WEDNESDAY'S WORD- SUFFICIENT - Sadell Bradley - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"Our Heaven Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He's sufficient for all of our needs. When I accepted that as an absolute truth in my life, I found my worrying stopped." - Charles Stanley       For many, a question constantly looms, "Am I enough?" Books are written, videos are made, and seminars are held to try to convince us we indeed are enough. Yet, the constant pressures of life, work, family, friends, society, the call of God, our inward desires and our internal thoughts scream back, "No! You're not!"" SUFFICIENT means enough, or adequate; legally satisfactory; or meeting the need of. It is humbling to come to grips with the fact that even as a leader, clergy, a parent, boss or head of household...you really are insufficient to do or fix everything, to help everyone, or to meet each need that comes your way. It will take you down a peg or two to realize that at times, you can't even meet your own needs much less those of others. In Matthew 6, Jesus attempts to relieve the stress of his followers with this admonition, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Sufficient to the day is it's own trouble." (Matt 6:34) So often our sufficiency concerns are whether we'll be able to do something, make a decision, pay a bill, or handle a relational issue in the future. Jesus says, "You don't have enough capacity for all of that anxiety. Dealing with what's before you today is sufficient. Today's trouble is enough." Fear speaks of imminent danger or threat. Anxiety pertains to uncertainty about something in the future that may not even occur.  Try focusing on today.   God gives us His GRACE to deal with our insufficiency.  Grace is not just the unmerited favor or kindness He bestows on us that we do not deserve. Grace is also Divine enablement - or God's supernatural ability superimposed upon our weaknesses and insufficiency. Just like Paul in 2 Cor 12, at times we need to be humbled and receive God's grace. If not, we'll get a bad case of the big head. The revelations that Paul received, his closeness to the LORD, and his leadership responsibilities could easily put him in arrogance and make others give him 'credit beyond what they see in my life or hear in my message." (vs. 6)  He said, "So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me..." (vs.7)  The thorn that keeps us on our knees dependent before God, seems like a curse but is really a blessing! To be willing to pray, "LORD, I am NOT enough...but YOU are! Please help me!" is one of the greatest appeals one can make. His name El Shaddai, means MORE than enough. Like Paul, we ask repeatedly for difficult situations to be removed, "Each time he said, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Cor. 12:9) It's not time to give up or quit; it's time to admit your insufficiency and trust an All-Sufficient God.

SUNDAY Worship 11:00 AM Worship The Great Room Sunday Class 9:30 AM Youth Room Basement at Wyoming Presbyterian 225 Wyoming Ave., 45215 For information 513-212-1131

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - APOLOGY - Sadell Bradley 07/19/17 - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past." - Tyron Edwards       An APOLOGY is more powerful than an admission. A conflict arises and a fault or offense is revealed.  The offended party has opened a path of vulnerability by expressing that they've been injured and how it hurts.  The offending party confesses that the thing occurred, typically with reluctance - that's what admit means. "Yes, that did happen," they say...and that's it. You can hear the pregnant pause in the atmosphere as the wounded person waits for even one of the three parts of a sincere apology in the meme above. An APOLOGY is defined as a regretful acknowledgement of an offense or failure.  REGRET means to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that has happened or been done, especially a loss or missed opportunity). King David used the word CONTRITE to describe his feelings after luring and sleeping with his military subordinate Uriah's wife Bathsheba, having Uriah killed on the front lines of battle, and experiencing God's judgment - the loss of their child. "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise." (Psalm 51:17) Contrite means feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.  Without regret and repentance, we have not apologized. Are we vocal and contrite in our confession of our sins against others or even against God? or do we just say, "God already knows what I did. He knows my heart." Many struggle with forgiveness because there's never been an apology.  Sure, it's godly to be able to forgive without receiving one, but it's much more difficult. Relationships where apologies are never made or where one person is constantly apologizing even for things they have not done, have elements of jeopardy and an unspoken power struggle. If the guilty party never specifically states what the offense was, that it was their fault, asks for forgiveness and  changes their behavior; the offended party doesn't know their hurt has been acknowledged and understood. Without a true, sincere and non-compensatory apology that empathizes with their hurt, there is a greater possibility that the injury will recur. Jesus said, "Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God's precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him." (Luke 17:3, AMP)  RESTITUTION is the last part of a complete apology that we forget.  Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector, was financially cheating the Jews. He had an encounter with Jesus that brought regret, contrition and changed behavior. "But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house." (Luke 19:8-9a) Zacchaeus knew the good deeds he was doing were not enough. He'd defrauded many people and left a train of wounded folks in his wake. He was accountable to God and needed to make things right, so he did. What if we had more true apologies now?

SUNDAY Worship 11:00 AM Worship The Great Room Sunday Class 9:30 AM Youth Room Basement at Wyoming Presbyterian 225 Wyoming Ave., 45215 For information 513-212-1131

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - PERPLEXED - 07/05/17 Sadell Bradley - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."   - Robert Louis Stevenson PERPLEX - to cause someone to feel completely baffled; to complicate or confuse a matter. From the Latin perplexus or entangled, it means bewildered or interwoven. Baffled implies a situation so complex yet nonsensical, that it ridicules or mocks you, with the intent to cheat or deceive. One definition of baffle is a material that was used to prevent the spreading of sound or light in a particular direction.  Have you ever had something said or done confuse you to the point of disorientation? Bewilder means to thoroughly lead or go astray. You're lost, and you're not sure what to do.  The Apostle Paul, was very frank about the duality of his ministry experiences. Though graced by God with an immense call and responsibility, he was painfully aware of his humble beginnings on the Damascus Road (Acts 9, 26) and called himself "the least of the apostles," stating that he did not deserve to be an apostle because he persecuted the Church of God. (1 Cor. 15:29) He declared, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." (1 TIm. 1:15) Paul had to go through his paces for the other leaders and parishioners to trust and follow him as he followed Christ. (1 Cor 1:11) Some compared him to Apollos, another leader, and found him wanting. (1 Cor 3:4)   He had to defend his ministry to the church of Corinth, "For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." (2 Cor. 10:10) For the sake of the Gospel, Paul was challenged, transformed, imprisoned, run out of town, shipwrecked, and endured much hostility and degradation:  8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. (2 Cor. 4:8-12)   Your pastor or leader probably won't tell you, but at times we are perplexed beyond measure, and we have NO CLUE what to do. You thought we had that Holy Spirit pipeline on every issue all the time. Sorry to disappoint, sometimes the Heavens are as brass for us too. It's comforting to know that someone that great and close to God, who had visions and revelation no one would believe (2 Cor. 12) could also at times be utterly stumped. Paul said this perplexity could bring me to the point of hopelessness and despair. The situations I face could have me feeling rejected and abandoned by God. They have the potential to destroy me, but none of that is happening. My suffering is allowing me to live the life of the Cross. When I'm willing to share in Christ's sufferings by dying to myself, dying to having all the answers, dying to being overcome by stress, dying to the challenges, opinions and comparisons of others, and dying even to the thought that God has forsaken me...then I say that I NEED HIM and I open myself to the life that comes from Christ through me, which transforms not just me, but those I lead.

SUNDAY Worship

11:00 AM Worship
The Great Room Sunday Class
9:30 AM Youth Room Basement
at Wyoming Presbyterian
225 Wyoming Ave., 45215
For information 513-212-1131