Hope you all had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving!  At Hyde Park Vineyard, we invited the surrounding community to join us for a big feast!  It’s right near the University of Chicago and people had invited many international students and their families!  We had so much fun mingling with people from many different nations all over the room!  We took turns sitting with Italians, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians, and Chigagoans!  We got to pray for several people including some Chinese that wanted to learn more about prayer!  We are excited to possibly start a discovery group with Chinese people we have been meeting over the past few months.  One Chinese friend brought his wife to church for the first time and she loved it!  We plan to have dinner with them next week!

Then we had an Ethiopian thanksgiving dinner that night with our son in law’s family.  They have a rich heritage of faith and it all got me thinking:

What is God’s end goal?

Philippians 2:9-11 says:  9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Habakkuk 2:14:  ^{For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.}

Matthew 24:14:  ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

What is God’s Heart for People:

^{2 Peter 3:9} The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

^{I Timothy 2:3-4} This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth

^{Revelation 7:9-10} After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

^{John 3:16-17} For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Let’s ponder together:  Does God care about all people? 

Do I also care about people?  Is my heart that big?

Are the things we’re currently doing going to accomplish God’s heart for people in order to get to God’s end vision?

Let’s pray that our hearts will grow bigger and bigger this Christmas season!

Just for fun:  A four minute video clip about the Grinch’s heart growing!