![]() Many times when we enter into the new year, we begin with great intentionality. We have goals we’d like to accomplish, places we’d like to visit, and people we want to spend more time with. Now that we are a month in, how is your intentionality? I know personally that I do well with a new habit for 3 or 4 weeks and then it begins to peter out. While it may feel like you have failed when your intentions didn’t come to fruition, it is instead an opportunity to begin again. In Lamentations 3:22-24 it reads, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in Him (ESV).’” The Lord has promised you unended mercies each and every morning whether your intentions for the previous day were met or not. He gives you a new day to begin again and go back to your intentions you previously set. He has provided another chance to work on your goals. Before I started at Peace in 2020, the congregation was intentional about creating a vision statement of where the direction should go. Five years later, this vision has remained and it reads: A Family Encouraged, A Community Embraced, Everyone Saved. This vision is still our intention for Peace and what we want to strive towards with the help of the Holy Spirit. While the vision is something that is talked about within the church leadership, it is also a vision for every member at Peace! Each person at Peace has the opportunity to take intentional steps–with the help of the Holy Spirit–to encourage those around them, to embrace their neighbors and community, and to share the love of Jesus so that all may know that Christ died to forgive their sins and give salvation. Our yearly intentions along with our vision set at church may not be a habit because we lose track of our “why” and our goals. This is when we need to be reminded of Lamentations once more–God’s mercy hasn’t ended because I wasn’t as disciplined in these areas as I should be. In fact, God gives the promise that there is another day to begin again and to work towards our intentions. As we are a part of the Peace family, how can we work towards our vision again in 2025? When we look at “A Family Encouraged”, is there a Connect Group you could be a part of? Is there a ministry team that you can volunteer with? When looking at “A Community Embraced”, which of your neighbors could use an encouraging conversation? Is there a neighbor you don’t yet know? Lastly, when looking at “Everyone Saved”, am I sharing Christ with those around me with my words and actions? Is there someone who needs the love of Jesus through clothing or food? Our intentions are an incredible gift that the Lord can use to help us accomplish many good things. While they don’t save us or change how much God loves us, they are good ways to help our neighbor! If you are feeling down with unmet intentions of January, remember that God’s mercies are new every morning and a new month is beginning. Great is the Lord’s faithfulness to you! -Cami Hamer, Director of Discipleship
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![]() Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. Malachi 3:10 I once had someone tell me that all the church does is ask for money. As I was considering this statement, I continued to see multiple places where money or possessions or riches are talked about in the Bible. In fact, in the parables of Jesus, money and possessions are the most common images that He uses! This shouldn’t be a surprise. Then, like now, money was needed to provide the necessities of life. Then, like now, people put their trust in their wealth instead of the one true God. When Deb and I were first married, we were members of a church that was undergoing its first building campaign. We were excited to be part of the campaign, but Deb was wrapping up college, and I had only been working a couple of years. There were months when we were struggling to pay bills at the end of the month, and there were definitely times when we couldn’t do what we wanted to do. We took another look at our budget and after prayerful consideration, we decided that we could pledge $65 a month towards the building project. It would be difficult, but we would make this three-year commitment work. An interesting thing happened during those three years. Even though our income did not go up drastically and even though we still struggled at times with our finances, God continued to provide. The window of heaven opened up to give us contentment with His provision. The blessing we received was a deeper faith in our God – a trust in Him to provide for us as we gave first to the Lord. God was at work, renovating our lives and leading us to place our trust in Him more than in the things of this world. Throughout our lives, by the work of the Holy Spirit, He has continued to help us grow in our trust in Him. During this next month, I encourage each of you to prayerfully consider how He might be challenging you to step forward in faith to join in our “Renovating Lives: So All Might Believe” campaign. Our hope is that through the changes to Peace that this renovation project entails, this place will be where lives are renovated by the power of the Holy Spirit for the next 60+ years! Deb and I have made a sacrificial pledge towards this project. We pray you will consider doing the same so more lives might be changed! In His Peace, Pastor Cory |
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January 2025
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