Ash Wednesday

Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
    Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
    purify me from my sin!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
    my sin is always right in front of me.
I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
    I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
    completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
    from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
    you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.

Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
    wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
    let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Hide your face from my sins;
    wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Create a clean heart for me, God;
    put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
    please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
Return the joy of your salvation to me
    and sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
    and sinners will come back to you.

Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation,
    so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
You don’t want sacrifices.
    If I gave an entirely burned offering,
    you wouldn’t be pleased.
A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.
    You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed. (Psalm 51:1-17, CEB)

We all have things we need to give up.

We all have skeletons we don’t want others to see.

God already knows all these things and loves you as you are.

Remember as we enter Lent:

Satan knows your name and calls you by your sins.

God knows your sins and calls you by your name.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

mystery of godliness

I hope to come to you quickly. But I’m writing these things to you so that if I’m delayed, you’ll know how you should behave in God’s household. It is the church of the living God and the backbone and support of the truth. Without question, the mystery of godliness is great: he was revealed as a human, declared righteous by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached throughout the nations, believed in around the world, and taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:14-16, CEB)

Jesus was born of Mary and the Holy Spirit and lived here as a man to show us how to live. Love unconditionally. Love like God. Show mercy and grace.

Jesus was revealed as a human, made righteous by God, seen by all, and persecuted by the powers of religion and put to death. But the grave could not hold him and he rose to show us that God has power over even death and that nothing in life should keep us from showing love in everything we do.

The mystery of godliness is to show mercy instead of judgment, grace instead of persecution, and love in all circumstances.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

message

This is why it’s necessary for us to pay more attention to what we have heard, or else we may drift away from it. If the message that was spoken by angels was reliable, and every offense and act of disobedience received an appropriate consequence, how will we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? It was first announced through the Lord, and then it was confirmed by those who heard him. God also vouched for their message with signs, amazing things, various miracles, and gifts from the Holy Spirit, which were handed out the way he wanted. (Hebrews 2:1-4, CEB)

God gave us all a gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift helps us to share the message that has been shared for all time, that the God, the creator of the universe loves all of creation and wants to spend eternity with all of creation.

Do not forsake this message and do not keep it to yourself.

Love like Jesus. Share what you know.

Loving People. Loving God.

Transfiguration

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Human One had risen from the dead. (Mark 9:2-9, CEB)

Peter is so eloquently spoken. Caught up in the moment of the bleached whiter-than-white clothes of Jesus and then Moses and Elijah there with Jesus. (I still wonder how they knew they were Moses and Elijah, I mean there weren’t any pictures of them, were they wearing name tags? Hello my name is Moses?)

But in the midst of this mind-rattling occurrence, Peter says, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” I wonder what happened when God actually spoke to them, we do not get that report, just everyone else was gone and Jesus took them down the mountain and told them not to tell anyone until he had risen from the dead.

But now he has risen, so we can tell everyone about the wonders of our God and how God’s love, mercy, and grace cover a multitude of issues and help us make it through.

Share the love, mercy, and grace you have been given.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

did we miss it?

As Jesus came to the city and observed it, he wept over it. He said, “If only you knew on this of all days the things that lead to peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. The time will come when your enemies will build fortifications around you, encircle you, and attack you from all sides. They will crush you completely, you and the people within you. They won’t leave one stone on top of another within you, because you didn’t recognize the time of your gracious visit from God.” (Luke 19:41-44, CEB)

Did we miss God?

Has God been in our presence and we didn’t know?

Has God paid us a visit and we didn’t recognize God?

Jesus wept over Jerusalem because God was there and they didn’t see God.

Keep your eyes open and your heart open to be ready for a visit from your creator.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Mercy

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength because he considered me faithful. So he appointed me to ministry even though I used to speak against him, attack his people, and I was proud. But I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and without faith. Our Lord’s favor poured all over me along with the faithfulness and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all. But this is why I was shown mercy, so that Christ Jesus could show his endless patience to me first of all. So I’m an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the king of the ages, to the immortal, invisible, and only God, may honor and glory be given to him forever and always! Amen. Timothy, my child, I’m giving you these instructions based on the prophecies that were once made about you. So if you follow them, you can wage a good war because you have faith and a good conscience. Some people have ruined their faith because they refused to listen to their conscience, such as Hymenaeus and Alexander. I’ve handed them over to Satan so that they can be taught not to speak against God. (1 Timothy 1:12-20, CEB)

Paul here tells Timothy about mercy.

Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Paul tells Timothy, “But I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and without faith.” Paul persecuted the followers of Jesus because he thought they were wrong and needed to be stopped so they were not leading others away from following God. Paul told Timothy he was shown mercy so Christ could show love through him. We all have a past and God’s mercy will show us that love is an answer. When we give up the foolishness and faithlessness we hold onto, God’s mercy and grace will be ever present in out lives and will allow us to show the world the love of God.

Love like Jesus.

Show mercy like God.

Loving People. Loving God.

What’s that smell?!?!

When I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, the Lord gave me an opportunity to preach. But I was worried because I couldn’t find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia. But thank God, who is always leading us around through Christ as if we were in a parade. He releases the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere through us. We smell like the aroma of Christ’s offering to God, both to those who are being saved and to those who are on the road to destruction. We smell like a contagious dead person to those who are dying, but we smell like the fountain of life to those who are being saved. Who is qualified for this kind of ministry? We aren’t like so many people who hustle the word of God to make a profit. We are speaking through Christ in the presence of God, as those who are sincere and as those who are sent from God. (2 Corinthians 2:12-17, CEB)

God leads us around as if we are on parade and releases the fragrance of knowledge of God everywhere through us.

We smell like the fragrance of Christ.

“We smell like a contagious dead person to those who are dying, but we smell like the fountain of life to those who are being saved.” You smell like a contagious dead person and a fountain of Life!

And who is qualified for this? Those who live a life of integrity and share the love of God because they are so moved after receiving the love they have to share it, and not those who try to hustle people out of money.

You can not hustle and be loving.

Love like Jesus, expecting nothing in return.

Loving People. Loving God.

healed…

Jesus left with his disciples and went to the lake. A large crowd followed him because they had heard what he was doing. They were from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the area surrounding Tyre and Sidon. Jesus told his disciples to get a small boat ready for him so the crowd wouldn’t crush him. He had healed so many people that everyone who was sick pushed forward so that they could touch him. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down at his feet and shouted, “You are God’s Son!” But he strictly ordered them not to reveal who he was. (Mark 3:7-12, CEB)

People were flocking to Jesus because of what they got.

The sick were healed and evil spirits feared for their existence.

Are we really any different?

Why do you seek Jesus? Is it because of the love that is freely given? Is it for the mercy of love we get from God? Or is it for what Jesus gives you in healing and other things?

Do we seek Jesus for what we get, when we get that even if we don’t seek Jesus? Or do we seek Jesus because God’s love is so over powering that we are moved to follow out of Love?

We should not seek Jesus for what we get. We should seek Jesus because of the love we freely get through God.

Share grace, mercy, and love.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Seperate ways…

Some time later, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all the brothers and sisters in every city where we preached the Lord’s word. Let’s see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them. Paul insisted that they shouldn’t take him along, since he had deserted them in Pamphylia and hadn’t continued with them in their work. Their argument became so intense that they went their separate ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and left, entrusted by the brothers and sisters to the Lord’s grace. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15:36-41, CEB)

Sometimes even when we are doing the same mission, we have to do it in different ways. Paul and Barnabas didn’t agree about John Mark. This didn’t mean they didn’t agree on Jesus.

The thing we have to remember is the Love of Jesus. When we love like God does and accept people as they are and do not hate, then we can do the mission in different places and with different people.

Love is the key.

Hate doesn’t belong.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Hold fast

The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke as they had before. As a result, a huge number of Jews and Greeks believed. However, the Jews who rejected the faith stirred up the Gentiles, poisoning their minds against the brothers. Nevertheless, Paul and Barnabas stayed there for quite some time, confidently speaking about the Lord. And the Lord confirmed the word about his grace by the signs and wonders he enabled them to perform. The people of the city were divided—some siding with the Jews, others with the Lord’s messengers. Then some Gentiles and Jews, including their leaders, hatched a plot to mistreat and stone Paul and Barnabas. When they learned of it, these two messengers fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area, where they continued to proclaim the good news. (Acts 14:1-7, CEB)

If Paul was ridiculed for preaching the gospel do you think you will do it and not have people against you?

Be like Paul and confidently speak the words you know God is calling you to speak.

People will be divided, but we are called to share grace, mercy, and love. And know we are planting and God will bring growth.

So stand fast.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.