Romans 12:9-10 New Living Translation

⁹ Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold on tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection,^[a] and take delight in honoring each other.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Oh, here they come, those loving Christians, Some are welcoming, Some are inclusive and not, Some of them are just plain soul and spirit and energy draining …we’ll say.

Oh, Yes!

“Oi’ Vie”

“Not them again!”

Here they are “marching in formation” with their bibles – God’s great pretenders!

Oh, here they come, those loving Christians, Some are welcoming, Some are inclusive and not, Some of them are just plain soul and spirit and energy draining …we’ll say.

Oh, Yes!

“Oi’ Vie”

“Not them again!”

Here they are “marching in formation” with their bibles – God’s great pretenders!

There they are on the street corners, in the park on a bench, in their work places, in the grocery stores and hurriedly and busily shopping in the Walmart or Sam’s Club. They are the ones who are sitting in their classrooms and walking and running the long halls of Academia, they are the ones in unemployment lines, homeless shelters.  

We are the world of the non-believers, the discouraged, and the disillusioned.

We are also the Baptized of God with the Gospel of Jesus oozing from our souls, the Gospel message of Salvation through Jesus Christ alone – mixing together.

We are people of the world which God did create who knows how long ago.

Baptized or not, believer or non believer, here we are – one world community.

Whichever is our lot in life at this moment => We are all absolutely guilty of it.

“The Smart Phone” Posture – our attention exclusively on our emails, texts.

Walking the streets, riding on busses and subway cars, driving our vehicles, on airplanes and trains, on bicycles and motorcycles even skateboards, Segway’s.

Giving no particular attention to anyone in particular – locked, loaded on self!

Apathy

Complacency

Pretense

Singularly hoping the moment never comes when God puts the spiritual Baptized Christian, the not so spiritual Christian the Non Believer, and the apathetic, the discouraged, the disillusioned, the unsure, in the same room.

We cringe and scramble to appear busy, on the move, or in a conversation before (gasp and groan) we are actually cornered into a long conversation.

There are people we will all actually ago to impossible lengths just to void.

It’s the shocking truth.

In a world where we have been set down to serve others, when push comes to shove, we actually don’t want to, or like to, sometimes, depending upon the person, what we each have going on in our own lives at the moment, to have an encounter when actual conversations about God occurs or act .01% Christ-like.

We Are All Just Being the World’s Greatest Pretenders

The English Dictionary definition of pretend is “to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so.”

Hand in hand and Heart to heart, Pretending runs right alongside avoidance.

I would bet my surgically repaired heart to say pretense makes Christ cringe, all the “fake” “boundaries” we put up around hurting people who border our lives.

I claim no innocence as I’m certain I am just as guilty of such negligent conduct.

Some days are such an emotional struggle for me, I don’t understand where the capacity to reach out and do anything for anyone else is going to come from.

Or, classically, I’ll find myself overwhelmed with my schedule and proclaim, “I have too many yes’s and not enough no’s in my life!” 

As if my helping too many people is way too pressing of an agenda to sustain.

Oh, I can safely believe how the Lord God must absolutely roll His eyes at me.

“Most of us have learned how to be courteous to others—how to speak kindly, avoid hurting people’s feelings, and appear to take an interest in them,”

except that the Life Application Bible notes, “But God has called us to a love that goes far beyond pretense and politeness.” (Romans 12:9-10 The Message)

^9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

We Are All Just Being the World’s Greatest Pretenders

The English Dictionary definition of pretend is “to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so.”

Hand in hand and Heart to heart, Pretending runs right alongside avoidance.

I would bet my surgically repaired heart to say pretense makes Christ cringe, all the “fake” “boundaries” we put up around hurting people who border our lives.

I claim no innocence as I’m certain I am just as guilty of such negligent conduct.

Some days are such an emotional struggle for me, I don’t understand where the capacity to reach out and do anything for anyone else is going to come from.

Or, classically, I’ll find myself overwhelmed with my schedule and proclaim, “I have too many yes’s and not enough no’s in my life!” 

As if my helping too many people is way too pressing of an agenda to sustain.

Oh, I can safely believe how the Lord God must absolutely roll His eyes at me.

“Most of us have learned how to be courteous to others—how to speak kindly, avoid hurting people’s feelings, and appear to take an interest in them,”

except that the Life Application Bible notes, “But God has called us to a love that goes far beyond pretense and politeness.” (Romans 12:9-10 The Message)

^9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Love from the CENTER of who we are – exactly who, whose am I at my CENTER?

Don’t Fake it – except faking the moment is the easier, less accountable option.

Run for Dear Life from Evil – who can ever run fast enough and far enough and long enough to actually avoid the presence, the power and the influence of evil?

Hold on for Dear Life to Good – sooner or later we have to let go of everything because our grips are not as strong as those of Hercules or Samson’s or God’s.

Be Good Friends who Love Deeply – How good a friend, to what commitment’s?

Practice Playing Second Fiddle – Not with my Pride and so Not with my Apathy!

This love Paul writes to the Roman believers of looks like 100% inconvenience.

It costs us time, money, and effort.

It’s more than simply putting someone on a prayer list somewhere.

We’re covenant called to care deeply for and create disciples for Jesus Christ.

Oof.

That takes time, commitment, sacrifice and resources we usually do not have.

Thankfully, the Author of every single minute of our lives has the ability to stretch human capacity to fit an insurmountable amount of love and good.

It is All About Our Being the Real Church – Easy and Difficult Sharing

No one wants to be a “charity case” or someone else’s “project.”

Nonetheless, all of us have needs.

No one can live independently.

We are dependent on other people to build things like roads, cars and houses.

We need others to raise our food and provide resources like electricity and gas.

We need to be in relationship with other people.

We need friendships and love.

Because we all have needs, apostle Paul calls us, from moment to moment to Love each other without regard to who they are, share with each other freely.

Some people are easy to share with—a friend who breaks her leg, a coworker who has surgery.

But some needs are more intense.

A severe health issue, a major depression, a death, separation or a divorce can create significant, additional needs for many months.

Sometimes church communities respond well and quickly to help someone with significant additional needs.

Sometimes churches struggle, however, with helping to meet long-term needs.

Some people don’t “get better.”

Some people wont “get better.”

People who have long-term needs tend to be forgotten after a while: shut-ins, people who develop serious physical or mental health disabilities, people with end stage chronic health issues, cancer, chronic pain or autism or dementia.

Paul calls us to deliberately and intentionally encounter each other, share not only with God’s people who are easy to share with, but also with God’s people whose needs and hurts, the disillusioned, discouraged, apathetic, complacent, time consuming, resource heavy, character building, complex, deep and long.

When the apostle Paul talks about the body of Christ in Romans 12, he urges all his listeners and readers to, as Christ first did for us, sacrificially, worshipfully, use whatever spiritual gifts they have been given to their fullest utmost ability.

It doesn’t really matter which gifts we might have.

What matters is we use them to the best of our ability for the good of others.

In community, people care for each other.

They use their gifts to help each other and to see that anyone who is wounded or hurting or in some other difficulty is looked after and loved.

Sometimes healing is possible.

Other times mourning and support are needed when healing won’t take place.

At times we all need caring for.

Acts 2:43-47 New Living Translation

⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity^[a]— ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Having a genuine community of genuinely compassionate people, whether they believe in God, Jesus, Holy Spirit or not, around us to do that is essential, is the single greatest effort we can make to create opportunities for God to go to work.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father God,

Stretch our minutes and lengthen our patience, Father. Show us how to genuinely love the people You have placed in our lives, Lord. Let us not be too busy to connect with our neighbors and have lengthy conversations while our ice cream melts in the cart. Father, we do have time for people. Our time is Your time! You are the Author of our days, and You know the number of them! Your plan for our lives includes loving others. There is no greater task or agenda than to really love them. 

Show us what it means, Father, to be genuine as Christ was genuine, to hold tight to what is good. We know we need genuine, and realistic boundaries in our lives, and we realize we can’t say “yes” to all the things we want to do or that people want us to do. But the plans You have for us, Lord, You make time for. So, help us to learn, to understand what we are adding to our days which is not ordained by You, so we are free to take all the time we need to love the people You quietly put in our paths daily. 

God, You are Love. You love us so much, You gave Your one and only Son, Christ Jesus, so we would not be bound to the limits of this world. In Christ, Your Holy Spirit lives in us, directing us daily to whoever needs us to extend Your love to them each day. Broaden, Heighten our sense of the Holy Spirit and sharpen our immediate obedience to follow His lead on our lives. Bless our lives to shine with the light and love of Jesus, Father. In His mighty name, we pray, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia Amen. 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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1 Kings 17:1-16 New King James Version

Elijah Proclaims a Drought

17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

² Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ³ “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁴ And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. ⁷ And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Elijah and the Widow

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” ¹¹ And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a ^[a]jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

¹³ And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”

¹⁵ So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Today, we will delve into the remarkable story of the Prophet Elijah and explore several spiritual lessons we can learn from his amazing life of devotion to God.

