Look Right…

My devotion for this morning was on Romans 4:13-25.

Here Paul is writing to the church(es) in Roman.  He is writing to Christians that comes from a Jewish background and a Greek background. They have entered into this religion from many various places and so their history (as all of our history) plays upon their understanding of their religion, and how they worship.  Paul is trying to tell them they have to consider things differently than they have before.

Here is a sermon I preached on this text on March 20, 2011.

A Raw Deal…

Have you ever gotten the short end of the stick?

Been dealt a bad hand?

Not gotten your fair share?

This seems to be the way in life for some people.  They always seems to get a raw deal, and do not get a fair shake.  They are held back by the hand they are dealt and not able to move forward in life.

Have you been there?

In our lesson today that is where all of the people are.  They feel like they were short handed, and so they return the same.  They all deal falsely and try to get the upper hand.  They will not hear the word of the Lord, because it is not helping them get what they want.  No one is seeking after the Lord or listening to his word, and the Lord is sending his prophet to speak to this hard hearted people who have doctored the truth to be in their favor.

We can not doctor the truth to be in our favor.  God wants us to head and follow him in everything we do and say and to act with justice and mercy towards everyone.

So next time you feel like you got a raw deal, get on your knees and ask God what he would have you to do and do it with out question.  This is all God asks of us.

Gracious and loving Father, guide us in our lives to not want what you know we do not need, and for us to be happy with what we need.  Fill us with your love and guide us as we go. Amen.

What songs feed you?

I sit at my desk contemplating a Bible Study for the council meeting for the congregation I serve, and my daily devotions have me thinking about music.

One of the devotions I read talks about how our music tastes change over time.  And then it asked the question what songs feed your faith right now.  My answer to this question has been for a while now the song My Jesus by Todd Agnew.

“My Jesus would never be accepted in my church, the blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet…”

I want to be like my Jesus – This song feeds my faith and helps me focus on what God has called me to do – Love unconditionally and allow him to be judge.  Not to make a cushy life for myself.  It is not about me being popular, or successful in human terms.  I am to follow and love unconditionally…

Jesus Help me to be like you.

What has your experience been?

So how has Lent been for you?

Have you deepened your relationship with God? Have you grown in your faith?

My Lent has been one of challenges and deep moments with God. I have seen some of the darkest moments of my life, here and now and from my past, but the light is that God has made. Much deeper impact on my life this Lent. He has walked with me as He always does, but His presence is ever more apparent to me… I have felt my Lord and Savior guiding me and talking to me, and if this is what I get to experience I will take the deep dark valleys, because I know that He will always see me through.

Daddy God, thank you for being ever present with me and guiding me through the hard times that come against me. Help me to stay in you shelter, to rest in your presence, even if the world is raging and storming all around me. You alone give me peace in the midst of life’s wars. Thank you for loving and keeping me, help me to be like you and love all around me, especially those that bring the darkness. Amen!

What will you be when you grow up?

Did you ever wonder what you were going to be when you grow up? Some of us are probably still wondering what we will be when we grow up. We dream about being astronauts, or firemen or women, or police men or women, or the President of the United States. Maybe we wanted to be a carpenter, or a brick layer. My brother wanted to be a garbage man because the trucks were really cool. Or at least that is what he thought when he was 7.

We all have dreams and wonder about what our lives will be. In todays lesson Jeremiah hears, as we hear too, the call of God on his life. God says to all of us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Before you were born I knew you, God says to you. You are consecrated as a prophet not just to your people, but to the nations, to everyone. And to this Jeremiah (just as all of us would) balks, “but I am just a boy and subject to my parents, what can I do, I can not even speak.”

And then God gives the most important words from this passage. “I have touched you and put my words in you, you will go where I send you and say what I give you. I will be with you and always guide you as my hands and feet.” God told Jeremiah he was in control, and knew what was going to happen. Can we trust God, to follow where he leads and not where we want? Can we trust God to give us the words to say and not speak what we know is right or true?

Dear daddy God, help us to trust you as a baby trusts his parents, for everything. Help us to give you our lives knowing that you have our lives in your hands, and that is the best place they can be. Amen.

Dwell and rest

What do I have to do today?  Where is the to do list so I can get started?  I need to accomplish the first 10 things on my list before noon…

Been there?  Sound like you this morning?  or every morning?

