“Grace To You...” ...and peace to you from God our father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” Rom. 1:7 The apostles frequently used this expression in their writings to Christians. Grace in this context means God’s favor….Paul’s prayers and thoughts were always on Christians that they may enjoy the favor from God and the peace that only comes from serving Him. We are richly blessed in this congregation with men and women who want to serve our Lord in whatever capacity they can. There are men who are sacrificing their personal time to prepare lessons to preach in Jim’s absence…there are many women who are spending countless hours in preparing bible materials and teaching bible classes for our children…others are busy taking care of the needs of the sick….young men of our congregation are preparing themselves to be the future spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom….young ladies are living their lives in submission to God, and many others are being an encouragement to others by their words & deeds and teaching the plan of salvation to everyone they can. Collectively we are sharing in the spreading of God’s word in this country and in many parts of the world. Rom. 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. It is only important that others know of our faith and good works so that God may receive the glory. Mt. 5:16 Our motivation must be that for all that we do is to please God and our only expectation is to have his favor and the peace that comes from being a child of God. We can not be satisfied or puffed up in our accomplishments or of the good things we have done in the past….we have a greater responsibility to increase and do more as we have opportunity. The congregation here is not perfect, there are those of our number who are not working and worshipping our Lord as they should…there is much more we as individuals can and must do to spread God’s word….However, there is much good being accomplished here for the cause of Christ and we can be thankful for that. Our prayers are that God will continue to bless the work here at Cedar Park as we strive to do His will and that we enjoy Grace and peace that comes from God our father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. John Smith See also: Col. 1:2; I Pet. 1:2; I Cor. 1:3-4; II Cor. 1:2-3; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Php. 1:2; I Thes. 1:2; II Thes. 1:2; II Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4; Phm. 1:3; II John 1:3; Jude 1:2; Rev. 1:4-5

	Created on Febuary 16, 2003		Page last updated