New Menu

 Happy Sunday!

One of my favorite Christmas movies is "Last Holiday" starring Queen Latifah.  In one scene she is at dinner, and the waiter is reciting the menu.  He describes numerous extravagant food items.  Then she says, "It all sounds so good. Will Chef Didier have the same items on the menu tomorrow?"  The waiter quips, "Chef Didier never creates the same menu twice!"  I felt like that this morning.  I watched our 7am and 9am worship services, and although Dr. Bill Winston preached using the same topic both times, the messages were unique.  But isn't that just the way the Word of God always is?  I can read a scripture I memorized in Sunday School in the 1970's and get a new revelation for today.

Hebrews 4:12 says, "God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what."(Message).  Don't miss this!  God's Word is our light, our mirror, and our guide.  When we have questions, the Word is the answer.  The Psalmist said, "Forever, O Eternal One, Your Word stands in heaven, firm and resolute."(Psalm 119:89 Voice). 

Dr. Winston is continuing a series entitled, "Reaching the World", and this section is called "Restoring the Glory".  God breathed into Adam and he became a Living, Speaking, and Breathing Being like God. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."(Genesis 1:26 KJV).  The Glory of God was upon Adam and Eve so much so that they didn't even realize they were naked until they sinned and the Glory left them.  Jesus is called the Second Adam.  His perfect work allows us to get the Glory back.  Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and Glorify your Father which is in heaven."(Matthew 5:16 KJV).  The Apostle Paul went on to say, "Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you will be blameless and pure, children of God without any fault. But you are living with evil people all around you, who have lost their sense of what is right. Among those people you SHINE like LIGHTS in a dark world, and you offer them the teaching that gives LIFE. So I can be proud of you when Christ comes again. You will show that my work was not wasted—that I ran in the race and won."(Philippians 2:14-16 Easy-to-Read Version).

Are you shining in this dark world?  Are you bringing Glory to God by the way you live? If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be any evidence? 

Love and prayers, Cynthia