Practical Steps to Extend Invitations to Your Neighbors This Sunday
1. Prayer: Begin by praying for guidance and courage to extend invitations.
2. Personal Outreach: Approach your neighbors with a warm smile, a personal invitation, and a listening ear. Show them that you genuinely care.
3. Share Your Story: Talk about how your faith has impacted your life and why your church family is important to you.
4. Offer Transportation: For those who may have difficulty getting to church, offer transportation or assistance.
5. Welcome and Hospitality: Ensure that on Neighbor Sunday, we provide a warm welcome, clear directions, and a sense of belonging to all who attend.
Beats From Your Pastor’s Heart
Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
There are two ways that this verse has been understood.
One way is that Christ is formed in us progressively; the other is that Christ is formed in us instantly.
Christ being formed in us in a progressive way has been illustrated with a hand and a glove.
A glove is shaped according to a hand.
Now, I start slipping my hand into the glove in a progressive way.
First, I put my index finger into the glove, then my thumb, and then all my other fingers, one by one.
Eventually my whole hand is formed into the glove.
This illustration has been applied to our experiencing the Lord gradually over a long period of time until Christ is formed in us.
Experiencing the Lord progressively in our daily living is a reality that we enjoy.
Such an experience is scriptural, yet it should not be applied to this portion of the Word.
The question then is, What did Paul mean when he spoke of laboring again for the believers until Christ was formed in them?
The second way to understand Christ being formed in us is that it happens in an instant.
Christ comes into us and immediately is formed in our heart as our point of reference, our relationship with everything.
This is a constant inward state that every child of God can live in from the day of his new birth until he reaches full maturity.
So Christ formed in us does not refer to our arriving at a final stage of maturity in the growth of life.
If this was the case–if Christ being formed in us referred to one, long growth process–then Paul would not be laboring for it to happen once again.
And surely Paul is not expecting the believers to be born again a second time.
There is no such teaching in the New Testament.
They were already born again.
But something had happened in their experience to remove them from Christ (Gal. 1:6).
He was not formed in their hearts as their point of reference for them to grow in the Lord in a proper way.
Until Tomorrow
With A Shepherd’s Love,
Pastor Jackson
FRIDAY’S PRAYER REQUESTS
ROSE FULLER – Broken Hip
Amy Garner
AMY GARNER’S MOM & Dad
Andrew Halevi & Daughter
Ashely Burn’s Sisters
Brandon’s Dad
Coly/Connor – Allison’s G’sons
Dan Haines
Darlene Wiggins
David Burnette
David Harrison
Denise Hulsey – Jordan’s G’mother
Donnie Butler’s Dad
Doris Loyd
Dr. and Mrs. Davis
Easton Fielder
Eric Ward
Erik Magnusson
Freddie May’s Mom
George & Linda Alexander
James Burnette
James Garner’s Friend
JERRY ROBERTS
Jillian Gray
Jodi Bateman
John Austin
John McClain
June Cronan
June Cronan’s Sister
Kathy Mabe
Kim McClain’s Mother
Larry Barker
Lee Cronan
Lillanna Magnusson’s Mom
Linda Breedlove’s Sister – Sarah
Linda Hodges’ Sister
Lonzo Christin
Lori Blount’s Mother
Marlon Cook
Mary Sims
Marynell Ford
Maureen Brown
Michael Stanley
Pastor & Mrs. Driskell
Ricky Gipson – Ashley’s Brother
Ricky Stubbs
Roseleigh Osborn
Sandra Graham
Scott Lanier
Soso Nzolo – 17 Yr. Old South African Pastor’s Daughter
Tom Witcher