Thanksgiving Prayer

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

As we prepare the food for our Thanksgiving tables, as we share the gift of hospitality, as our hearts overflow with gratitude, let’s look into His word and allow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to lead our thanksgiving.  The following prayer is a compilation taken from the psalmists, the prophets and the apostles.

Father, we freely offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  We joy in all Your wondrous works.  We praise Your name in singing and magnify You with thanksgiving.  With hearts overflowing, we come into Your presence. We are thankful to You and bless Your holy name. Oh, Lord, our God, we praise You.  We shout hallelujah in response to the promise that You are with us wherever we go. Father, we open our hearts knowing that Your Holy Spirit surrounds us and that You are love.

We will be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we will let our requests be made known to You.  We say: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."

 Receiving Can Also Be a Blessing 0r Call the Guy

Receiving Can Also Be a Blessing 0r Call the Guy

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe and Nancy Crowe

As Christians we rightly hold on to the truth of Acts 20:35: “It is more blessed to give than to receive. However, that scripture does not suggest that receiving is a curse. Receiving can also bring blessing.

An old adage asks, “Would you deny me the blessing of giving?” Out of our pride, we often refuse not only help from other people, but also from God Himself.

Being too proud to ask for help is wrong and dangerous, and often leads to destruction to ourselves, our property and even to other people.

Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" warns that arrogance can keep us from asking God or accepting wisdom and help from others. The Bible teaches that humility, which includes recognizing our need for help, is a virtue that receives God's blessing

• Ecclesiastes 4:9-10: "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up". Partnership and mutual assistance are valued in the Kingdom. Sometimes we even feel guilty in receiving help when we need it.

• Romans 12:5: "So in Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others". We are a community that can both give and receive as needed.

• Galatians 6:2: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ". We need the mutual support and the sharing of burdens to fulfill the law of Christ which is to love one another.

• 1 Corinthians 10:24:

"No one should seek his own good, but the good of the other person". We often hear that it takes a village to raise a child.” In my case, it takes a village to care for this grandma. I have a responsibility to that village to make their care giving is as easy for them as I can. I appreciate the lady who does some housecleaning for me. My responsibility to her is to keep things as tidy as I can so that her workload is easier. My family does not want the worry of me being on the road alone for long distances anymore. I travelled a four state region in ministry for years. Now, I don’t worry my clan by travelling alone. They don’t want me to fall off a ladder, so I don’t climb ladders. I am finally reaching the point where I no longer feel guilty in asking for help. It is a process.

Following is a delightful testimony shared by my niece.

Call the Guy

By Nancy Crowe

My dad needed a new toilet. So call the plumber, right? Of course not. My dad is an engineer. Likely he doesn’t know what DIY stands for because there is no other way. It’s just DI to him. Nor does he understand the phrase “Call the guy.” He IS the guy. And by the trickle down effect, I, too, his second daughter, am the guy. With his help. He’s my guy. Well, was my guy. I didn’t know how to call any other guy. Mechanical, electrical, home improvement, water leaks, appliance installation, landscaping. The plethora of home repairs all land on my to-do list. Well, landed. Until, after years of frustratingly slow (and often failed) DIYs, I finally figured out how to call the guy. Furnace broken? Call the guy (but don’t tell dad). Car making a funny noise? Call the guy (don’t tell dad). Water leaking? Call the guy (do not tell dad). Tree need pruned? Call the guy (hide the evidence and don’t tell dad!!).

Need a new toilet? Call the guy? Of course not. Find one online. Ok. That’s sensible. And Home Depot is having its annual Thanksgiving toilet sale (odd, but true) with free delivery. Free delivery! Dad said yes to the toilet, but no to the delivery, “You can just pick it up.” But Dad. It’s free. “We’re not doing that, you can pick it up.” But Dad. They’ll bring it into the house. “We’re not doing that!” But Dad. I don’t think it will fit in my car. “It’ll fit.” But Dad. I can’t lift it. “It’ll be in two boxes. You can lift it.” But Dad. It’s FREE. “We’re NOT doing that!”

Heading to the customer service counter at Home Depot came a guy rolling a cart with a big box. A really big box. ONE really big box. When we got to my car he looked at me and called another guy. “I’m going to need some help out here” he said to his guy. The two guys struggled to put the box in my Honda “I hope you have help on the other end” said Guy One and away they went And away I went.

