Different gifts…

There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; and there are different ministries and the same Lord; and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, CEB)

We have all been given a different gift, so we each have a different part to play in the body. It takes all of us to make the body and all of us to be what God has created us to be in the world. Without any one person, we are not complete.

When we say that some people do not belong because they are not living the way we think followers of God should live we are saying that God messed up and we know better about God’s creation than God does. Because the Spirit gives as the Spirit will and to each one differently.

We are not the image of God without all people.

We need everyone else to be what God intended for us to be.

So love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Pentecost

When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!” Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
    Your young will see visions.
    Your elders will dream dreams.
    Even upon my servants, men and women,
        I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
        and they will prophesy.
I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
The sun will be changed into darkness,
    and the moon will be changed into blood,
        before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Acts 2:1-21, CEB)

We are filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit is the one who helps us believe in God. As Martin Luther said in his explanation to the third article of the Apostles’ Creed:
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.”

Luther knew that we couldn’t believe in God without God helping us understand who and what God is in our lives.

The Spirit shows us how to love and equips us to go into the world and share Grace and Mercy, to show other how God loves them.

The Spirit is our connection on a daily basis to God and fills and binds us to God.

The Spirit is what gives the follower of Jesus their power, it fills all living things, it surrounds us, and penetrates us, it binds the believer to God. (to paraphrase Obi-Wan from A New Hope.

Know you are always connected to God.

Loving People. Loving God.

living water

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “All who are thirsty should come to me! All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.” Jesus said this concerning the Spirit. Those who believed in him would soon receive the Spirit, but they hadn’t experienced the Spirit yet since Jesus hadn’t yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39, CEB)

Living water is moving, it isn’t stagnant.

And when we are a part of Jesus the living water that flowed through him flows through us.

The Spirit moves in and through us and that living water is flowing from our lives.

You can show people God’s love and give them living water.

Do you give living water, or is the water you give stagnant?

Loving People. Loving God.

changed

This is what I’m saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s kingdom. Something that rots can’t inherit something that doesn’t decay. Listen, I’m telling you a secret: All of us won’t die, but we will all be changed— in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the final trumpet. The trumpet will blast, and the dead will be raised with bodies that won’t decay, and we will be changed. It’s necessary for this rotting body to be clothed with what can’t decay, and for the body that is dying to be clothed in what can’t die. And when the rotting body has been clothed in what can’t decay, and the dying body has been clothed in what can’t die, then this statement in scripture will happen: Death has been swallowed up by a victory. Where is your victory, Death? Where is your sting, Death? (Death’s sting is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.) Thanks be to God, who gives us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:50-57, CEB)

All of us won’t die but we will all be changed.

We really don’t know how death and resurrection work.

People say no one has ever come back, which actually isn’t true, Lazarus did and so did Jesus. But Jesus didn’t tell us what happens when we die, he told us the promise that since we will experience a death like his and we are his, we will be raised like him. So, what does that mean?

We will be changed. There will be no decay or death once the kingdom is fulfilled.

We can conjecture all we want about what that means, but we will not know until it happens, and then we won’t care.

Know you will be changed, and trust the process and the promise.

Loving People. Loving God.

won’t decay

It’s the same with the resurrection of the dead: a rotting body is put into the ground, but what is raised won’t ever decay. It’s degraded when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in glory. It’s weak when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in power. It’s a physical body when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised as a spiritual body. If there’s a physical body, there’s also a spiritual body. So it is also written, The first human, Adam, became a living person, and the last Adam became a spirit that gives life. But the physical body comes first, not the spiritual one—the spiritual body comes afterward. The first human was from the earth made from dust; the second human is from heaven. The nature of the person made of dust is shared by people who are made of dust, and the nature of the heavenly person is shared by heavenly people. We will look like the heavenly person in the same way as we have looked like the person made from dust. (1 Corinthians 15:42-49, CEB)

We are a body made from dust, and one day our bodies will return to dust, but we also believe and confess as a Christian church that we will be raised anew in body and we will be with God for all eternity.

We will be raised anew and live forever in a place with no decay or death.

Death here is merely a step in the process.

Know we will be made of something that will last forever when God’s kingdom is made fully known.

You will not decay.

