Good Morning, Ministry Partner!

August 1, 2019

Be Encouraged by God's Word
He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

— Mark 7:18-23, NRSV

Wisdom from Fellow Pilgrims
Our comfort in our own culture and our familiarity with the story of Jesus can tame his message and rob us of the opportunity to encounter him and put his words into practice. In fact, if we don’t take the time to understand his message and to carefully put it into practice, he said we are foolish and can expect nothing from God.

- Derek Cooper and Ed Cyzewski, Unfollowers: Unlikely Lessons on Faith from Those Who Doubted Jesus

Pray Together with Us

O Tree of Calvary
send your roots deep down
into my heart.
Gather together the soil of my heart,
the sands of my fickleness,
the stones of my stubbornness,
the mud of my desires,
bind them all together,
O Tree of Calvary,
interlace them with your strong roots,
entwine them with the network
of your love.

— St. Francis

New Every Morning: a daily (M-F) encouragement resource for clergy that includes a scriptural start for the day, a thought from a brother/sister of the faith, and a prayer to enrich the service of the minister. It is an inner life component of the Soul Care ministry of the Church of the Nazarene's Clergy Development Office.
— Dr. Daniel Copp, director

nazarenepastor.org