2010.03.13 TGIS Blog

Heart of Thanksgiving (Posted by Ronnie)

Thank God for another great TGIS service last week.
Ritsu introduced a new Ice Break activity. She gave each of us a postcard with balloons drawn on it. We wrote our name on our postcard and then we passed it around. When we received someone else's postcard, we would fill a ballon with words describing something good about the person.

This activity was encouraging and motivating~~~ Hee Hee, here is a snapshot.

Message
This week, Pastor Elmer shared a message about "Heart of Thanksgiving". He first started the message by asking each of us if we grumbled anytime this past week. Each person shared something, and I gave the example of how I grumbled about how the ramen I had for lunch had too few toppings.

Pastor Elmer went on to talk about the Exodus and how the Israelites grumbled all the way when they traveled across the desert of Sinai. One case was that they grumbled about having no water, and grumbled even more later when they found water, but it was bitter water.  Moses pleaded with God and God gave him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water and the water became sweet. (Exodus 15:25)

Pastor Elmer mentioned that whenever wood is used in the Bible, it usually symbolizes the cross of Jesus Christ. Like bitter water, bitterness swells up in our heart when we worry and grumble, so we need to have Jesus in our heart and transform this bitterness to sweet joy and peace. Whenever we do not know an answer and cannot find a solution, instead of grumbling, we need to look to the cross and seek the Lord's help, for He came to redeem us from our sins and curses. (Galatians 3:13)