Blessed by Christ

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:1-14, NRSV)

We have been destined for adoption by God.

Meaning we were not part, but God made us part of the promise. We have been brought into the family and not just included, but made a part of the family.

Jesus has cleansed us of our wrongdoing and made us able to stand before God.

We are His because He made us His.

Remember you are blessed!

The Prodigal Son

11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.25“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15:11-32, NRSV)

I love this chapter of Luke. It is the chapter of Lost things. Or things that run away. But the first two stories are about a sheep, which can run away, and a coin, which really can not on its own decide to run away.

So is this story above actually about the son?

Just like the first story about the sheep and the second about the coin.

No, the first story starts, “there was a shepherd who had 100 sheep…” and the second story starts,  “there was a woman who had 10 coins…”

The first story is about the shepherd and the second story is about the woman, and the story above while it has the son who went away in it, is not about the son, but someone else. You see the story begins, “there was a man who had 2 sons…” The story is about the man.

The man who dishonors himself by allowing his youngest son to say he is dead to him and gives him his share of the estate. The money he would have gotten when his father was actually dead. And how the father dishonored himself even more by running to the younger son upon his return and giving him the ring of the household, one of the father’s own robes and sandals which said he was a member of the family and not a slave of the household. A story about a man who dishonors himself again by leaving the party when the older son was throwing a fit. This is the story of a man who would do anything for his children. This is the story of a Father who would give up His only Son so that all might be with Him.

This is a story of how much God loves you and will give to be with you.

God is running after you. Let God Love You.

Apostles’ Creed Article 3

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:1-18, NRSV)

At the weekly Bible study, I attend where we look at the upcoming Sunday’s text someone at the study asked me if I believed that this actually happened. I said yes I believe it happened, and they proceeded to say well I guess it really doesn’t matter if it actually happened or not.

And in some sense, it doesn’t matter if it happened exactly like this. The point is that the good news of the story of Jesus and the giving of the Holy Spirit are too good to keep to our selves, and we have to share it with everyone. Meaning we have to overcome language and communication barriers that prevent that. And I believe that God will overcome these for us if we allow Him.

So the disciples were speaking in their own tongue but everyone heard it in their own tongue. Miracle. And God still does it.

Believe it. And speak it. Share the good news with everyone!

Are you practicing?

It is that time of year that parents rejoice and some youth don’t like. It is back to school.

As if learning is something we only do from Kindergarten through college graduation! If that were only true, the only time we stop learning is when we are dead! And even then I bet we will learn something in the great wonderful eternity we get to spend with God.

So back to school and back to learning new things, deepening our faith and growing closer to God.

The book Frog’s Without Legs Can’t Hear, Nurturing Disciples in Home and Congregation starts by asking, “Are we forming faith?”

And that is a great question to always be asking our selves, as faith formation is a process that never ends.

In the book, there is a story about a woman who was in a coffee shop wearing a cross and the young person waiting on her told her he liked her cross and then asked her if she was practicing?

And that is a great question.

You see faith is something we are given by God but is something we are constantly learning about and forming and growing into. And faith is something more than just a belief. It is something that needs to be practiced. Faith is something that if it becomes stagnate will die. It has to move and grow and change with the times and fill in the spaces between us and God and the world around us so that we can all be connected to God. Faith is not something that stays the same but is a living part of us that changes over time.

St. Francis of Assisi is attributed with saying, but didn’t actually say, but really meant something to the effect, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” You see our lives should be lived in such a way that the good news of Jesus just flows out of everything we do.

So is your life forming faith?

And are you practicing?

A Miraculous Healing During Worship

7On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. 8There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. 9A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. 10But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left.12Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted. (Acts 20:7-12, NRSV)

Paul was talking so long that a young man fell asleep in the window and fell to his death! That is definitely one thing I have never done, not put someone to sleep, but had them fall to their death!

I am sure someone has fallen asleep while I was speaking though. But can you imagine someone talking about the gospel for that long?

Someone so enthralled with Jesus that they want to talk about Him and the good news for hours upon end?

Think of the subjects you can do this on, and then I wonder if Jesus is one of them and if He isn’t how can we change that?

Jesus should be the most enthralling topic you know so you want to talk about Him all the time.

Can you?

Sabbath Preaching in Corinth

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. 4Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks. 5When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. 6When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. 8Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized. 9One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent;10for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.” 11He stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts 18:1-11, NRSV)

Do not be afraid to speak and do not be silent!

God wants us to share the good news, the wonderful news that Jesus came and lived among us and was killed because he opposed the authorities and loved all people. And he rose from the dead and went back to be with the Father and made a way for all of us to be with God.

We should share this with everyone, and if they won’t listen, then shake the dust off your feet and move on to tell others, but don’t be silent, tell the word about God’s love.

Speak the truth in love and share the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Reasoning on the Sabbath in Thessalonica

After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, 3explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” 4Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house. 6When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, 7and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.” 8The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this, 9and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go. 10That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. 12Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. 13But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds. 14Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. 15Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him. 16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. 22Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33At that point Paul left them. 34But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17, NRSV)

Do we worship an unknown god or the God?

You see there is only 1 God even though we, who are Christians, know God as three different expressions. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all one and we can not have one without the other two. And sometimes we get hung up on this.

But we need to worship God in spirit and in truth so when we are questioned we can stand like Paul and give witness to the God who has made all things new and who walks with us through our trials.

Worship God and rely on Him to see you through.

A Riverside Sabbath Day

11We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us. (Acts 16:11-15, NRSV)

Paul and his companions went down by the riverside on the Sabbath and spoke to the women who gathered there. They were probably not spiritual people per se but they gathered and listened.

We can worship and talk about God anywhere. And if people are open and ready to listen, they may just get the love that God has given to us.

Never stop living the life that God gave you to live and to allow God to speak boldly through your life.

Paul Preaches on the Sabbath

13Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem; 14but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.” 16So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. (Acts 13:13-16, NRSV)

We think that we should go out and just tell everyone all the time how much God has done for us and who Jesus is and how He saved all of us.

But did you see what happened here? Yes, Paul preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath, but he was invited.

The leaders of the synagogue asked if they had any words of exhortation, and then Paul told them about Jesus.

Sometimes people aren’t ready to hear the good news, but when they ask we must tell them.

Are you ready to tell others about Jesus?

Love One Another

9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you.15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. (John 15:9-15, NRSV)

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…

As I read this verse again to do this devotion I was struck by this line. You see this passage is about Jesus telling us to love one another. We think that the Bible tells us to follow all of these rules and make sure we do not slip and do something we aren’t allowed to do, but Jesus sums up what the commandments do for us in that one line, If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

You see I have said for many years now that the 10 commandments are all about us living in relationships with God and each other, 3 for God and 7 for others, and if we do these things, we will be loving God and loving others.

More than keeping rules, love.

That is what God did for each of us, loved us when we were filthy, and that is what God wants us to do. Love.