Through these accounts we prayerfully discover points which highlight how Elijah’s journey can embolden, empower and inspire our own Christian walk.

Bold Faith and Trust in God (1 Kings 17:1-6)

Elijah Fed by Ravens

17 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

² Then the Lord said to Elijah, ³ “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. ⁴ Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”

⁵ So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.

Elijah’s story begins with an incredible act of faith as he confidently declares a drought upon the land of Israel.

This demonstrates his unwavering trust in God’s power and that even during his great time of discouragement, his willingness to obey divine instructions.

Similarly, we can learn to rely on God completely, stepping out in faith and trusting in His faithfulness to guide us through challenging circumstances.

People of faith are never going to be promised an easy life and steady, but they are steadfastly and immovable promised that God will absolutely be with them.

As we begin to look at the life of the prophet Elijah, we see that his work begins with a message of judgment from God.

Wishy washy King Ahab and evil Queen Jezebel are ruling the land, but in their kingdom Baal is worshiped front and center and the worship of the true God is pushed to the back row.

The sins of the rulers and the sins of the people lead to God’s punishment.

Elijah announces, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

The consequence of Israel’s sin is that the nation’s fertile land will become a desert, and everyone will suffer.

God’s judgment even affects Elijah.

He will need water and food in this time of famine.

It will not be easy to be a person that God will use.

But God tells Elijah where to live and find water, and God assures Elijah that the ravens will supply him with food.

We don’t know what the food looked like after being in a raven’s beak.

What probably did happen, though, is whenever a raven landed with his daily bread, Elijah gave a prayer of thanks: “The Lord has provided for me—today.”

Divine Provision and Sustenance (1 Kings 17:7-16):

1 Kings 17:7-16New Living Translation

⁷ But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

The Widow at Zarephath

⁸ Then the Lord said to Elijah, ⁹ “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

¹² But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”

¹³ But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”

¹⁵ So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. ¹⁶ There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

During the drought, God leads Elijah to a widow in Zarephath, who generously provides for his needs from the meagerness of her own.

This account teaches us God’s miraculous provision, in the midst of scarcity.

It reminds me and I pray it reminds each of us to fervently seek God’s guidance and trust that He will provide for us abundantly, according to His perfect plan.

Life can be harsh.

We are up against death all the time.

The woman at Zarephath was prepared to do everything she could for her son, even until the end.

If we could do this in our homes and neighborhoods and communities today!

The world outside is a famine-stricken wasteland.

So all a husband really has to do is start his wife’s car for her once in a while.

And a wife could spend five minutes listening to her husband.

All a kid needs to do is say, “Thanks for supper,” and carry the dishes to the counter—or maybe even volunteer to wash them.

We might only have today, you know.

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

Just scrape a few sticks of basic kindness together.

Really?

You and I can’t do that?

Sure you and I can.

Because God scraped up two big sticks and made them into a cross.

His Son died on them for a broken, famine-scorched sin broken world.

He died for you.

And He died for me.

He literally and echelons beyond what we can imagine, gave us all he had.

Living out salvation is really mostly about giving our own everything to God.

Happier homes start when people in a family make a gentle commitment:

“I will give my family everything of what I have; I will share what “everything” I have with them, even just the little bitty things that may seem too meaningless.”

God’s Faithfulness in Answered Prayer (1 Kings 18:36-39)

³⁶ At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,^[a] prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. ³⁷ O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

³⁸ Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! ³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

The most iconic moment in Elijah’s life occurs on Mount Carmel, where he publicly, singularly steadfastly challenges the prophets of Baal and calls upon the God of Israel to claim the moment, send fire upon his water logged offering.

God dramatically answers Elijah’s prayer, consuming the sacrifice with fire from heaven.

This event demonstrates God’s faithfulness in answering fervent prayers, encouraging us to approach Him with confidence and trust that He hears us.

Fire is most certainly a destructive force, but it can also illuminate the night.

Elijah on Mount Carmel stands as God’s representative before people who worship other gods and the people from Israel who can’t seem to choose.

Greatly outnumbered by the Baal’s, publicly, at great risk of his life, Elijah calls them all to decide between the Lord, the one true God, and Baal, the false god.

Before any decision is made, a contest is played out between Elijah and the prophets of Baal as to who can bring fire from heaven down on a sacrifice.

The prophets of Baal prepare their sacrifice and cry out for Baal’s attention, going so far as to cut themselves and bleed.

But there is no response, because Baal does not exist.

Then Elijah pours water over the sacrifice he has prepared.

The sacrifice is totally drenched, and water also fills a trench around the altar.

Then Elijah prays to God.

In response, the Lord sends fire so intense that it burns up the sacrifice and the wood, stones, and soil and evaporates the water in the trench.

In this battle, it is clear who has won.

The people no longer waver.

They cry out and acknowledge the Lord as God.

We serve the one true God, who hears us.

We serve the God who is not silent.

We serve the God who was even willing to send his Son, Jesus Christ, into a hopelessly broken, sin governed world, to die for us, securing our salvation.

This God also turns to us and calls us to follow him as His own Son followed.

Learning from Isolation and Solitude (1 Kings 19:1-9)

Elijah Flees to Sinai

19 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. ² So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”

³ Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. ⁴ Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

⁵ Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” ⁶ He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷ Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

⁸ So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai,^[a] the mountain of God. ⁹  There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

The Lord Speaks to Elijah

But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

After the triumph on Mount Carmel, Elijah finds himself overwhelmed by fear and flees into the wilderness.

In his isolation, God reveals Himself to Elijah, teaching him important lessons about divine presence and guidance.

We, too, can experience spiritual growth in times of solitude, as God speaks to us and strengthens our faith in the quiet moments of life.

But, what makes us run away in the first place and display our distrust of God?

We are just too tired to think about any other alternative but running away?

We have become too discouraged or perhaps too disillusioned not to run away?

Both are very real possibilities – who of us has not experienced any of them?

By all accounts, Elijah had just finished a successful revival.

The false prophets of Baal had been utterly routed, and the people of Israel had publicly acknowledged God and had proclaimed their allegiance to the true God.

God had answered Elijah’s prayers for an end to a crippling drought (1 Kings 18).

But instead of resting confidently and faithfully in the Lord, who had brought about all these good things, Elijah instead made the decision, ran away. Why?

Sometimes we are just too worn out to stay where we are.

Even our moments of success can be clouded by opposition and fear, and it can seem easier to run away.

Maybe you’re overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, or you feel unable to cope for another day with a difficult relationship.

Or maybe you’re just plain tired and you think that being elsewhere—physically or spiritually—will fix things.

But when we run from our challenges, we often miss the lessons God wants us to learn—about ourselves and His mercy, forgiveness and compassionate care.

Thankfully for us, God is willing to meet us when we run away.

He came to Elijah with a gracious question: “What are you doing here?”

And God responded to Elijah’s hurt and fear with a promise of his presence and ongoing work.

By coming to us in Christ, God has done even more.

When you’re worn out and tempted to run away, let the unsurpassable peace and incomparable presence of Savior Christ lead you back home to rest in Him.

Hearing God’s Still Small Voice (1 Kings 19:11-13)

¹⁰ Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

¹¹ “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The God who created the universe is obviously present in big things, and God is also present in the small, mundane, meaningless, subtle and quiet things of life.

God does huge miracles, saves countless people, and heals debilitating diseases.

From the limitless depths of eternity, God also watches over us in our weakest times and knows the minute details of our lives.

From the indefinable silence and coldness of our universe, God is present in the whispers of our lives when it seems as if no one is there and nothing matters.

Fellowship, Koinonia, Community, Neighbors and Neighborhoods are similar.

It isn’t just present in the big and life-changing moments.

It isn’t just present in huge groups.

It is present in the quiet, little things of life too.

Sometimes we aren’t even looking for it, and it just shows up.

It is present in couple’s nights, quiet conversations over coffee, in small game nights, in family meals, in BBQ’s, or in any garage as friends work on their cars.

What small mundane moments do you look for and maybe find community in?

Maybe when you look for community in those situations, you’ll see it all around you and maybe in all those innocuous and mundane moments – find God there?

Leaving a Legacy of Faith  (2 Kings 2:9-15)

⁹ When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”

And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”

¹⁰ “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”

¹¹ As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.

¹³ Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. ¹⁴ He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.

¹⁵ When the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened, they exclaimed, “Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

Years had passed since the time God chose Elisha to succeed Elijah as his prophet (1 Kings 19:16, 19-21).

Now, after training Elisha, Elijah was going home to God.

It was time to see if Elisha was ready to serve in his place.

What might look like a good-bye tour of their favorite hangouts was really a test.

First Elisha’s loyalty was tested, and three times he said he would not leave.

Next Elisha’s wisdom was tested, and with true insight Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit—the inheritance traditionally given to an eldest son.

Suddenly two things happened at once: a chariot and horses of fire came between them.

And Elijah was sucked up into a mini-tornado and was gone!

