Sunday Morning Message. Dr. Mark Platt Transitional Senior Pastor. Dear River Oak Grace friend,

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1 Dear River Oak Grace friend, Nov. 27, 2013 I don t have a degree in meteorology. But I do have a forecast for Thanksgiving Day: Turkeys will thaw in the morning, then warm in the oven to an afternoon high near 190 F. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or cold shoulder. Dr. Mark Platt Transitional Senior Pastor Please pass the gravy. During the late afternoon and evening, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey, causing an accumulation of one to two inches on the plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34 F in the refrigerator. Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50 percent chance of scattered soup late in the day. We expect a warming trend when the soup develops. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the bone. Sunday Morning Message Dec. 1 - Jesus: Human Just Like Us ~ Hebrews 2:17-18 Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! As a former fat-guy, I love a holiday centered on food. As a Swede, I love that I don t have to buy presents and spend money. And as a Christian, I love the emphasis on gratitude and praise to God for all His blessings! So, with Thanksgiving just a few days away, I want you to consider moving beyond the relatives, the gluttony, and the football to enjoy the year-around spiritual buffet that an attitude of gratitude will give you. Here are eight benefits of being thankful: 1. A thankful heart will improve your spiritual

2 maturity. Colossians 2:6-7 says: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. This verse says that after receiving Christ, there is an agenda that God has for us in our spiritual growth. One of the items we must develop in our pursuit of maturity is gratitude that brims over into our thoughts, attitudes, relationships, values, and lifestyle. David was the one that God called the man after My own heart (Acts 13:22). As the writer of many of the Psalms, some of this godly man s biggest themes were praise, gratitude, and thanksgiving. If you want to become better Christian, start being thankful! 2. A thankful heart will improve your physical and psychological health. Several studies show that thanksgiving is the way to good health of the body and the mind. Dr. Robert A. Emmons at the University of California in Davis and his team have found that cultivating gratitude has been linked to better health, sounder sleep, less anxiety and depression, higher longterm satisfaction with life and kinder behavior toward others. Gratitude will keep you positive, contented, and improve your physical health. 3. A thankful heart will make you more realistic. If you are grateful, it will help you be more realistic about your problems because thankfulness puts the bad in perspective and exalts the good. When you are thankful, you start noticing all the small blessings. When you are thankful for your own blessings, you begin to see how blessed you are compared to others. And of course, having a faith-relationship with God and someone to thank will heighten the benefits even more. 4. A thankful heart will give you greater joy. Sadly many people think happiness is a matter of circumstances when it is a matter of how you choose to see your circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God s will for you in Christ Jesus. When we rest in the sovereignty of God, we see everything, whether good or bad, is from the hand of God. So everything becomes a blessing because we choose to see it that way. When you choose to be thankful, you choose to be joyful! Upcoming Events TONIGHT Wed, Nov. 7 pm River Oak Grace Sponsored by the Oakdale Ministerial Opens Friday, Nov. 29 Help Needed! Please contact Jeff Gottlieb if you are interested at: jgottlieb1@att.net Caroling & Crockpotluck Sat, Dec. 14 Join us on Saturday, Dec. 14 for a night of caroling, campfire and a crock potluck! Bring your favorite soup or stew in a crock pot, along with your family and friends. Meet at the 4:30 pm for caroling. Soup supper will be served around 6:00 pm. 5. A thankful heart will change your life. A few years ago, a pastor-friend of mine told me about a woman who was continually worried and stressed. Her husband was in the military so they were transferred at least once a year. She was

3 convinced that each new place was worse than the last. She was certain that the schools in the next place would be bad for her kids. She was sure that the people would be cold and unfriendly. She expected that nothing would be right. And of course, for her, they weren t. After a few years like this, her marriage was on the rocks. Her children avoided her and she had no friends. Her health began to fade. Her doctor took a battery of tests but couldn t find a thing wrong with her. He said it might be psychological. Finally, the woman went to my friend, the pastor for some help. The pastor listened to her story for about 15 minutes. Then he took out his Bible and had her read Philippians 4:6, 7. It says: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The pastor audibly emphasized the word thanksgiving as he read the verse for the woman. Then he gave her this advice: I want you to especially remember this one word, thanksgiving. He told her: It is one of the keys to finding peace in your heart and life. Then, he gave her this assignment: For the next 30 days, I want you to count your blessings. When a problem comes, look for the good in it. When you are afraid, uncertain, angry, or cynical, I want you to look for the good things in your life and thank God for them. If something is not right, look for the blessing in it. Thank God continually for the good things. As you have to move again, thank God for the opportunity to meet new people, to start again, and to see God work in the new place. Be thankful for everything! The woman left the pastor s office. Several weeks went by. But the next time the pastor saw her, he almost didn t recognize her. She was a changed woman. Her face, her posture, her countenance, and even the way she dressed were different. But what was most changed was the woman s attitude. There was a zest for life, and a joy that was contagious. God had changed her life. Thanksgiving was the elixir that healed her soul. If you have a hurting soul, thanksgiving will help you heal your soul too. So put gratitude in your life! All ages invited to join the Christmas Eve Choir! Two practice days available: Sundays at 8:50 am/rm 401 (through 12/22) Thursdays at 6 pm/flc (through 12/19) NEXT MEETING - SUNDAY, DEC. 8 1:00 pm in room 301 For more information, contact Monica at damonprins@hotmail.com, or the web: We all have hurts, habits & hang-ups! Join us every Wednesday 6 pm - dinner 7 pm - meeting 6. A thankful heart will help you sleep better. In the 1954 movie White Christmas, Bing Crosby sang a song that was

