really?!?

Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, uphold the holiness of your name. Bring in your kingdom. Give us the bread we need for today. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us. And don’t lead us into temptation.’” He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened. “Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish? If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:1-13, CEB)

Have you ever asked God for something and not gotten it?

Jesus just said, “And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.”

When you ask, you get; when you look, you find; when you knock, it is opened.

I’m sorry it has not happened this way for me. I’ve asked for things that did not happen.

But here is the thing. I know God is good and the things God has in store for me are far better than I could ever imagine, so when I ask for something and God has something better planned, I know They just laugh and go, just wait.

Do not get hung up in your plans. God’s are way better.

Faith

One day Jesus and his disciples boarded a boat. He said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they set sail. While they were sailing, he fell asleep. Gale-force winds swept down on the lake. The boat was filling up with water and they were in danger. So they went and woke Jesus, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” But he got up and gave orders to the wind and the violent waves. The storm died down and it was calm. He said to his disciples, “Where is your faith?” Filled with awe and wonder, they said to each other, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!” (Luke 8:22-25, CEB)

Where is your faith?

I have said a lot lately, the opposite of faith is not doubt, it is certainty.

There were several times when I lived in Wisconsin and was out with friends on their sailboats, I was uncertain about the conditions and what would happen, but I always had faith in the boat and the captain. The person leading us on our adventures knew how to see the conditions and then what to do, and if we listened and helped, everything worked out. I had faith in their abilities.

Jesus was asleep on the boat, so how bad was this storm? And if the disciples see him sleeping, why are they worried? That should show Jesus is at ease if he is sleeping through the storm.

We want to be certain of how things will work, but that leaves no room for faith.

Trust that your life is in the hands of the one who created everything, and then have faith it will work out.

Where is your faith?

fleshed out

“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words! Jesus the Nazarene was a man whose credentials God proved to you through miracles, wonders, and signs, which God performed through him among you. You yourselves know this. In accordance with God’s established plan and foreknowledge, he was betrayed. You, with the help of wicked men, had Jesus killed by nailing him to a cross. God raised him up! God freed him from death’s dreadful grip, since it was impossible for death to hang on to him. David says about him,
I foresaw that the Lord was always with me;
    because he is at my right hand I won’t be shaken.
Therefore, my heart was glad
    and my tongue rejoiced.
Moreover, my body will live in hope,
        because you won’t abandon me to the grave,
    nor permit your holy one to experience decay.
You have shown me the paths of life;
    your presence will fill me with happiness.
“Brothers and sisters, I can speak confidently about the patriarch David. He died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this very day. Because he was a prophet, he knew that God promised him with a solemn pledge to seat one of his descendants on his throne. Having seen this beforehand, David spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he wasn’t abandoned to the grave, nor did his body experience decay. This Jesus God raised up. We are all witnesses to that fact. He was exalted to God’s right side and received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit. He poured out this Spirit, and you are seeing and hearing the results of his having done so. David didn’t ascend into heaven. Yet he says, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right side, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ “Therefore, let all Israel know beyond question that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:22-36, CEB)

Jesus was a man. He lived and was killed.

He was the promise of God to David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne forever.

Jesus came and lived to show us God’s love fleshed out.

How do we live God’s love fleshed out?

Do you give more than you get, and focus on the other rather than yourself?

Be God’s love fleshed out in the world.

everyone is replaceable

During this time, the family of believers was a company of about one hundred twenty persons. Peter stood among them and said, “Brothers and sisters, the scripture that the Holy Spirit announced beforehand through David had to be fulfilled. This was the scripture concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus. This happened even though he was one of us and received a share of this ministry.” (In fact, he bought a field with the payment he received for his injustice. Falling headfirst, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines spilled out. This became known to everyone living in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Hakeldama, or “Field of Blood.”) “It is written in the Psalms scroll, Let his home become deserted and let there be no one living in it; and Give his position of leadership to another. (Acts 1:15-20, CEB)

Give his position to another.

When our time to leave has come, we must take leave.

But the leadership we have done will continue by another.

All of us are replaceable. Do not think someone else can not do what you do. Maybe instead, think about those who will come after you and prepare the way for them.

We are all interim ministers to the world in what we do. How can we prepare the world for those who come after us, and the people we serve, to accept those who come after us?

Prepare for leaving, know God will bless you and those you serve.

who do you know?

The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus responded, “Don’t grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:41-51, CEB)

The people against him grumbled because they thought they knew who he was. “Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?” Like they knew everything about him from this one thing.