Because he saw Elijah taken away, Elisha received what he had asked for.

Then, in front of everyone on the other side of the Jordan River, Elisha was able to repeat Elijah’s last miracle.

With the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, Elisha parted the waters and walked across on dry ground.

Everyone watching could see Elisha had been chosen to be God’s new prophet in Israel.

Each of us has been called and also equipped to be a prophet, right where we are and alongside the people we live with.

Equipped with God’s Holy Spirit and His power, we too are also commanded to follow our clouds of predecessors, pick up our cloaks and get right to laboring.

Conclusion:

The life of Elijah provides us with valuable spiritual lessons.

Through his bold expressions of faith, unwavering trust, divine provision, answered prayers, solitude, attentiveness to God’s voice, overcoming deep discouragement, leaving a legacy, we can grow in our relationship with God.

In and by your baptism, How might this all be expressed through your own life?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord God, heavenly Father, we are poor, miserable sinners. We know your will, but we are too weak to fulfill it. Our flesh and blood hold us back, and our enemy the devil will not leave us in peace. Pour your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that with a steadfast faith we may cling to your Son Jesus Christ, find comfort in his passion and death, believe the forgiveness of sin through him and in willing obedience to your will lead holy lives on earth until by your grace we depart from this world of sorrow and obtain eternal life; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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1 Kings 19:11-13 Amplified Bible

¹¹ So He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, [there was] an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, [there was] a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, [there was] the sound of a gentle blowing. ¹³ When Elijah heard the sound, he wrapped his face in his mantle (cloak) and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen

One of my favorite Bible stories is about Elijah the Prophet hearing God. 

1 Kings 19:11-13 says, “The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then, a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

It’s a descriptive account of how the great Elijah the Prophet, exhausted and depressed, expected to hear his God and then how God actually showed up.

He looks for God in the powerful winds, earthquakes, and fire.

God was not there.

Unexpectedly, he heard God speak when he quietly waited at the mouth of a cave, and after all the ear splitting noises of nature, God whispered to Elijah.

How often do I look for God to show up as a mighty storm in my life or for him to suddenly get my attention by literally rocking my world, such as we see with hurricanes, tornado’s, earthquakes and great fires on television or the internet?

At times, God absolutely does speak in those moments, and he surely is with us when our lives take sudden unexpected turns, but what about the innumerable extraordinarily ordinary moments that make up the majority of all of our lives?

Does God care about our daily routines?

Is it possible to hear him as we walk to get the mail or make lunches?

What about while cleaning the dishes or driving to work?

Does he only check in with us on Sundays when we attend church services, or does the rest of our humdrum Monday through Saturday matter to him, too? 

The Quiet Moments Can Also Be God Moments

Elijah’s story reminds us that the quiet moments can be God moments, too.

We can see God in the simplistic moments of unexpected beauty we are given.

How many times have I given thanks to God just at the sight of children running around in our simple backyard on a sunny day or my wife as she does jewelry?

I am in awe of the wonder they are able to enjoy the everyday things.

How many prayers have I lifted up while walking around the grocery store?

My heart cries out, God please help me be the husband, step father, you have called me to be! My life and all that I have invested in goes mostly unseen. 

I can attest to the fact that every word God has given me has come right in the midst of my ordinary life.

God nudged me towards my neighbor one morning as he was getting his young daughter ready for school – to openly pray for them both and reveal His glory.

During my workout routine trying to get my new heart exercised, He reminded me that all I need to do is pray, God I need you, and God will be there for me.

During a talk with a Nurse friend at church, He assured me and my new surgical heart that the new medication I needed to calm my my sugar, blood pressure and mind, the rest of my body, was an essential part of his healing plan for me.

Living in my everyday life is interrupted by God’s gentle, guiding whisper voice.

He is there in the ordinary with us, showing us his ways, teaching us his path.  

We Have Moments We Are Called to Give Without Being Seen 

Can I trust that God cares about my days, even if no one is promoting me or praising me for the efforts I make recovering and rehabbing from surgery?

The lessons I thought I taught my heart about having confidence, endurance ?

The tantrums I endured when I thought my heart was not listening as well as I thought it should have based on the number of “the more” steps I was walking?

We all are called to serve unto the Lord and not man.

We all have moments when God leads us to give without being seen. 

Jesus rebuked the religious elite for parading around when they fasted and prayed.

He wanted more than a spectacle from his followers, he wanted our hearts.

That’s why no matter if you are a CEO or a stay-at-home parent, there are definitely going to be silent moments when God calls you to give, serve, pray, love, and fast without being seen – this is when our true character shines. 

I’ll tell you from personal experience that it’s not easy to serve unconditionally.

When given the chance to do it for days, weeks, and even years on end, what you find is that your heart is not as pretty as you once hoped. 

Pride and a drive for affirmation run deep, at least it does in me.

But the lesson I’ve been learning and relearning in my home, as my heart heals, as I live stuck in all kinds of ordinary, which I used to be able to do but hesitate to do now, is that rehabbing my life is all about my obedience and not success.

Obedience to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – not to me, myself and I, but to God be every measure and degree the highest glory, honor and the praise.

In my weakness, his strength is made perfect.

I can do all things only because the grace and strength of my Savior Jesus Christ is in me, not because I’m a capable though healing, responsible Christ follower. 

The ordinary stuff is the place, as my mom and dad often said, where our moral and ethical character is built – pebble by pebble, stone by stone, brick by brick.

It is how we rehab our sinful lives, renew our thoughts, it’s how we do the dishes – as a cheerful giver or a grumpy, resentful servant – God cares about.

Thankfully, He is gentle with us, and on the grumpy days, there is grace, but the lesson comes again the next morning.

How will be rehab our lives, renew our thoughts, get right with our Savior Jesus.

How will you do these dishes differently, more thoughtfully, today, He asks? 

The Whole of Our Days Are Exclusively for His Glory

Psalm 46:10-11 Amplified Bible

¹⁰ 
“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.”
¹¹ 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

The incomparable thing with God is that in His economy, nothing is wasted.

We are the one’s commanded by God to just “sit still” for as long as it takes.

When Abraham waited years and years to realize the promise of a son, God was using his everyday life to prepare him for what was to come.

Moses spent four decades working in the desert before God appeared to him in a bush, giving him an indescribably holy, life rehabbing, life-changing mission.

That time raising his family, shepherding Jethro’s flocks in the desert was readying him to lead the Israelites through harsh terrain in the years to come. 

We think of life as a series of high notes and low notes on a timeline, but God sees it all.

Each day we are given is a chance to learn and grow closer to our Maker.

Today, in all of your mundane ordinary day, please don’t miss His whisper.

Let fixing the coffee, making your breakfast remind you of all His faithfulness.

Drinking your Orange Juice, and eating your breakfast tells of all His provision.

Thank Him that His mercies are new every morning and each day has a definite mundane, ordinary, extraordinarily humble purpose for you in God’s Kingdom.

They all absolutely matter to him.

Don’t curse the simple moments because they are not extraordinary enough; lean in to ordinary, and you will hear that whisper of his gracious love for you.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father God, I am humbled to realize that You have included me and my life, as part of Your plan for humanity. I realize more and more that I must decrease in every area of my life and entrust all circumstances into Your gracious hands… so that You may increase, and I may decrease. Use me, Lord, as You will, in Your wider plans and purposes, and develop in me an understanding heart and a listening ear to hear all You have to say to me. Teach me the sudden and subtle lessons that You would have me to learn and keep me looking to Jesus. This I ask in His precious name, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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Deuteronomy 8:11-16 The Message

^11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Are We Remembering God as God Remembers Us?

Deuteronomy 8:11-14 Amplified Bible

¹¹ “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments and His judgments (precepts) and His statutes which I am commanding you today;¹² otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have increases, ¹⁴  then your heart will become lifted up [by self-conceit and arrogance] and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

It takes a whole lot of work and resources to keep and maintain a home.

Whether you own your own residence or lease or rent from others, there are always little maintenance projects that creep up: light bulbs need replacing, lawns need mowing, faucets begin to drip, doors which need to be repainted.

Sometimes we put the work off for another day, but if we wait too long the home will slowly deteriorate – home always needs regular maintenance.

We can also face many temptations to take our home with God for granted.

When times are good, we look at our material blessings, at our relationships with family and friends, neighbors or at our moral character, and we assume we are doing fine -we forget that these are gifts from God that we receive by grace.

In our bible text, Israel was reminded that when they arrived in the promised land, they needed to make work of remembering God. God warned that if they did not actively honor the Lord for his gifts, they would soon forget the Giver.

I read once that most divorces occur not because of an affair or a spouse’s violence but because of apathy—a husband or wife simply begins to take the other for granted – they look at each other and cannot find a reason for love.

Something similar kind of apathy can happen in our relationship with God.

Our God wants us to know and remember where our blessings come from—and especially the gift of our relationship with him in Christ – do we still recall, do we still remember all the ancient covenants God gave us to create community?

