Dead man walking

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomsoever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgement, but has passed from death to life. ‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. (John 5:19-29, NRSV)

We can do nothing apart from God that is good. We can do nothing apart from God that will get us to any where but 6 feet in the ground.

We are truly all dead men walking. We are the living dead.

We will be judged by Jesus for the things that we did apart from Him. Will we hear Him call and be the ones who rise from the dead and walk with Him.

God has given Him the power and the wisdom to judge all of creation and to call forth from the grave those who will hear Him call.

Are you always going to be walking dead, or will you one day rise with Him?

Listen for His voice, and know that you will not always be a dead man walking!

where are you looking?

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud. (Psalm 123, NRSV)

Where are you looking?

Do you look for things that are not there?

Things that will not help?

We always seem to be looking for the thing that will make our lives easy.

But you know we are not promised an easy life. We are not promised a road with no sorrow.

We are promised that when we look for our master He will be there.

We are promised when we are in need His hand will be there for us.

We are promised to have a guide in the darkness, not the removal of it.

We are ones who need to turn our eyes up and look for our master, our Lord and know that He is always there!

Advent Devotional from Luther Seminary

Follow the below link to the website for the Advent Devotional from Luther Seminary. You can either download the booklet in a pdf form, or sign up for a daily email.

This is a wonderful resource!

http://www.luthersem.edu/advent/?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=All+Dynamic+Links&utm_content=Advent+Devotional+2013+is+Available+Now%21&utm_campaign=20131108+-+Advent+Devo+to+God+Pause+Subscribers

What we have known

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:16-21 ESV)

Peter tells us what he has known. He tells us what he learned from his experience.

This is nothing more than we are asked to do.

We are suppose to tell our story, which is God’s story.

From Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we are all part of the same story. We need to tell others what we know. Not for fact but on faith.

Share your story!

On your side!

Jesus Stained Glass‘O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,  whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:23-27a, NRSV)

I wish that all of my words were written down and I was there with Jesus after my skin had been destroyed, and then I could in my flesh see God!

Job tells us of the resurrection of the body. That we will as we are stand before God because of what Jesus has done for us!

We will be able to stand before God because Jesus is on our side and He has done great things for us!

Praise be to God that He lives, and because He lives we too shall live!

Thank God today that He is on your side!

authority

One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders and said to him, ‘Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?’ He answered them, ‘I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ They discussed it with one another, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say, “Why did you not believe him?” But if we say, “Of human origin”, all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet.’ So they answered that they did not know where it came from. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’ (Luke 20:1-8, NRSV)

Where did authority come from?

Where does authority come from?

Who do you see as an authority figure over you?

Doesn’t that change throughout your life?

I mean when I was younger I saw my parents as authority figures. However if my parents were still alive I would not see them as authority figures as I did when I was 10, or even 18. Now they are still authority figures, but not the same…

So where did Jesus get His power, is probably more close to what the Pharisees want to know. They see someone doing something that they can’t, and want to know why?

They are then asked a question in return. Where does the baptism of John come from. They are in a quandary.  If they say Heaven, then why did they not believe and be baptized, but if they say human origin, then they are dissing all of the people who believe it is from Heaven and are following after John. They are worried they would lose their authority either way.

So where does your authority come from? And what authority do you see over your life?

apple of His eye

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit. From you let my vindication come; let your eyes see the right. If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress. As for what others do, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped. I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Guard me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who despoil me, my deadly enemies who surround me. (Psalm 17, NRSV)

I wonder when David wrote this? Because the first verse says from lips free of deceit… David is not without deceit…

But have you ever seen your reflection in the eye of a loved one?

When you get so close that you see yourself in their eyes?

That is how close God is to you. David prayed that God would guard him as the apple of His eye, that God would be so close to him that David would always be the reflection in the eye of God.

And that is where He is. So close to you that if you dare to look Him in the eye you would see your reflection. Yet I dare to say that you would not see your reflection, but you would see Jesus.

So always remember even if you are like David and you try but sometimes fall short of where God wants you to be, you will always be the apple of His eye.

 

take care…

When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, ‘I have no desire to marry her’, then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ Throughout Israel his family shall be known as ‘the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.’ (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, NRSV)

How many husbands could one woman have?

Many brothers could die without leaving woman a son to take care of her, so she could be married to many men…

This scripture is confusing to us today, because most of us would never think of marrying our brothers’ wives. I mean I have some really great sister-in-laws but not really up on the marrying part of that. I would be up for what the text is telling us though…

This law was put into place so that they women would be care for. The women would be taken care of. Because in the day this was written, women could not earn money from a decent job, or enough to take care of themselves. They were considered property and needed the protection of a provider. And that is what this passage is telling us, Take Care!

Take care of those who need our assistance.

Take care of the down trodden.

Take care of the less fortunate.

That is why I would not want to marry my sister-in-laws but I would do what those who read this were told to do, help make sure their needs were met…

So take care!