light

Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. Therefore, test everything to see what’s pleasing to the Lord, and don’t participate in the unfruitful actions of darkness. Instead, you should reveal the truth about them. It’s embarrassing to even talk about what certain persons do in secret. But everything exposed to the light is revealed by the light. Everything that is revealed by the light is light. Therefore, it says, Wake up, sleeper! Get up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. So be careful to live your life wisely, not foolishly. Take advantage of every opportunity because these are evil times. Because of this, don’t be ignorant, but understand the Lord’s will. Don’t get drunk on wine, which produces depravity. Instead, be filled with the Spirit in the following ways: speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts; always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:6-20, CEB)

We are children of the light. We do not follow stupid ideas.

Light drives out the darkness.

This is why we as people of the light are people of integrity. Because anything we do in the dark will be revealed by the light. We need to do what we do and say what we mean all the time.

God knows our life and still loves us and wants us to share love.

Be the light and loe out loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

Are you in the light?

Dear friends, I’m not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message you heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. The one who claims to be in the light while hating a brother or sister is in the darkness even now. The person loving a brother and sister stays in the light, and there is nothing in the light that causes a person to stumble. But the person who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and lives in the darkness, and doesn’t know where to go because the darkness blinds the eyes. (1 John 2:7-11, CEB)

If you claim to be in the light and hate anyone you are not actually in the light.

We need to love all and if we have hate for anyone you are not living as God calls us to live.

Live Love out Loud and share what you have been given.

Be the light the world needs.

Loving People. Loving God.

where is your focus

As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead of him. Along the way, they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival, but the Samaritan villagers refused to welcome him because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume them?” But Jesus turned and spoke sternly to them, and they went on to another village. As Jesus and his disciples traveled along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Human One has no place to lay his head.” Then Jesus said to someone else, “Follow me.” He replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and spread the news of God’s kingdom.” Someone else said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those in my house.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.” (Luke 9:51-62, CEB)

This passage always seemed harsh to me. Jesus says Follow me and people say they need to take care of some things first and Jesus says if you want to follow you need to leave everything behind.

But Jesus did say he came to pit father against son and mother against daughter. We need to be focused on the kingdom of God and not our earthly home. The things of this world are not important. The kingdom of God and our sharing the love from it are what is important.

Live your life so that that kingdom is front and center.

Love out loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

follow

Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. He said, “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected—by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts—and be killed and be raised on the third day.” Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will save them. What advantage do people have if they gain the whole world for themselves yet perish or lose their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom.” (Luke 9:21-27, CEB)

Οπισω μου is the Greek for follow me. Actually, though it is more follow after. It is also the text that is in the scripture where Jesus says to Peter, get behind me Satan. You see to follow Jesus means we know our place. We are not walking alongside as if we are friends. Jesus is God and we are following behind where God is leading us.

To be following Jesus we have to see the back of his head.

So follow Jesus and know you are not in the lead.

Loving People. Loving God.

being known

At the time, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved by things that aren’t gods by nature. But now, after knowing God (or rather, being known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless world system? Do you want to be slaves to it again? You observe religious days and months and seasons and years. I’m afraid for you! Perhaps my hard work for you has been for nothing. I beg you to be like me, brothers and sisters, because I have become like you! You haven’t wronged me. You know that I first preached the gospel to you because of an illness. Though my poor health burdened you, you didn’t look down on me or reject me, but you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God, or as if I were Christ Jesus! Where then is the great attitude that you had? I swear that, if possible, you would have dug out your eyes and given them to me. So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They are so concerned about you, though not with good intentions. Rather, they want to shut you out so that you would run after them. However, it’s always good to have people concerned about you with good intentions, and not just when I’m there with you. My little children, I’m going through labor pains again until Christ is formed in you. But I wish I could be with you now and change how I sound, because I’m at a loss about you. (Galatians 4:8-20, CEB)

When you didn’t know God you were enslaved by things that are not a part of the kingdom.

But then when you learned about God, then you know God. No, we don’t know God we are known by God. God comes to us and motivates us to understand God’s love for us. The Holy Spirit moves us to believe and trust in God. We can only know God or be known by God because the Holy Spirit moves in our lives.

Know that you are known by and loved by God.

Believe it and trust it.

