Hello there! Hope everyone had a good week🙂

If you’ve been bombarded with problems, people, and technology and you need an exit strategy, pop over to the Bridge — we get it. In the early days of quarantine, the magic of technology felt like a blessing. For some jobs, one click, and poof — all of your colleagues appear in neat little rows. By now, the spell has worn off. The technology exhaustion feels more like a curse that will prove hard to break, especially the whole definitely not awkward at all sensation of trying to judge when it’s okay to jump into the conversation.

At church, we’re so thankful for the times we are together. We had great services this past week and can’t wait to do it again starting tonight! If you want to be part of something good and hear things that will open your eyes and set your feet on the right path, join us.

Here’s our focus right now and always: we are called to build God’s kingdom on the earth and help build His Church. Brother Nobles just told us the best way to build the Church is by strengthening ourselves, overcoming our nature daily, and building our own relationship with Jesus closer. When we do these things, we will build others. The Lord takes care of all the rest. When everyone else is pointing a finger, we’re pointing the way to eternal life.

Share this with a friend who’s been praying to find God’s direction for their lives. His answer is worth the wait.

By Sister Lisa LaFleur Meinhardt

This past weekend, Brother Nobles talked about our choice to make the right decisions, the amount of work it takes to apply righteousness, and how desire does not come on its own – you have to feed it.

It made me think about Acts 15. It’s one of those chapters in the Bible that you can just pass right by, but last year we did a production about Acts (hey, young people). It showed us it’s worth looking at and helped us appreciate what we have here in our churches.

It Seemed Good

In the midst of some sharp contention in this chapter, there is a phrase that jumps out:

“It seemed good . . . “

“It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul . . . For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” (vs 25 and 28)

Right now in your situation, what seems good? It’s in this soil of “what seems good” that people make decisions. And what they sow in the soil of what seems good determines the fruit they see in their lives and what they reap. What seems good becomes very important.

Many terrible decisions, and sometimes life-changing decisions, have been made in this space whether between decension and contention, isolation in our own thinking, an emotionally low point, or without wise direction. 

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” -Proverbs 14:12

What seems good can literally bring destruction in your life, or what seems good can bring great peace to a difficult situation and great opportunity turning something negative into an amazing blessing. What seems good can cause you to make crazy decisions, and when your carnal nature is onboard, it can cause you to make decisions on the rebound, decisions that are short-term, decisions that can ostracize you from what God really has for your life, and decisions that result in disastrous consequences for your home, your marriage, or your family.

All kinds of crazy choices can happen. All in the moment . . . it seemed good.

Think about in our lives what it really means to live with the right choices. These “seem goods” in Acts 15 – there are some important things about them.

God’s House isn’t somewhere you Just pop into

It’s something in which you get rooted and planted, where you get equipped and grow, and where you realize that unity in Christ is about being interconnected to God’s people.

“It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.” -Acts 15:25

A powerful “us” lies in this verse.  Who is your us? With whom are you in accord? Accord comes from “cord”. Who or what are you tied to?

If you’re in accord with Godly people who have been a part of your life a long, long time, there’s a good chance you’re going to make good decisions.  In verse 38, the Holy Ghost is in us, but we have to use it and make it part of the decisions we make, so we won’t make foolish choices.

You can accomplish great things in your life that you could have never done on your own—walking hand-in-hand with God’s people.

It Takes Faith to Let God Be God

Trust Him, and He will lead you to the right place.

As in Acts 15, make sure our “seems good” lines up with the Lord, and we decide we’re not going to make random choices on our own, but we’re going to be in accord with the right people. Best decisions are made in the multitude of counsellors. Elder taught us that we find safety there.

“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” -Prov 11:14

Not a multitude of opinions – that will only confuse you, but direction that comes from a Godly ministry. Without direction, people lose their way.  The more wise direction you follow, the greater you will reap good things from the Lord.

“Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.” -Proverbs 15:22

Refuse good direction, and watch your plans fail.  Take it, and watch them succeed.

“For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.” -Proverbs 24:6 

To win the war, we need to take the right direction the Ministry is giving us. We need to be around the right people.  We need people in our lives who help save us from ourselves—who say something to us that nudges us not to make wrong, maverick decisions that can jeopardize our children, our families, and our future with the Lord. 

We need to surround ourselves with God’s people—we need them in our lives.  We pray for each other, and we need that.

God’s People Have Always Sacrificed to Follow His Way

In verse 22, they traveled to Antioch and back. It doesn’t look like a big deal on the page, but the terrain was anything but easy. It wasn’t like just walking along a nice country road. They didn’t have Nike’s—they had sandals, yet they walked 300 miles. There are so many more examples, but hey, we just happened to be in Acts 15.

One thing we never have to worry about — if we do our part, God will not just meet our needs, but He will exceed them. Before Jesus was born on earth, before Joseph and Mary even left Nazareth to go to Bethlehem, the gold was on the way. The wise men had already left their country. We might not always see it, it will not always be in our time, but God will have an answer on the way. He will take care of us.

Holy, Holy, Holy

Normally, I stay out of the book of Revelation. I grew up hearing it taught, but you know how it feels when you hear someone say “the book of Revelation”? Right!? I feel in awe and respect of God’s power, and without a ministry, we could never understand it. One thing for sure, if you ever thought heaven would be boring, you obviously haven’t read it. When I think of God, I think of Revelations and thunder. There is nothing boring about thunder or a move of God.

Thunder is power and with it comes lightning. If you’ve ever watched a big storm, you can feel the house shake from thunder and watch it light up the ocean, the whole sky, and entire mountains. It is spectacular and to be respected.

I was thinking of a song we sing at church that repeats the words “holy, holy, holy”. I’ve sang it to myself this week and was drawn to this verse in Revelation:

“And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever.” -Revelation 4:8-9

Maybe the first time we sing “holy, holy, holy”, we say it because He is God. But then we circle back around, and when we do, we see something in his face that we didn’t see before. Not literally, of course, but we see that our worship should never get old that we will never come to the end of who He is — and how He created us and all of everything . . . and how He called us to be part of Him. If you ever take a minute and put that in perspective, it is mind-blowing.

Find God’s people. Get with them. He will pour so much into your life❤️