Gracious

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! (Psalms 67:1-7 ESV)

How is God to be made known in the world?

Does God need you?

The Bible tells us that God could make the rocks and the trees cry out for Him if He wanted to. God does not need us.

But He does want us to cry out to Him and praise Him. He wants us to let all of the world know why we live and who we live for.

He is gracious to us, and blesses us.

So praise His name and let the whole world know why you live and who you live for.

Love Neighbor…

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:9-18, ESV)

We talk about loving our neighbor and doing for them, but here it is in black and white in the book of the Law!

We are suppose to leave som of our livelihood behind for the sojouner and the poor, the needy and those who do not have. Leave some of your crops and grapes behind.

Also you do not deal wrongly with anyone, but treat everyone as you want to be treated.

Love your neighbor as yourself and by this you will obtain eternal life, so says Jesus in the passage for today from Luke:

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.* ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ (Luke 10:25-28 NRSV)

So love of neighbor is higher than any law except loving the Lord your God. If you can do these two, then they will know you are a follower of Jesus and this is the highest of all Laws and commandments.

Twelve Ways to Spot Fools

Dan Rockwell's avatarLeadership Freak

The ability to identify and deal with fools protects leaders and organizations.

clown

Foolishness has nothing to do with intelligence or talent. Smart, gifted people are prime candidates for foolishness.

Twelve ways to spot fools:

  1. Believe they are right.
  2. Hate accountability and practical strategies.
  3. Love blaming and reject responsibility.
  4. Pursue personal ease rather than challenge.
  5. Expect you to adapt to them.
  6. Reject instruction.
  7. Can’t see their foolishness.
  8. Express frustrations quickly and openly.
  9. Gossip and cut down privately while complimenting publicly.
  10. Act confidently.
  11. Enjoy talking.
  12. Despise listening.

Bonus: Fools don’t seek help, but the wise love and seek wisdom. Fools seek their own way because others are wrong and they are right.

Dealing with fools:

Stop talking:

Fools reject responsibility. Stop talking, once you realize you’re dealing with a fool. Talking doesn’t help. They love talking and are usually good at it. Talking drags you into the fool’s world.

Set limits:

Say…

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Unity ≠ same

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord  has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. (Psalms 133:1-3 ESV)

I remember back in high school in the tuba section of my high school marching band we wanted to get berets instead of the hats we had. Our director was less than support and just flat said no! We have a uniform so we will all look the same. We had to wear the uniform so we would be one and the same. But were we?

We all looked the same because we had the same hat, jacket, pants and shoes. We looked alike but we were no where close to. Being the same. We were different people from varied backgrounds and family situations. We might have looked the same but we were not. We were uniform. But not the same.

And that is how it is in the body of Christ. We are different from different backgrounds and denominational situations. We are from different denominations and so we are not the same. But in Christ we have unity. A unity that causes peace and love to flow over all creation.

So let’s stop trying to make people be the same as us and live in the unity Christ gives us.

Dew of the mountain…

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. (Psalms 133:1-3 ESV)

Have you ever done something with a group of people and you were all in sync and it worked so well and God’s love and mercy flowed from y’all like a mountain stream?

Remember how it felt to be in the unity of that moment?

Now think back, did you agree about everything with every other person in that group? Probably not, but you were united in the mission before you, and that is where the joy came. That is what made the event good and pleasant and allowed God’s mercy and love to flow like streams from the mountain.

It is like dew from Hermon, or the mountain… That sweet mountain dew! I remember how I use to drink mountain dew all the time. To me it was nectar of the gods… It was great and I loved it. Still do but now it is way too sweet for me to drink it, except diet… But to me that is how we live in unity, by making sweet mountain dew and fulfilling God’s mission, not agreeing on everything, but focusing on what unites us and moving forward in that mission.

So be united to the body of Christ and allow the good pleasant mission of God to happen in and through you.

Love…

 
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:31-35 NRSV)

How do you know who someone is?

We say you can’t judge a book by its cover and you can’t judge a person by their appearance. But don’t we all do that. I mean you can’t undo a first impression.

When we see someone with tattoos and multiple piercings what do we think?

We all judge others. We see a man in a three piece suit and we think he is a business man, when under neath he is the tattooed pierced man we saw yesterday and wondered how he would get a job.

Can others tell that you are a christian by seeing you? According to Jesus if you show love for all then everyone will know you are a follower of Christ.

So do you show love for everyone?

Kingdom people

And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.” (Daniel 7:27 ESV)

Where is the kingdom of God?

Or maybe a better question is when is the kingdom of God? Revelation 11:19 says that the temple was opened and the ark of the covenant was seen by everyone.

The verse above tells us that the kingdom of God was given to the people of the saints of the most high God. That is you! We are al, saints once we have been redeemed by Christ. We are the sinners with the saints, we are His people and because of that His kingdom belongs to us and we are kingdom people!

So rejoice that His kingdom will reign forever and that it is now and it belongs to you.