From the curb to Dad’s front door is about 60 feet. Curb, sidewalk, two stairs, sidewalk, six stairs. Then three rooms and a hallway before we would hit the bathroom. I was pretty sure we couldn't do this. Dad’s 89 and I’m…well, a girl. But gravity helped us get started. We got the box onto the street and paused to talk about how heavy it was. And to rest. We “walked” it up the curb and pushed it to the base of the first two stairs. And then we stopped again to rest and talk about how heavy it was. And then somehow we got it up those stairs. And again we stopped to rest. We were six feet from the car and spent. We slid/carried it up the sidewalk to those six steps to the porch. We tipped it and pushed and actually got it resting on the first and second step. And the sidewalk. There was no way this was going any farther. I hopelessly looked around for help as mom said “This would have been a good time for someone to stop and help.” I admitted defeat and forced Dad to do the same. We decided to open the box and take pieces out one at a time. Just as we reached inside, a Suburban drove by and parked at our neighbor’s house. And backed up! Wait, Dad. Maybe this was help. He ignored me and kept working on the contents of the box. Mom and I, however, were locked in on the Suburban. And out stepped Paul Bunyan. Not kidding. Easily the largest man I had ever seen.

“You guys need some help?” Luckily Dad is notorious for his slow responses. Mom and I, not so much. In unison we answered a grateful yes to this giant of a man walking toward us. And then another guy got out of the Suburban. Not quite as large, but if I had seen him first I would have thought he was the biggest man I had ever seen. I explained to Paul Bunyan what we were doing and suggested that the two of them could probably lift it. Before Small Paul reached us, Paul folded the flaps over and casually picked it up himself and carried it up the steps.

“Thanks, we can take it from here.” (Dad, not me.) But Mom already had the door propped open. Paul kept walking. In the living room now. Where do you want it? “Right here is fine.” (Again Dad, not me.) Paul looks around (still holding the box), “Where’s the bathroom?” He started carrying the toilet through the house. He saw a bathroom in the hallway and looked at me to ask if that’s the spot. I shook my head and told him it was through the hall and into the bedroom while we both ignored Dad’s persistent, “Right here is fine.”

Dad and I followed Paul into the bedroom and left Mom to make friends with Small Paul. I watched in near disbelief as Paul carried the box around the bed and started unpacking its contents. While he chatted he was peeling off the plastic and casually organizing the pieces onto the floor. Dad was trying to chat but his uneasiness was palpable. I know he was trying to find a way to thank them and get them to leave. So I tried to keep the conversation going. Keep Dad boxed out of it. Finally, with the box completely unpacked, Dad broke in and said, “Well thanks. We can take it from here.”

And Paul Bunyan said, “Oh, ok. If you want to install it yourselves. But…this is what I do.”

This is what I DO?! Paul Bunyan is a plumber. An actual plumber! He IS the guy!!

And Dad acquiesced. Mom continued to make a new friend, Dad watched Paul, and I sneaked outside to call my sister to tell her of the Thanksgiving plumbing miracle. Minutes into the call, Small Paul walked out the front door casually carrying the old toilet. “We’ll take care of this for you.” WHAT?! The miracle continued!

By the time I get back inside, the toilet was installed and they were all just chatting. Small Paul was visiting from the east to hunt with his brother, but Paul lives just up the street. Turns out Paul’s wife is best friends with one of my colleagues. Mom invited them to Bible study on Wednesdays and Paul invited her to theirs on Thursdays. They wouldn’t take any money, but we managed to get their address so we could send them a gift card. And Paul gave us his number for the next time we need help. “I’m just up the street, please call.”

I gave Dad a win by pointing out that if I had had my way and had it delivered, we’d probably still be installing the thing. Good job, Dad. And then I casually suggested that he take Paul up on his offer to help anytime with anything.

Dad thought for a long time as is his method and finally said, “Yeah, I might call the guy.”

Hebrews 4:16:

"Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need".

Whether we are giving or receiving, sometimes we need to ask God for the plumbing angels and praise both Him and them for coming to us.

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Euodia and Syntyche: Strife in the Body

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Philippians 4:2-3:  “I beg Euodia and Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I also beg you, true yoke-fellow, help those women who labored in the gospel with me and with Clement, and others of my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the Book of Life.”

While we do not know what Euodia and Syntyche disagreed about, we do know that Paul felt it needed to be addressed.  Being of one mind in the Lord does not mean that we will agree on all the details of life.  It also does not mean that we must browbeat others in the submission.  Being of one mind in the Lord means that we will humble ourselves and be willing to consider other opinions and options.  Paul covered the subject well earlier in Philippians.

Philippians 2:1-7: “ If there is therefore any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tendernesses and mercies, then fulfill my joy, that you may be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Do not let each man look upon his own things, but each man also on the things of others. For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

Isaiah shows us how to be of one mind. Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You.” 

Helen Howarth Lemmel wrote:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace”

Notice how Paul intervenes in the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche. 

