Archive for August, 2019

Luke 13:10-17 Sabbath Healing

Posted by myoikos in #2019 on August 24, 2019

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. [NRSA]

When is the Sabbath?

Calendar debate. Are we actually on the correct day? We are trusting the conflicting mathematics between the Julian, Gregorian to the British version of the Gregorian calendar is projected to be approximately 14 days off by the year 2100. So if we set aside the possibility that we may be off-center even with faith and the world’s best guess of today actually by only 14 days, we can pretty much agree that today is Sunday. Much of the fuss over the accuracy of the calendar has been over religious and political disagreements. But let’s set aside this as splitting hairs and get at the general nature of Sunday being the first day of the week.

The Sabbath being the seventh day and Sunday being the adjusted Sabbath honoring the day of Resurrection being on Sunday. So we are generally ok with not exactly keeping the Sabbath, on the Sabbath in the name praise of glorifying God’s work in Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Those who questioned Jesus healing on the Sabbath as “Breaking” one of the top ten commandments. We must remember we are unsure which day of the week we historically are living and that we have agreed to move it to Sunday from the day God determined at creation. We are breaking the Sabbath, two for two.

To better understand the charge they literalist lodged against Jesus, let’s look back at Genesis to get the early version of the Sabbath:

Genesis 2:2-3
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

A Day for God to Rest from Creating

Exodus 16:4, 4:14, 20:8-11, 31:14,
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days, the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
14 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people.
A Day made Holy, for God’s People to Rest, Deadly Serious

Acts 16:13, 17:2, 18:4, 20:7
13 On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.•
2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
7 On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

A Day at the Synagogue of Study, Debate, and Eating

Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Sabbath is our Day for ONLY God

So the activity of the Sabbath has expanded from simply not working and being with God to a commandment, to an exercise of learning, to a time to prohibit some things and be busy with God things. Back to a day for us to be with God.

Rest from work SO THAT God my renew us

In this passage, the work that Jesus does on the Sabbath is healing.

We gather to worship God, but the fruit of our worship is placing our selves humbly before God and to be restored for the week ahead.

Today we join with the woman who has to Jesus on the Sabbath and appear before Jesus to be healed, restored, renewed, no longer crippled by those things that have plagued us, gripped and held us back. Sabbath is a day for healing.

I invite you to come and make yourself as a living offering, for God has worked for us in the week ahead and we do not need to start from a place of brokenness.

Come and share in the healing power, love, and grace of Jesus Christ.

The healing is not in the oil, it is but a means opening our hearts, humbling and willingly asking Jesus to rest in us, to heal and renew us for the service of love and the work of the kingdom for the world. Come!Advertisements

Like this:

https://widgets.wp.com/likes/#blog_id=5378214&post_id=6918&origin=mysundaysermons.com&obj_id=5378214-6918-5e4db6e850e5e

#sabbathhealing

Jeremiah 23:23-29 Yahweh or Baal?

Posted by myoikos in #2019 on August 18, 2019

Am I a God nearby, says the LORD, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed!” How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back–those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD. Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? [NRSV]

Luke 12:49-56

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’, and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? [NRSV]

SETTING THE CONTEXT

Last week we listen to the warning from Isaiah the prophet from a 75-80 year period of the 700s and 600s. Today we hear from Jeremiah who calls out to the people of God during a 75 year period from 627 to 575 BC.

Skip to the end of the story. Things go from fair to complete division and exile to Babylon, completely out of the Promised Land.

Even though generations pass and kings and nations continue to develop, the People of God eventually find themselves removed from their country and become enslaved to a foreign state and culture.

Like every other Prophet, Jeremiah calls for faith and faithfulness. He shares God’s words to inspire

Repentance
Transformation
Devotion to God and not to other Gods and not to a life apart from God.

But We are Modern and we Know better:

In our modern world view we are quick to that fall of Jerusalem and all the people being driven out of their home and country would never happen to us. We are the U.S.A.

The ‘faithful’ once divided from one another also became divided from God and squandered their inheritance and ended up in the far country. (much like the prodigal son story)

What ‘was’ Baal Worship?

Historically the principal practices of Baalism were child sacrifice, sexual immorality, and reverence of creation over the Creator. We may have different practices but the core misplaced-spiritual devotion remains a threat to us.

