Seventh Sunday after Epiphany: Friday, February 24, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Proverbs 8:1-21

This passage talks about wisdom, and right in the middle of the passage, we see what wisdom looks like, to fear the Lord is to hate evil. Also in Proverbs it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is such and important and misunderstood concept. I believe that we have lost that understanding that we are to fear the Lord. It more of a holy reverence.

We are to love God, desire God, walk with God, but are to also have a holy reverence of God. We know that He walks with us and cares for us, but He will also judge us, He also had the power of life and death, He also spoke through the prophets, punished Israel for their sins, and raised Christ Jesus from the dead. His He our best friend? Yes, but He is so much more. He is the King, creator, Father, and judge, and we should love Him, but also respect and fear Him. And if we have that holy reverence of God, that will change how we live and see things, and wisdom begins there.

New Testament Lesson

Philemon 1-25

Philemon has one of my favorite verses in all the bible, v. 6, "Be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." The more we share our faith the more we are aware of how blessed we are. The more we talk about God, the more we know the grace of God. The more we count out blessings, the more blessings that we know we have. Likewise, the more we complain, the more we have to complain about. The more we focus on the bad, the more bad we see. But, if we share our faith, we will come be better know how much God loves and how much grace He has given us. Today, share your faith with someone, maybe a friend, a spouse a co worker. I'm not saying you even have to witness (thought not a bad idea) but just talk about how good God has been to you, and see if that doesn't increase you own faith, and remind you all the good things you have in Jesus Christ.

Gospel Lesson

John 12:9-19

In this passage, we see Jesus ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He is hailed as the king, as the son of David, the crowds lay the coats and palms before Him. To you or me, this may be the high point of our lives. For Jesus, this was the beginning of the last week of His life, and these crowds that cheered in on Palm Sunday will be crying crucify Him on Good Friday. We read this and think, oh that's terrible. But, we do the same thing. We come to church and praise Him on Sunday, but through the week, through our actions; through our sins, we shout crucify him, crucify him. We do the same. We praise on Sunday, we deny on Monday.

Today, through your actions, will you praise Him, or will you shout crucify. Those are the choices we may ever day. Today, how will you live, today, will you bring honor to Jesus, or will you deny Him through your actions, through your words, through your sin.