Thursday, November 29, 2012

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

 
ARE YOU A STORY-TELLER?  I am SO glad that God breathed into the hearts and minds of the men who authored the books of the Bible – the stories and accounts He wanted us to know about, so we could recall having read them, and then be able to tell them again in turn to someone else!  This Christmas season, my husband is preaching a series called, “The Amazing Emmanuel”, and one of the messages is about learning how to share the stories of our True Hero:  Emmanuel.  Well, people have all kinds of heroes, right?  Or … at least we used to – when there were lots of heroes to look up to and admire.  In today’s world, it seems we have to look a little harder and longer to find the true heroes.  But when it comes to the True Hero … we have to look no further than … Emmanuel!  So why shouldn’t it just be a natural thing to tell His stories?  Some of those stories are found in book after book -chapter after chapter of God’s Word, and others are actually located in our memory bank!  You see, we’ve lived them and they’re worth telling … and re-telling!  And we get pretty good at telling our stories – because we’ve told them so many times, over and over.  They are easy to tell, because they are true.  We don’t have to wonder what to say, because we know how the story goes – we don’t have to make it up!  Talking about stories, that reminds me of our wonderful Thanksgiving visit from our second son, his wife, their children, and their baby grand-daughter!  Yes … that makes her our great-granddaughter!  What a great time we had experiencing the joy of making new memories together, but one of my favorite things was when we would chime in with “remember this?” – or “remember that?”  And then, the story-teller would take front and center stage and recreate the “once-upon-a-time” scenario and bring it to life all over again!  We’d laugh together as we remembered.  Time has changed the season of life we are in.  We used to be the grandparents, now our son and his wife have taken on that special title and role (of course, we’ll still be grandparents, too … we wouldn’t miss out on our own grandchildren’s lives for anything!).  But we’ve entered a new season – and we’re embracing this one every bit as much as the seasons previous!  It’s a time to pass our special family stories on to the next generations – so they might enjoy them as much as we have!  A devotional I read today talked about how good we get at giving short little one-minute testimonials about something we believe in … whether it be a business opportunity, a nutritional product, a new book or movie that’s out, or even a travel destination we’ve been to.  We speak with conviction and excitement, and others catch our excitement as they listen to our stories.  Like the devotional writer said, it’s a good story when one person shares their experience about something, but when a few others, or even several begin jumping in with their personal reviews … it lends such power to the subject at hand that listeners are gripped with the message, especially when the speakers are prepared to summarize.  He stated, “By preparing their remarks carefully, they had captured the essence of their experience and retained the sense of how wonderful their product was.”  Then this writer made a great point.  He said he was thinking, “Wow!  If Christians could learn to talk like this in church, it would add a huge sense of excitement and credibility to our services.”  Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to begin working on our own one-minute testimonial/story right now.  I echo the closing thought in the devotional by David Mains when he says, “Just think what would happen if, starting with pastors, everyone in the church got good at telling their one-minute story in church, and then outside it as well!”  We had such a precious time with our family that we cannot help but thank them for sharing their lives and their stories – it’s what makes us the family we are.  And likewise, there are lots of people just waiting to hear “our stories” about our personal excitement at having God in our lives.  When they hear our brief, but amazing news, they will want what we have … and we could turn our churches, our neighborhoods, and our communities upside down and right-side up for the glory of God!  What better Christmas project could you take on … then to practice the one-minute story you’d like to share about your True Hero and you?  Emmanuel!  God with us!  Let’s DO it! 
 
 
 
IN A NUTSHELL . . .
 
MAY GOD BLESS all of those who support our church – we could not do it without you!  Thank you for teaming up with us in this Kingdom work as we serve our God together - to build up His people and to reach those who are lost and need Him!
 
SUN, DEC 02:  10:00 A.M. – PRAISE & WORSHIP/COMMUNION/MESSAGE:  “The Amazing Emmanuel – Part 2”
SUN, DEC 02:  10:30 A.M. – KIDZONE CHILDREN’S CHURCH with Verla & Kelly … your kids will not want to miss this!
WED, DEC 05:  7:00 P.M.  – MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY in the book of James at 905 El Dorado Street SE in Owatonna/join in!
THU, DEC 06:   7;00 P.M.  – MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY in the book of James at 165 24th Place NW in Owatonna/bring a friend!
SAT, DEC 08:    8:00 A.M. – MEN’S BIBLE STUDY/FELLOWSHIP at church – let’s invite some new guys to join us for this time!
SUN, DEC 09:  10:00 A.M. – PRAISE & WORSHIP/CHRISTMAS CAROLING to follow w/Chili and bread back at the church!
 
PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES . . . Shirley, Julia, Max, Hazel, Tina, Johnny & Cherry, unspoken needs, Lundstroms, Seykoras
REMEMBER . . . “The fact of Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.” ~ William Barclay
 
 
 
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
 
 
 
 Pastor Doug and Debbie
 

 

 

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