Modern Apostasy

Think when we say our personal success and networking were dependent on “playing the game.” If you quit playing along, avoid going to the parties, not participating in group-think, you would not be able to do business, lose your friends, not be successful. Your network would dry up. In various ways, our social and business The groups’ places demanded that we “support” to be liked, included or productive. Therefore, we give time, talent and allegiance that is misplaced. “Support” is based on participation and financial contribution. It was all tied up with the rules of doing business. Think of the high place of diversity. (College acceptance is not about the best students, its about demographic profiles. [ref.]

Misplaced Love, Devotion, or Trust

Anything good can become an idol if we love it too much. That’s what Paul was driving at when he called greed a form of idolatry. What is greed if not loving something too much?

Let’s consider some modern-day idols in three separate categories.

YAHWEH OR BAAL?

“When the Israelites entered Canaan, they found a land of farmers, not shepherds, as they had been in the wilderness. The land was fertile beyond anything the Hebrew nomads had ever seen. The Canaanites attributed this fertility to their god Baal, and that is where the Israelites problems began. Could the God who had led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness also provide fertile farms in the Promised Land? Or would the fertility god of Canaan have to be honored? Maybe, to be safe, they should worship both; Yahweh and Baal.

An intense battle began for the minds and hearts of God’s people. The book of Judges records the ongoing struggle: the Israelites attraction to, and worship of, the Canaanite gods; God’s disciplinary response; the people’s repentance; and God’s merciful forgiveness until the next time the Israelites reached for Baal instead of Yahweh.

This struggle to be totally committed to God is of vital importance to us today as well. We don’t think of ourselves as idol worshipers, yet we struggle to serve God alone in every part of our lives. It is easy (and seductive) to honor possessions, fun, relationships, fame, money, and a host of other potential “gods.”

We need to learn from Israel’s experience and respond to Jesus’ command for total allegiance. One way we can accomplish this is to study the gods that attracted Yahweh’s people 3,000 years ago.” [ref.]

How Does it Happen

First, we worship at the altar of materialism which feeds our need to build our egos through the acquisition of more “stuff.” Our homes are filled with all manner of possessions. We build bigger and bigger houses with more closets and storage space in order to house all the things we buy, much of which we haven’t even paid for yet. Most of our stuff has “planned obsolescence” built into it, making it useless in no time, and so we consign it to the garage or other storage space. Then we rush out to buy the newest item, garment or gadget and the whole process starts over. This insatiable desire for more, better, and newer stuff is nothing more than covetousness. The tenth commandment tells us not to fall victim to coveting: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). God doesn’t just want to rain on our buying sprees. He knows we will never be happy indulging our materialistic desires because it is Satan’s trap to keep our focus on ourselves and not on Him.

Second, we worship at the altar of our own pride and ego. This often takes the form of obsession with careers and jobs. Millions of men—and increasingly more women—spend 60-80 hours a week working. Even on the weekends and during vacations, our laptops are humming and our minds are whirling with thoughts of how to make our businesses more successful, how to get that promotion, how to get the next raise, how to close the next deal. In the meantime, our children are starving for attention and love. We fool ourselves into thinking we are doing it for them, to give them a better life. But the truth is we are doing it for ourselves, to increase our self-esteem by appearing more successful in the eyes of the world. (Ecclesiastes 2:21-23).

Third, we idolize ‘humanity’ through naturalism and the power of science. We cling to the illusion that we are lords of our world and build our self-esteem to godlike proportions. We reject God’s Word and His description of how He created the heavens and the earth, and we accept the nonsense of atheistic evolution and naturalism. We embrace the goddess of environmentalism and fool ourselves into thinking we can preserve the earth indefinitely when God has declared that this current age will have an end. Our focus should not be on worshiping the environment but on living holy lives as we wait eagerly for the return of our Lord and Savior. We need saving, not the earth; God our hope, not ourselves.

Finally, and perhaps most destructively, we worship at the altar of self-aggrandizement or the fulfillment of the self to the exclusion of all others and their needs and desires. This manifests itself in self-indulgence through alcohol, drugs, and food. Those in affluent countries have unlimited access to alcohol, drugs (prescription drug use is at an all-time high, even among children), and food. Obesity rates in the U.S. have skyrocketed, and childhood diabetes brought on by overeating is epidemic. The self-control we so desperately need is spurned in our insatiable desire to eat, drink, and medicate more and more. When we love the Lord and others with everything that is in us, there will be no room in our hearts for idolatry. [ref]

I. Idols of Power

Idols of power are those created things that give us a sense of significance and personal worth.

