CERRO GORDO CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN
November 10, 2024
Praise Him! Praise Him!
Ephesians 1:3-7
I hope you had a great Sunday last week with those from Willow Tree
sharing with you.
What led me to this message today was some of the things I experienced
last weekend. Last Saturday was District Conference. Our special music
guest was very inspirational following our lunch break. Then the moderator
for this year’s District Conference wanted a song that would get us woke up
and encouraged. Carol was our song leader so she came up with the song,
“Praise Him, Praise Him.” We are going to close out our service this morning
with that song. As we were singing and I might say, everyone really sang out,
the Lord reminded me of how much we have to thank God for and how
much we have to praise our Savior for. The words of this song really spoke
to me in a way I don’t believe I had allowed the Lord to speak to me before.
This song is a song of celebration to all who believe and have received Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. I could close out our time together by simply
sharing the words of this song; they are that powerful and that encouraging.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy Name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness;
Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song!
What a powerful message that first verse gives to God’s church, to you and
me, God’s people.
Let us look at a couple of the things we are reminded of about Jesus in this
verse. First of all, we are encouraged to tell of the love Jesus has shown and
give to all who will receive. We are then reminded to share what power
Jesus has been given. As a result, we should give proper honor and glory to
him. We are told Jesus will guard His children in His arms. He carries them all
day long. Jesus is there to provide us with the strength and courage to keep
moving forward even when we don’t think we can. In fact, on those
occasions when we think we can’t keep going on, then we are told Jesus will
carry us in His arms.
The next two verses are just as powerful. The verses we read in Ephesians
seems to me to be the inspiration for this song, because it seems to say
almost the exact same things this song is telling us. As I said, we are going to
sing this song in just a few minutes, but I would like to share just a few more
things mentioned in this song before we do that.
The whole reason we call ourselves Christians is because of the love God
showed through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The second verse gets to the
heart of showing just how much God loves us. Jesus Christ suffered; he bled
and he died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. That shows just how
far God was willing to go to redeem us. As mentioned in verse 4 of
Ephesians 1, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless in his sight.”
I do not know about you, but I have to admit I haven’t been able to live a
100% holy and blameless life and yet what Jesus did for us makes us holy
and blameless in the eyes of God. That is love.
The third verse tells of the attitude all of God’s people should have. Let loud
hosannas ring. Jesus is victorious over everything we are unable to be
victorious over by ourselves.
As we consider everything that has been done on our behalf, that last
statement before the chorus should be constantly in our hearts and coming
from our lips. “Power and glory unto the Lord belong.”
These verses from Ephesians and this song should get us excited about being
a child of God knowing how much we are loved. Let’s now sing this
incredible song of praise to our Lord!
Pastor Larry
Announcements:
Sunday School 9:00
Tuesday 9:30 Bible Study
November 17 Mary Jessup will be our speaker.
November 18 Beef Noodle supper—Fair fundraiser
December 1 soup lunch after worship; decorate sanctuary and
fellowship hall
December 5 Board Meeting for new and current members:
6:00 Commissions; 6:30 Board; reorganize after board meeting
December 7 Pick up candy orders
December 8 Community Christmas Vespers here
December 11 Women’s Lunch—reveal prayer partners
Candy Orders taken now through November 30—see flyer
Sign up in the back to help supply Vespers refreshments and to
work.
Pastor Larry Traxler (217) 454-2362
Donation Box for November: The Lord's Storehouse
First Sundays: Food Bank donations
Keep in Your Prayers
Shirley Krall; Bobby’s father; Ruth Siburt; Dorthea Wood; Mike
and Kathy Gentry; Paul Kohler; Steve Needham; Larry Traxler;
Nancy Fansler; Stacie Warren; Nancy Gorrell; Nora Hanaver;
Ron and Kathleen Petersen; Doug Larrick; Shirley Clarkson;
David and Jan Bower; Debbie Garvey Leibrock; Mike and Carol
Seidenstricker; Adiline Young; Mayo and Darlene Hanaver;
many unspoken requests; victims of shootings and of natural
disasters; shut-ins; the Nigerian church; the Haitian church;
those in the middle of war and violence; military and other
services and their families; Brethren Volunteer Service workers;
Disaster project workers
District Prayer Calendar: Pray for the Shalom Team and the
Ethics Team and for On Earth Peace.
