New Year Resolutions often don’t last the first week of the year, but I do believe that new year is an excellent time to renew again the basic COMMITMENTS of following Jesus.

Keep your new year commitments as short, simple and specific as possible.  Don’t have 25 goals, each made up 10 projects, and don’t let yourself be “vague” either.

Let me suggest a simple starting point for a plan you can adapt for yourself:

1. Read your Bible through in 2012

Find a simple plan to guide you. Here’s a great site to help:

youversion.com

You can sign up for free, and use the main site or download the apps for your smartphone or tablet. It has lots of great Bible reading plans to choose from, including basic through the Bible in a year options.

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There were a few GOOD kings in the old history of Israel (more in the Northern kingdom of Judah than the Southern kingdom of Israel), but mostly both kingdoms had wicked kings.  And of all the wicked kings in either kingdom, we’re scraping the barrel when we get to a man called Manasseh. He was about as evil as they got. Think Hitler, Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein all rolled into one.

We read his story in 2 Chronicles 33:1-11.

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Last night at our Leadership PITstop meeting I shared the following teaching. Here’s the outline if you weren’t there:

The MOST Challenging Person to Lead

Who is it?  YOURSELF, of course!

Without question the MOST challenging person to lead is ourselves, and yet self-leadership is absolutely essential if we are going to be used by God.

Most Christian leaders can identify with the common experience of trying at times to “minister from a dry well”.  Those times when you are required to instruct or inspire others, but you’re scratching around to find something, because your own soul is so lean. You’re spiritually dry. Inevitably, this is the result of a failure in self-leadership. (You’ve stopped growing, stopped Bible study and meditation, stopped communing with God in prayer.)

Recently our Deacon Board spent time discussing this maxim: “Grow the Leaders … Grow the Church!”  If we want to see the church grow (in health, strength, quality, and resources – as well as numerically) then it has to begin first with the growth of the leaders.

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If you haven’t watched this video yet, cancel your next appointment … carve out 33 minutes … and watch it right now.

THEN post it to your blog, website, or share it on you favorite social media.

YES … it’s that important.

Pastor Phil

(Warning: Contains graphic images. Viewer discretion advised … but you NEED to see it.)

An Invitation from First Assembly … Still no power at your house since Saturday’s snowstorm?

Bring your family to the church TONIGHT AT 6:00pm for dinner!

First Assembly of God, 133 Junction Road, Brookfield, CT.

- It’s warm …
- We’re serving Alli’s special soup & sandwiches
- Tea & coffee …
- Charge up your devices while you’re here …
- Best of all have warm fellowship with friends.

Got your power back already? … aah, come anyway … it’ll be fun!

Pastor Phil

I didn’t set out to write a sermon about Facebook. Not for or against. Wasn’t even particularly thinking about Facebook as I sat there studying my Bible. But there it was … pow!

What the Bible has to say about Facebook is actually much bigger than the website. It’s bigger than the whole social media phenomenon. As always God’s word speaks to every generation, and it’s joys and struggles. Our current fixation with social media is a symptom of something … a symptom and a cause.

If you live in the Danbury area, come to First Assembly of God, Brookfield, and hear more. 10.45am.

Phil

Today’s Devotion:

Fruitfulness to the Glory of God

Read John 15:1-5

The scene takes place right after the Last Supper.  Judas has gone off to do his wicked deed, and Jesus has just washed the feet of the disciples, teaching them a lesson about servant leadership.  Jesus and His disciples left the Upper Room and walked toward the Garden of Gethsemane.  Passing the temple, they could not help but notice that one of the chief ornaments on the gate was a golden vine with a cluster of grapes as large as a man, which, to the Apostles, represented the nation of Israel.  Jesus is about to change the direction of their focus.  He told them that they were the branches, that Jesus was the true vine, and the Father was the vinedresser.

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First Assembly of God will be hosting a Love and Respect Video Conference with Dr. Emerson and Sarah Eggerichs.

Whether married, divorced, separated, dating or single you don’t want to miss this important event!

The powerful truth about Love and Respect is that the conflicts couples experience are not the root problem. Successful couples know that harmony and happiness in marriage are not primarily achieved by solving daily problems.

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Today’s Devotion:

Christ Our Glorious King

Read Matthew 25:31-46

With great certainty Jesus spoke of a coming Day of Glory, for Himself and all true believers. He did not say, “IF,” but “WHEN the Son of Man shall come…” This is Messianic language, the day when He returns to earth to be manifested in all His glory. John saw this in rapturous vision – Revelation 19. And nothing more inspires an ardent pursuit of God, His Son, and His will, than the Book in which we perceive our Lord’s own fore-showing to His people as to how and wherein all their faith and expectations in Him will reach their ultimate goal.

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Today’s Devotion:

The Mighty Heart of Jesus

Read Mark 10:13-16

It’s a very moving and significant event in the life and ministry of Jesus.  He has answered the Pharisees on a crucial subject – that of the Divine institution, sacredness, and permanence of the marriage covenant. He lays down solid principles as He defines and dignifies marriage.  Resorting to a nearby house to give more teaching in private to His disciples they are soon joined by many mothers bringing their infant children to Jesus for His blessing.  Sadly, the disciples rudely “rebuked those that brought them”, waving them away.  Why did they show little regard for the feelings of the mothers, as well as for the rights of the children? Did they not know that the mighty heart of Jesus has room for all, whoever they are! John 3:16.
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Today’s Devotion:

Ransomed From the Power of the Grave

Read Hosea 13:14

The greatest ransom ever reported in modern times was $60 million dollars for the release of the brothers Jorge and Juan Born, paid to the left-wing urban guerrilla group Montoneros, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 20, 1975.

The greatest ransom ever was paid in full by the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  He has ransomed us, not from Satan, but from the death penalty for sin, decreed by the righteous decree of the Father.  It is to Him alone that the ransom was owed, and to Him that it was paid.
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Today’s Devotion:

Phew! I’m Glad That’s a Story for Someone Else!

Read Luke 14:15-24

We Christians have heard many sermons about the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, and usually they are cariciatured as evil men with frozen sneers and crooked noses, peering around corners, always trying to trap Jesus. This is all built on a kernel of truth, of course, because they certainly did oppose Jesus, and He certainly did denounce them many times for their religious hypocrisy.

The problem is that it’s too easy to make a cariciature of someone like that, so that we can easily dismiss them as being far different than ourselves.

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