Are We Remembering to Live A Christ-Centered Life?

It absolutely matters how you and I live our lives.

Oh, it is great to be saved; but don’t neglect how you live your life thinking I have all I need.

If you take that apathetic attitude now that I am saved and it doesn’t matter anymore how I live my life, your lack of following Christ faithfully might result in a family member, a friend, or a co-worker not accepting Christ in their life.

I believe it would be terrible if the way I live my life somehow, in some careless way, manner, prevented someone from coming to know Christ as their Savior.

Right now, it sounds good that I am going to heaven.

But I believe that when Jesus hands out rewards for how you lived, you would have wished you done more in this life to store up treasurers in heaven.

As in the Parable of the Talents, I believe that when Jesus assigns us places of service in His kingdom then we would have wished that we done more in this life to be able to have a greater reach, greater place of service in His kingdom.

Jesus warned us in the Sermon on the Mount to store up treasures in heaven.

The Apostle Paul testified that all he had gained in this life, he counts as loss for knowing Christ.

He says the real value of life is knowing Jesus and serving Him while we have breath.

Apostle Peter talked about the importance of our obedience to God because He has set up an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you.

So what I am hearing is that salvation should not be enough in my life.

I should only want to live a Christ- Centered life; I should only want to live big for Christ; Paul lived big for Christ; Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, many clouds of witnesses lived big for Christ and every one of us in here should try to live big for Christ, but I can tell you from personal experience, it is not so easy.

In the world we live in today, we have so many complex things competing for the center stage of our life that sometimes Jesus is delegated to a side stage.

I would hope that we would ask ourselves today the question:

Is Jesus center stage in my life?

Is my life a Christ-centered life?

You don’t know. You are not sure.

So, I want to spend some much needed, much required quality time with you today sharing what I believe a Christ-centered life looks like, then we must each fervently pray, decide for ourselves whether, if my life is Christ-centered or not.

Christ-centered life sees Jesus as the source of everything in their life.

Philippians 4:18-20 The Message

^18-20 And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God to no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.

Notice the Scripture does not say that God shall supply some of my needs, nor does it say that God shall supply most of my needs but God supplies them all.

You would think, perhaps even steadfastly believe and preach that God being the source of my everything would be an ultra easy concept for one to grasp.

Can anybody here think of something that you do that God is not the source?

My own surgically repaired heart, my life, my very last breath, my sleeping, my labor, the protection of my family, the food on my table are all the result of God.

You know what that tells me: if I am indeed Christ-centered, Jesus is always on my mind because it constantly, naturally comes to my mind that He has done all of this; for His glory and honor and praise alone He has done all that for me.

But let me tell you what happens to us.

Humanity happens!

Humanity interferes!

Slowly over time, I switch the source from God to myself.

I begin to think that I am doing it.

I begin to think less about Jesus as I go through my day and more about what I am accomplishing, and all of the accolades I should be receiving in abundance.

I am the one that got the promotion the boss just gave me.

I am the one who put in the extra hours; I am the one that got the boss to notice the quality of work.

Pretty soon all of that self-sufficiency stuff that pushed God from the center of my life turns back into self-pride(look what I have done) and God moved even further from center stage in my life to one of the smaller tiny stages on the side.

Back to being governed by my humanity, I again begin to forget all about what my Savior Christ is doing for me, and it is all about what I am doing for myself.

God gave the Israelites a warning about that type of thinking: and now in this moment of devotion, I believe that by warning them, God is also warning us.

Deuteronomy 8:11-16 The Message

^11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

Can that happen to us and we forget God?

Yes, it surely can happen to us just like the Israelites.

Yes, confess it or not, because it absolutely has already happened to us.

A Christ-centered life will place its central focus on the person of Jesus Christ not the rules of our faith.

Philippians 3:10-11 The Message

^10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

There ought to be a sticker on the front door of every Christian home that says, “make room for Christ in your Christianity.”

I am afraid that a lot of people get so caught up in the do’s and the don’ts of their beliefs they substitute a religion-centered life for a Christ-centered life.

The Jewish faith of the Old Testament substituted a relationship with YHWH in lieu of the do’s and don’ts of their faith.

That is what made the Pharisees so powerful – they were the teller of the rules.

That same thing has happened in the New Testament churches.

There are churches which are so centrally focused on the rules of denomination that they forgot the person of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And individual Christian people have been known to take the focus off Christ and put it on the rules.

If you have done that you are in good company.

The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:4-6, I got caught up in the do’s and don’ts of the Jewish faith.

But he goes on and says in verse 7 all these things I count loss for Christ.

Now Paul is talking the person of Jesus Christ.

He saw his error and corrected it.

If you focus on the rules over the person of Jesus Christ are you willing to correct it?

A Christ-centered life wants no one to get the glory except Christ.

Revelation 4:11 Amplified Bible

¹¹ 
“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.”

A Christ-centered life has one goal: Jesus gets 100% the credit.

I love it when after a football game when a player is interviewed by an on the field announcer and the very first thing out of their mouth is all credit for my performance today goes to Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:29-30 The Message

^29-30 But, except for these special cases, I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!

But then there are those interviews with the politicians.

And nine out of ten of them want to give the credit to themselves for something they done, some law that they passed.

And as it gets ever so much closer to election time, they want you to know all their accomplishments to curry favor with the voters.

What are you more like the football player who gives the credit to God or the politician who touts all his or her accomplishments.

In a Chris-centered life- Christ has got to get 100% the glory.

A Christ-centered life handles the troubles of this world with hope.

A life that is not Christ-centered will sometimes fall apart dealing with those same troubles.

The difference is the hope.

Romans 15:4-6 Amplified Bible

⁴ For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope and overflow with confidence in His promises. ⁵ Now may the God who gives endurance and who supplies encouragement grant that you be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify and praise and honor the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:15 Amplified Bible

¹⁵ But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect.

The hope inside of a Christian is a resurrected Christ, the hope is a living Christ.

And we know that whatever the outcome God is absolutely 100% in control and that he has plans for us and we ultimately, win. (read 1 Corinthians 15:57-58)

The unbeliever can not see how this is going to turn out good.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 Amplified Bible

⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

A lot of things competes for the center stage of our life.

Don’t let Jesus be removed from the center stage of your life for something that has no business being there.

Christ is the only ONE who has business being on the center stage of your life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 46 The Message

46 ^1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
    ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
    courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
    the tremors that shift mountains.

    Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

^4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
    this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
    God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
    but Earth does anything he says.

⁷     Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

^8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
    breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

¹¹     Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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2 Corinthians 4:7-15 Amplified Bible

⁷ But we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves. ⁸ We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair; ⁹ hunted down and persecuted, but not deserted [to stand alone]; struck down, but never destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly [experiencing the threat of] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced in our mortal body [which is subject to death]. ¹² So physical death is [actively] at work in us, but [spiritual] life [is actively at work] in you.

¹³ Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had, who wrote in Scripture, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” We also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴  knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us [along] with you in His presence. ¹⁵ For all [these] things are for your sake, so that as [God’s remarkable, undeserved] grace reaches to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of [our great] God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:11-12 Easy-to-Read Version

¹¹ We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. ¹² So death is working in us, but the result is that life is working in you.

2 Corinthians 4:11-12New International Version

¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Are we being so changed by our relationship with Christ that others who are in our lives see the glory of His character? How can we share in the dying of Jesus?

What we all want in this life as baptized Christians, of course, is to be like Him.

But the power of God is the miracle of others seeing in us, in the midst of our pressures and trials, our life which reveals the character and the life of Jesus.

I have always been taken aback and challenged by the verse in Colossians 1, where Paul prays that his friends in Colossae may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Colossians 1:11a).

¹¹ [we pray that you may be] strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to His glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience with joy;

What are they going to use all this power for?

It sounds as though Paul ought to say, So that you can go about doing great miracles; so that you can astonish people with the tremendous magnetism of your preaching and teaching and be followed by great crowds. 

But that is not what he says. He says, I pray that you may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience (Colossians 1:11).

That is what takes power; that is where the life, the power of God is manifest.

That is the life of Jesus.

As you read through the gospels, the Spirit of God brings to your mind’s eye a far more beautiful and wonderful picture, perhaps, of Jesus’ character and life.

What you see His compassion of heart, His moral beauty that attracted people everywhere He went.

You see the serenity of His spirit, how He moves through every scene of anger and unrest with calmness and quietness.

You see His disciplined will and His obvious joy in living.

That is the life of Jesus, and that is what we want, isn’t it?

How do you get it?

The secret, Paul says, is our consent to share in the dying of Jesus.

What does he mean by the dying of Jesus?

You know he does not mean that we have to get ourselves nailed to a cross.

But that cross is a symbol of something very real in our experience.

What was Jesus like on the cross?

He was not powerful and impressive and significant anymore; now a criminal, He was not being applauded by the multitudes that listened to His every word.

No. The cross was a place of great physical weakness, of ultimate humiliation, of ultimate rejection by the scornful, proud and arrogant world around Him.

