11/23/2021
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Here is our most recent email:
Good Morning!
Thank you for a wonderful time Sunday evening. What an awesome celebration of baptism for my daughters and Abby Henkel – what a joy to worship in English, Swahili, and Spanish! And what a great meal! I wish you all a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving this week.
Here’s a quick question: have you reviewed us online? Do you know that most people find our church through the internet?
Go here to review on google - https://g.page/r/CXHh7ppyr5dzEBM/review
And here to like our page - https://www.facebook.com/firstalliancewinston
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Gathering Gifts for Special Needs Youth
Carter High School is a non-traditional high school in Winston-Salem dedicated to serving students with special needs. They are in need of community support. We would like to help them collect donations for their winter clothes drive. They need gently used coats for boys and girls ages 14-22. They prefer new hats, scarves, gloves, and socks. Consider donating as the Lord leads. This is an opportunity to help the less fortunate in our community. Please leave all items in the church office.
Movie Night – December 3rd, 7pm
The youth group will have a Christmas movie night fundraiser on Friday December 3rd at 7:00 pm. This is to raise funds for LIFE and other youth trips. We will take donations for a screening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, have a concession stand, and a gift wrapping station. There will be set prices for snacks, special homemade items, and gift services. Early Christmas shoppers- bring your gifts and we'll wrap them while you enjoy the movie. For those who have yet to shop, we can give you some gift ideas. Please let Miriam know if you would like a gift wrapped. Please invite your friends and family to this event. We appreciate your support.
Alliance Women’s Luncheon – December 5th, after the morning service
All ladies are welcomed to join for a meal after the service hosted by the Alliance Women. Come hear about and pray for our missionaries across the globe as part of this Christmas celebration! This will replace the November and December meetings of the Alliance Women.
A Christmas to Remember – December 19th, 6pm
Join us for a special night of desserts, music, a play, and worship!
Regular Events
Tuesday 7pm – Kids, Youth and Young Adult Ministries (No kids this week)
7pm – Spanish-speaking Bible Study
Wednesday 10am – Bible Study with Studio 651
11am – Hannah’s Grace
1:30pm – Stephen Ministry (1st and 3rd Weds)
Thursday 11am – The Gathering – On hold until December
Sundays Various Small Groups
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DEVOTIONAL
What can we bring to the Lord?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
- Micah 6:6-8
God is never content with right belief without right action. Repeatedly in Scripture we see a direct line between faith and action or, as I like to say, proclamation and operation. God’s people can never say “I believe the right thing” if they are sitting on their hands or acting against God’s will. Pretty much every summary statement of the meaning of faith in the Bible connects faith and works:
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 - That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad
Mark 12:30-31 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
James 2:14, 18-19 - What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? … Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
God’s judgment falls on those who say they believe the right stuff but ignore justice and mercy:
Isaiah 1
Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts;
the incense of your offerings disgusts me!
As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath
and your special days for fasting—
they are all sinful and false.
I want no more of your pious meetings.
14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!
15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look.
Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen,
for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.
16 Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.
17 Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.
I could go on and on. In theological terms, orthodoxy is inseparable from orthopraxy. In other words, faith leads to goodness and righteousness in our lives. We cannot separate Jesus the savior from Jesus the sanctifier!
Ask yourself: how is your faith working in your life? What are the outward signs of your inward realities? Just as baptism reveals our identity in the Cross of Jesus, so our lives ought to look like Jesus to the outside world.
If you think you aren’t “doing enough,” then you might have missed the point. You don’t need to try harder. You need to go back to the source, to God Himself, and ask for His Spirit to work in you in a new way. Your faith will then lead to new works as the Lord works through you. Trying harder will only frustrate you and make you feel inadequate because nothing we do is ever good enough to earn favor with the Lord. He gives us His favor freely in Christ and then works through us for His glory.
Accept the gift of works by faith – isn’t that something!
2 Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