Paul addresses the ladies by name and shows respect for them.  He calls them co-laborers in the ministry and notes that both their names are written in the book of life.  He then asks a “true yoke- fellow” to help resolve the situation.  The church is a body.  When one part hurts, the whole body hurts.  We need community.  We need peacemakers.

Mathew 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers! For they shall be called the sons of God. 

 Prayer in the Midst of Discouragement and Despair

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Oh, Lord God, we know that you are our refuge and our strength.  Your desire is that we should not walk in fear.  Therefore, You have placed within us Your love, Your peace and Your joy so that, in spite of what is happening around us, we rejoice in Your Holy Spirit Who is our Comforter  (John 14:26).

If we allow terrorism to terrorize us, we allow terrorism to win.  Therefore, we stand against the spirit of terrorism, that Hittite spirit, with the sword of the word of God in our right hand. We stand in the promises of Your peace and protection.

Because Jesus is the Name above all Names, we are unafraid to name our enemy.  In naming our enemy, we come to understand our enemy.  In that understanding and in the wisdom from above, we find strategy to defeat that enemy.

You have told us, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”   (Matthew 5:44 NKJV).The greatest good that can come to those who are now raging against us is for them to come into covenant with You through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, we pray for those who deny that Jesus is the Son of God, who deny that He paid the ultimate sacrifice for sin, who deny that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords to come to know Him, to embrace Him as Lord and to come into His peace.  The enemy of our souls has them in the bondage of fear.  We pray for them to be released into the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Lord, we, too, step out of the bondage of fear and into the security of Your love.  We remember the words that Paul wrote to the church, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39 NKJV).”

Amen.

 

Priscilla: co-worker with Paul

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Act 18:1-3:  And after these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. And finding a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome) Paul came to them. And because he was of the same trade, he stayed and worked with them; for they were tentmakers by occupation. 

Paul, Priscilla and Aquila were tentmakers. Priscilla and Aquila had been among the Jews expelled from Rome by the Roman Emperor Claudius in the year 49.. They ended up in Corinth. Paul lived with Priscilla and Aquila for approximately 18 months. Then the couple started out to accompany Paul when he to Syria. However, they but stopped at Ephesus , now part of modern Turkey.

1Corinthias 16:19  The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

 Paul passed on the greetings of Priscilla and Aquila to their friends in Corinth, indicating that the couple were with him. Paul founded the church in Corinth. Priscilla and Aquila must have been involved in the founding of that church. This happened before 54 AD, when Claudius died and the expulsion of the Jews from Rome was lifted.

Rom 16:3-4:  Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 

 The book of Romans is thought to have been written in 56 or 57.   Paul sends his greetings to Priscilla and Aquila who risked their lives to save his.

Priscilla was a woman of Jewish heritage and one of the earliest known Christian converts who lived in Rome. She is often thought to have been the first example of a female preacher or teacher in early church history. With her husband, she was missionary, a friend and minister of the word, and a friend of and a co-worker with Paul.

This couple were among the earliest known Christian missionaries in the first century. In Acts 18:24–28, Luke reports the couple explaining Jesus' baptism to Apollos, an important Jewish-Christian evangelist in Ephesus. Paul indicates Apollos is an apostle,^{[15]: pp.230–231} an "eloquent speaker" who had a "thorough knowledge of the Scriptures". He had been "instructed in the way of the Lord" which he taught with great "enthusiasm". He began to preach boldly in the synagogue. However, he knew only the baptism of John the Baptist—not the baptism taught by Jesus. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him "more accurately".^[16]

Tradition claims that Aquila and Priscilla were martyred together.

 

 Continuing Reformation

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

As we remember and celebrate the Great Reformation, it is important for us to recognize that all great reformations spiritually, socially and politically have begun in the Church, the Bride of Christ. They have continued in the lives of individual Christians.
May we join together spiritually and sing and pray this great old hymn written by J. Edwin Orr:

SEARCH ME, O GOD

Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
cleanse me from ev'ry sin and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
fulfill Thy Word and make me pure within.
Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame;
grant my desire to magnify Thy name.

Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride;
I now surrender, Lord— in me abide.

O Holy Spirit, revival comes from Thee;
send a revival– start the work in me.
Thy Word declares Thou will supply our need;
for blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.

 A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:  The Reformation is a celebration of who God Is.

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Martin Luther loved to praise God and wrote many hymns.  His most famous hymn is “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”  Most of us learned the English translation by Fredrick H. Hedge.  That translation was published in 1853.   The hymn is based on Psalm 46.

Psalm 46:1-3 (NKJV):
¹  God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
²  Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
³  Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Let’s celebrate the Reformation, the knowledge that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), with renewed hearts proclaiming that God is our refuge and our strength and in Him we need not fear.  What a powerful word for today.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.