Loving People. Loving God.

sorrow to joy…

Soon you won’t be able to see me; soon after that, you will see me.” Some of Jesus’ disciples said to each other, “What does he mean: ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’ and ‘Because I’m going to the Father’? What does he mean by ‘soon’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.” Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, so he said, “Are you trying to find out from each other what I meant when I said, ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’? I assure you that you will cry and lament, and the world will be happy. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman gives birth, she has pain because her time has come. But when the child is born, she no longer remembers her distress because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. In the same way, you have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and you will be overjoyed. No one takes away your joy. In that day, you won’t ask me anything. I assure you that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Up to now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive so that your joy will be complete. (John 16:16-24, CEB)

Soon Jesus would ascend and he would no longer be with the disciples. But the advocate couldn’t come until Jesus went to be with God.

So we mourn, but we are filled with joy because we are still with God.

It is like when a loved one dies. We mourn, we are filled with sorrow, but we know we can have joy, for one day we will be with them again.

Sorrow is for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

We can trade all of our sorrows for the unending joy of the lord!

Loving People. Loving God.

What do you believe?

From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I’m sent to bring about the faith of God’s chosen people and a knowledge of the truth that agrees with godliness. Their faith and this knowledge are based on the hope of eternal life that God, who doesn’t lie, promised before time began. God revealed his message at the appropriate time through preaching, and I was trusted with preaching this message by the command of God our savior. To Titus, my true child in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you. Elders should be without fault. They should be faithful to their spouse, and have faithful children who can’t be accused of self-indulgence or rebelliousness. This is because supervisors should be without fault as God’s managers: they shouldn’t be stubborn, irritable, addicted to alcohol, a bully, or greedy. Instead, they should show hospitality, love what is good, and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled. They must pay attention to the reliable message as it has been taught to them so that they can encourage people with healthy instruction and refute those who speak against it. (Titus 1:1-9, CEB)

This epistle starts off with “From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” So one would think this is from Paul, but does Paul start any of his epistles this way?

Plus this epistle was written well after Paul is thought to have died. So did Paul write this?

Does the fact that this epistle probably wasn’t written by Paul make it unuseful to us?

It is still a good tool, it helps us focus on showing hospitality, to be loving, to be reliable, ethical, godly, and show control. This is still a good endeavor to undertake, but we need to realize it wasn’t Paul who wrote this, but someone who wanted to use Paul’s authority to help people live in a way to show their connection to God.

Scripture helps point us to God and to show the love we have received from God.

We should read scripture through the lens of God’s love.

Loving People. Loving God.

Partners in grace

I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God. (Philippians 1:3-11, CEB)

I have good reason to think this way about all of you, and keep you in my heart, because we are partners in God’s grace.

I think fondly of you and remember you always in my heart because we are sharing the story of God’s grace with the world and we are partners in making sure love is sown and shown in the world.

All of us can share the story and share love.

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians should be our prayer for all people: “that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.” This would allow all of us to be what God called us to be.

Loving People. Loving God.

High Priestly Prayer

“I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one. When I was with them, I watched over them in your name, the name you gave to me, and I kept them safe. None of them were lost, except the one who was destined for destruction, so that scripture would be fulfilled. Now I’m coming to you and I say these things while I’m in the world so that they can share completely in my joy. I gave your word to them and the world hated them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. I’m not asking that you take them out of this world but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. Make them holy in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. I made myself holy on their behalf so that they also would be made holy in the truth. (John 17:6-19, CEB)

Week 7 of the season of Easter is one part of the High Priestly Prayer from John 17. Because this is year B we get the second part where Jesus prays for the disciples.

The disciples are the extension of Jesus and we are all believers now because of their actions to continue to spread the message after Jesus after his death and ascension. We believe today because the disciples told the story.

Who will believe tomorrow because you tell the story?

Know you are never alone and God is always with you.

Loving People. Loving God.

companion

But I have said these things to you so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. “I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow. I assure you that it is better for you that I go away. If I don’t go away, the Companion won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will show the world it was wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. He will show the world it was wrong about sin because they don’t believe in me. He will show the world it was wrong about righteousness because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. He will show the world it was wrong about judgment because this world’s ruler stands condemned. (John 16:4-11, CEB)

If I don’t go the companion won’t come…

Right now is the time the church is without Jesus or the Spirit. The ascension was this past Thursday, so 2 days ago, and the Spirit doesn’t come until next Sunday, so 8 more days. So technically we are without Jesus or the Spirit…

But all will be well and we are not alone. God is still with us, as God was with the Israelites in a pillar of fire and clouds.

We are never truly alone.

Know God is always with you.

Loving People. Loving God.