St. John Lutheran Church, Angola NY

Your Weaknesses Shape Your Witness to the World By Rick Warren Saddleback Church I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.... Philippians 1:12 (NLT) Your witness to the world will come out of your weaknesses, not your strengths. A lot of people have it backwards: They think the world is impressed by Christians’ prosperity. That doesn’t impress the world. They see that everywhere! What impresses non-believers is how believers handle adversity, not prosperity. Your suffering, not your success, gives you credibility. Your faithfulness, not your fame, earns respect. The apostle Paul was a pro at using his pain as a witness. He wrote from a prison dungeon in Rome, I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News (Philippians 1:12 NLT). Paul used his pain to model the message God had given him. While he was chained in prison, he wrote letters to the church that became part of the New Testament. Paul said, In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God (2 Corinthians 6:4 NLT). That includes how you handle pain, failure, defeat, problems, mistakes, sin, and all of the bad things that happen in your life. It doesn’t take God’s power to handle good; anybody can handle good. It takes God’s power to patiently endure. The world doesn’t have a good answer for how to endure. But followers of Christ patiently endure suffering, hardship, and trouble of every kind as it’s a way to bear witness to the Good News of Jesus. Your deepest ministry will come out of your deepest hurtand your deepest life message will come out of your deepest pain. In every area of your life where you’ve had pain, you have a testimony. How will you use it to help bring others from despair to fullness of life in Christ? Talk It Over Why do you think God lets bad things happen to believers? Has your answer changed after thinking through this devotional? In what painful experience did God’s strength help you to patiently endure? How can you explain God’s support during that painful experience in your testimony?

Second mid-week Advent Service. Hello from our small church with big hearts!

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers ... And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah ... and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon ... And Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:2a, 6b, 11, 16) Have you ever had a sudden turn in your life? You're expecting things to go on a...s normal, and suddenly something shocking happens and you find yourself on an entirely new road. Jesus' ancestry is full of such turns. Abraham was a childless man who became the father of a nation; Judah was a fourth son who inherited his father's blessing after his older brothers' crimes. Salmon was a leader who married a Canaanite prostitute; their son Boaz married a poor foreign girl, Ruth, and became the great-grandfather of King David. David was a shepherd who replaced a disastrous king. If David had stayed away from murder and adultery, his son Solomon would probably never have been born! Some of these turns were terrible, though not all. But all of them were unexpectedexcept to God. God knows exactly what He's doing when He throws a turn into our livesor takes advantage of one we caused by doing wrong. Even our sin can't stop Him! And of course, the greatest turn of all is the one when God came into our world as a human being: Jesus Christ, to suffer, die, and rise again for us. Because of Him, we are finally on the right roadwith all our wrong turns forgiven. THE PRAYER: Lord, help me to trust in You when my life changes suddenly. Amen. Reflection Questions: * Name a time when your life changed suddenly. * What were you expecting? What actually happened? * How did God help you deal with your new situation? Advent Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo. Lutheran Hour Ministry Today's Bible Readings: Ezekiel 40-41 2 Peter 3

You Can’t Out-Give God By Rick Warren Saddleback Church Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in fullpressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.... Luke 6:38 (NLT) When you give from a heart for Jesus, your goal isn’t to get a blessing. But the truth is that God will bless you. You can’t out-give God. When you learn to be generous like God is generous, he promises that you will end up with more. This is the economy of God. Sometimes it seems like God is saying: Let’s see who can out-give the other. You give to me and to other people, and I’ll give to youand we’ll see who wins. And God always wins! He says over and over in Scripture that you will end up with more if you learn to be generous. Sometimes those blessings will be material. But sometimes they’ll be the spiritual blessings that come from a generous heart. Jesus says, Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in fullpressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back (Luke 6:38 NLT). What is Jesus saying here? Imagine you’re going to a market to buy grain. You bring a burlap sack and pay to have the whole sack filled. As the shop owner is pouring grain, you press it into your sack. Then you gently shake the sack so the grain settles down even more. You want to fit the maximum amount of grain. Jesus is saying that God’s blessings are the same. When you give generously, he’ll give so generously that you’ll have to make room for more. He gives in full measureand then somewhen you learn to be generous like him. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you. He wants you to be generous because he wants you to be like him. You can’t become more like Christ without learning to give generously. This is one of the most important decisions you will make: Is your life going to be about giving away what God has blessed you with? Will it be marked by a joyous desire to grab hold of God’s promises as you let go of the things of this earth? The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. You determine how much God blesses your life. Talk It Over What does your giving to the church and to people in need say about your faith in God’s promises to bless you as you give? Is it better as a Christian to save all your money instead of spending it? Why or why not? How have you asked God to bless your life? In what ways are you showing him that you want to become generous like he is?

ICYMI: Watch last week's mid-week beautiful and unique Advent service and be sure to watch this week's special service online or attend in person on Wednesday at 7pm. We have plenty of room for everyone to participate safely. Seminarian Aaron Parkhurst will be lending his wonderful voice to the liturgy once again. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1105549889901012/