aSacredRebel

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—my adversaries and foes—they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. (Psalm 27:1-6, NRSV)

Those who come against me will fall and fail when I have the Lord on my side!

With the Lord as my light and salvation there is no reason for me to fear. Even when the world is closing around me, and my earthly life is near it’s end, I have no need to fear.

This does not mean that life will be easy and a walk in the park. Or life will be a rose garden and everything happen the way I want it to. It means that God is for me and my future and present are secure in Him!

So nothing shall I fear!

Changed

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me,* so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, ‘The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they glorified God because of me. (Galatians 1:11-24, NRSV)

How many of you know someone who has changed?

You knew a person back in high school and they were rough and tough and a part of the crowd you didn’t mess with. They were always getting in trouble and doing things that seemed cool…

Then you meet them again years later and your scared when they come up to you, worried that they remembered they said they were going to get you, but never did and now they have finally caught up with you…

But they say, “I just wanted to invite you to come to worship at the church I am serving. You see I’m a pastor now and really would like to see you on Sunday morning with us for worship!”

“Hold on a minute, you’re a pastor? When did this happen? You were the rough kid who always beat us up and skipped school, that wasn’t very religious.”

“Well, God got a hold of me and I’ve changed…”

God has a way of making us see what we can be, rather than what we are. Or better yet He shows us the person we really are, apart from what the world says we are! He helps us live into the person He created us to be.

You see Paul was Saul and a very vehement persecutor of the people who followed Jesus. He was rough and tough and hauled disciples of Jesus to jail, or had them stoned. He was merciless.

But God got a hold of him and showed him what He created him for. And now he is changed!

So what is the life God has for you that we may not see or realize because the noise of the world is so loud that it is keeping us from hearing Him?

don’t be traditional!

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’ (Matthew 9:14-17, NRSV)

I will admit this passage has always been a little strange to me.

You see I don’t make wine so I do not know the particulars of wine and how it ferments.

I do sew but have never sewn a new piece of fabric onto an old garment. However the new cloth would have to give more and wouldn’t so the garment could be worse off than if it had a hole…

But what is Jesus telling us here. This morning as I prayed and read this text, I was hit with the notion:

We can not put what God is doing into the traditional understanding we carry forward.

Now before you get worried I want to throw the baby out with the bath water let’s look at this…

You have to understand what I mean by tradition and traditional.

One of these words is a good word and the other is a word that you shouldn’t say in polite company!

Tradition is the basis of our faith. Our understanding of who we are and where came from. Be base things in our tradition and they keep us grounded to God and our relationship with Him.

Traditional is doing things the way we have always done them, because that is how it is done.

Do you see the difference?

If you are traditional you will not try something new because what we have always done has always worked before and there is no need to do something new!

But isn’t God always trying something new to reach the ones He loves, while maintaining what is important in the relationship with His church?

Do not get stuck in a box and try to make God fit where He always has, because that just isn’t going to work!

Allow God to do what He will to keep the relationship with you alive, and to reach the lost…

safe keeper…

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required. Then I said, ‘Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.’ I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever. For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt. Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, ‘Aha, Aha!’ But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the Lord!’ As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God. (Psalm 40:6-17, NRSV)

Have you ever done something stupid?

Like really dumb and when you look back upon it you think, “I’m really lucky to be alive!”

We have choices to make every day. We decide every morning if we are going to have a good day or bad day. We have no control over the things that happen in our lives, except how we react. We can be happy about the worst of scenarios…

Why?

Because of what the psalmist says. He protects me forever with His steadfast love. He is holding me in His hands. Does that mean I won’t make stupid decisions that will make life hard sometimes? No!

But it does mean that no matter what we are going through, that He is holding us. Not to keep us from things, but to be with us on our journey.

Do not hide that fact that you trust in Him and walk with Him! Exclaim the joys of the relationship you have with the Lord!

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’ The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:26-40, NRSV)

How can I know what I am reading if no one explains it to me!

We need each other to share our understandings of the story of God. My interpretation could be skewed and I will not know if I have it right unless someone tells me what they know.

Just like Philip we need to be ready to run along side someone and explain to them what we know of God in our life and the scripture so we can all grow in our relationship with God and each other.

Come and see…

The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter). (John 1:29-42, NRSV)

Isn’t it interesting how we think we know what happened at Jesus baptism…

I mean Jesus went to John and they went down into the Jordan river and John baptized Jesus.

But is that what it says in the above reading?

John says ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’

He saw the spirit descending, but he doesn’t say when. He doesn’t say he baptized Jesus. We assume from the other gospel stories that John did this, but John does not say he did. He merely reports what he saw happen.

Which is what Andrew does. Andrew goes and tells Simon that he needs to come and see the Messiah.

The one who will be the foundation of the church is invited to come and see.

And Jesus invites the disciple to some and see…

And there you have evangelism in a nutshell…

We need to see what God is doing, tell others and then ask them to come and see.

On your own…

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11, NRSV)

We have worked all night long and haven’t gotten anything. We are tired and want to rest.

Has Jesus ever asked you to do something after a long day?

We get hesitant when what we want is not what we are going to get.

We want our rest.

We want our chair.

We want our tv show.

We want our _______.

And that is it really we want…

But what does Jesus want.

And you see, on our own, we can not catch the fish.

On our own we will make a mess of things.

But when Jesus says to cast a net, we cast the net. Because miraculous things are going to happen!

So be ready when He calls, and do not try to make t on your own!

Who is this for?

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ (Acts 1:1-5, NRSV)

In the first book?

And just who is Theophilus?

Well we have to remember that Acts was written by Luke. So the first book is the Gospel according to Luke.

You see Luke and Acts actually are a series. They should be read together or one after the other. If you read Acts before Luke you will understand it, but it would make more sense to read Luke then to read Acts. We miss this though with the Gospel according to John being smacked in between them in the scripture…

So the first book is Luke, and Luke begins to Theophilus…

Are we ease dropping on a private conversation?

Yes and no…

You see we are all Theophilus!

That is right. You are Theophilus!

You see philus is one of the Greek words for love. and Theo is the Greek word for God. So Theophilus is lover of God. So if you love God and want to know more about Him and become closer to Him, Luke and Acts were written for you!

So read on God Lover and learn more about who you are in relationship to the creator who loves you.

Trust

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted. Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required. Then I said, ‘Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.’ I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever. (Psalm 40:-11, NRSV)

Where do you find happiness?

Or what makes you happy?

You see every day you actually have a choice to be happy or not. Your happiness is not based on what you have or don’t have. It isn’t based on what is going right or your way in your life.

Those who trust in the Lord are happy because the maker of Heaven and Earth has got their back!

So in what do you trust?

Or better yet, in whom do you trust?