And Love Out Loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

fail

Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. But I hope that you will realize that we don’t fail the test. We pray to God that you don’t do anything wrong, not because we want to appear to pass the test but so that you might do the right thing, even if we appear to fail. We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. We are happy when we are weak but you are strong. We pray for this: that you will be made complete. This is why I’m writing these things while I’m away. I’m writing so that I won’t need to act harshly when I’m with you by using the authority that the Lord gave me. He gave it to me so that I could build you up, not tear you down. (2 Corinthians 13:5-10, CEB)

We need to be watching who we are so that we are people of integrity. We need to examine our lives so we do not fail the test of being a part of the kingdom. Even though we can’t fail the test.

But we need to say what we mean and mean what we say and live lives that project love in all ways.

Live love out loud.

Loving People. Loving God.

Can we?

The next day, when Jesus, Peter, John, and James had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus. A man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to take a look at my son, my only child. Look, a spirit seizes him and, without any warning, he screams. It shakes him and causes him to foam at the mouth. It tortures him and rarely leaves him alone. I begged your disciples to throw it out, but they couldn’t.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and crooked generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon threw him down and shook him violently. Jesus spoke harshly to the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. Everyone was overwhelmed by God’s greatness. (Luke 9:37-43a, CEB)

Why were the disciples unable to cast out the demon? I would venture to guess that they doubted they could.

Isn’t that what we all know and are told over and over. If you think you can’t, you can’t. When you doubt you can do something, you won’t be able to do it.

If you had to heal someone, could you? Would you doubt you had the ability to do it?

God gives us the ability to do things we think we don’t have the ability to do.

Believe in the power that God gives each of us.

Can you do that?

Loving People. Loving God.

all are welcome

So remember that once you were Gentiles by physical descent, who were called “uncircumcised” by Jews who are physically circumcised. At that time you were without Christ. You were aliens rather than citizens of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of God’s promise. In this world you had no hope and no God. But now, thanks to Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God. When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22, CEB)

At one point only Jews or circumcised people were thought to be part of the promise. The original promise was that Israel would be God’s people and that has not been undone. That promise is still true today.

But Christ came and opened the promise to include all people. Now physical appearance doesn’t get you in. It is the fact that God accepts you as God created you and all are welcome. Jew and Greek, Slave and Free, any sexual identity.

All means all and that is how we need to live. Sharing God’s love to all of creation.

Loving People. Loving God.

foolish

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent. Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today’s debaters? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish? In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Look at your situation when you were called, brothers and sisters! By ordinary human standards not many were wise, not many were powerful, not many were from the upper class. But God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong. And God chose what the world considers low-class and low-life—what is considered to be nothing—to reduce what is considered to be something to nothing. So no human being can brag in God’s presence. It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. He became wisdom from God for us. This means that he made us righteous and holy, and he delivered us. This is consistent with what was written: The one who brags should brag in the Lord! (1 Corinthians 1:18-31, CEB)

Where are the wise?

Where are the legal experts?

Where are today’s debaters?

not many were wise

not many were powerful

not many were from the upper class

The message of Christ is foolishness. Why would love be freely given? Why would God come to die?

Maybe God didn’t come to die, but the power in the religious leadership were worried this man was going to change their way of life. So death was the answer.

Death brings us life. This is foolishness.

Logic will not get us to God, neither will following the rules.

We have to have faith in the promises and trust that God is for us.

Loving People. Loving God.

Fear

Jesus and his disciples sailed to the Gerasenes’ land, which is across the lake from Galilee. As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, a certain man met him. The man was from the city and was possessed by demons. For a long time, he had lived among the tombs, naked and homeless. When he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down before him. Then he shouted, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” He said this because Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken possession of him, so he would be bound with leg irons and chains and placed under guard. But he would break his restraints, and the demon would force him into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had entered him. They pleaded with him not to order them to go back into the abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, and the demons left the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. When those who tended the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and told the story in the city and in the countryside. People came to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully dressed and completely sane. They were filled with awe. Those people who had actually seen what had happened told them how the demon-possessed man had been delivered. Then everyone gathered from the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave their area because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and returned across the lake. The man from whom the demons had gone begged to come along with Jesus as one of his disciples. Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell the story of what God has done for you.” So he went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him. (Luke 8:26-39, CEB)

Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac were filled with fear and wanted Jesus to leave.

When we are confronted with power that can make life the way God wants is we get scared because even though we do not want the darkness, we are used to it and light is scary when we are comfortable with fear. We will stay in the darkness to keep things the way they are.

What do we keep in the darkness that God is ready to fill with light?

What are you keeping from changing because the fear of moving on is harder than staying in the darkness?

Loving People. Loving God.