You Have Been Born Anew

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

1 Peter 1:22-2:3

The Message

^22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,

The old life is a grass life,
    its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
    God’s Word goes on and on forever.

This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.

2 ^1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.

 
For Reflection

Each decision to follow God is a moment of rebirth.  It is a moment of baptism, a moment of communion with the Holy Spirit.  It is a moment of life anew lived in the hollow of God's hand, a life eternal, a life of stewardship in the Kingdom of God.

 

Pray

that you will follow the truth.  Pray that you will love one another.  Pray so that your new life never regresses into your old life.  Live a God-centered life so that humankind evolves into the Kingdom of God.

You Shall Be Holy

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

1 Peter 1:13-21

The Message

A Future in God

^13-16 So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”

¹⁷ You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.
^18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.

 
For Reflection

Jesus arrives when you get that nagging feeling that something is missing.  Jesus arrives when you decide to do something that you did not ever expect you would do.  Jesus arrives when you comfort the troubled.  Jesus arrives when you help the helpless. Jesus arrives when you give hope to the hopeless.  In short Jesus arrives when you, who are God-centered live the life God intended for all humankind, warts and all. 

 

Pray

that you will travel life's often times rocky road with a deep consciousness of God.  Pray that Christ's sacrifice was not in vain and that you, by living your common life, will bring uncommon  good news of salvation to all with whom you interact.

Take Courage

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

Psalm 27:7-14

The Message

^7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
    “Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
    my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
    Don’t hide from me now!

^9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
    don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
    you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
    but God took me in.

^11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
    direct me along a well-lighted street;
    show my enemies whose side you’re on.
Don’t throw me to the dogs,
    those liars who are out to get me,
    filling the air with their threats.

^13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
    in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
    Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
    Stay with God.

 
For Reflection

Stay with God.  Stay with God. Stay with God. 
Hold fast to God. Hold fast to God.  Hold fast to God.
Hope in God. Hope in God. Hope in God.
Have confidence in God. Have confidence in God. Have confidence in God.
Trust God. Trust God. Trust God.
Fear nothing,  Fear nothing. Fear nothing.

Be remembered for wearing the robe of the living God.

 

Pray

for the courage to serve and love God with all of your heart, your mind and your soul.  Pray for the the courage to love others as you love yourself.

The Fear of the Lord

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

Deuteronomy 6:17-25

The Message

^13-19 Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only. Don’t fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors, because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don’t provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth. Don’t push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place. Carefully keep the commands of God, your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you. Do what is right; do what is good in God’s sight so you’ll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors, throwing out your enemies left and right—exactly as God said.
^20-24 The next time your child asks you, “What do these requirements and regulations and rules that God, our God, has commanded mean?” tell your child, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and God powerfully intervened and got us out of that country. We stood there and watched as God delivered miracle-signs, great wonders, and evil-visitations on Egypt, on Pharaoh and his household. He pulled us out of there so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors. That’s why God commanded us to follow all these rules, so that we would live reverently before God, our God, as he gives us this good life, keeping us alive for a long time to come.
²⁵ “It will be a set-right and put-together life for us if we make sure that we do this entire commandment in the Presence of God, our God, just as he commanded us to do.”

 
For Reflection

Follow the rule of love so that you are a compassionate, seeker of what is just and true.  Judge your actions by a God-centered standard and ignore the seductions of self-indulgence.  This means that you will not become a prisoner to the common wisdom, enslaved by the culture in which you live.  This is the incarnation of salvation.

 

Pray

that you will follow the will of God.  Pray that you will have the wisdom to identify God-centered choices.  Pray that you will be obedient in service to the will of God.

The Blessings of Obedience

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

Leviticus 26:3-13

The Message

“If You Live by My Decrees . . .”

^3-5 “If you live by my decrees and obediently keep my commandments, I will send the rains in their seasons, the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. You will thresh until the grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting time; you’ll have more than enough to eat and will live safe and secure in your land.

