Stand Boldly

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Giving Bold Testimony

The Spirit Is Not for Sale

Acts 13:52-14:3  The Message

^50-52 Some of the Jews convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that their precious way of life was about to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas and forced them to leave. Paul and Barnabas shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.

14 ^1-3 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews—and not just a few, either. But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street. The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God’s gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.

For Reflection 

One can not have a meaningful conversation with one who has a closed mind.  It is better to leave the conversation for later.  Forcing the discussion always results in polarized reinforcement of previously held interpretations, attitudes behaviors and values.  Expect that the counter culture Good News is not good news to all.

Pray

for those who turn a deaf ear to the Gospel.  Pray that those who welcome the Good News grow in grace from hearing it.  Pray for those who share the Gospel in ways that invite the Holy Spirit into the lives of those who hear it.

Stand Firm

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Giving Bold Testimony

The Spirit Is Not for Sale

Ephesians 6:14-18  The Message

^13-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

For Reflection 

The lie of false prophets has the ring of truth to the uninformed. It is a mixture of credible references to "common understandings" and isolated scriptural passages.  The lies prey on fear and are powerful to those who have little trust in the Lord.  The false prophets distort the meanings of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation so that their own agenda is justified. God's word is weapon in the hands of those who pervert the faith.

What can you gather to prepare yourself for testifying to the authentic Jesus?  Read. Seek authentic scriptural understandings of God and God's intentions as exemplified in the life of Jesus and the only necessary commandment, the eleventh one -- do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Test all interpretations by the rule of love.  Invest in the fellowship of informed brothers and sisters in Christ.  Pray.  Pray long and hard.  Be prepared to be the odd one out on the side of compassion, justice and forgiveness.  Be humble.  False prophets rely on fear.  Authentic prophets rely on God's love.

Pray

that you will find the time to read and discuss the life of Christ.  Pray that you will find peace in the fellowship of believers in the truth as expressed in the love exhibited by Christ.  Pray that you will have the courage to bear witness to the life lived in the hollow of God's hand and uncover the folly of self-righteousness.

Be Content

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Giving Bold Testimony

The Spirit Is Not for Sale

Hebrews 13:5-12  The Message

^5-6 Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote,

God is there, ready to help;
I’m fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?

^7-8 Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instruct you, as well as their truthfulness. There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.

⁹ Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.

^10-12 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot. In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood is then brought inside to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. It’s the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates—that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God’s altar to cleanse his people.

 

For Reflection

 This has been called the age of consumerism.  We are seduced into thinking that life is about acquiring things.  Thus, we are venerable to appeals to satisfy every want and live in fear of loosing all we possess.  Many are seduced by the false prophets who attempt to manipulate the power of the Holy Spirit in perverted messages of hate cloaked in the robes of Christ.  They speak in the language of war not love.  They worship power not humility.  They create only chaos.

"The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life."

Pray

for those whose fears are impediments to the realization of life in the Kingdom of God.  Pray for those who confuse power with servitude.  Pray for those men and women of God who follow the path of Jesus to serve in humility. Pray that those who minister in Christ's name do so in truth and in abiding love.

Remembering God's Faithfulness

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Acts 6:7-15  The Message

⁷ The Word of God prospered. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased dramatically. Not least, a great many priests submitted themselves to the faith.

^8-10 Stephen, brimming with God’s grace and energy, was doing wonderful things among the people, unmistakable signs that God was among them. But then some men from the meeting place whose membership was made up of freed slaves, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and some others from Cilicia and Asia, went up against him trying to argue him down. But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when he spoke.

¹¹ So in secret they bribed men to lie: “We heard him cursing Moses and God.”
^12-14 That stirred up the people, the religious leaders, and religion scholars. They grabbed Stephen and took him before the High Council. They put forward their bribed witnesses to testify: “This man talks nonstop against this Holy Place and God’s Law. We even heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth would tear this place down and throw out all the customs Moses gave us.”

¹⁵ As all those who sat on the High Council looked at Stephen, they found they couldn’t take their eyes off him—his face was like the face of an angel!

 

For Reflection 

God has survived all of the perversions that humans have made of God's love, justice and peace.  Most of those perversions have been a result of fear and an inability to trust in God's promises as told by true believers and prophets.  Many of those who rise against God fear the loss of personal power or perhaps economic gain.  Many cannot trust God to work out major issues and feel the need to save themselves only to fall in the folly of their plans.  God worshipers threaten the conventional wisdom and the common ways of doing things.  God worshipers have no fear because fear has been replaced by the radical trust in God to make all things right.