II. Idols of Pleasure

So many things fall into this category.

Pleasure. It could be something that seems harmless—hobbies, sports, success, the promise of ‘ease.’

Sexual Satisfaction. Pleasure, power, self-fulfillment. Choice, Identity. All that is about self and not giving of oneself in devotion.

Personal Identity. When I ask you to validate my view of myself don’t care what you think of me nor do I care what God see’s in me.

Technology. We can’t live without some background noise. If you don’t think TV is an idol, try living without it for seven days and see what happens. TV, so can the computer, or phone, social media, artificial intelligence.—virtual reality gods that will advise us exactly as the gods of ancient Greece and Egypt instructed their followers.

Opinions: Many people today adopt this as the bottom line on personal morality. If it makes you feel good, go ahead and do it. Just don’t hurt anyone else in the process.

Self Gratification: How many times have you heard sin justified with the words, “I just want to be happy?” And so we divorce our spouses because we are unhappy, we break our commitments because we can’t find fulfillment, and we abandon our promises and walk away from family and friends—all in search of that elusive thing called happiness. We do wrong and excuse ourselves by saying, “God understands.”

Sexual fulfillment may become an idol. At this point, I would say that so-called Gay Christianity is a very clear form of modern-day Baal worship because homosexuals attempt to justify their sin by baptizing their immorality in the guise of Christianity. This is unspeakably evil because it links the holy name of Jesus with that which God has condemned.

Drugs, Alcohol, Food, diversions, and avoidance. When a thing or substance controls you, your time and your resources, you are an idolater whether you admit it or not.

So many of the addictions of life fall into this category. When God created the world, he pronounced it good, but ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, Satan’s number one strategy has been to cause us to take that which is good and put it in the place of God. We may say it quite simply: Whatever controls you at a deep level is the god you worship. If you are not controlled by God, then you must be controlled by an idol of your own making.

III. Idols of the Heart

Jesus warned us that you cannot serve God and money? “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24). Money is capitalized because when you serve it, it becomes your god. Our Lord said you cannot have God and money both in first place in your heart. One of them has to go. You cannot serve two masters.

Along the same line, a relationship can easily become an idol when it becomes the controlling interest of life. You can love a person too much or for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way or with the wrong motives. Once you say of any human relationship, “I cannot live without that person in my life,” then you have crossed a line that should not be crossed.

God’s warning: Destroy your idols or I will do it for you!

Let’s go back to the Second Commandment for a moment. Notice the warning in Exodus 20:5 — “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” In the end God, we belong to God and we are left with nothing but God, is the only way we find God sometimes.

Two Sobering Conclusions

A. Anything good can become an idol if we love it too much.

That should be completely clear by now. Idolatry lies in the worshiper, not in the thing worshipped. A golden calf is not an idol by itself. Left to itself, a golden calf is just a golden calf. It becomes an idol only when we begin to worship it. It is a wrong attitude that turns something good into something bad.

¨ Don’t blame your car if you aren’t happy. New or old, running or limping. It won’t love nor save you.
¨ Don’t blame your boy/girl friend if you aren’t happy. Address your own faith and bring that power.
¨ Don’t blame your spouse if you aren’t happy. No husband or wife can make you happy all the time.
¨ Don’t blame your boss if you aren’t happy. — Their job is to create wealth through you.

¨ Don’t blame your children if you aren’t happy. they are our joy but not our God
¨ Don’t blame your new house if you aren’t happy. No house can provide the ultimate happiness.
¨ Don’t blame your church if you aren’t happy. No church can make you happy.

Don’t blame the government if you aren’t happy. No politics will make you happy.

Happiness comes from a living relationship with Jesus Christ. He alone can satisfy the deepest needs of your life. Looking anywhere else for ultimate happiness is really just a sophisticated form of idolatry.

B. The ultimate tragedy of idolatry is that it takes all that you have and gives nothing in return.

Have you ever thought about how strange life is? You are born, you grow up, get married, get a job, have children, raise your children, take a vacation, retire, and then you die. And your children, what do they do? The same thing. And their children? The same thing.

