From the Pastor's Desk (Nov. 2025)
In that day you will say: “Give praise to the LORD, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.” ~Isaiah 12:4-5
Once in a while, topics like Giving Thanks are so broadly covered in scripture that it helps to do an extremely sophisticated search (Google) to see all of the possible passages gathered in one place, then I can more easily skim down through them to determine what direction I feel God may want me to go. Of the several I read, these two verses from Isaiah 12 stood out to me the most. It was only after I selected these verses for use that I decided to read the entire chapter, and discovered God’s sense of humor.
If you happened to be in church on October 12 when I began speaking about the Living Water segment of our Mission and Vision, you may remember I quoted a prophetic text that went along quite well with our primary passage about the Samaritan woman at the well. The passage read: With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. It just so
happens that that is but one verse before the above passage (Isaiah 12:3).
Since we have established God’s mysterious way of drawing our attention to His gems in scripture, let’s now unpack what these verses are saying. In the simplest of terms, this passage is an action text that strongly discourages us from keeping the goodness, the awesomeness, the love, the amazing deeds and acts, and the salvation of God to ourselves. We should want to be as excited about sharing the good news of who God is and what He does as readily as we are to tell others about all of the other good things that happen in our lives.
My thought is this: Since November is the month we will gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, and my original goal was to share a passage of scripture about that holiday, and God led me right back to a passage I had used as a key verse in our Vision and Mission series, could it be that Thanksgiving would be an excellent time to begin putting our Mission and Vision into action?
I realize it may not be everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving tradition to go around the table and say one thing you are thankful for, but it seems to inevitably happen at some point every year in our gatherings. Maybe that’s the perfect time to put this passage into action. Use your time of sharing to describe to your family and friends the answers to the following questions.
· What is it about God’s name that makes you want to proclaim it?
· What is something that God has done for you that you are incredibly thankful for?
· What is one way you have grown in your faith because of what God has taught you this year?
Make your Thanksgiving proclamations this Thanksgiving be about giving praise and credit to the source of those amazing blessings. What better place to start the action steps of our Vision and Mission Statements than in the warm and cozy company of family and friends? Happy Thanksgiving!
~Pastor Eric
Once in a while, topics like Giving Thanks are so broadly covered in scripture that it helps to do an extremely sophisticated search (Google) to see all of the possible passages gathered in one place, then I can more easily skim down through them to determine what direction I feel God may want me to go. Of the several I read, these two verses from Isaiah 12 stood out to me the most. It was only after I selected these verses for use that I decided to read the entire chapter, and discovered God’s sense of humor.
If you happened to be in church on October 12 when I began speaking about the Living Water segment of our Mission and Vision, you may remember I quoted a prophetic text that went along quite well with our primary passage about the Samaritan woman at the well. The passage read: With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. It just so
happens that that is but one verse before the above passage (Isaiah 12:3).
Since we have established God’s mysterious way of drawing our attention to His gems in scripture, let’s now unpack what these verses are saying. In the simplest of terms, this passage is an action text that strongly discourages us from keeping the goodness, the awesomeness, the love, the amazing deeds and acts, and the salvation of God to ourselves. We should want to be as excited about sharing the good news of who God is and what He does as readily as we are to tell others about all of the other good things that happen in our lives.
My thought is this: Since November is the month we will gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, and my original goal was to share a passage of scripture about that holiday, and God led me right back to a passage I had used as a key verse in our Vision and Mission series, could it be that Thanksgiving would be an excellent time to begin putting our Mission and Vision into action?
I realize it may not be everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving tradition to go around the table and say one thing you are thankful for, but it seems to inevitably happen at some point every year in our gatherings. Maybe that’s the perfect time to put this passage into action. Use your time of sharing to describe to your family and friends the answers to the following questions.
· What is it about God’s name that makes you want to proclaim it?
· What is something that God has done for you that you are incredibly thankful for?
· What is one way you have grown in your faith because of what God has taught you this year?
Make your Thanksgiving proclamations this Thanksgiving be about giving praise and credit to the source of those amazing blessings. What better place to start the action steps of our Vision and Mission Statements than in the warm and cozy company of family and friends? Happy Thanksgiving!
~Pastor Eric
Recent
Archive
2025
September
2024
Categories
no categories
No Comments