Pray

Praise God for God's faithfulness to human kind and including all people in God's plan for salvation.  Pray for strength, patience and love in promises kept and for forgiveness in promises not kept. 

Remembering God's Will

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

1 Thessalonians 5:16-27  The Message

^16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
^19-22 Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.
^23-24 May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!

^25-27 Friends, keep up your prayers for us. Greet all the followers of Jesus there with a holy embrace. And make sure this letter gets read to all the brothers and sisters. Don’t leave anyone out.

For Reflection 

How will you know God's will?  Pray often.  God will lead the way.  Keep your eyes and hearts open for the opportunities God lays before you.  Test your action by the Golden Rule and act always out of love, kindness and forgiveness.  Disregard your tendency to be selfish.  Displace evil with good.

Pray

for the wisdom to follow the example of Jesus Christ.  Pray for the courage to live apart from the common place demands of this world.  Pray, study the scriptures with Christ's eyes and heart.

Remembering God's Grace

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

1 Corinthians 1:1-9  The Message

1 ^1-2 I, Paul, have been called and sent by Jesus, the Messiah, according to God’s plan, along with my friend Sosthenes. I send this letter to you in God’s church at Corinth, believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life. I include in my greeting all who call out to Jesus, wherever they live. He’s their Master as well as ours!

³ May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours.
^4-6 Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There’s no end to what has happened in you—it’s beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.

^7-9 Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.

For Reflection

 What a wonderful thing it is to be loved by God and to have God's steadfast companionship.  Sharing Jesus, God confirms and extends Gods promise of intimate access to God's abiding love and grace.  God wipes out fear.  God brushes us with love.  God is worthy of one's radical trust!

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving for the living God, Jesus Christ.  Pray that you will practice your faith with confidence in the reconciliation of the world to God.  Pray that you will not only worship Jesus, but also, follow, walking in His footsteps.

Remembering God's Word

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Psalm 119:89-96  The Message

^89-96 What you say goes, God,
    and stays, as permanent as the heavens.
Your truth never goes out of fashion;
    it’s as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up.
Your Word and truth are dependable as ever;
    that’s what you ordered—you set the earth going.
If your revelation hadn’t delighted me so,
    I would have given up when the hard times came.
But I’ll never forget the advice you gave me;
    you saved my life with those wise words.
Save me! I’m all yours.
    I look high and low for your words of wisdom.
The wicked lie in ambush to destroy me,
    but I’m only concerned with your plans for me.
I see the limits to everything human,
    but the horizons can’t contain your commands!

For Reflection 

Think of the words that come to you in the Scriptures.  Think of the words that Jesus spoke.  Think of the words of the Apostles.  Think of the words of those who abide in the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit.  What truths have you heard?  What revelations have you understood.  What words have made a difference in your life?

Pray

for the wisdom in the words of God and God's people.  Pray that your words will carry the truths of God's will for human kind.

Remembering God's Love

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Psalm 31:19-24  The Message

^19-22 What a stack of blessing you have piled up
    for those who worship you,
Ready and waiting for all who run to you
    to escape an unkind world.
You hide them safely away
    from the opposition.
As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces,
    you silence the poisonous gossip.
Blessed God!
    His love is the wonder of the world.
Trapped by a siege, I panicked.
    “Out of sight, out of mind,” I said.
But you heard me say it,
    you heard and listened.

²³ Love God, all you saints;
    God takes care of all who stay close to him,
But he pays back in full
    those arrogant enough to go it alone.

²⁴ Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up.
    Expect God to get here soon.

 

For Reflection 

Do you have the radical trust that God will, no matter what, protect you?  Do you believe, have faith in and trust that God's love will protect you.  Do you have the trust in God that will override your compelling fear that that makes you think you can go it alone?  How much trust does it take to wait on the Lord?

Pray

that your faith is filled with radical trust.  Pray that faith, the noun morphs into trust, a verb.  Pray that you will have the courage and patience to wait on the Lord.

Prevailing Truth

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Acts 4:5-12  The Message

^5-7 The next day a meeting was called in Jerusalem. The rulers, religious leaders, religion scholars, Annas the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander—everybody who was anybody was there. They stood Peter and John in the middle of the room and grilled them: “Who put you in charge here? What business do you have doing this?”

^8-12 With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: “Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I’ll be completely frank with you—we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of his name this man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is ‘the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.”

 

For Reflection 

Who accuses you for preforming righteous deeds?  By what authority do you speak for justice, forgiveness and peace?    Who feeds the poor?  Who comforts the downtrodden?  Who heals the sick?  Who creates a loving community.  Who? 