It was a place of lethal obscurity, a place where He was choosing, willing to lose everything He had built and to trust God to bring it back and make it significant.

We are only human, but we each want to live a life which matters

Pride before the Fall? Have you been in those circumstances recently, where no matter what you do you just cannot seem to get any glory or credit for yourself?

That is exactly where God wants you, because out of those times of inordinate pressure, times of hurt and despair and heartache and a sense of a Christian life being wasted and not used, God is working His will.

Others, perhaps, are being given life because of the death we are going through.

In our Scripture Lesson for this day, apostle Paul says that God has decided to put the most urgent and essential message of all time—the greatest treasure in the world—the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ inside of “jars of clay.”

Clay jars were used to carry water and other goods during Paul’s day.

And clay is a common substance that is available almost everywhere, and potters mastered the art of forming clay jars on their pottery wheels.

While some clay jars were beautifully decorated, most were humble vessels.

But whether they were plain or beautiful, they had a life-giving function—that of the gathering, preserving, and transporting of food, water to thirsty people.

Clay jars are also remarkably fragile—breaking if dropped or hit by a stone.

Not many clay jars survived a person’s lifetime—and even fewer survived to be passed down through several generations.

And Paul here uses the metaphor of jars of clay to represent us Christians who by our baptisms now carry God’s message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus—that is the treasure!!!

I think jars of clay are an outstanding metaphor for our brief lives.

We have but a few “short” decades to proclaim and share the Gospel at best.

I also love this metaphor of clay jars because it reminds me of my calling to proclaim the Gospel, but I am also conscious of my inadequacy to do just that.

But notice again what Paul writes in verse 7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Why is this important?

Well, for one thing, it gives us a good reason for practicing our humility daily.

Humility is 100% essential for anyone of us who seek to be vessels who carry the message of God’s love to other people who are thirsting to hear and see it.

When we forget that Christianity is not about us, is not about our opinions, is not about our rights and privileges—that is when we start to veer off track and cause the Gospel—which is really no Gospel at all—to look like a bad thing to the rest of society, like a judgmental and “I’m always better than you” thing.

In our reading, Paul doesn’t mince words, nor does he lie when he rightly points out that the honor of our being a bearer of the Gospel in this world is complex.

And this is because we are all human.

We all live with sin, temptations, limitations, the stark reality and the fragility of being easily broken, taken down a peg or two, at any given point in our lives.

Even the extraordinarily well educated Master Pharisee Paul freely admits to moments being perplexed, hard-pressed, persecuted, and often struck down.

But he says that even though this is the case, we are not left in despair, we are not abandoned, we are not left without any hope and we are not destroyed.

And this is all because of our Savior Jesus and our Savior Jesus only!

Isaiah 53:4-6 Amplified Bible

⁴ 
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].
⁵ 
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
⁶ 
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].

Even when we fulfill prophesy, like sheep we go astray, get off course and our eyes lose sight of the Shepherd, let go of God’s hand, God never lets go of ours.

Even when we prophetically mess up and prophetically do really dumb things, God is with us and God’s Holy Spirit leads us to repentance and reconciliation.

In spite of these self fulfilling prophesies, If we are willing vessels, God can accomplish some very good things through us even when we make mistakes…

…because…

…it’s NEVER GOING TO BE ABOUT US—it’s always about the treasure of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified and Risen that is the “surpassing power from God.”

I hope this enables us to be honest about our frailty, our human-ness—not only with God and others but with ourselves.

Phariseeism, or trying to be perfect according to the Law according to our own strength, can and will cause us all kinds of connectional, relational problems, such as isolation and low self-esteem, frustration, and possibly mental illness.

But when we finally achieve a place in our baptism, accept that God accepts us—even as imperfect jars of clay- we can accept ourselves and others and enjoy the fruitful journey of being one of Jesus Christ’s very fragile human disciples.

And that is the healthy way to live.

And that is attractive to other people.

Because no one is perfect.

Because no one should ever expect to be perfect or made perfect in this life.

Because no one is going to be perfect in this life.

And if we try and pretend we are perfect, we will find ourselves in a lonely place, an anonymous place, a darkened secretive and a broken place walking on eggs.

John 3:28-31 Amplified Bible

²⁸ You yourselves are my witnesses that I stated, ‘I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ but, ‘I have [only] been sent ahead of Him [as His appointed forerunner and messenger to announce and proclaim His coming].’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this pleasure and joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase [in prominence], but I must decrease.

³¹ “He who comes from [heaven] above is above all others; he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks [about things] of the earth [his viewpoint and experience are earthly]. He who comes from heaven is above all.

The power of God’s living Word makes God’s light shine in our hearts, for “we [dare not] preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord….” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

Ministers of a New Covenant

3 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some [false teachers], letters of recommendation to you or from you? [No!] ² You are our letter [of recommendation], written in our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

If the message of God is going to be robustly revealed throughout our lives, we must absolutely get out of the way.

And what a relief that is.

It is a relief to know we don’t have to try and save the world—we are not expected to save the world.

Only the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ can and will save the world.

So, we are free to be humble.

We are free to be ourselves.

We are free to be wholly and fully human.

We no longer have to live with the pressure of fighting for all the attention or demanding our rights, our way, and so forth.

We don’t have to judge the world and tell the world it is wrong and we are right.

We are to allow God’s light to shine through our lives simply and humbly.

The life of a humble servant of Christ may not be easy, but it should be a stress reducer.

Paul says, “For we who are alive are being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”

We are to die to self and live for Christ.

We are to die to our wants and live for what Christ wants.

We are to die to selfishness, envy and the like and live lives of humble transparency and love.

The world talks a whole lot about human power, but the real characteristic of a human being is not our power but our weakness, what God can and will achieve through that weakness.

There is a story about a water carrier in India who had two large clay jars, and each jar hung on either end of a pole that she carried across her shoulders.

One of the jars had a crack in it, and the other did not.

After the long walk from the source of water, the cracked jar always arrived at its destination half full.

And this caused the jar with no crack to become proud of its own accomplishments.

But the cracked jar was ashamed of its imperfection and was miserable that it could only accomplish half of what it was created to do.

One day, the cracked jar spoke to the water carrier, “I am ashamed of myself,” it said.

“You need not be ashamed of yourself,” replied the water carrier who had an appreciation for the old cracked jar.

She said, “As we return to our destination, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

And sure enough, as they went down the path, the old cracked jar saw the sun warming the beautiful flowers on the side of the path.

But at the end of the trail, the cracked jar felt bad again because it had leaked half its load.

The water carrier asked, “Did you notice that there were flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other side?

That is because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.

I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table.

Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty in his house.”

Each of us have our own unique flaws.

We are all cracked jars.

We are all only human, weak and fragile.

But God is able to do great things, even through our weakness if we allow Him.

And that is an ample reason to greatly rejoice in whom God has created us to be.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus died and was raised from the dead for my sake. Thank You for the ministry of Paul whose life was a little reflection of Christ’s deep love for us… as he selflessly shared the gospel of grace to lost souls and was willing to be delivered over to suffering and death for love of the Lord Jesus so that the life of Christ might be manifest through him. I pray that I would be willing to die to my own self-interest for the love of Christ Jesus so that I may also be used by You to spread the good news of the gospel of grace and the life of Jesus might be manifest in my mortal body too. This I ask in Jesus’ precious name, Alleluia, Alleluia, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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1 Corinthians 15:45-49 Amplified Bible

⁴⁵ So it is written [in Scripture], “The first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual);” the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit [restoring the dead to life]. ⁴⁶ However, the spiritual [the immortal life] is not first, but the physical [the mortal life]; then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man [Adam] is from the earth, earthy [made of dust]; the second Man [Christ, the Lord] is from heaven.  ⁴⁸ As is the earthly man [the man of dust], so are those who are of earth; and as is the heavenly [Man], so are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], ^[a]we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven].

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Since my sudden need for my Triple Bypass Open Heart surgery this past July 17, when they sawed open my sternum and stopped my heart for 80 minutes, two words have been implanted indelibly on my soul – mortality and eternity.

Not just my own mortality and eternity, but the mortality and eternity of all of my family and indeed, to a far more reaching extent, the whole of humanity.

What will become of the future generations of those “clouds of witnesses” talked about in Hebrews 12:1-2 who will set aside their sins and burdens, in an effort to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to whatever is left of the world?

Even if we could muster all our imaginative powers, it’s utterly impossible for us fully to conceive of the world as it ought to be—and, indeed, as it will be.

Can you imagine a world where earthquakes, storms, and tornadoes no longer wreak havoc and destruction?

A world in which the word cancer and Alzheimer’s and heart disease and diabetes, so many other serious life threatening diseases strikes fear into nobody’s heart?

A body without weakness, a body without infection, a body without sickness, a body without sadness, a body without death?

The fact is, none of us can begin to hope to raise our imaginations to that level.