We are in a hurry up and get it done society.  We have easy macaroni and cheese, and easy hot dogs for crying out load!  It has to be quick, and if it takes longer than 30 seconds, it is too long…

Psalm 91:1 says “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

God calls us into a intimate relationship with him.  He has called us to come and dwell with him, to sit and rest in the shadow he casts.  Now to rest takes longer than 30 seconds, and dwelling is something we have to stop everything else we are doing to do.  To dwell means to live in and not be concerned about anything else.  To dwell with the lord and to rest in him means we are giving up everything else we are doing or thinking about, even the stuff we think we have to do to be religious, and just sit and be with him!

We need to chill out with God and allow him to overtake us, and be with us.  Give it up to God and rest in his shadow!

For God so Loved…

My devotions for today included the gospel reading of John 3:16-21…

Of course we all know John 3:16 – For God so loved the World that He sent His only Son…  We see it at sporting events, and every where.  This is one of the verses that almost everybody knows, but do any of us really get it?  I for the longest time was hung up on the loved.  This is an aorist tense.  To be specific it is a 3rd person singular Aorist Active Indicative.  And you are probably saying, “I would be hung up on that to…”  No really this says something important for the love of God. This means at one point in the past God loved you so much that he did something that still has effect on you today, and will forever.  At one point God loved you and that love has effected your life since that point and it will always effect your life.  That point for me has always been the cross.  Where Jesus died for me.  Now we could argue from Jeremiah that it was the point in time that God consecrated us as a prophet to the nations.  The point in time He knew us before he formed us in our mother’s womb.

But here is something new that I have discovered from John 3:16.  The world. For God so loved the World.  Not you. Not me.  He loved the world.  And not just any world.  He loved τον κοσμον.  The world in John is that which hates God (see 16:33, 17:9-19), so maybe a better translation of this verse would be “For God so Loved the God hating world that he sent his only son.”  And he did not ask us about is.  He did not ask our permission to love us.  He loved us, even when he could not because of our sin.  He loved us even though he knew we would not follow where he lead us.  He loved us regardless of how we would react.  God loves us whether we like it or not.

I’ll end here with a quote from David Lose, “God’s judgment is revealed: God loves this world, even the God-hating world that crucified the Lord of glory. At this place in our Lenten journey, we would do well to pray that by the gift of the untamed Spirit we might perceive in Jesus’ cross God’s redemptive act and in this way be drawn into fellowship with all who dare believe in Jesus and, indeed, the whole world that God loves so much!” Amen.

Nicodemus…

Nicodemus like many sometimes get a bad rap…

He comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness to ask his questions, because he could not risk asking them in the light of day.  He had the thought that Jesus was who he said he was, who the people said he was, but his position as a Pharisee did not allow him to think these things or to question his faith.  Faith is a gift though, and is capable of being pushed and pulled.  Nicodemus followed where his heart was leading.  In out passage for my devotion today, John 2:23-3:15 Nicodemus comes under darkness and leaves under darkness.  In this passage we do not know what happened to Nicodemus, did he get it?  If we read the rest of the gospel of John, we see Nicodemus return, and yes he did get it. His faith progressed and grew over time.  His next appearance in the gospel is defending Jesus in public, saying he needs to have a public trial, and Nicodemus’ next appearance has him with Joseph of Arimathea taking the body of Christ off the cross, and preparing him to be placed in the tomb.  He went from darkness, to standing up for him, to publicly in the light of day helping prepare the dead body, not something a good Jew or Pharisee would be doing, but something a disciple would be.

So ask questions and grow in your faith, knowing that that faith is a gift and the one that gave it to you can take you asking the questions!

Freed to serve…

So why are we here?

Many of us probably wondered this from time to time.  Why are we here?  Are we suppose to do something?  Does somebody have a plan for us?

I am wired that I want to know what I need to do and get it done.  So I want to know what I am suppose to do and get to work. And so many times we hear, we are suppose to serve the poor, we are to help the needy.  So let’s get out there and do it.  Jesus came and showed us that we are to serve.  But here is the kicker in this, how many of us are able and willing to be served ourselves?

You see in order for us to really serve another, we have to be able to first receive service.  We have to be able to receive before we can give…

So you are freed to serve, but in order to do that, you have to open yourself up to Jesus and allow him to serve you.

Gracious Lord, help me to open myself up to you and allow your healing service to take control of my very life.  Live in me and fill me, so that I might be blessed by you and then able to bless others. Amen.