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   Pastor:
   Rev. Dr. Stacey D. Jones

   Contact Us:
   1416 20th Street
   Ames, Iowa 50010
   Phone: (515) 233-2540
   Fax: (515) 233-6645

   E-Mail:
   Church Office

Worship Schedule

9:30am - Worship
10:30am - Coffee Fellowship
10:45am - Sunday School

Handicap Accessible
Childcare is available

NPC Weekly Devotional
for the Week of November 16th - November 22nd, 2008

Scripture Reading:
 - Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
 - Psalm 100
 - Ephesians 1:15-23
 - Matthew 25:31-46

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; Come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; We are his people, The sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving And his courts with praise; Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations

This psalm is an excellent example of an ancient musician at his best. Only the Twenty-third is more widely known and loved in all of Christendom. However, sometimes the things that we know best are the things we appreciate least. I asked myself why this passage has remained one of the best-loved in all the Bible.

It seems to me there are at least five reasons.

  1. The Lord is God – Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer (v. 3)
  2. He made me and I belong to Him My identity is in Him. I’m not a faceless nonentity, floating through the impersonal cosmos, but a child of God (v. 3)
  3. The Lord is good. He wishes me good, not evil (v. 5)
  4. God loves me with an endless love because I am infinitely precious to Him (v. 5)
  5. God’s covenant of love extends to my children – Ainsley and Alex – and to any grandchildren they may give me someday! (v. 5)

Such good news fills me with joy and a desire to “enter His gates with thanks-giving and His courts with praise.”

Pastor Stacey
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