Opening Prayer:
Lord, open our hearts and minds that as we read Your word and commune with Your Spirit, we may hear with joy and hope what You say to us today. Amen!
Matthew 10: 1-15
Thoughts:
I think it should shock us to realize the kind of power Jesus gives his disciples. He gives us authority over all of the forces of evil, sin, disease, and death! Then he charges us to go out and counteract these forces with the healing, forgiving, resurrecting power of God's loving Kingdom! I know what some of you are thinking, "It's great that Jesus and the disciples did that kind of thing back then before they had science and medicine, but that stuff doesn't really happen any more." Others may read Jesus' call for us to cast out demons and immediately have images from the movie "The Exorcist" playing in their minds, heads twisting a full 360 degrees and throwing up green goop (that movie still gives me the creeps!). Those running these films in their minds may be asking, "Is that what Jesus has in mind for me to do to follow him?"
Regardless of how we feel about it, the fact remains that Jesus calls his disciples then and now to be a force in the world to counteract evil, sin, and death in whatever forms they are presented. The Bible doesn't have a problem acknowledging that forces of evil and our sinful choices are at work to destroy God's good creation. The Bible also doesn't have a problem with reminding us that the ultimate forces of our loving God and His Kingdom are greater! The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ conquers evil, sin, and death!
So where does that leave those of us seeking to follow Jesus? It leaves us on the same mission as the 12 disciples in Matthew! Jesus calls us to go into our neighborhood, office, family, soccer field, and restaurant, prayerfully casting out evil, bringing healing, and proclaiming the forgiving, saving love of Jesus Christ our savior! We must live the Kingdom way of life and help people see what God is doing to save his creation by proclaiming the Kingdom!
Life Questions:
How is God asking me to show the Kingdom of God to someone this week? Is it through prayer, through kindness, through forgiveness, through healing, or service?
Closing Prayer:
God of grace and God of glory pour your power on us, your people, so that we may advance your Kingdom of healing love in the name of Jesus Christ our King! Amen.
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Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Weekly Prayer: Extraordinary Kindness
Opening Prayer:
Heavenly Father, from whom every good thing comes, thank you for your abundant love for us. We taste it in good food, feel it in the warmth of the sun and the cool of the rain, and know it in the love we share with others. Open our hearts, make us receptive to the gifts of your Spirit during this time. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ruth 2: 14-23
Comments:
I may be among the few who has specifically avoided any news coverage of the Casey Anthony trial, but I can't escape it! I tried to get a view of the weather radar to see if it was going to rain the other day, and the news channel was showing irritated (and irritating) people waiting in line to get in to see the trial, passing the time by pushing, shoving, hitting each other, and yelling "this old woman cut in line!" I was embarassed that the rest of the world was forming their opinions about Americans from this press! Has every drop of respect and care for others bled out of us?
Contrast this with the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. Ruth, though she is not legally bound to care for her mother-in-law after the death of her husband, chooses love and loyalty, deliberately leaving her country and people to look after Naomi and to follow Naomi's God. Naomi wisely helps Ruth navigate the potential treacheries awaiting a foreign, unmarried woman in a strange land with her wisdom and care. Boaz not only welcomes Ruth, a foreigner, as a gleaner, one who is impoverished and, by God's laws, should be allowed to pick wheat and barley from the leftovers of the harvest, but orders his workers to protect her in the fields and to load her up with choice parts of the crops! Though the story does not explicitly name God as a prime actor, it is implied that God is the origin of all of this kindness, loyalty, and love for strangers and widows and hungry people.
I know there are many people hungry for the scoop on the trial and hungry to "get what's due to them" no matter what that means for others. I still hold out hope that these are just misplaced, misdirected hungers and that what people are really hungry for is the way of life Jesus offers. In Jesus' Kingdom, we share out of the abundance of all God gives us, we are kind because God has been so kind and forgiving to us, and we love with commitment not just the feelings of the moment.
Life Question:
How can I show the kindnes and love God has shown me with someone this week?
Closing Prayer:
You give us life. You forgive us when we deliberately disobey you. You search for us when we are lost. You give us your Spirit's presence to cheer and guide us each day. You love us even when we have acted unlovely! Give us an unquenchable desire to love others in the same way. In Jesus' power, amen.
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Heavenly Father, from whom every good thing comes, thank you for your abundant love for us. We taste it in good food, feel it in the warmth of the sun and the cool of the rain, and know it in the love we share with others. Open our hearts, make us receptive to the gifts of your Spirit during this time. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ruth 2: 14-23
Comments:
I may be among the few who has specifically avoided any news coverage of the Casey Anthony trial, but I can't escape it! I tried to get a view of the weather radar to see if it was going to rain the other day, and the news channel was showing irritated (and irritating) people waiting in line to get in to see the trial, passing the time by pushing, shoving, hitting each other, and yelling "this old woman cut in line!" I was embarassed that the rest of the world was forming their opinions about Americans from this press! Has every drop of respect and care for others bled out of us?
