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.

restored

After leaving the synagogue, Jesus, James, and John went home with Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed, sick with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she served them. That evening, at sunset, people brought to Jesus those who were sick or demon-possessed. The whole town gathered near the door. He healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases, and he threw out many demons. But he didn’t let the demons speak, because they recognized him. Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer. Simon and those with him tracked him down. When they found him, they told him, “Everyone’s looking for you!” He replied, “Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That’s why I’ve come.” He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and throwing out demons. (Mark 1:29-39, CEB)

Jesus was healing people. Not only physically but also restoring them to society.

That is really what this healing was about, restoring people to community.

When we love people as God created them, we are helping restore them to community.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Lawful?

Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. A man with a withered hand was there. Wanting to bring charges against Jesus, they asked, “Does the Law allow a person to heal on the Sabbath?” Jesus replied, “Who among you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath and will not take hold of it and pull it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So the Law allows a person to do what is good on the Sabbath.” Then Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he did and it was made healthy, just like the other one. The Pharisees went out and met in order to find a way to destroy Jesus. (Matthew 12:9-14, CEB)

This passage reminds me of the memes I see that say, “well is it biblical?” Biblical is smashing your enemies ‘ children’s heads against rocks, but is that loving? Jesus told us to love. To love everyone. Jesus said there were two kinds of people, your neighbors, and your enemies and Jesus said that we are to love both.

So is it lawful to be loving? Seriously that is the wrong question.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Free?

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? If I’m not an apostle to others, at least I am to you! You are the seal that shows I’m an apostle. This is my defense against those who criticize me. Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? Don’t we have the right to travel with a wife who believes like the rest of the apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who don’t have the right to not work for our living? Who joins the army and pays their own way? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat its fruit? Who shepherds a flock and doesn’t drink its milk? I’m not saying these things just based on common sense, am I? Doesn’t the Law itself say these things? In Moses’ Law it’s written: You will not muzzle the ox when it is threshing. Is God worried about oxen, or did he say this entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake because the one who plows and the one who threshes should each do so with the hope of sharing the produce. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it so much to ask to harvest some material things from you? If others have these rights over you, don’t we deserve them all the more? However, we haven’t made use of this right, but we put up with everything so we don’t put any obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get to eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share part of what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel. But I haven’t taken advantage of this. And I’m not writing this so that it will be done for me. It’s better for me to die than to lose my right to brag about this! If I preach the gospel, I have no reason to brag, since I’m obligated to do it. I’m in trouble if I don’t preach the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:1-16, CEB)

Are we not free to do what we want?

Yes and no…

We are free because God made us that way, and yet we are bound to preach the gospel. We are so loved by God we need to share that knowledge through our lives.

Now this doesn’t mean you need to stand in a pulpit and espouse the words of God to congregations full of people. It means that your life speaks the love, grace, and mercy you have received. It means you love all as you are loved. That you do not judge unless you are ready and willing to be judged by the same judgment.

We need to share the grace, mercy, and love we have been given and show the love God has for all of creation. That is preaching the gospel. To use the quote often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but has never been shown to be from him, “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” Let you life so speak the love God has for all creation.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Look, I, Paul, am telling you that if you have yourselves circumcised, having Christ won’t help you. Again I swear to every man who has himself circumcised that he is required to do the whole Law. You people who are trying to be made righteous by the Law have been estranged from Christ. You have fallen away from grace! We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit by faith. Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t matter in Christ Jesus, but faith working through love does matter. You were running well—who stopped you from obeying the truth? This line of reasoning doesn’t come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through the whole lump of dough. I’m convinced about you in the Lord that you won’t think any other way. But the one who is confusing you will pay the penalty, whoever that may be. Brothers and sisters, if I’m still preaching circumcision, why am I still being harassed? In that case, the offense of the cross would be canceled. I wish that the ones who are upsetting you would castrate themselves! You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you don’t get eaten up by each other! (Galatians 5:2-15, CEB)

Love your neighbor as yourself…

Telling people they need to be circumcised isn’t what faith is about. An external scare to the flesh doesn’t make you a part of the family. The internal circumcision is what changes a person. “Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t matter in Christ Jesus, but faith working through love does matter.” Love for others is how we show that we follow Christ. Not by enforcing rules that don’t matter in the end. If it is about the rules, then what does the cross mean? Nothing!

Anyone who tells you differently, or says you are not worthy of God’s love should go castrate themselves! They are living not through faith and do not show God’s love.

Show mercy and grace, and love as you are loved.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.