Thankful for Jesus. Thankful for You.

It is my prayer that this Thanksgiving you are able to add one more thing to your list of things you are thankful for. This year, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness for our Netcast family and the way that Jesus is displaying his magnificence among us. Every week I look forward to my favorite time of the week which is worshiping Jesus as I gather together with those who I love.

Here is another thing to be thankful for: God's Inexpressible Gift to us: Jesus Christ 

1. Is there a power to love? 
2. Is there a power that can really change people? 
3. Is there a way to have eternal life? 
4. Is there a way for sins to be forgiven?
5. Is there a way for your deepest longings to be satisfied? 
6. Is there a way to know God personally and be his friend? 

The answer is a resounding yes....And that yes is Jesus Christ, God's inexpressible gift to you this Thanksgiving season. 

If you have never personally received Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life, I commend him to you. And I urge you to trust him and call upon him for all the help you need. "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13). Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

excerpt from desiringgod.com

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving this year and didn't eat to much food. This Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for. For starters, I am thankful that Jesus has saved me and forgiven me of my sin. This past year, I have realized just how wicked of a man I can be. It is amazing to me how easily I overlook my own selfishness, pride, and sin; but yet it is so easy to see it in other people. So, that being said, I am thankful that Christ has both saved me from my sin and by his grace He is daily conforming me to be more like Him. For that I am so grateful.

My family and friends are such a blessing to me. I am thankful that God has given me an incredible bride. She is not just my wife, but my Gospel partner. We work hand in hand making disciples of one another, loving people, and raising our kids in a God fearing home. It is a daily joy to wake up every morning next to my best friend.

Netcast Church is another thing that I am so thankful for. I am literally living a dream. I am so thankful that people have believed in us and have been so generous in helping us run after our dream of planting a Jesus-Centered church in Greater Boston. I am currently interning at 121 Church in Winston Salem, NC which already has been catalyst in helping me be better prepared for when we move. The elders have been so generous in sharing their lives with me and for that I am extremely grateful.

I want to thank all of those who have funded us thus far. We did extremely well in our matching donations which is currently allowing me to intern and be in the best position possible to pastor and plant Netcast Church next year. I want to thank everyone who has encouraged me in my journey. I am thankful for every email, phone call, and letter we have received. They mean more to us than you will ever know.

We are still working on our budget for 2010 and trying and get a jump start on our funding for next year. If you're interested in blessing us with an end of the year donation, our address is below. All checks can be made out to Daystar Christian Fellowship; who is handling all of our accounting. We do not waste money here. Every dollar helps prepare us to plant Netcast Church and spread the message of the Gospel.

Thank you for being a dear friend and staying up to date on how Netcast Church is progressing.

Matt

-------------------------
Matt Chewning
Netcast Church / Pastor
P.O. Box 3347 BEVERLY, MA 01915
www.netcastchurch.org matt@netcastchurch.org
336-362-5662

Thanksgiving 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

1 Corinthians 1:4-9
I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

If we know anything about the church of Corinth it is that they were probably the most dysfunctional church in all of the NT. This was definitely not Paul's prize church. This church was very different than the Philippians or the Thessalonians. The Corinthians had issues. Division, lawsuits, false doctrine, bad theology, Idols, Marriage issues, they didn't pay their pastors, took advantage of their spiritual gifts, and had some real confusion about the body, sex, worship, love, the church and mostly...Jesus.

With all of the correction that Paul gives in this letter to the Corinth Church, how does he start this letter out with such confidence in them and with such thanksgiving for them? To me this makes no sense.

Paul saw something that we often miss. Paul realized that God had called them into fellowship with Jesus Christ and he is Faithful. Faithful to continue the good work in their lives, faithful to carry them through until the end, faithful to offer them to the Father as holy and blameless and guiltless. God is faithful to those in which he calls.

Today I was overwhelmed with the Grace of God who has been so faithful to me and my family. Why would he have chosen me? Why has the God of the universe called me? Why has he redeemed me and summoned me by name and calls me "His" (Isaiah 43:1)? Why did he choose to give me the gift of regeneration and transformation when so many others have not and will not receive it? Why? Today I was literally brought to tears in my car thinking about this. To think that in the mist of the business of life, if you slow down and look you can see God at work everywhere.

Today I reflected in my car how God is at work in my family. I thought today how God is at work at my job. I thought today how God was at work in my ministry. I stopped today and reflected that even though it seems at times I am a terrible witness of Jesus Christ, God is at work in my influence. I just stopped today and prayed....not for things, but with Thanksgiving. It was powerful!

Today I stopped like Paul did on the day that he put that pen to that paper and wrote "I always thank God". Why? "Because he has called me into fellowship with Jesus and he is faithful." Just look around and remember, He is faithful. The bible is clear, I did not choose God, instead God choose me, and he is so faithful.