorize events in our lives. I tend to categorize events into three categories, positive (+), negative (-), and neutral ( ). Each type of event you will experience many times throughout your life. Most will fall into the neutral section, these are your mundane tasks such as, eating, sleeping, personal hygiene routines, etc. The second most will…
Daily Devotional: December 29th, 2019
E+R=0, The Christian Equation, Events PArt I Ask yourself these questions: What are some events in your life? What are some events in Christ’s life? Events are the structural foundation of life. From the mundane and every day to significant cornerstone events; every choice or no choice and those events that just happen to you. These are stringed together in a long series that culminates into your life, defining who you are, what you do, and where you are physically,…
Daily Devotional: December 28th, 2019
Less Stress Stress can cause a ton of issues in our lives, within our family, our work, and our relationship with God. As we let stress overcome our lives it becomes the central focus for us. How do you get yourself out of the throws of stress and leverage your relationship with God to carry the weight of that stress? Why do the nations conspireand the peoples plot in vain?The kings of the earth rise upand the rulers band togetheragainst the Lord and against…
Daily Devotional: December 27th, 2019
Trust in God And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” Hebrews 2:13 In whom do we trust? As a church we must not trust in ourselves, not in the building on New Shackle Island Road, not in the United Methodist Church, but in the Lord. We must put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He is the only one worthy of our trust.…
What Are the 12 Days of Christmas?
Originally Posted on howstuffworks.com, read the original post here During the holiday season, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is heard everywhere from shopping malls to television commercials to church functions. Everywhere you go, you can hear about Two Turtle Doves, Seven Swans-a-Swimming and Eleven Pipers Piping. But what does any of this mean? What does a song about doves, hens and geese have to do with Christmas? The carol has its roots in 18th-century England, as a memory-and-forfeit game sung by British children. In the…
Daily Devotional: December 26th, 2019
God’s Will Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 How can we as a church find God’s will? We must depend on the Lord with all our hearts to find His will. As we look to the future as a church, let us pray and wait for His answers. It is only through prayer and meditation that we can know what is from the Lord and what is from our…
Daily Devotional: December 25th, 2019
Christmas Day is Here And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the…
Daily Devotional: December 24th, 2019
The Stillness of The Eve It’s Christmas Eve, as we are anxiously awaiting the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. There is a certain palpable excitement or energy in the stillness of Christmas Eve. As Christians the gift that we received on Christmas day should be something that we approach each year with a childlike spirit of waiting for the gifts that Santa. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the…