Presbyterian Devotions: Making a Difference - 1 Peter 4:10

1 Peter 4:10    Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others,  faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Tonight, on NBC news (6:30PM EST), several of our church members will be highlighted on the “Making a Difference” spot. Steve and Tracy Foster formed a non-profit organization several years ago called “Project Being There.” The focus of the organization is to help orphaned children, some of whom are severely handicapped, in Vietnam. It’s an amazing project and very worthy of national attention.

Tracy and Steve adopted three Vietnamese children years ago to give them a loving home and better opportunities in their lives. But the Fosters wanted to do even more for the many children in Vietnam who live in the orphanages that the Fosters visited. They have dedicated much of their lives to the well-being of St Ans Orphanage and have also given their children an amazing way of how to serve other people. Many of our church folks generously support this project and it’s great to see Steve and Tracy get national recognition for what they seek to accomplish over there.

They are a wonderful example of people using their God-given gifts to serve the needs and better the lives of other people. God’s grace is being faithfully administered to those young children in Vietnam. Their lives are significantly and positively changed through the work, care, and focus of the Fosters and their friends. Those orphaned and handicapped children were once set aside and forgotten by their communities. Now they have better opportunities of care and education, nurture and love.

I heartily recommend that you watch the “Making a Difference” segment on NBC tonight. You can also read about, view, and support some of the work that the Fosters are currently proposing on the “Project Being There” website – just click on the following link: https://projectbeingthere.org/Home_Page.html

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, thank You for the generous hearts and minds that You inspire in people every day. Thank You for the gracious work of organizations like Project Being There which seek to help the most helpless in our world. Bless them with support and enable them to truly make significant differences in the lives of those they seek to aid. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Saving Grace

Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

‘There but for the grace of God, go I’ was one of John Wesley’s sayings. It was his way of expressing thankfulness to God for mercy, whilst at the same time realizing his own human weaknesses. If it wasn’t for God’s grace, John Wesley felt that he would have been overcome by all sorts of evil and sin.

Recently, I visited with the AA group that meets in our church. My usual Bible study had been cancelled, so I took the opportunity to make a house-call amongst the Twelve Steppers. It brought back memories to me and, as I sat there, I inwardly thanked God for His power and influence over me which kept me from remaining a hopeless alcoholic.

It was also good to see other men who had traveled that road, too. I admired their courage and knew of the struggles they described. It was a really good meeting and the Twelve Steppers are very supportive. None of them are judgmental; and all of them, including myself, began their sharing with the words: “Hello, my name is …., and I’m an alcoholic.”

But the grace of God just isn’t for alcoholics. It’s for all of us. It’s for the busy mother who is worn out looking after her children. It’s for the harassed worker who is trying to meet an urgent deadline. It’s for the school teacher who tries each week to inspire her students to learn something new. It’s for the teenager who is struggling with peer pressure, who wants to do what is right. And it’s for the senior who sees the world changing faster than ever and wonders where the good old days have gone.

The grace of God is for each of us. As human beings we are weak, frail, prone to temptation and apt to sin. No matter who we are or what we’ve done, we all need the grace of God to grant us that divine opportunity to begin again, to take a step in the right direction, and to be lovingly embraced by God. In other words, our lives are rescued from the messes that we create through the love, mercy, and grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

So no matter who you are today or what you’ve done in the past, receive a new beginning through the gracious love of God.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we make mistakes in our lives that negatively affect our relationships, spoil our dreams, and sometimes destroy our hopes. We come to You, seeking Your grace to give us the opportunity to begin again and start anew. We know that we don’t deserve this, but that’s why You call it ‘grace.’ Be with us and love us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.