Or if they did know him, he hasn’t changed, or grown, or learned and modified he he is.

I can guarantee that people who knew me in high school who have not maintained contact with me do not know me. They know the me I was then, but I have changed, matured (stop laughing), and grown. I am not who they think I am.

And that is what is supposed to happen in life. People change and grow.

The only person we really know is ourselves. And sometimes I question whether I know him.

liar

My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you don’t sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is God’s way of dealing with our sins, not only ours but the sins of the whole world. This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. The one who claims, “I know him,” while not keeping his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. But the love of God is truly perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know we are in him. The one who claims to remain in him ought to live in the same way as he lived. (1 John 2:1-6, CEB)

The one who claims “I know him,” while not keeping the commandments, is a liar.

Anyone who says they love God and takes away care and funding for people in need is a liar.

Anyone who does hateful things to people who are not like them does not keep the commandments and is a liar and does not love God.

Hate in the name of God makes you a liar.

Don’t be a liar.

Be!

God wanted to make the glorious riches of this secret plan known among the Gentiles, which is Christ living in you, the hope of glory. This is what we preach as we warn and teach every person with all wisdom so that we might present each one mature in Christ. I work hard and struggle for this goal with his energy, which works in me powerfully. I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who haven’t known me personally. My goal is that their hearts would be encouraged and united together in love so that they might have all the riches of assurance that come with understanding, so that they might have the knowledge of the secret plan of God, namely Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. I’m telling you this so that no one deceives you with convincing arguments, because even though I am absent physically, I’m with you in spirit. I’m happy to see the discipline and stability of your faith in Christ. So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. (Colossians 1:27—2:7, CEB)

Do not be deceived by convincing arguments.

Be:
Rooted and built up in Christ
Established in faith
Overflowing with thanksgiving

Do the things you know you were called to and gifted for. All with thanksgiving for the overflowing grace and love we have received.

Know God is always with you and helping you along the way.

Be who you were created to be.

better part

While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message. By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.” The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, CEB)

What is the better part?

The movie City Slickers has this brief dialogue:
Curly: You know what the secret of life is?
Mitch: No, what?
Curly: This. [and he holds up his index finger]
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.
Mitch: That’s great, but what’s the one thing?
Curly: That’s what you’ve got to figure out.

Is it better to serve, like Jesus told us to do with the Good Samaritan, the story that comes directly before this one in the gospel of Luke, or is it better to sit and listen?

Jesus told Martha, “you are worried and distracted by many things. One thing is necessary.” Only one thing is necessary, the better one. Do not be distracted by many things. “Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.” So is listening better than serving?

Mary is focused on Jesus. Martha is focused on Mary, or the lack of help Mary is giving her. Martha is not focused on Jesus, she is focused on making things perfect and seeing that Mary is not fulfilling the things that Martha thinks needs to be done.

Mary is focused on Jesus.

Who are you focused on?

What?!?!

When a great crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from one city after another, he spoke to them in a parable: “A farmer went out to scatter his seed. As he was scattering it, some fell on the path where it was crushed, and the birds in the sky came and ate it. Other seed fell on rock. As it grew, it dried up because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorns grew with the plants and choked them. Still other seed landed on good soil. When it grew, it produced one hundred times more grain than was scattered.” As he said this, he called out, “Everyone who has ears should pay attention.” His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “You have been given the mysteries of God’s kingdom, but these mysteries come to everyone else in parables so that when they see, they can’t see, and when they hear, they can’t understand. (Luke 8:4-10, CEB)

“You have been given the mysteries of God’s kingdom, but these mysteries come to everyone else in parables so that when they see, they can’t see, and when they hear, they can’t understand.” This is partly why taking a snippet out of the bible does not give you the whole picture.

Jesus told the parable of the sower. And the disciples asked, ‘What does this mean?’ and Jesus said what I quoted above. Jesus told the disciples they have been given the mysteries, and they see what others can’t and hear what others can’t. But then it ends, so how does that answer the question what does this mean? It doesn’t, but if you continue reading from there in the gospel of Luke, you get the explanation of the parable. So, without the continued story, we really do not get the answer.

Some get it, some don’t, like seeds falling on the ground, it has as much to do with the seed as it does the ground it falls on. We are called to cast seed. And let God do the rest.

So cast seed.

imagine

This is why I kneel before the Father. Every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by him. I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21, CEB)

What do you imagine God can do?

What do you hope God can do?

Whatever it is, put it aside and stand back as we see the wonders of God. For the things we imagine or hope for only scratch the surface of what God is able to do.

Do not let our imagination get in the way of God’s doing.