Contrast this with the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. Ruth, though she is not legally bound to care for her mother-in-law after the death of her husband, chooses love and loyalty, deliberately leaving her country and people to look after Naomi and to follow Naomi's God. Naomi wisely helps Ruth navigate the potential treacheries awaiting a foreign, unmarried woman in a strange land with her wisdom and care. Boaz not only welcomes Ruth, a foreigner, as a gleaner, one who is impoverished and, by God's laws, should be allowed to pick wheat and barley from the leftovers of the harvest, but orders his workers to protect her in the fields and to load her up with choice parts of the crops! Though the story does not explicitly name God as a prime actor, it is implied that God is the origin of all of this kindness, loyalty, and love for strangers and widows and hungry people.
I know there are many people hungry for the scoop on the trial and hungry to "get what's due to them" no matter what that means for others. I still hold out hope that these are just misplaced, misdirected hungers and that what people are really hungry for is the way of life Jesus offers. In Jesus' Kingdom, we share out of the abundance of all God gives us, we are kind because God has been so kind and forgiving to us, and we love with commitment not just the feelings of the moment.
Life Question:
How can I show the kindnes and love God has shown me with someone this week?
Closing Prayer:
You give us life. You forgive us when we deliberately disobey you. You search for us when we are lost. You give us your Spirit's presence to cheer and guide us each day. You love us even when we have acted unlovely! Give us an unquenchable desire to love others in the same way. In Jesus' power, amen.
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Monday, June 13, 2011
Weekly Prayer: Don't Save An Ounce
Opening Prayer:
God of mercy, forgive us for losing our focus on your presence in our lives. We get so busy, have so much to do, yet apart from you we can do nothing of any importance or value. Free us to joyfully drink from your Holy Spirit's presence within us when we wake, when we work, when we play and rest! Speak, we are listening!
Deuteronomy 6: 4-25:
Comments:
It's easy to love God on Sunday morning in a worship service or on a mission trip to somewhere we don't normally go or in a bible study group. It's not so easy to love God in the daily tasks of eating, cleaning, working, parenting, communicating with our spouses, and paying bills. Yet, we are given God's very presence, God's Holy Spirit, to live within us every moment of every day to enable us to love God fully in heart, mind, body, and soul no matter where we are or what we are doing! The way of life Jesus invites us to is one of loving God with our heart (will/emotion), mind (thoughts), soul (holds our hearts/minds/and bodies together as whole persons), and strength (body) and loving our neighbors as though they are part of our own selves! There is no "time off" from life with God! Nor do we want there to be when we know that a life filled to overflowing with love is the best life we can have.
We have been taught that our lives are broken down into pieces that are unrelated. We have our work selves, our parenting selves, our spousal selves, our church selves, and, where most of the trouble lies, our "private selves." We struggle to hold them all together because we are often taught to separate them from one another. This is the way to disintegration. When Jesus comes to save us, he comes to make us whole in ourselves, with God, and with everyone and everything else.
That's why the Scripture for today has always been a central Scripture to God's people and to Jesus! He said that if we could love God with our whole selves, every minute, we would be fulfilling every commandment in the Bible. That's why Deuteronomy tells us to write the words reminding us to love God with our whole selves on our doorposts, talk with our families about them, and attach them on our bodies! Loving God is what holds our lives together and gives us joy.
Life Question:
How does it look to love God when I'm at work, at home, and when I'm alone?
Closing Prayer:
Fill us with your love, God of grace! Give us the power of your Holy Spirit to love you each moment with every cell in our bodies, every thought in our minds, and every ounce of our will so that we may know a life of peace and love! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
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God of mercy, forgive us for losing our focus on your presence in our lives. We get so busy, have so much to do, yet apart from you we can do nothing of any importance or value. Free us to joyfully drink from your Holy Spirit's presence within us when we wake, when we work, when we play and rest! Speak, we are listening!
Deuteronomy 6: 4-25:
Comments:
It's easy to love God on Sunday morning in a worship service or on a mission trip to somewhere we don't normally go or in a bible study group. It's not so easy to love God in the daily tasks of eating, cleaning, working, parenting, communicating with our spouses, and paying bills. Yet, we are given God's very presence, God's Holy Spirit, to live within us every moment of every day to enable us to love God fully in heart, mind, body, and soul no matter where we are or what we are doing! The way of life Jesus invites us to is one of loving God with our heart (will/emotion), mind (thoughts), soul (holds our hearts/minds/and bodies together as whole persons), and strength (body) and loving our neighbors as though they are part of our own selves! There is no "time off" from life with God! Nor do we want there to be when we know that a life filled to overflowing with love is the best life we can have.