^6-10 “I’ll make the country a place of peace—you’ll be able to go to sleep at night without fear; I’ll get rid of the wild beasts; I’ll eliminate war. You’ll chase out your enemies and defeat them: Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and do away with them. I’ll give you my full attention: I’ll make sure you prosper, make sure you grow in numbers, and keep my covenant with you in good working order. You’ll still be eating from last year’s harvest when you have to clean out the barns to make room for the new crops.
^11-13 “I’ll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won’t avoid or shun you; I’ll stroll through your streets. I’ll be your God; you’ll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely.

For Reflection

Yesterday's passages were a warning exclaiming. "Here's what will happen if you do not obey me."  Notice that God's action is triggered by human inaction on God's recommendations for an obedient fulfilling life.

Today, "Here is what will happen if you follow God's recommendations for a fulfilling life."  In both cases the cause for success or failure in following Gods will is a result of something we do.

Don't blame God.  God is not the original born loser.  In our failure to embrace God, we are the losers.

Pray

that you will walk the streets with God at your side.  Pray that you will live in God's neighborhood.  Pray that you will never forget to thank, praise, and worship the God of your salvation.

The Consequences of Disobedience

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

Leviticus 26:14-26

The Message

“But If You Refuse to Obey Me . . .”

^14-17 “But if you refuse to obey me and won’t observe my commandments, despising my decrees and holding my laws in contempt by your disobedience, making a shambles of my covenant, I’ll step in and pour on the trouble: debilitating disease, high fevers, blindness, your life leaking out bit by bit. You’ll plant seed but your enemies will eat the crops. I’ll turn my back on you and stand by while your enemies defeat you. People who hate you will govern you. You’ll run scared even when there’s no one chasing you.

^18-20 “And if none of this works in getting your attention, I’ll discipline you seven times over for your sins. I’ll break your strong pride: I’ll make the skies above you like a sheet of tin and the ground under you like cast iron. No matter how hard you work, nothing will come of it: No crops out of the ground, no fruit off the trees.
^21-22 “If you defy me and refuse to listen, your punishment will be seven times more than your sins: I’ll set wild animals on you; they’ll rob you of your children, kill your cattle, and decimate your numbers until you’ll think you are living in a ghost town.
^23-26 “And if even this doesn’t work and you refuse my discipline and continue your defiance, then it will be my turn to defy you. I, yes I, will punish you for your sins seven times over: I’ll let war loose on you, avenging your breaking of the covenant; when you huddle in your cities for protection, I’ll send a deadly epidemic on you and you’ll be helpless before your enemies; when I cut off your bread supply, ten women will bake bread in one oven and ration it out. You’ll eat, but barely—no one will get enough.

 
For Reflection

OUCH!   

Where do you draw the line in assigning your woes to the wrath of God?  If you are troubled by an angry God remember God's grace and unconditional forgiveness.  If you are sure that your undesirable circumstances are a sign of your disobedience, then, by all means, confess your sin and repent.  Change.  Become one who is transformed by the Holy Spirit into a life lived in the hollow of God's hand.  Adopt a life of righteousness.

 

Pray

that you will listen to the God whispers that guide your life.  Pray that all will follow the life that Christ has revealed to us.  Confess your short comings and turn to God. Pray that you will choose to live in the hands of a loving, forgiving God.

My Spirit Seeks You

The People of God Set Priorities
Hope and Confidence Come from God
Trust God's Promises

Isaiah 26:1-15

The Message

Stretch the Borders of Life

26 ^1-6 At that time, this song
    will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
    built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
    so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
    you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
    because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
    because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
    he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
    as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
    build their lives on the reclaimed land.

^7-10 The path of right-living people is level.
    The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger
    in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you’ve done
    are all we’ll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
    Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
    everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
    they don’t seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
    blind to the splendor of God.

^11-15 You hold your hand up high, God,
    but they don’t see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
    to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
    Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
    because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
O God, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,
    but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.
The dead don’t talk,
    ghosts don’t walk,
Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”
    and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
    The more life you give, the more glory you display,
    and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!

 
For Reflection

As a child of God you know the meaning of salvation.  You experience the transformed life.  You feel the presence of the Spirit.  You practice the will of God.  You are known by the Spirit that resides in you.  Praise be to the living God.

 

Pray

that all whom God seeks will find God.  Pray that those who are blind to the living Spirit will one day see and be transformed. Pray for the courage to practice the will of God.