What?

During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense. All the people who gathered to worship were praying outside during this hour of incense offering. An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many people will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the Lord’s eyes. He must not drink wine and liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. He will bring many Israelites back to the Lord their God. He will go forth before the Lord, equipped with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and he will turn the disobedient to righteous patterns of thinking. He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:5-17, CEB)

Zechariah prayed for a son, and his prayers were heard, and when he entered the temple after being chosen by lot to go, an angel appeared to him and scared him.

How would you react if you went into the temple and started to light the incense, and all of a sudden, there was someone else standing there at the altar with you?

The angel clearly told Zechariah they would have a son and he was to be named John and he would be a prophet. I honestly think I would be more scared about this, than the person who was not supposed to be in the temple with me.

A prophet of the most high is not going to have a fun life.

But are not we all called to be a spokesperson for God? To proclaim God’s love in the world?

Know God for told your birth just as God did John’s. God is counting on you to speak truth in love and show the world that God loves them.

Loving People. Loving God.

harvest

Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the benefit of the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up. So then, let’s work for the good of all whenever we have an opportunity, and especially for those in the household of faith. (Galatians 6:7-10, CEB)

You can not harvest what you do not plant.

If your life plants love, you will get love in return.

If your life plants hate, you will get hate in return.

We can only get what we give.

Give love, in everything you do.

Loving People. Loving God.

guided by?

I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. A person’s selfish desires are set against the Spirit, and the Spirit is set against one’s selfish desires. They are opposed to each other, so you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do. But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires. If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-25, CEB)

Who are you guided by?

Do you follow after your own desires?

Do you cause people to hide who they are so they make you comfortable?

When we are guided by the Spirit, we will love all people as God created them.

For living in and being guided by the Spirit means we will show the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. Love brings joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we love we truly show God is moving in and among us and allows others to be who they are.

Be guided by the Spirit. Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

lose your life

Once when Jesus was praying by himself, the disciples joined him, and he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others that one of the ancient prophets has come back to life.” He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ sent from God.” 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 9:18-27, CEB)

Jesus just said to the disciples that they have to die daily to what they want and go and do what Jesus is leading them to do.

When we make people fit in boxes to make us comfortable, that is not dying to self or following Jesus.

When we say people are not living the way Jesus told us to, it is not dying to self and following Jesus.

We need to die daily and give up what we want, or we will lose our lives.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Be like Paul…

“So, King Agrippa, I wasn’t disobedient to that heavenly vision. Instead, I proclaimed first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to the whole region of Judea and to the Gentiles. My message was that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God, and that they should demonstrate this change in their behavior. Because of this, some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to murder me. God has helped me up to this very day. Therefore, I stand here and bear witness to the lowly and the great. I’m saying nothing more than what the Prophets and Moses declared would happen: that the Christ would suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to my people and to the Gentiles.” At this point in Paul’s defense, Festus declared with a loud voice, “You’ve lost your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you mad!” But Paul replied, “I’m not mad, most honorable Festus! I’m speaking what is sound and true. King Agrippa knows about these things, and I have been speaking openly to him. I’m certain that none of these things have escaped his attention. This didn’t happen secretly or in some out-of-the-way place. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.” Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you trying to convince me that, in such a short time, you’ve made me a Christian?” Paul responded, “Whether it is a short or a long time, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today will become like me, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:19-29, CEB)

Paul said, “I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today will become like me.”

Everyone should be like Paul. Able to hear something different from what we were taught and grew up with, and able to change our ways and understanding, and move forward to help everyone see this new thing.

Learning something new does not mean you were wrong before; it means you made decisions based on the knowledge you had. It is not wrong to change your understanding, it is wrong to not hear new viable information and simply reject it because it goes against what you had known.

Be like Paul. Open to learning and changing for the betterment of love.

Loving People. Loving God.

Stand up

The next morning the legal authorities sent the police to the jailer with the order “Release those people.” So the jailer reported this to Paul, informing him, “The authorities sent word that you both are to be released. You can leave now. Go in peace.” Paul told the police, “Even though we are Roman citizens, they beat us publicly without first finding us guilty of a crime, and they threw us into prison. And now they want to send us away secretly? No way! They themselves will have to come and escort us out.” The police reported this to the legal authorities, who were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. They came and consoled Paul and Silas, escorting them out of prison and begging them to leave the city. Paul and Silas left the prison and made their way to Lydia’s house where they encouraged the brothers and sisters. Then they left Philippi. (Acts 16:35-40, CEB)

We need to speak out for what we believe in and know our rights in doing so.

Paul spoke about the truth of God’s love and was beaten for it. When the authorities tried to sweep it away, Paul did not allow it.

We need to speak the truth in love and know when to continue to make a stand.

Loving People. Loving God.

Be One.

“I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word. I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one just as we are one. I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you loved me. “Father, I want those you gave me to be with me where I am. Then they can see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, even the world didn’t know you, but I’ve known you, and these believers know that you sent me. I’ve made your name known to them and will continue to make it known so that your love for me will be in them, and I myself will be in them.” (John 17:20-26, CEB)

This is Jesus’s high priestly prayer, in which he prays for himself, the disciples, and all who will follow him. This is for all who will follow him because of the words and actions of believers.

I wonder, though, how many have chosen not to follow Jesus because of the words and actions of people who claim to follow? Here, Jesus prays that all would be one. That we would move in the world and be united in the love God has given us. Yet people who claim to follow Jesus use their faith for hate and to work to eliminate people from existence, is this being one? Is this working for what God has called us to work towards?

We were taught what the bible said in order to keep power in place for certain groups of people. Jesus was killed because he was going against the power structures of the world and trying to show us a better way to live.

When we are one, we love all as God made them and do not try to make people fit into our boxes.

Lose your box.

God does not fit, and neither will I nor anyone else.

Love.

Loving People. Loving God.

seen God

The Word became flesh
    and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
    glory like that of a father’s only son,
        full of grace and truth.
John testified about him, crying out, “This is the one of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than me because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace;
    as the Law was given through Moses,
    so grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
    God the only Son,
        who is at the Father’s side,
        has made God known. (John 1:14-18, CEB)

No one has seen God but Jesus, the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us, has made God known.

Grace was given through Jesus being here, and we have seen how we are to live.

So go and be like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

keep the words

Then he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. “Look! I’m coming soon. Favored is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy contained in this scroll.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I’m a servant just like you and your brothers and sisters, the prophets, and those who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” (Revelation 22:6-9, CEB)

Favored is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy contained in this scroll.

What are the words on the scroll?

Is it love?

Love God, Love Neighbor? That is really what Jesus told us. The command he gave the disciples was to love one another, and God told Paul that nothing God had made is profane, so those two together tell us all that all people are to be loved.

So favored is the one who loves, without question or judgment.

Love.

Loving People. Loving God.

heavenly power

Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said to them, “This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and a change of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Look, I’m sending to you what my Father promised, but you are to stay in the city until you have been furnished with heavenly power.” He led them out as far as Bethany, where he lifted his hands and blessed them. As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem overwhelmed with joy. And they were continuously in the temple praising God. (Luke 24:44-53, CEB)

Heavenly Power!

Jesus told the disciples he was sending what had been promised, that they needed to stay in the city until they had been furnished with heavenly power.

The Spirit is coming.

Are you ready for heavenly power?

Loving People. Loving God.