We have been taught that our lives are broken down into pieces that are unrelated. We have our work selves, our parenting selves, our spousal selves, our church selves, and, where most of the trouble lies, our "private selves." We struggle to hold them all together because we are often taught to separate them from one another. This is the way to disintegration. When Jesus comes to save us, he comes to make us whole in ourselves, with God, and with everyone and everything else.
That's why the Scripture for today has always been a central Scripture to God's people and to Jesus! He said that if we could love God with our whole selves, every minute, we would be fulfilling every commandment in the Bible. That's why Deuteronomy tells us to write the words reminding us to love God with our whole selves on our doorposts, talk with our families about them, and attach them on our bodies! Loving God is what holds our lives together and gives us joy.
Life Question:
How does it look to love God when I'm at work, at home, and when I'm alone?
Closing Prayer:
Fill us with your love, God of grace! Give us the power of your Holy Spirit to love you each moment with every cell in our bodies, every thought in our minds, and every ounce of our will so that we may know a life of peace and love! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
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Monday, June 6, 2011
Weekly Prayer: Spiritual Overhaul
Opening Prayer:
Gracious Lord Jesus, save us from tepid religion, from lukewarm faith that is more like a hobby than an outright commitment to you. Fan the coals of our love for you into flame, so the world may feel the searing heat of your healing grace!
Ephesians 4: 17-32
When we start following Jesus, we start a new way of living. Having faith in Jesus isn't just about getting our past sins forgiven so we can feel better about ourselves. It isn't just about getting a "free pass to heaven" after we die, and it isn't a license for us to do whatever we want since we know that we'll be forgiven. It is about a death and a resurrection...ours!
This passage fills out our understanding of Christian baptism. When we are baptized with faith in Jesus Christ, we are buried in the water. Our old sin-sickened selves are left to rot under the water. When we rise out of the water and take our first breath, we are born again by the resurrection power of Jesus, with new minds, hearts, and lives! Our old self dies, and our new self in Jesus lives!
Thanks to Paul, we see more clearly that our resurrected selves should be different in tangible ways, especially in our relationships. We should speak truth and not lie. We can be angry, but we need to refrain from sinning in our anger and from holding onto our anger. We need to do good work and not steal. Our speech should build people up, not tear them down. And we should be forgiving.
I don't know about you, but I find myself needing to pick up my cross and die to some part my old sinful self daily so that I can live more fully in the new life Jesus died and rose to give me. Though we receive a new nature predisposed to honoring God when we have faith in Jesus, we still must work on the left-over sin-stained spots in our lives. John Wesley said that we are "going on to perfection." He meant that we are ever growing to be more fully loving like Jesus Christ whose love is perfect.
Life Questions:
1. What in you needs to die today so you can love more like Jesus?
2. What in you needs to live today so you can love more like Jesus?
Closing Prayer:
Give us courage, dear Lord, to see ourselves clearly, stains and all. Forgive us when we are unloving and unkind. Free us to love more courageously, more gracefully, forgiving others, being kind but not fake, and using our words to encourage others.
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Gracious Lord Jesus, save us from tepid religion, from lukewarm faith that is more like a hobby than an outright commitment to you. Fan the coals of our love for you into flame, so the world may feel the searing heat of your healing grace!
Ephesians 4: 17-32
When we start following Jesus, we start a new way of living. Having faith in Jesus isn't just about getting our past sins forgiven so we can feel better about ourselves. It isn't just about getting a "free pass to heaven" after we die, and it isn't a license for us to do whatever we want since we know that we'll be forgiven. It is about a death and a resurrection...ours!
This passage fills out our understanding of Christian baptism. When we are baptized with faith in Jesus Christ, we are buried in the water. Our old sin-sickened selves are left to rot under the water. When we rise out of the water and take our first breath, we are born again by the resurrection power of Jesus, with new minds, hearts, and lives! Our old self dies, and our new self in Jesus lives!
Thanks to Paul, we see more clearly that our resurrected selves should be different in tangible ways, especially in our relationships. We should speak truth and not lie. We can be angry, but we need to refrain from sinning in our anger and from holding onto our anger. We need to do good work and not steal. Our speech should build people up, not tear them down. And we should be forgiving.
I don't know about you, but I find myself needing to pick up my cross and die to some part my old sinful self daily so that I can live more fully in the new life Jesus died and rose to give me. Though we receive a new nature predisposed to honoring God when we have faith in Jesus, we still must work on the left-over sin-stained spots in our lives. John Wesley said that we are "going on to perfection." He meant that we are ever growing to be more fully loving like Jesus Christ whose love is perfect.
Life Questions:
1. What in you needs to die today so you can love more like Jesus?
2. What in you needs to live today so you can love more like Jesus?
Closing Prayer:
Give us courage, dear Lord, to see ourselves clearly, stains and all. Forgive us when we are unloving and unkind. Free us to love more courageously, more gracefully, forgiving others, being kind but not fake, and using our words to encourage others.
Daily Prayer
Weekly Sermon
Connect To Christian Community
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