However, we do have an image of our hope for resurrection life in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In being raised from the dead, Jesus Christ has become the first fruits of all who place their steadfast and immovable faith, hope and love and trust fully in Him.

What we see in Him is what we are someday to become.

By nature, we are all “in Adam” and destined for death; but to any who are in Christ, God promises renewed hope (1 Corinthians 15:21-28).

1 Corinthians 15:21-28 GOD’S WORD Translation

²¹ Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death. ²² As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ. ²³ This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him ⌞will be made alive⌟. ²⁴ Then the end will come. Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father as he destroys every ruler, authority, and power.

²⁵ Christ must rule until God has put every enemy under his control. ²⁶ The last enemy he will destroy is death. ²⁷ Clearly, God has put everything under Christ’s authority. When God says that everything has been put under Christ’s authority, this clearly excludes God, since God has put everything under Christ’s authority. ²⁸ But when God puts everything under Christ’s authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, since God had put everything under the Son’s authority. Then God will be in control of everything.

By triumphing over death, Christ, “the last Adam” (⁴⁵ This is what Scripture says: “The first man, Adam, became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. v 45), has set us on the path to indestructible life in heaven.

Once we each walked the path of “the man of dust,” but now all who are in Jesus Christ “bear the image of the man of heaven.”

That lingering question which rolls and rolls through my soul; “What will life be like when that man of heaven returns to earth and brings heaven with Him?”

Scripture does not lay out all the details so we can order our lives accordingly.

God and God alone give order to our lives and the lives of all God hath created.

And that all God created order is the greatest unsolvable mystery of all eternity.

But we do know this, and is that instead of our bodies being perishable, our bodies will then be imperishable.

As we live and breath, and walk and talk, we currently have a limited shelf life, but we have the promise and hope of an eternal life with no expiration date.

We will live forever (1 Corinthians 15:42 That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay.), and every day in that great forever will be glorious, for nothing will ever perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4-5 ⁴ We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance that can’t be destroyed or corrupted and can’t fade away. That inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ since you are guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.)

We also know that God will transform us from a condition of dishonor and weakness to a renewed state of power and glory (1 Corinthians 15:43 ⁴³ When the body is planted, it doesn’t have any splendor and is weak. When it comes back to life, it has splendor and is strong.).

Neither you nor I have the categories to fathom such a resurrection life.

Whatever you and I try would ever try to imagine, reality will be 100% better!

But of this you and I can be 100% sure: that life does await you, awaits me, for our risen Lord Jesus Christ has 100% trampled death underfoot once and for all.

Death has been swallowed up in His irreversible victory (1 Corinthians 15:53-54 ⁵³ For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us that is capable of dying] must put on immortality [which is freedom from death]. ⁵⁴ And when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says, “Death is swallowed up in victory (vanquished forever).).

Today, we will all still see the forces of death at work around us—even in us.

Perhaps we are very aware of that in one way or another as we read these words.

But be assured that the kingdom of light has already prevailed over the domain of darkness.

In fact, our citizenship already belongs to the kingdom of resurrection life.

At times you and I may still feel the decay and the dust, but you can yet find hope, knowing that the man of heaven will one day transform our “lowly body to be like His eternally glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21 ²⁰ But [we are different, because] our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly await [the coming of] the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will [not only] transform [but completely refashion] our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body. )—forever and ever Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Thank You, Lord God, that You purposed from the foundation of the world You created to save mankind from sin. Thank You that by grace through faith in Christ, I have been transferred from the old creation in Adam to the new creation in Christ. Thank You that my spirit has been regenerated and I have been given a new nature in Christ. I pray that I may keep the old sin nature nailed to the Cross. I praise and thank You that one day, this mortal body will be clothed with immortality, because I now bear the image of the heavenly Lord Jesus. In His name I pray, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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James 2:8-9 Amplified Bible

⁸ If, however, you are [really] fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, if you have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit]” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality [prejudice, favoritism], you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as offenders.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning; is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Par·ti·al·i·ty – unfair bias in favor of one thing or person compared with another; favoritism.

Are you, am I, showing partiality to people?

If so, are we even aware that we’re sinning?

Most of us might be quick to respond with, “No, I don’t show favoritism.”

But think about it very carefully.

When given the singular or habitual opportunity to choose, do we give gifts to people we believe deserve them over others who seem less deserving?

Are we more willing to help those people who we believe are “worthy” of being helped over those we, by some worldly standard of measure, deem less worthy?

Digging deeper, do we give our offerings to those we like better than others rather than asking God where to give, following His leading over our own?

Likewise, how do we decide whether to donate to someone’s mission trip or not?

What standard of criteria do we base our generosity on?

Even deeper, when it comes to prayer, do we pray more for people we believe deserve our prayer time and our efforts over those who seem beyond hope?

How might God react to that business of “partiality?”

Does God show favoritism?

Is God a “partial or impartial” God?

Does God’s love discriminate based on human standards – race, ethnicity, skin color, national origin, young or old, male or female and etcetera? (JOHN 3:16)

Although many believers may not consider favoritism a serious issue or even something to be dealt with, God makes it abundantly clear that our showing any partiality towards people is absolutely not okay. (read also Galatians 3:23-29)

It might be a hard concept for us to grasp because, as believers, we may think He does because of various passages in the Bible where God gives favor.  

But God clearly distinguishes between His giving favor and His showing favoritism, so quickly setting this misconception aside, His word tells us,

“For God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11).

It’s enormously challenging, too, trying to convince some Christians it’s not a good thing because some do not even minimally consider showing partiality sinful or view it as doing anything particularly divisive, or harmful or wrong.

There are likewise believers, too, who, by some rationale, will even think and believe it’s a wise and discerning practice, justifying favoring some individuals over others, seeing those certain persons as more deserving and responsible for receiving their kindness, generosity, helpfulness, and more. (read Acts 6:1-6)

Churches who play favorites: Acceptance With No Favoritism

Who hasn’t seen favoritism?

Sadly, partiality is widespread not only out in the world but in many churches.

James 2:1-4 addresses it within the Church, revealing the sinfulness behind it.

James 2:1-4 Amplified Bible

The Sin of Partiality

2 My fellow believers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of partiality [toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery]. ² For if a man comes into your ^[a]meeting place ^[b] wearing a gold ring and ^[c]fine clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and you pay special attention to the one who wears the ^[d]fine clothes, and say to him, “You sit here in this good seat,” and you tell the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down [on the floor] by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves, and become judges with wrong motives?

The Bible makes clear that believers in Christ, enjoying the gift of God’s acceptance by grace, may not show favoritism, treating some people as better or more worthy than others.

This follows from God’s own practice of accepting all who call on his name (read also Acts 10:34-35; Romans 10:9-13).

James gives a specific example about favoritism in action, showing that there is no room for discrimination in God’s kingdom.

He adds, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.”

We must not miss this: “Loving our neighbors” means ­accepting one another!

We accept others when we make room at our table or in our circle of friends for someone we may not know.

It’s more than being friendly.

Jesus said, “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me” (Matthew 10:40).

Jesus identified with people who were poor, hungry, strangers, sick, and in prison. (read also Matthew 25:34-40)

We must do this too.

Loving one another means getting involved in the lives of others—as messy or as unwelcome as that may be.

It could involve inviting someone to join a Bible study at your home.

It could even be uncomfortable.

But you can do so, remembering that few are offended by Jesus.

Accepting one another as Jesus did ­honors God and brings rejoicing in heaven.

To whom can you show God’s love today?

Christians in Authority Who Play Favorites

God emphasizes in Ephesians 6:7-9 how He looks at showing partiality between people, especially in situations where some may believe they’re justified in treating individuals differently because of their various positions in life.

Sadly there are Christian leaders, bosses, parents who leave their Christianity at the door, believing they are in the right to play favorites at home or work.

But God calls us all to serve one another, regardless of rank or position in life. 

Ephesians 6:7-9 New International Version

⁷ Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, ⁸ because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

⁹ And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Unfortunately, many humans, including Christians, struggle with wanting to feel more important than others.

Rooted in sin, Philippians 2:3 urges us to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

Overcoming Partiality

So how do we live a life free from partiality?

Scripture provides direction on how to overcome the tendency to play favorites.

1. Ask God for Direction

When tempted, look to God for help.

Proverbs 3:5-8 Amplified Bible

⁵ 
Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart
And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
^6 
[a]In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him,
And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].
⁷ 
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord [with reverent awe and obedience] and turn [entirely] away from evil.
⁸ 
It will be health to your body [your marrow, your nerves, your sinews, your muscles—all your inner parts]
And refreshment (physical well-being) to your bones.

2. Freely Received, Freely Give what was Freely Given

Freely give because God has freely given us all things (Romans 8:32), not based on who someone is or isn’t, but because it pleases God. 

