Good Morning MBC. Our Scripture reading today is 1 Peter 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 <\/sup><\/strong>So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 <\/sup>shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 <\/sup>not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 <\/sup>And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 <\/sup>Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for \u201cGod opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Churches should be ready to hold their elders to the standard of this passage. At best all church shepherds are under-shepherds of the Chief Shepherd, so we better consider the weight of responsibility that comes with pastoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 <\/sup><\/strong>Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 <\/sup>casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 <\/sup>Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 <\/sup>Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 <\/sup>And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 <\/sup>To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 <\/sup><\/strong>By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 <\/sup>She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 <\/sup>Greet one another with the kiss of love. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace to all of you who are in Christ.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Humility is key to living a godly life. The humble person who seeks God will resist the devil and sin even if suffering should come his\/her way. Why? Because he\/she trusts in \u201cthe God of all grace\u201d who calls them \u201cto his eternal glory.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you have a blessed day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastor Tim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7240,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239\/revisions\/7240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}