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Listen while you read: "Wonderful Grace Of Jesus"1 (Lyrics) |
Has it ever happened to you that you thought of something, perhaps something in your past, and that made you think of something else, and then something else came to mind? That happened to me a while ago, when I was told that a Presbyterian Church not too far from here was opening after pandemic restrictions were being lifted. It was a church where friends of ours used to attend worship.
That made me think of the times when I went there many years ago, and that made me think of Grant Sayers, their organist for 70 years. And that made me think of his brother, Willis Sayers, who was the minister at Knox Presbyterian Church here in Meaford from May 1953 until October 1956. When I looked up something about the time when Rev. Sayers was here, I saw that on October 31, 1954, the local church celebrated its 100th anniversary, and the Rev. Professor Allan Farris of Knox College was the guest speaker. There was a service in the morning and another one in the evening. A great many people attended both services. And that made me think about all those good and faithful servants, about whom Jesus talked in a parable in Matthew 25.
A wealthy man was going away to a far country for a considerable length of time, so he called his servants to give them instructions while he was away. He also gave them various amounts of money to use during his absence.
Upon his return, he asked them what they had done with the money. The one who had received five talents had wisely invested it, and he had doubled his money, which pleased his master.
Matthew 25:21 – His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord." (NKJV)
When I had our history book open, I looked at some of the other events which took place at that time, and the same names of people who worked in the church kept showing up. There were so many people doing the work of the Lord for so many years. And that made me think of the present time and the people I knew who are now retired or gone to be with the Lord, and all the work that they did, some of them for many, many years.
Are you, too, one of those many people who do the work of the Lord on a regular basis? What a joy it will be to hear our Lord's commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank You for all the people who have served You in our churches for so many years. May each one of us aim to be among those good and faithful servants waiting to hear Your "Well done!" We offer this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Thursday, January 23, 2025 – In Europe — Pray for the Jewish community to be encouraged and feel the love of their non-Jewish Christian friends. Pray that the Holy Spirit would open the hearts and minds of these secular Jews, and for God's leadership in my work.
daughter: "Update December 30, 2024: And please touch her heart that she may turn to YOU.* November 12, 2024:..." 
Thanks for the good reminder, Joel.
Sure enjoy the music with each message.
Hi Joel
Prayers for continued health. Blessings.
Thank you, Joel, so nice to see you are feeling better and can do your devotionals. Do take care.
That’s quite a chain of thoughts, Joel! And it certainly led to a good conclusion. Thank you.
Thanks Joel,
Amen. The goal is to hear, “Well done….” from the LORD, not just any lord.
Morning, Joel,
Hope your recovery is continuing to go well. You are a good and faithful servant.
A good and thoughtful word Joel.
How are you doing?
Blessings.
That brings so many to mind.
I hope I am one.
Thank you.
Thank you for reminding us to faithfully serve and witness. Thank you for your witness and challenge to remember and give our best to the Master.
Thanks for reminding us that so many faithful servants went before us and maybe help many more to follow. May God bless you for all the work you do, Joel!
Greetings Joel
Did you have your operation? If so, hope you are doing well. Praying for you, your family, and your recovery.
Thank you, Joel. Your devotion rings very true when it comes to thinking of someone or something.
I trust you are feeling well.
(ON)
Another great one, Joel! Thank you! Reminds me and all your other readers of those faithful ‘servants’ we have known through the years and send up our prayers for them. Which today includes YOU.
Dear Joel,
I hope this devotion today means you got through your surgery successfully and are making a quick recovery. We continue to pray for you at our church.
Blessings.
Hello Joel,
Thank you for today’s devotional. Yes, my mind roams from memory to memory and then I forget what I was thinking about in the first place!
Blessings on you as you continue to offer devotionals for PresbyCan.
Thank you, Joel, for the feeling of appreciation and being patted on the back.
As we carry out the annual Spring clean in our church which is only 170 years old, we think of all the parishioners, who have worshipped here and toiled here over the years, with thankfulness.
Wishing you all the very best.
Hello Joel
So good to see your devotional. Yes, it is amazing to look back and see how many people have faithfully served the LORD in many different roles.
Their labor is not in vain. There is a beautiful song called “Your labor is Not in Vain”. It is taken from 1 Cor. 15:58
Greetings Joel,
Thank you for this special devotional today. I, too, enjoy looking back at history write-ups mentioning people that have served our church over many years. Reflecting on what great servants they have been to our Lord is an encouragement and example to us to carry forward good works for our Lord. Blessings for this writing and thank you for your continued service to our Lord as you recover from your recent surgery.
Again, once more I thank you Joel. Such caring loving words. How joyful they would be to hear from our God.
When you spoke of your studies it brought tears to my eyes. Both my Dad and my husband graduated from Knox College.
My husband died a few years ago. I fully believe he is at peace and with our Heavenly Father.
Thank you, Joel, I pray you can be well and thank you for your devotional work for us!!
Always enjoy your devotions. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing. Today’s reminded me of our Sunday School Teacher who gave us all talent money. Of course, that was 65 years ago, when a dollar went further. Some bought garden seeds with the money and sold the produce in the fall, some made cookies and sold them with. It was interesting to see how each person came up with more than they had been given. The money went to the Sunday School for supplies etc. Thanks again,
(Ontario)
Good morning, Joel,
I am glad that all went well for you with your surgery.
This is a good message about all the people who have served the churches around the world for many years. It is so true that one thought can lead to many others and bring back lots of good memories. It is really funny how our brains work, sometimes when we can’t even remember what we had for supper last night, but we can remember so many other small details that have occurred.
We don’t do the work to get the reward but to serve our Lord. The other will be the bonus if it happens. Thanks for sharing and may many more good memories come your way. Blessings.
Thank you so much Joel for your interesting and meaningful devotions. After reading your PCC devotionals for years I feel like I know you. It’s interesting that these days one can Google somebody far away and learn more about them and perhaps see a picture. I have a little game I play where I read the daily devotion and try to guess who the author is before I get to the end where it says who wrote it. As soon as I saw Meaford it was a giveaway.
I found today’s entry especially meaningful to me as the Presbyterian Church here has been declining for years. My wife went there since she was a child. I remember her mother saying that back in the 50’s there were over 200 children in Sunday School. Now we have none.
Our congregation consists of maybe 10 people on a good day. All pensioners. We have no minister, no organist so we do our own services and sermons on video. I’ve been really struggling with it the past few years and it’s troubling me more and more as it seems there is little interest to volunteer, to share the workload, or try and grow. Seems I’m doing everything. I just get so discouraged and feel that my time and efforts could be better spent elsewhere. I ask the Lord to guide me in this, but I don’t seem to hear his reply. Perhaps I’m just not listening. Your devotion today was comforting.
Thank you once again.
God Bless you for your steadfastness.
Thank you for this devotional Joel. Seeing Will Sayer’s name brought back memories of years, 1974-1983, when ministered at St. Andrew’s Aylmer, Quebec.
Blessings.
Thank you, Joel, for this encouraging word! Blessings.