Yesterday's reading from Our Daily Bread  (you can get to their web page from a link on our home page) was from Romans 15:4-13.   I know verse 5, because I've prayed it often, for our church family.  It says, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."   But the Holy Spirit shared a new "jewel" from this verse as I read it in conjunction with verse 4 which says, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." 

For the last 6 weeks we've been learning about "The Basics" we need to see active in our Christian walk to grow and mature.  One of those is daily reading of scripture.  Let's be honest:  as you are systematically reading through the Bible daily this year you may come to some passages where it will take "endurance".    (For example today's Old Testament reading from Exodus 29 and 30 are not the easiest passages for us to understand their relevance to our lives today).  It will take "endurance". Another word is "discipline."  Remember what we learned a couple of weeks ago:  "It takes discipline to be a disciple." 

You may be thinking, "Pastor, I'm not sure I have the 'discipline', the 'endurance' to keep up with this."  Here's the good news ( my "new jewel" from Romans 15:5):   "GOD GIVES ENDUARANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT".    Just be straight-out honest with Him:  "Lord I don't think on my own I have what it will take to keep at this scripture reading plan."  Then ask Him, "Lord, give me YOUR endurance and encouragement to keep going."  You'll be surprised what happens!

In the words of Moses from Deuteronomy 40:13, "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach."  YOU CAN DO IT! 

Pastor

PS:  A BIG "Thank You" to all who worked so hard to make our evangelism mini-seminars sessions such a success this past Sunday.  "Thank you" to  the seminar leaders.  "Thank you to all the hosts and ushers who helped thngs to flow so smoothly.  And "Thank you" to our youth pastor,  Albert Avila who was the driving force behind the morning's events.  I hope you can put into practice from what you learned Sunday!