You have two choices. You can spend your life chasing idols your hands have made. But what happens when you die? Your idols die with you. Or you can spend your life doing God’s will. And when you die, it’s not over. Life has just begun.

The folly of idolatry is that it’s only for this life and then it’s over. You’re a loser now and a loser later. The idol robs you now and leaves you penniless in the grave. You’ve cheated all the way around.

Idolatry makes sense if you are going to live forever on earth. But if you plan to die someday, it’s the greatest stupidity of all.

The only lasting cure for idolatry is a fervent love for God.

As we pondered the matter, it seems to me that the hardest step is seeing our idols in the first place. Even as we share these words, we are conscious of a little voice inside saying, “Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re not an idol-worshipper.” But that voice is not the voice of God. If I am honest before God and open to the Holy Spirit, I must admit that I have my idols that must be torn down. [ref]

Like this:

Loading…

#misplacedlove, #misplacedtrust, #yahwehorbaal, idolotry

Isaiah 1:1,10-20 Let’s Argue

Posted by myoikos in #2019, #repentance, #rsumc, Leadership on August 10, 2019

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah….Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation— I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. [NRSV]

A Vision of Isaiah

Concerning Period 3 Kings and 1 regent

The period of time is between 790 to 690 BC. Isaiah lead as a prophet through the end of Uzziah into the reign of Hezekiah.

During this period, God’s people of Judah fought with God’s people of Israel and made expedient allies of Syria and Egypt as they needed help. The people shifted for faithfulness to completely selling out to Idolatry with the Canaanites, with King Ahaz made a replica of the idea of Baal in the temple of Judah and made offering go his son’s life to the altar of Molech. Hezekiah finally brings faithfulness back after heading Isaiah’s warning and even invited the Northern Kingdom to celebrate Passover together.

An Argument with God.

First, it’s acceptable to argue with God if you know in the end that God is God and that you and I are not. With that said God is supremely patience, but will, in the end, call us to faithfulness and obedience.

Isaiah’s Account of God side setting up for the argument:

rulers of Sodom!
you people of Gomorrah!
So you talk about the many sacrifices?
- Do You think that your offerings buy my favor?
Your many holiday and celebrations? I don’t want your songs and gifts.
- Why would I want to be at your good holiday, and you ignore your sin?
You think you have figured out creation, and use the heavens as a tool to measure and control me?
You can raise your hands and prayers and songs, I’m not listening.
- If this is how you make religion replace a relationship of trust and obedience, then I don’t want you in my sight.

INSTEAD

Wash yourselves;
make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the trampled, taken advantage of, or forgotten.

When you have done these things, then let’s argue.

The Good News is that when we find ourselves through obedience to God, we find the Goodness in life.

It is easy to dismiss this passage as history and not hear it applying to ourselves.
First, as this is presented as God’s Message for the political and spiritual leaders of the day.
So it is easy to point fingers and blame the king.
This word does not excuse the king of doing what is Godly.
Nor does this word excuse US for doing what is Godly and obedient, we can’t blame our leaders for all the sin.

You pick the topic of news, debate, crisis, and threat of this past week alone, and know-how quickly people look for blame. Isaiah’s word is for Judah and Israel. It is for you and for me.

Stop Blaming
Stop making excuses
Stop looking for our own ideas and solutions
Turn back to God
Trust God’s Goodness and Word
Trust God’s will and wisdom
Trust God’s way and place ourselves as a servant of God and God’s people and will then God will make us the witness to all the nations.

We live more in time like Ahaz rather than Hezekiah. When the world is rejecting God and replacing anything and everything in God’s place, it is no wonder that evil and chaos.

So what are we to do about our nation and our leaders?

We are not only called to

Repent of our sins,
Stop acting like knuckleheads
Start witnesses to those who are
and be a strength to those who are trampled and taken advantage of.

But not in reverse:

Repentance
Transformation
Prophets
Servant

We’d rather just do one or two on the list… but its a process

It’s not about just serving the oppressed
It is also dealing with sin, ours and theirs
It’s not just about talking about forgiveness and change
it is becoming an actual example of obedience.

