The New Year has almost begun. This Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific Time we will once again be meeting to discuss our Scripture readings for the week. Here is the new Zoom link to join in: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81630081856?pwd=TlRDd21oNWE4VThDZTB4Yk04eHN2QT09 I apologize, but the old link will no longer work. Fortunately this new one will be the same until the end of May 2021. Sorry for the confusion or inconvenience this may cause. If you are a little behind in the readings this week, no problem. There is still time to catch up. We will be covering Matthew chapters 6-10 this week.  Frank Thompson will lead off the devotional. I've seen his slides and it looks to be a great way to start the year. Now a quick devotional thought. At the end of every December my family gets together to choose a song of the year. We select a song that we feel connects to what we experienced over the past 12 months, or perhaps has encouraged us.   Interestingly, our song for this year comes from Monday's reading, Matthew 6. I hope you enjoy it and that it encourages you as we enter into a new decade. Blessings to you and your family.

Today we are in Ephesians 4. This is one of my favorite chapters of Scripture as it is rich with both theological principles and practical wisdom. One of the issues it brings up is the importance of spiritual gifts. In verse 7 Paul indicates that God "has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ." Since we talked about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, I thought it might be helpful to send you a spiritual gifts assessment from Lifeway Christian Resources . I have attached the PDF to this post. While not perfect, this tool may help shed a little light on your spiritual gifts. Of course, the ultimate goal is not simply to discover your gifts, but to use them to serve God and others. This Sunday evening, Jim Haendiges will be leading our beginning devotion as we discuss the Book of Ephesians. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you can join us for a great conversation.

NT Readings participants, I have created a folder where I am sharing all of the slides I have created for our Sunday evening meetings. Feel free to check these out if they are of interest to you. And let me know if you have any questions. Here is the link to the folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1U6PIHizQzT0DbzVM3u6oDXt-Foyfds1E?usp=sharing