Easter: Friday, May 26, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

1 Samuel 2:1-10

We see in this passage that the Lord lifts up the needy and those that are in distress. That is a notion we see a lot in Scripture, that God intercedes for those that are weak, for those that have no other help? Why? God helps everyone, but it seems like in the Bible that He most often intercedes for those that are in the most need of help.

Maybe because they are the ones that realize that God is all that they have. Wesley warned the Methodist against becoming rich, not because richness was evil (in fact, there were even rich Methodists during his day), but because earthly wealth will take your mind off of God. God should be foremost in our minds; not our stuff, not our money, not our cars, not anything else, other than Him. But, our stuff crowds God our of our thoughts, our minds, and our lives.

Now, am I saying that you need to go home and throw away your TV? No, I am not. But, I am saying that if you don't have time to pray because you watch too much TV, or spent too much time thinking about money, or spend too much time playing ball, or shopping or hunting, or whatever, then you might need to stop that activity. If any earthly activities take so much of our time and thoughts that we don't have time to pray, then friends, we simply are walking with the Lord as we should be.

New Testament Lesson

Ephesians 2:1-10

We are saved not by what we do, but by faith. We are saved by what God has done for us, not for what we have done for our selves, now, we must do our part. We must except that gift, we must respond to grace, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must live as God would have us to live.

But, we did not save ourselves. God saved us. We are not worthy of that salvation; that is why it is a gift. One of the things that we are Christians are sometimes prone to do is to think that we are better people than those that are lost. We are not. We are saved by grace, and we need to remember that. We are sinful, we have fallen down, and we should never think of ourselves as more than we really are. Now, the Word says in Psalm that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, so we should never think that we are of no worth, but we should also remember that is by grace, not by our actions that we are saved.

Today, we must strive towards what God would have us to be, but remember that is is God that is at work within us, and if we are too boast, let us boast in the wonders of His grace.

Gospel Lesson

Matthew 7:22-27

We see in the first passage that not everyone that says Lord, Lord will enter into heaven, but those that are obedient. I've shared this with my church before, but I've never met a lost person. Or better put, I've never met a person that says that they are lost. Everyone, not matter how far away from God they are, claim to be a Christian. Now, they may have no evidence of God in our lives, no proof of His grace, no fruit of the Spirit, no signs of obedience, but they say that they are a Christian.

Today, we see that not everyone that calls him Lord, Lord, will enter into heaven. Today, it doesn't matter if with your mouth you call Him Lord, what does you life say? We cannot say with our lips that His is our Lord, if we deny Him with our lives. Today, do you call Him your Lord? Today, does you life match what your lips say?