Like this:

Loading…

#argument, #blamegame, #fault, #GodisGod, transformation

Colossians 3:1-11 “One Life to Live”

Posted by myoikos in #2017 on August 3, 2019

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal, there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! [NRSA]

You have been raised with Christ,

Seek the things that are above.
Set your minds on things that are above,

When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death what in you is earthly:

fornication,
impurity,
lustful passion,
evil desire, and
greed,
idolatry.

WARNING: wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.

These are the ways you also once followed when you were living that life.

BUT HOW? WHERE TO START?

But now you must:

get rid of all such things—
anger,
wrath,
malice,
slander, and
abusive language from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another,
Stripped off the old self with its practices,
clothed yourselves with the new self,
being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

In that renewal, there is no longer divided as the World divides, rather be UNITED IN CHRIST.

WHAT DOES UNITED IN CHRIST MEAN?

Personal Behaviors and Attitudes
the opposite of the world’s view of promiscuity – Fidelity, and Trust
the opposite of me first, or myself above God – Faith and Worship
the opposite of seeing people as objects for our happiness and power, all created by and for God
the opposite of evil – God’s Love and Law
the opposite of greed and idolatry Peace, Joy, Wholeness in God

Things to Deal with, throw away or get away from:

~~anger~~. No matter what people do we can’t HATE any away.
~~wrath~~, Using our influence and resources for selfishness.
~~malice~~, Intentional Harm (The Qualification of Do no INTENTIONAL harm)
~~slander~~, Not repaying evil words and thoughts for evil words and thoughts. (Deal with Racism by yielding power not correctness)
~~abusive language~~ from your mouth.
Do ~~not lie~~ to one another, Some times the truth is unfair, unpopular and even unclear, but lying to make some feel better or ourselves escape or protected cuts at the bonds of fidelity, trust, love, grace, etc.

We have one life to figure our future

You and I have this life to determine if we will starve in the wilderness or eat God’s manna and trust God to make a way when our ways are dead ends.
You and I have the breath of this one life, no matter where we have come from, to decide if God’s home is where we want to live.
You and I have the free will and choice to choose God’s or to choose to rely on ourselves or others to make a way we believe is better. The consequences of choosing the other ways, than God’s way, all end with us being alone and apart from God.
The Word to the Colossians and to us: We continually make the choice with our thoughts and actions to Trust God or ourselves.

While choosing God’s way, God’s heart, God’s love is simple to start. We have a daily choice of staying in that Grace of choosing another path. God never forces us to choose him not to stay with him.

Go back to the list:

Am I happy, content and whole:

Because I have money and things enough for eternity? Sincere there is not eternity in my view, I want it all now.
I’m just doing the best I can and I’m hoping for God to cut me some slack when the final exam comes, or will I recognize the need to call his name when trouble comes?
I’d rather people all cooperate and get along and stay together even if I have to re-frame what God expects of us.

Why Make it So Hard

We make it hard on ourselves and one another. Jesus offers himself to us daily, the bread of life and the cup of salvation. Eat and Drink from the life that is eternal. Forget the slavery that goes with the fleshpots in back in captivity of some other allegiance.

Prayer: Jesus come into my heart and life right now and make me whole, make me yours, take my whole self- broken, confused and alone, fill me with our love and grace. Set my feet and my heart on you and the things of your kingdom. Have mercy on me, a waster of life and gifts and treasures and make me your own again today. Keep me in your will and change my heart, mind, and soul. Make my life a witness that leads someone else to your heart. Thank you! Praise you. Amen and Amen.

Oikos: It's a household word

Ministry Resources

Archive for August, 2019

Luke 13:10-17 Sabbath Healing

Like this:

Jeremiah 23:23-29 Yahweh or Baal?

Like this:

Isaiah 1:1,10-20 Let’s Argue

But not in reverse:

Like this:

Colossians 3:1-11 “One Life to Live”

We have one life to figure our future

Am I happy, content and whole:

Why Make it So Hard

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Luke 13:10-17 Sabbath Healing

Share this:

Like this:

Jeremiah 23:23-29 Yahweh or Baal?

Share this:

Like this:

Isaiah 1:1,10-20 Let’s Argue

But not in reverse:

Share this:

Like this:

Colossians 3:1-11 “One Life to Live”

We have one life to figure our future

Am I happy, content and whole:

Why Make it So Hard

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply