Pastor s Report For The Laurel Church Of The Nazarene 2016

Pastor’s Report for the Laurel Church of the Nazarene—2016 We have been spending some time with the verse from Luke(9:23)†And he said to all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.† We have sent the last month asking the question â€Å"Are you a Fan or a follower?† What makes us a follower? What do we have to give up to be a follower? What will we exchange for our lives? Everything we have is a gift from God. We owe him everything, including our very lives. It is possible to give God our money, but not ourselves, or to give him lip-service, but not our hearts. A true disciple gives up all that he has in exchange for an unending life of joy and happiness with God. Are you ready to lose all for Jesus Christ in order to gain all with Jesus Christ? Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will, all that I have and possess. You have given them to me; to you, O Lord, I restore them; all things are yours, dispose of them according to your will. Give me your love and your grace, for this is enough for me. (Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556) We want to be a follower of Christ. We give it all up for him since he gave it all to us. I just love that prayer—â€Å"Give me your love and grace, for this is enough for me.† We have seen great things happen this year. Here is a list of items that changed the climate here. We sold the parsonage which allowed us to put in air-conditioning, the