 

Where government fails can the Spirit succeed?  Can you join the angel armies and render to God the life God gives to you?  Can you act by the authority of Jesus Christ?  You have the authority, but do you have the will to exercise Christian hospitality in an increasingly inhospitable world?

Pray

that Christians everywhere use the authority of God to do unto others as they would have others do unto them.  Pray that Christians will find in a radical trust in God and Jesus Christ to abandon common convention to make this world more just.  Pray that those who today are fleeing unjust, tyrannical, selfish, evil societies will find hospitable places of sanctuary. 

Trustworthy and Truthful

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Revelation 22:1-7   The Message

22 ^1-5 Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they’ll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.

Don’t Put It Away on the Shelf

^6-7 The Angel said to me, “These are dependable and accurate words, every one. The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them, ‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

 

For Reflection
How beautiful is the future in the Kingdom of God.  Lead by the servants of God, nations are healed, nothing is cursed, darkness is defeated and the fruit of the servants will endure age after age.  We who fear God are the servants commissioned to bring to realization the Kingdom of God.   We, through living creative lives, following Jesus, are charged to keep the word of the prophecy.

Pray

that you will lead others to the realization of God's promise.  Pray that you will lead a life of witness to the Resurrection.

The Power of Truth

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Luke 4:14-21  The Message

To Set the Burdened Free

^14-15 Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone’s acclaim and pleasure.

^16-21 He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God’s Spirit is on me;
    he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
    recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
    to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”

For Reflection 

The good news is not just about the after life.  In my opinion it is hardly that!  The good news is about the here and now.  The good news is about escaping the grasp of our common cultures.  The good news is about freedom.  The good news is about your life and mine lived in radical trust of God's promise.

Pray

that you will find in the scriptures the desire to live the life God has intended for you.  Pray that you will have the wisdom to recognize the difference between the common understanding of justice peace and forgiveness and God's sense of justice, peace and forgiveness. 

Avoid Foolishness; Live Truthfully

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

2 Timothy 2:4-18 The Message

Doing Your Best for God

2 ^1-7 So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!—to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.

^8-13 Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It’s what you’ve heard from me all along. It’s what I’m sitting in jail for right now—but God’s Word isn’t in jail! That’s why I stick it out here—so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. This is a sure thing:

If we die with him, we’ll live with him;
If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him;
If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us;
If we give up on him, he does not give up—
    for there’s no way he can be false to himself.

^14-18 Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples, throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with.

2 Timothy 2:22-26

^22-26 Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.

For Reflection

 Maybe it's time in our churches that we revive a serious study of the life of Christ.  Much is assumed about Christ and how to live a Christian life.  So many who attract public attention for their Christian life are unwittingly un-Christian. To know Christ is to know God.  To know God is to know how to love.  To know divine love is to know how to live a righteous life.

Pray

Pray for those who live a righteous life.  Pray for those who suffer the injustices of our time.  Pray that you will work on their behalf seeking justice, peace and forgiveness. 

The Life of Truth

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Witnessing to the Truth

Proverbs 14:22-29The Message (MSG)

²² Isn’t it obvious that conspirators lose out,
    while the thoughtful win love and trust?

²³ Hard work always pays off;
    mere talk puts no bread on the table.

²⁴ The wise accumulate wisdom;
    fools get stupider by the day.

²⁵ Souls are saved by truthful witness
    and betrayed by the spread of lies.

²⁶ The Fear-of-God builds up confidence,
    and makes a world safe for your children.

²⁷ The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water
    so you won’t go off drinking from poisoned wells.

²⁸ The mark of a good leader is loyal followers;
    leadership is nothing without a following.

²⁹ Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding;
    a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.

 

For Reflection 

^1-6 These are the wise sayings of Solomon,
    David’s son, Israel’s king—
Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right,
    to understand what life means and where it’s going;
A manual for living,
    for learning what’s right and just and fair;
To teach the inexperienced the ropes
    and give our young people a grasp on reality.
There’s something here also for seasoned men and women,
    still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—
Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
    the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.

We spend much time and energy on the minutia or our religion, its dogma, rituals and confessions that sometimes we forget the poetry of practice. 

Pray

to live the poetry of the resurrection.

Sharing Our Abundance

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Sharing All Things

Luke 3:10-17   The Message

¹⁰ The crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?”
¹¹ “If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”
¹² Tax men also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”
¹³ He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”
¹⁴ Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations.”
¹⁵ The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, “Could this John be the Messiah?”

^16-17 But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

For Reflection 

"I'm not giving him anything !  He dosen't deserve anything Let him earn his own!"  Yeah, well, none of us deserve God' blessings and grace.  And yet, God provides them freely.

