01.07.10
Posted in Old Testament at 2:00 am by Administrator
My Bible Study finds me in Genesis 7. This is certainly a familiar story, Noah, flood, animals, ark, you know it well. However, for some reason when I read it this year in the face of all the talk and movies about the end of the world it struck me as haunting and deeply real. Thinking about this small ark, floating alone on this planet. Thinking of Noah and his family sitting down to eat day after day looking at each other wondering, “What is going on out there?” “What is going to happen next?” “Is this really happening?”
It was God’s words to Noah that really hit me. “Go into the ark,…” It is clear that God was in control, events were out of Noah’s control. All Noah could do was respond to God’s word. So in the ark Noah and his family waited, floating, uncertain of what comes next, day after day, night after night, out of control, relying completely on God. Waiting for a new world, a new start, but daily confronted with care for the animals, fixing food, cleaning the place, daily work, small things, but important things while God managed to larger, world issues.
Has much changed? Are we not called to “Go into…” whatever we are called to do? Called to Hong Kong, Michigan, Nebraska, South America, or wherever. Placed there by God to do daily tasks laid before us. Letting God navigate the bigger world issues. Worrying, fretting, complaining will not alert the course of the ark. God will guide the ark, but while on board there is work to do. Service to perform, people to love, hearts to mend, hugs to give.
I don’t think I ever really appreciated Noah as I do today. Wow, what a man, what a family of faith.
What ark are you on and while on that ark are you doing the work before you while you let God guide and direct?
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07.24.09
Posted in Old Testament at 4:46 am by Administrator
These verses in Jeremiah give me great comfort, in an odd way.
“O Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.
Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
Jeremiah cries out for vengeance, then praises the Lord, then curses the day he was born, all within three verses. Have you had days like that? You feel one way one moment, then another, then another, back and forth and back and forth.
I know I have been there. Changing as quickly as Jeremiah in these verses. And the Lord just listens.
Ears open, heart open, arms open, the Lord just listens to our rantings know that he will never leave us nor forsake us. He waits for us to “come to our senses” and then helps us move on.
I am so thankful to have a God who loves me on my good days and bad days. In my moments of victory and defeat. A love that is all encompassing.
Praise God.
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07.15.09
Posted in New Testament, Old Testament at 3:16 am by Administrator
(NIV) Joshua 22:5
But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul. ”
My prayer today.
“Lord this starts with choices that are made daily in harmony with you. Strengthen me to be able to do that. I am so weak and easily swayed. I want to be faithful and useful to you, your kingdom and your creation.”
(NIV) Acts 2:25-28
David said about him: ” `I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. [26] Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, [27] because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. [28] You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
Seeing the Lord always before me, that is the key. Keeping the Lord always in view. That is not always easy because we don’t want to see Him. We want to look the other way. This allows us to act out of God’s will. How could you act out of God’s will as you stand before the cross or stand behind the King of Glory. Yet we remove Jesus from our everyday. We put him in a church or in a book and keep our distance. We convince ourselves we are disconnected from Jesus. We pretend He is locked away or in another place. “I saw the Lord always before me” that is where Jesus is. That is His true place, before me. Regardless of my thinking he is before me. Lovingly watching me stumble like a toddler. Waiting for me to allow his hand to grab my hand.
My prayer…
Lord take my hand and ever walk before me. Lead on to the places you want me to go. Please hold tightly because I am weak and afraid.
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07.13.09
Posted in Old Testament at 7:40 am by Administrator
This is part of the Old Testament scripture I am preaching on this coming Sunday, July 19.
I have been challenged as I put the sermon together to see if such a statement can be said about me.
We may think of a prophet as some ancient person who was called to live a strange and distant life from the rest of the community. Someone who ate strange food or wore strange clothes. Someone who was always on the point of getting arrested or just a heart beat away from another stoning. That is certainly not you or me. We are normal, everyday people who do the best we can to live a normal life.
Yet, the real definition of a prophet is a person who proclaims the truth of the Word of God.
It is true that throughout the Bible we read examples of people who proclaimed the truth of the Word of God, which resulted in alienation, condemnation, and ridicule. Yet, are we not called to live and speak the truth of the Word of God today, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our neighborhoods. We may not be called to stand upon a soapbox, but we are called to be a living witness. We are called to live in such a way that others will know the God we worship and the life we live to His glory.
Our words and actions may alienate us from those who do not want our witness. Our words and actions may bring condemnation and ridicule, but that is when we fall back on the grace of God. A grace that is sufficient to uphold and sustain us.
May it be said of each of us, by those around us, a prophet has been among us.
My prayer is that my words, actions, and lifestyle will help show the world the God I worship and the unending love of the Lord who has saved me. May the Spirit of God raise me up and move my feet in such a way that others will be drawn to God.
Is that your prayer also? Let me know.
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07.02.09
Posted in New Testament, Old Testament at 2:25 pm by Administrator
The following are the thoughts that are going into my sermon for Sunday, July 12, 2009. They are based on Amos 7:7-15, Ephesians 6:3-14, and Mark 6:14-29.
Amos, a content shepherd until God Calls. John, a prophet from conception who spent his life following his Call. Both men, called by God to speak the truth, clearly and pointedly. Both men, rejected by the status quo. Both men, driven by the Spirit to be unrelenting. Two men who where found by the Holy Spirit and lived in the truth of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6: 13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
We live in a world that blurs the truth. We blur the truth. We make excuses for our behaviors. We look the other way. We blend in. I blend in. I pull back when it becomes uncomfortable to speak the truth. Yet, that is not the call of a Christian who has the truth of the Gospel in our heart. We have heard the word of truth and we are called to find ways to speak and live that truth.
May our prayer become.
Lord, by the power of your Spirit grant me courage to live and speak the truth in this present time. Give to me the same courage you granted to Amos and John. Empower my words to make a difference in the life of someone seeking the truth. Amen.
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05.14.09
Posted in Old Testament at 7:39 am by Administrator
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
This verse was part of my reading plan yesterday.
The Holy Spirit convicted my through this verse to rethink what it is I carry when I leave my house and enter the world. Do I carry good news? Do I proclaim peace? Do I bring good tidings? Do I make it clear that God reigns?
It is easy to get caught up with the cares of this world. It takes no time at all to be pulled down by work expectations, tensions at home, uncertainly about the future and soon our demeanor is no different than those who have no hope. We blend in to the world, filled with woes and forgetting, Our God reigns.
if Christians do not carry the Good News, who will? Our God has placed in us a hope that is beyond us, a hope that is secured in Jesus Christ. Are we carrying that hope in the smiles on our faces, with the words we share with other, and by the way see the future? That is our calling.
I was convicted to pray. Lord, forgive me when I leave your good news behind and become overwhelmed by the cares of this world. Help we be have feet that carry your good news to the world. Amen.
Let me know what you think.
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