4 nominated for an Academy Award as Best Song. The song was written by Irving Berlin. The lyrics to this song tell how gratitude helps you sleep: When I m worried and I can t sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep And I fall asleep Counting my blessings When my bankroll is getting small I think of when I had none at all And I fall asleep Counting my blessings The psalmist spoke about this when he wrote Psalm 139:18: How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Count God s blessings and you ll sleep in God s peace!! 7. A thankful heart will bring you closer to God. As a boy, I learned the King James translation of Psalm 22:3. It says: But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. This means is that God takes up residence in hearts that are thankful, grateful, and joyful. Do you want more of God in your life? Then, use praise and thanksgiving to bring God s habitation into your heart. God is closest to people who are grateful. 8. A thankful heart will help you deal with calamities. Gratitude will teach you to look for the good in whatever comes your way. Someone has said: A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials. So, learn to thank God for the hardships and trials. Tell your family, friends, and even complete strangers how God has blessed you and helped you through the hard things. It will help them to develop thankful hearts too. Sat, Dec am to 3 pm ROG Family Life Center Arts & crafts Bake Sale Door prizes D aily B ible R eading November Daniel; 1 Peter December 1-7 Hosea-Joel; 2 Peter 8-14 Amos-Jonah; 1-3 John; Jude Micah-Zephaniah; Revelation Haggai-Zechariah Revelation Malachi; Revelation I have been doing this now for about 13 years now. At the beginning and end of most every day, I mentally go through my day and my life. I start by thanking God for His salvation, His grace, His mercy, His sovereignty, eternal life, heaven, and the many spiritual blessings faith in Christ brings. I rehearse God s blessings and that usually begins with thanks for Margaret: my friend, my confidante, and my wife. I thank God for my health, my house, my job, my friends, my church, and several other things. If it has been a difficult day, I especially thank Him for the lessons I learned and for the help I know He will send me. Wherever I am, I try to tell people of God s goodness and

5 Give the gift of joy this season to those in need Christmas Gift Tree - Take home a tag with a specified item, purchase it for a needy child or youth, and return it by Sunday, Dec. 15. blessings in my life. In restaurants, on planes, at the gym, and in stores, I use gratitude to connect people with God. Folks, I feel so much closer to God when I am thankful. Gratitude lifts me from my problems, changes my attitude, and gladdens my heart. I know it will do the same for you. So, add thanksgiving to your life and watch the benefits grow for you too! So, as Thanksgiving Day approaches, make a promise to God and yourself to be thankful every day throughout the year. You might try my little exercise, starting and ending each day with gratitude. Your problems will seem so much smaller. God will be so much nearer, and your heart will be so much happier. There will not be a possibility for you to be discouraged or stressed because thanksgiving and praise to God will crowd them out. That brings me to this Sunday as we begin our Christmas sermon series. Lost among the tinsel and the toys, the real message of Christmas is often obscured. So we want to look at the Bible with careful attention to what God wants to say to us today. We want to look at how Christ s birth changed history and changed eternal destinies, and changes us. I hope to unpack how Christ s birth changes your life forever. Here are my message titles: December 1 Hebrews 2:17-18 Jesus: Human Just Like Us December 8 Luke 1:32 Jesus: Truly Great! December 15 Galatians 4:4-5 God s Christmas Plan December 23 John 3:16 God s Christmas Gift This Sunday, we will look at the humanity of Jesus from Hebrews 2:17-18 in a message titled: Human Just Like Us. One of the most fascinating parts of the Christmas story is that Almighty God became a SUNDAY, DEC am & 11 am Bring a neighbor, friend, schoolmate, or a family member to ROG. The music, the message, and the services on December 22 will be geared for un-churched and unbelieving Friendship Sunday SUNDAY, DEC. 22 ~ 9 & 11 am

6 man. God considered it vital and necessary that He come in human flesh in order to save the world. You will learn how Jesus humanity changes your life and eternal destiny. Bring your out-of-town family and friends to church to worship with you. Share the Good News and enjoy it yourself. Sippin coffee at the Heavenly Brew Café with a new friend is a great blessing. And meetin and greetin in the ROG Lobby is always a great time! Join us each week during this Christmas season! So, see you this Sunday for worship! Bring a Bible, a smile, and an open mind to let God talk to you. Remember, we have 3 worship choices and 2 learning choices for you: 9 AM Worship Service up-beat praise and worship He 9 AM Classes/Groups learning opportunities for every age and stage 11 AM Worship Service up-beat praise and worship 11 AM Classes/Groups learning opportunities for every age and stage 1:30 PM Hispanic Service Ministerio en español I love being your pastor! Pastor Mark Platt mplatt@riveroakgrace.org To view this or previous newsletters, go to our website: They are located under the Information column.