How do we act in a Christian community?  Poverty is the lack of equitable distribution of financial resources to the extent that people suffer.  Injustice is the lack of equitable distribution of fairness that favors some at the expense of others. It seems to me that a loving community would be one where there is an equitable distribution of those monies, goods and services that meet the essential needs of each in the community.  Sure, some will have more than than others, but, none in God's Kingdom will suffer hunger or no sense of place or well being.

They called Jesus crazy.  Why can't we all share in Christ's insanity?

Pray

that the poor, the downtrodden, the trivialized, the disenfranchised, the disadvantaged, the outsiders, the sick, the weary, and the hopeless find hope, a place in a loving community and extravagant hospitality in the arms of the rejected stone, the one who is empowered with insane love the one crazy with compassion, the one above all others, the lamb of God.

Sharing Troubles

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Sharing All Things

Philippians 4:14  The Message

Content Whatever the Circumstances

^10-14 I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

 

For Reflection 

Sometimes we don't need a "fixer."  some times we just need a empathetic one hundred and fifteen pound ear with no mouth.  Just ears and arms with which to comfort us.  God can be like that.  Talking troubles out sometimes helps us clarify things and discover pathways to over come them.  Sometimes all we can do is just wait.  God will help us find our way if we just listen for his will. Your prayers will be answered.  Maybe not as you would have expected.  Remember, "God's will be done."

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving and praise for the living God who abides in you.  Take everything, big and small to the Lord in prayer.

Sharing with All

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Sharing All Things

Isaiah 1:15-20  The Message

^13-17 “Quit your worship charades.
    I can’t stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
    meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
    You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,
    while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
    I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
    I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
    people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
    Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
    so I don’t have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
    Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
    Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
    Go to bat for the defenseless.

Let’s Argue This Out

^18-20 “Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.”
    This is God’s Message:
“If your sins are blood-red,
    they’ll be snow-white.
If they’re red like crimson,
    they’ll be like wool.
If you’ll willingly obey,
    you’ll feast like kings.
But if you’re willful and stubborn,
    you’ll die like dogs.”
That’s right. God says so. 

For Reflection 

We spend so much of our time in meetings and decision-making that sometimes I wonder if we worship religion rather than God.  What would happen if we spent half of that time doing good?  It's not that the stuff of religion isn't necessary,  it's just that it absorbs so much time and energy, and occasionally stirs up so much wasted emotional behavior.

Perhaps it is time for us to argue this out.  Perhaps we need to step back, wash up and clean up our act.  Perhaps it is time to stop talking and start walking, working for justice helping the down-and-out, standing for the homeless and the defenseless.

Pray

pray that the church will find its legs in the life of Christ.  Pray the church will act insanely Christian.

Living Blamelessly

The Christian Community Comes Alive
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Sharing All Things

Psalm 26  The Message

A David Psalm

26 Clear my name, God;
    I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
    I’m not budging.

²     Examine me, God, from head to foot,
    order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
    inside and out

³     So I never lose
    sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
    never missing a beat.

^4-5     I don’t hang out with tricksters,
    I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
    I don’t deal with double-dealers.

^6-7     I scrub my hands with purest soap,
    then join hands with the others in the great circle,
    dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
    telling God-stories.

^8-10     God, I love living with you;
    your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
    don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
    women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.

^11-12     You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
    now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
    I bless you every chance I get.

For Reflection 

David prays, "examine me...make sure I'm fit."  How would you hold up under God's examination?  Confess your love for God.

Pray

asking God to look deep into your soul.  Confess your weakness and dedicate your strength to the work of the Lord.  Pray that God will abide in you and you in God.

Rescuing the Weak

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Sharing All Things

Psalm 82  The Message

An Asaph Psalm

82 God calls the judges into his courtroom,
    he puts all the judges in the dock.

^2-4 “Enough! You’ve corrupted justice long enough,
    you’ve let the wicked get away with murder.
You’re here to defend the defenseless,
    to make sure that underdogs get a fair break;
Your job is to stand up for the powerless,
    and prosecute all those who exploit them.”

⁵ Ignorant judges! Head-in-the-sand judges!
    They haven’t a clue to what’s going on.
And now everything’s falling apart,
    the world’s coming unglued.

^6-7 “I commissioned you judges, each one of you,
    deputies of the High God,
But you’ve betrayed your commission
    and now you’re stripped of your rank, busted.”

⁸ O God, give them their just deserts!
    You’ve got the whole world in your hands!

 

For Reflection 

Judges were tribal leaders, responsible for keeping the Torah and resolving disputes.   Do we have our heads in the sand when we judge societal violations?  Do we, as Christians, apply God's mercy, compassion, justice and forgiveness to the judgment?