Proverbs 3:27 encourages, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

3. Sacrificial Transformation, Spiritual Renewal of our Thoughts

Romans 12:1-5 Amplified Bible

Dedicated Service

12 ^[a]Therefore I urge you, ^[b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be ^[c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

³ For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to everyone of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service]. ⁴ For just as in one [physical] body we have many parts, and these parts do not all have the same function or special use, ⁵ so we, who are many, are [nevertheless just] one body in Christ, and individually [we are] parts one of another [mutually dependent on each other].

Paul’s urging of each of us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices is based on Christ’s ultimate act of service and ultimate act of sacrifice for all of our sake.

Baptized believers, transformed and renewed, living sacrifices serve because they’re steadfast immovable followers of Jesus, who served by giving his life.

Yet, as one pessimist I know put it, “The problem with living sacrifices is that they’re always crawling off the altar.”

Being a living sacrifice, with Christ as our supreme example, calls for sincere commitment to serve faithfully, selflessly and no matter what, to not give up.

Healthy worship and prayer life, Healthy family life, healthy church family life, means serving the all members of the family by doing whatever it is we do best.

Healthy church family life means freely serving fellow members of the body of believers with the gifts God has entrusted to us.

It means sacrificing biases, prejudices, valuing to the utmost, service to one another because together we form a body belonging to God and to each other.

Paul put it simply: “As Christ’s body, each member belongs to all the others.”

Intersecting Faith and Life: 

Hebrews 13:1-2 English Standard Version

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

13 Let brotherly love continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Ask God today to reveal to you opportunities how to be genuinely Christ-like impartial and to reveal to other neighbors any ways you’ve been practicing it.

When confronting an un-neighborly situation where you can choose how you respond to people, ask God to lead you and to transform you and to renew your thoughts towards heavenly things, lean on His understanding over your own.

You simply never know what difference you would make in another’s journey.

But believe that God already knows what difference you absolutely did make!

In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Oh, Lord, we often fall into determining someone’s value based on their wealth. Their wealth tells us nothing of their heart or their love for you. Help us not to insult the poor and elevate the rich. We pray that you will help us reach out to others without selfish motives like James addresses here. Help us not to disregard those in humble circumstances in order to try and elevate ourselves with those who show their disdain for you and treat others badly. You have called us to honor you with whatever you have blessed us with, and at the same time you call us not to play favorites. Help us to have humble hearts, to follow your example of loving all and not judging a person by their economic status or what they can do for us. In the One who is the richest of all and yet humbled himself on the cross for our sake – Amen!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning; is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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Isaiah 12 THE Message

My Strength and Song

12 And you will say in that day,
    “I thank you, God.
You were angry
    but your anger wasn’t forever.
You withdrew your anger
    and moved in and comforted me.

² “Yes, indeed—God is my salvation.
    I trust, I won’t be afraid.
God—yes God!—is my strength and song,
    best of all, my salvation!”

^3-4 Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water
    from the wells of salvation.
And as you do it, you’ll say,
    “Give thanks to God.
Call out his name.
    Ask him anything!
Shout to the nations, tell them what he’s done,
    spread the news of his great reputation!

^5-6 “Sing praise-songs to God. He’s done it all!
    Let the whole earth know what he’s done!
Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion!
    The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Surely God is My Salvation

It is great to be reminded that we have salvation through Jesus.

In Isaiah 12, the promised Messiah, Jesus, had not yet come to earth.

However, the people of God believed Him at His Word.

The Lord used many prophets to speak truth into hard situations and to share about the coming Savior.

Isaiah was one of these prophets.

In Isaiah 12, Isaiah writes a song of praise after Isaiah 11 just shares about the coming Messiah.

The Israelites were well aware that they were sinful and rebellious people.

This start to Isaiah 12:2 “Surely” is a confidence that the promised Messiah would be coming and their faith in the Lord who had a redemption plan to cover their sins once and for all.

I Will Trust and Not Be Afraid

The Israelites were a fearful people.

Soon after their release, many of them wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt in the difficulty of escape, many of them did not trust in God and took matters into their own hands, and many of them lived out of fear and not faith in the Lord.

In this time, Isaiah is reminding the people of their anchor in the Lord.

The Prophet Isaiah now encourages us still today to place our trust in the Lord because He is our Peace, we do not have to be afraid when we are resting in Him.

Our momentary trials and hardships might be extremely painful and difficult, but we can get through knowing that the Lord is with us and we have eternal security in Heaven because of Jesus.

We can each declare this in our own lives today, “I will trust and not be afraid.”

The LORD, the LORD Himself Is My Strength and My Defense

When LORD is mentioned in all caps, it is referring to the proper name of God, YHWH.

We as believers agree with Isaiah’s statement that God, our God Himself, is our strength and our defense.

He helps us to move forward but also protects us from the attacks of the enemy.

He is the perfect sacrifice from eternal separation from the Lord.

When we undergo spiritual attacks from the enemy, His Spirit within us strengthens and empowers us to stand steadfast and firm not in our own strength but in leaning on God’s strength and God’s immovable promises.

In what ways do we need to be reminded God is our strength and our defense?

He is fighting for us, and He is guarding us.

I love how we know that it is the Lord who holds the victory, and we are His beloved children.

Even when the war seems to tarry, our Savior reminds us of His everlasting presence and His power in the midst of the battle.

We can have eternal mindsets with the help of His Spirit.

He Has Become My Salvation 

More valuable than a temporary victory is the fact that when we place our faith in Jesus, He has become our forever salvation.

This is eternal security.

This is forever hope and confidence of life with Him in heaven.

I love how Isaiah begins and ends this verse with this truth.

He is reminding us twice that our story, our lives, begin and end with God.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, Beginning and the End.

Intersecting Faith and Life

Is Jesus your salvation?

If you have never accepted this gift through His death and resurrection, ask Him into your heart today.

When He is our salvation, we have full victory in Christ.

In what ways has it been difficult for your trust to mature in God right now?

How can this verse remind you not to be afraid and to fully rely on Him?

How does this verse remind you not to be afraid and to fully rely on Him?

How has the Lord been a strength and defense on your behalf in the past?

How does this ancient passage give you encouragement that He is fighting for you now and in the future?

If you were to sit down and write a song of who Jesus Christ is in your life ….?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

16 ^1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

³ And these God-chosen lives all around—
    what splendid friends they make!

⁴ Don’t just go shopping for a god.
    Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
    like brand-names.

^5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
    And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
    And then you made me your heir!

^7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
    I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

^9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
    and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
    that’s not my destination!

¹¹ Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
    all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
    I’m on the right way.

Heavenly Father, you are the Author of our Salvation. It is by your Hand that we have received deliverance and to you, dear God should be all praise and glory, for it is your divine plan for mankind that rescued us from terrible peril and made us co-heirs of your Heavenly Kingdom, alongside our Messiah Jesus Christ in Whom we repose complete faith and trust. Jesus has promised eternal life and a place in heaven which he will prepare, for all who are beneficiaries of your grace, by their faith in Christ.

We find rest for our soul when we live by your Holy Word, Lord, for only you can offer us refuge and sanctuary. With you, nothing is impossible When the going gets too tough, we turn to you for peace and protection, comfort and assurance, and we find it, for your promises to us are unshakable and all we ask for in Jesus’ Name, is readily granted to those who believe.

Our trust is in you Lord, for you are unchangeable and omniscient, the very foundation of our strength, for you have uplifted us, filled us with your Holy Spirit, and we are fortified and unafraid of evil machinations. For with you as our Father, we need have no fear and can worship, offer songs of praise for being in the ranks of the righteous. We surrender to you, consecrating our lives to you, in Jesus’ Name.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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John 3:19-21 The Message

^19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Christians in Crisis – Preferences for Running to the Darkness?

English cleric William Farrar wrote, “I am only one, but I am one; I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do. And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.”

Reverend John Wesley founder of Methodism famously wrote: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

What amount of “everything possible whenever possible” can one person do?

Biblically, A whole lot.

The Bible tells the story of one woman who was determined to save a nation.

Esther may not have been the first woman people would have imagined for this assignment – but for such a time as it was, a mounting darkness was coming.

After she won a beauty contest, she became queen in the Medo-Persian Empire.

And in that position of influence, Esther, who was Jewish, discovered that her people faced a serious threat.

Because Mordecai would not bow to him, a wicked and self serving man named Haman had devised a plot to exterminate every Jewish person in the empire.

Queen Esther considered appealing to King Xerxes on behalf of her people.

But by doing so, she would be risking her own life.

The king could have her executed for approaching him without his invitation.

But her cousin Mordecai sent her a message, which said,

“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14 NLT).

In other words,

“Esther, God doesn’t depend solely on you. But He can use you in a powerful way. Will you step up?”

Esther did, and as a result, the Jewish people survived.

One person stepped forward at great risk to their lives, made a difference.

John 3:16-18 The Message

^16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

Some weeks ago I was reading a lengthy devotional from Genesis 3 (about Adam and Eve’s fall into sin).

In it, a little girl, while picking noisily at her dinner plate with her fork, had whispered to her mother, “Mommy, can’t Adam and Eve go to heaven now?”

