Sixth Sunday after Epiphany: Friday, February 17, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Psalm 32:22-33:17

It is God that is worthy of all of our praise, and God is the one that we should rely upon. This text today says that no king is saved by the size of their army, but by the God. Only in God do we find our safety and contentment. We can worry about work, we can try to take everything into our own hands, but only in God do we rest easy. We rely upon doctors and nurses, but only God bring healing. All of the goodness in life comes from God; all of our protection comes from God. He is looking out for His children and will be in the midst of whatever happens and will bring out some good out of everything. I know those words are hard to believe in the midst struggles and trials, but God will bring good out of whatever we go through, and He is worth of our praise.

New Testament Lesson

1 John 3:1-10

How great is the love of God that we should be called the sons and the daughters of God. How great a love have we received! How worthy of God of our praise that He calls us His children! And if we are His children, we should not keep living like we did when were not. We should not keep sinning, we should not keep living like the world, but we should live like God would expect His children to live. What do you expect out of your children? Why do we think God would expect any less out of you and me? We are blessed to be called the children of God; let us live in the same manner.

Gospel Lesson

John 10:31-42

If we read the Gospels, Jesus was never really all that popular. His disciples liked and followed Him, but it seems like they never fully understood Him until after the Resurrection. And, He always faced opposition from the religious leaders of the day. Jesus doesn't always bring peace. Quite often He brings division, for we have to decide whose side we are on. Are we on His side, or are we on the side of the world. Jesus said Himself in one of the Gospels; He didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. We have decided if we are fully committed to Him, and that full commitment is the only way to life. Are we fully committed? Or do we just want enough Jesus to keep us out of hell? He demands that full obedience, and in doing that, we will face opposition from the world, and then the question is, whose side are we on?

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany: Thursday, February 16, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Genesis 32:3-21

Jacob today follows in the footsteps of his grandfather Abraham. God told Abraham to go to a land that He would show him, and he did. Today, Jacob does something to me that is even more brave, and takes more faith. God told him to go back to the land, and he would meet Esau. Now, he had done Esau wrong several times, and had stolen his blessing and birthright from him. Esau had every reason to kill Jacob. Jacob knew this; and he went any way. It is one thing to step out on faith, not knowing what the result would be, but not necessarily fearing danger. Today, Jacob stepped out on faith, and he feared that he and his family may have been killed. Why did he do this Because God told him to. So, he stepped out on faith. That takes faith. He trusted God more than he was afraid. Today, what is greater? Our fear or our faith? Out Faith must be bigger, because we have faith in a great God. Today, may your faith out weight your fear.

New Testament Lesson

1 John 2:18-29

Today John writes about antichrists, those that work against the spirit of Christ. There are false shepherds, there are those that will seek to lead God's sheep astray. That is why it is so important for us to know the voice of God so that we can follow when He speaks. A sheep will not follow any voice but the true shepherds. So should it be for us. So many voices try to crowd in, voices of sin, voices of pride, voices of power. We must learn to listen for the true shepherd. For their will be what John calls today antichrists that will try to lead God's people astray with false teaching. Can you distinguish between what is of God and what is not? Do you know the bible well enough to tell? We must take time to listen to God through scripture, through prayer, through the means of grace that we can distinguish between the true shepherd and these false ones. There are false shepherds seeking to destroy God's people. Make sure you know His voice so you will not be lead astray.

Gospel Lesson

John 10:19-30

Just like yesterday, the texts all fit so well together. The reason why Jacob stepped out on faith was that he knew the voice of the good shepherd. In 1 John, Johns warns the people to be on the look out for those antichrists that would come and listen for God's voice. Today, Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd. So, for us to listen, for us to know the good shepherd, we must know Jesus. In Him, we have now, and in the age to come. Are you walking daily with Him? Are you spending time seeking to meet Him through the power of the Holy Spirit in prayer, in the Word, through service to others, through devotion to God? Are you listening for the voice of our Shepherd? He calls His sheep. Are you listening?

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany: Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Genesis 31:15-50

Jacob decided to run from Laban in this text. And actually, for once, Jacob didn't really do anything wrong. Rachel had stolen the possessions from her father, and Jacob knew nothing about it. Jacob decided today to leave to separate his family from Laban, who had caused them much pain. Sometimes as Christians, we have to make pains to separate ourselves from those that could harm us, our family, or our faith. We have to keep the main the the main thing, and and if there are things that keep us from being faithful to what is most important, we must be on the lookout for them. And if their are things that can bring harm to our family or our faith, we must willing to get rid of it, no matter how hard. Jacob left today ton ensure his family a fresh start from under Laban. Under Laban, they had food and safety, but they were not free. God desires that we be free from whatever enslaves us. Today, Jacob made that decision of freedom through obedience to God. We must make that same choice.