Judgment is a necessary part of living.  The trick is not to become judgmental.  The difficulty arises when God-sense judgment conflicts with commonsense justice.  Civil courts decide whether or not laws were violated and how punishment is to be delivered.  Civil courts do not always decide what is just.  Law makers do not always create laws that are just.  Only God judges justly.  How do you deal with disputes regarding justice?

Pray

for those who must seek justice.  Pray for those who defend the defenseless.  Pray for those who advocate for the powerless.  Pray for the common place judges who must find justice in an unjust world.

No Other Authority

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Praying for One Another

Acts 4:13-22 The Message

^13-14 They couldn’t take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. They recognized them as companions of Jesus, but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright—so healed!—what could they say against that?
^15-17 They sent them out of the room so they could work out a plan. They talked it over: “What can we do with these men? By now it’s known all over town that a miracle has occurred, and that they are behind it. There is no way we can refute that. But so that it doesn’t go any further, let’s silence them with threats so they won’t dare to use Jesus’ name ever again with anyone.”
^18-20 They called them back and warned them that they were on no account ever again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John spoke right back, “Whether it’s right in God’s eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. As for us, there’s no question—we can’t keep quiet about what we’ve seen and heard.”

^21-22 The religious leaders renewed their threats, but then released them. They couldn’t come up with a charge that would stick, that would keep them in jail. The people wouldn’t have stood for it—they were all praising God over what had happened. The man who had been miraculously healed was over forty years old.

 

For Reflection 

The common society can not stand up to the Kingdom of God.  As much as the common people try to undermine, distort, and persecute those who work for the Kingdom, they will not succeed -- not if believers live their faith.

Pray

for those who are persecuted for living their faith.  Pray for those who lack the courage and the foresight to accept obedience to the Holy Spirit which abides in them.  Pray for the courage to live in Jesus name.

No One Else

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Praying for One Another

Acts 4:1-12  The Message

Nothing to Hide

4 ^1-4 While Peter and John were addressing the people, the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and some Sadducees came up, indignant that these upstart apostles were instructing the people and proclaiming that the resurrection from the dead had taken place in Jesus. They arrested them and threw them in jail until morning, for by now it was late in the evening. But many of those who listened had already believed the Message—in round numbers about five thousand!

^5-7 The next day a meeting was called in Jerusalem. The rulers, religious leaders, religion scholars, Annas the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander—everybody who was anybody was there. They stood Peter and John in the middle of the room and grilled them: “Who put you in charge here? What business do you have doing this?”

^8-12 With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: “Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I’ll be completely frank with you—we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of his name this man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is ‘the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.” 

For Reflection
Everybody who was anybody was there.  These were the formal and informal guardians of the common culture.

Why were they so threatened?  Peter's answer tells us why.  These "Jesus people" were living their new belief.

Who cares whom or how one worships?  Everybody cares how one lives out one's life!

Jesus, the discarded stone, is the flag of salvation.  Christ is the sign of the defeat of common sense.  Jesus is the symbol of God-sense, lived in the lives of the followers of  Christ.  When do you deny commonsense and follow God-sense?

Pray

Pray for those who follow God-sense.  Pray for the courage to deny the common sense of culture and follow the good sense of God-sense.

Greater Things through Prayer

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Praying for One Another

John 14:11-14  The Message

^11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do. 

 

For Reflection 

Consubstantial!  I like that term.  It means virtually the same.  God and Jesus are consubstantial; and now, in resurrection, literally so.  If one prays to God one prays to Christ.  If one prays to Christ one prays to God.

 

Christ has commissioned us to do His work.  As we pursue His work, Christ will answer any request we have that helps us realize the Kingdom of God.

Pray

that you will live for the advancement of God's Kingdom here and now.  Pray to Jesus for strength, courage and perseverance.  Pray to Christ for guidance, and for help as you seek to make the world more forgiving, compassionate, peaceful and just.

Open-hearted Life

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth

Praying for One Another

2 Corinthians 6:1-13  The Message

Staying at Our Post

6 ^1-10 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us,

I heard your call in the nick of time;
The day you needed me, I was there to help.

Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

^11-13 Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
 

For Reflection 

This is the promise of God.  In the early church, the focus was on living the life that Christ taught.  What attracted people was not an alternative belief, but rather, an alternative life style, a life style rooted in building and sustaining a loving community. It was a community so subversive that it threatened the established common power.  Christians were persecuted and murdered not because of their faith but because of the way they lived.

Pray

for those who live the way of the Lord.  Pray that you will have the courage to live in God's counter-culture.