She understood that something very serious had happened, and she wondered if anything or anyone could undo the damage the darkness had done on that day.

Though as young as she was, she wisely asked her mother the right question:

Could anyone pick up the pieces of a creation threatened by growing darkness?

Were we too accustomed to being helpless, accepting our helplessness, in the towering presence, greater power and overwhelming strength of the darkness?

Or are we faced with the dilemma of an old nursery rhyme:

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;/ Humpty Dumpty had a great fall./ All the king’s horses and all the king’s men/ couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

What no one else could do against the brokenness and darkness ushered in by sin, in one matchless moment, God did by sending his Son, the Lord Jesus.

Through his coming, his birth, life, death and resurrection Jesus ushered in the kingdom of heaven, and by fully believing in him we can enter that kingdom.

But IF we WILL walk in the Light as He is in the Light …

1 John 1:6-7 The Message

^6-7 If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

There is a great contrast between a life that is being lived in the darkness and one that is being lived in the light, a point that John expounds upon in his text.

As life in the darkness is not indicative of Him, it can also be said that the life in the light is one that is lived in Him.

John continues with his imagery of walking, indicating that living with the light, who is God, is a chosen lifestyle.

Because it is a lifestyle that is founded in Him, it is a life that reflects Him.

It shines light outward into the lives of others, confronting, challenging the darkness by exposing truth to those who come in contact with a Christian.

John further reveals that the lifestyle is also characterized by something more.

It is a lifestyle of continuous fellowship, one of worship, one of diligent study and prayer, one of John’s major emphases in these first verses of his writing.

John also further extends the idea that connection and fellowship with others is related to connection and fellowship with God.

Apart from Him, no true fellowship can exist.

As light is necessary for the nourishment and growth of all things, God is necessary for the nourishment and growth of people.

Any connectional relationship absent this light will not ever blossom into any relationship that is founded in true Christ like love, including not only kindness and companionship, but also true accountability, responsibility, and discipline.

And thus, because there is no blossoming, no fruit will be produced, something evident in the life of a true Christian (cf. John 15:1-8).

The Vine and the Branches

15 ^1-3 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

⁴ “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

^5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

Finally, because one who walks in the light is defined as one who is a child of God, they can experience the cleansing power of the blood of Christ.

In the Old Testament, blood was connected to purification, and thus is seen often in the sacrifices (Leviticus 16:30; Hebrews 9:21-22).

Now, in the New Testament sense, the blood is connected with Christ’s atoning sacrifice, which fulfills God’s requirements for the punishment of sin allowing for believers to be declared ‘acquitted’ of charges.

This does not mean that one does not still battle with sin.

Currently we still live in the flesh and thus battle with it.

However, it does mean that one no longer needs to fear separation from God as a result of that sin.

Therefore, You, too, can make a difference.

So make the decision to be the godly representative that Jesus called you to be.

Removing the Buckets off from the tops of our heads

Matthew 5:14-16 The Message

^14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

We live in a dark world where people are comfortable existing in darkness.

Too many people enjoy their darkened hidden places, their secret places.

They have become PhD’s accustomed to 5 star living and being in the dark.

But take the buckets off of their existence?

After the capture of the Bastille in 1789, a story emerged about a prisoner who had been confined to a dark, dingy dungeon for years.

When he was released and led outside into the Paris sunlight, he begged to return to the darkness of his prison cell.

His eyes could not endure the sun’s brightness.

His only desire was to die in the very darkness where he had been a captive.

That is how a lot of people are today.

They live in darkness, and they are comfortable there.

Their eyes , their hearts, souls and lives are too accustomed to the darkness.

They see no purpose to trying to become accustomed to the light of the day, the light of salvation in Jesus Christ alone through whom darkness is made null and void and completely helpless and powerless.

But the Bible says that when we come to Christ, we “turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18 NLT).

Almost certainly everyone knows somebody who is too accustomed to the dark.

Almost everyone knows someone who is just too afraid to open their eyes to the light – too much pain. no heart desire, no motivation, no empowerment either.

We need to share the light, shine the light of Jesus Christ into our dark world.

We must take it more seriously than a widow making heart attack and seek to make even a .01% difference in our culture wherever we go, whenever we can.

You make a difference.

Be a difference maker

Be the difference maker.

You have a strategic and important part to play.

Never doubt your ability to make a difference and to actually be a difference.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 139:23-24 The Message

^23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Questions to pray over: dare to ask the following questions of yourself:

• What darkness dwells in me?
• How much time and effort do I devote to embracing and loving my darkness?
• What am, how much am I sacrificing to remain in my embrace of my darkness?
• What am I afraid of God is going to find within my dark and secret places?
• What am I afraid of about God? Why am I afraid of God? Condemnation?
• Spend some time in prayer asking God to humble you so that you can accurately look at your life. Dwell a bit on things and see if there are recurring areas that may exist and add those to your list as well.
• Take an opportunity to thoroughly examine yourself and identify those areas of darkness in your life that cannot exist with God. Perhaps make a list, pray over them, confess them, and be free of them.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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Matthew 5:14-16 Amplified Bible

¹⁴ “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵ nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Light is quite remarkable if you think about it.

It travels at 186,000 miles per second and behaves as if it were both a solid particle and a wave of energy.

It always overcomes darkness–in fact, the darker the night, the more impressive even the slightest glow.

And it exists by constantly giving itself away.

Jesus calls us to be light in a sin-darkened world.

We are light when we live all of life in the way God calls us to live.

We are light when we treat our neighbors with integrity, and when we treat bullies with kindness (though without letting them get their way).

We live as light when we represent a cause that may not be popular but is right.

In fact, Jesus explains that it is impossible for Christians not to be light.

We are either his followers—his light—or we are not.

A candle under a bowl goes out.

A city on a hill lights the countryside.

Authentic Christians outwardly His radiate righteousness, truth, and grace.

Jesus says of us, “You are the light of the world.”

This imagery suggests that the life God’s Spirit kindles within us, while powerful and delightful, is meant not only for us to enjoy.

It’s a life that’s to be given away for others.

In fact, a candle placed under a bowl will soon suffocate and die.

Our lives, rather, should have a giving quality about them and be marked by an outward flow.

After all, this is the quality of the life of the Father within us, who so loves the world that He gives and keeps on giving. “

Of course, this light does not come from within ourselves.

We are the light of the world only to the extent that Jesus, the true light of the world, lives in us.

When we were lost in darkness, Jesus came to us, full of grace and truth, and drew us into his light.

How will you shine the light of Jesus into your world today?

Inescapable, Irresistible Light

Matthew 5:14-16 The Message

^14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

When you are living for Jesus Christ, your very presence sometimes will bother and mightily offend the darkness others because His light is shining out of you.

When in this age too many are trying too hard turn off all the lights, to take every opportunity at avoid giving any offense You may even try to hide it too.

But it shouldn’t be that way.

Just stand still in any room you are standing or sitting in

Just let His light shine for people to see.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:14-15 NLT).

We’ve all heard the well-worn excuses, eye rolling rationales and the so-called reasons as to why people don’t come to Christ.

But here’s the reason that most people don’t come to Him.

This, by the way, is according to Jesus Himself:

“God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil” (John 3:19 NLT).

The reason people don’t believe is they don’t want their sin exposed.

They don’t want to acknowledge their shortcomings.

They surrender to their darkness

They do not want to surrender their darkness .

But it is inevitable that the darkness will surrender because it has not the ability nor the power to overcome what it can never hope to understand. (John 1:5)

And the more godly a Christian is, the more obviously this surrender will take place just by the life they live, that believer’s great example – loving neighbors. 

1 John 1:6-7 The Message

^6-7 If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

Jesus went on to say,

“All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants” (verses 20–21 NLT).

Few things are harder to put up with than the sudden revelation of a bright light of a Christ like life which will command an entire room with its good example.

And when you live it, it really stuns the senses, it really gets people’s attention.

Light not only exposes what the darkness hides, light also shows the way out.

John 1:1-5 The Message

The Life-Light

1 ^1-2 The Word was first,
    the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

And in the same way Christ came, the light that shines from us not only shows people their shortcomings and their sins, but it also shows them the way out.

The darkness must surrender.

The darkness will surrender.

Sin must surrender its power over the Children of God.

Sin will surrender its power over the Children of God.

The revealed Word of God to light the narrow way for the Children of God.

It shows them the way to the inevitability of Jesus Christ as their forever Savior.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God of light and life and peace, I bring before You a world that is ravaged by war and suffering, disaster and distress, through the actions and attitudes of selfish men. I pray that the light of Christ would illuminate a dark world that has chosen to turn its back on the One Who is the true Light of the world and Who brings life and love to all who believe. I pray that You use me in the corner of the world where You have placed me, to bring the light, the life, and the love of Christ to a hurting world. Keep me ever mindful that without You I can do nothing, but in the strength and power of Your Holy Spirit, I am thus enabled to reveal your path to salvation and act as Your hands, Your feet, and Your heart, to those in need. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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