New Testament Lesson

1 John 2:12-17

We see this same thought echoed in this text as well; we must stay true to our love of God. Today, John says that we must not love the world, for it will pass away. Sometimes as Christians, we try to live too much like the world. It is easy with all that we see on TV, hear on the radio, read on the Internet. We must be different. We must live different than the world. If their is no different between they way we live and the way that the world lives, that is a problem. We must live for God, in all that we do. We must not be captive to the world and it's desires. The world will pass away, but God will not, nor will His children.

Gospel Lesson

John 10:1-18

These passages all fit so well together. We see here in John that is the good shepherd that will actually give life. The thief will rob, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life, life now, and life in the age to come. Where to do we find our life today? Is it in our bank account? Car? Job? Power? Lust? Where? If it is anywhere other than Jesus, then we are in trouble and are setting ourselves up for a fall. This world and this culture will not give us life; they will destroy us. Only in God is there life. Where is your life found today? Is it in Jesus? If not, then we need to examine how we are living.

What I should have got for Valentine's Day

If only my wife read my blog, I would have gotten each of these on this day of love.

The Work of Ministry

One of the things I've learned in my few (7) years of serving as a pastor is that your focus is so important. We've had a lot going one at church recently, business meetings, Valentine's Banquets for our adults and children, and lots of sickness. And in these times of business, it is easy to lose track of what is the better thing. You remember Mary and Martha from the Gospels. Martha was so busy doing good things that she neglected to spend time with Jesus who was right there with her. Mary wasn't doing as much, but she spent that time with her Lord, and He told them that was the better thing.

So often in ministry we neglect the better thing. We get busy doing and going, working and preaching, that we can forget what really matters. It is relationships that matter. First with the Triune God, and then with God’s people. We can get so focused on forms and meetings, so focused on programs that we forget the people that the programs should reach. I'm blogging later today that I normally do because I had a friendly breakfast with a church member. I thought about maybe canceling to get some work done, but then I remember that was work. It was the work of ministry. That is what I cannot and we cannot forget. What is the real work of ministry.

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany: Monday, February 13, 2006

Sorry, one last day of a short devotional, and then things should return to normal tomorrow. Sorry about no devotional last Friday, I was on the road.

John 9:1-17

Two things of great, great importance in this text. This is one of the best stories in all the bible. First, the disciples ask Jesus who was to blame for this man's blindness, was it his sin or his parents? Jesus says neither, rather it was so God's glory could be seen. When something bad happens it us, it does not always mean that God judging us. Sometimes we do things that have consequences, but sometimes, bad things just happened for no real reason, other so that God's glory can be sin. Our sin does not always cause these things to happen. This man in the text was not blind because of his sin, or the sin of his parents. God is not up in heaven, with lighting bolt in hand, waiting to get us. He is a loving father that longs to know his children better, and will discipline them if they need it, but he is not looking to get us. How many of us as parents are looking for a reason to punish our children? We do when they need it, but we do go around, looking for trivial things to punish them about. Neither does our Heavenly Father. He will punish when we need, but this man's blindness was not a punishment for sin, and neither are our tragedies in our lives.

Secondly, Jesus used spit and dirt to heal his blindness. As Max Lucado says, if God can use spit and dirt, he can use me to. And He can use you, as well. Will you let him use you today in your lives? He used spit and dirt. He can use us as well.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Thursday, February 9, 2006

One more day of a short blogging. I went to the Kemper County Prayer Breakfast this morning and heard some speakers from the Meridian Naval Airbase. It was a pleasure to hear these men, and we should daily keep our service men and women in our prayers.

John 8:21-32

Jesus said that if you hold to my teachings, we are His disciples. We can't separate obedience to him from love of him. Our love is seen in how we obey Him. Notice in the text, the folks he was talking to never fully understood what he was saying. Jesus would say something, and you can almost see them looking at him and going "huh?" They were listening, but they weren't really. They weren't being led by the spirit. We can read the Bible all day long, but if the spirit is not leading, it will not sink in. We can read every devotional under the sun, but if the spirit is not leading, then we aren't doing much. We can do all these things, but if the spirit is not leading, then not much will be accomplished. They heard Jesus, but they weren't listening to the spirit. Is God speaking to us today? Are we listening? Are we listening with the Spirit? God will speak to us today. Will we take the time to listen to Him today. It is not that He is not speaking, it is that we don't always listen. They heard Jesus speak today, but they did not listen through the Spirit. May we not make the same mistake.