Where Are You

Acts 3:1-8 NRSV

“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

Too often we find ourselves like the man lame from birth-Being in the Wrong Place, Looking to the Wrong People, Asking for the Wrong Thing. 

He was outside the gate begging, he couldn’t get inside because he was disabled. Sometimes we are outside of communion with God disabled only by our sin issues, yet our healing is in communication with God.

The people that took him there probably should have taken him to the early one service where there were more people as the second service had less people, and at least he had twice the chance to beg.Some people can mess us up as they don’t have our best interest at heart, or they want to keep us caught in our mess. 

Too often we are asking God for one thing, and he has more, and he has to get our attention. So we want to be in communion with him, (in the right place), looking to him only, and asking and being ready to receive from him. more later.

Make a Stand

Matthew 16:13-19 NRSV

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The church has power and authority to stand against anything not of God. The church on earth carries out heaven’s decisions; not heaven consenting to earth’s decisions. Can you see how messed up we would be if we controlled heaven? What is forbidden on earth is already forbidden in heaven. What is permitted on earth is already permitted in heaven. We have power and authority, but we must speak up, as Peter. We must know what we believe. We must stand with that power and on that authority from God. We can make a difference. We will make a difference.

That’s Where We Live

Psalm 91:1&2,15 NRSV

“You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” 

“When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.”

We must recognize where we live- in the shelter of the Most High. Some people misuse this psalm. They leave it open on a table in the bedroom, put it under a guest chair, placing it open in the car, one guy even had it in his right shoe. (I’ve seen some things) but the Lord told me “No, that means nothing. Hold in your heart what the words mean. I am your shelter, I am your keeper.”

We must know that he is our shelter, and then to know to come on in the house. To be sheltered from the storms of life as they will happen. To have peace in the. midst, knowing we are safe in God’s protection.

When we were young my mother would take my sister and me downtown in the summer. As we waited on the bus the hot sun would beat down unmercifully. But I found refuge in Momma’s shadow.  Can you even imagine being in God’s shadow? My my.

In the shelter, safe in the shadow- but there’s more. When we call on him, he will answer. That’s it right there. We are never alone in any situation. Even when we can’t think it out- he has us. That’s where we live! more later

Take a Different Route

Matthew 2:12 NRSV

“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.”

Just like the Magi every time we seek Jesus in prayer, giving ourselves, we find him and we are changed. So we do not return the same way we came. We take a different path back, a different way of handling what we must handle. We have a new perspective on old things. We are changed each time. Many times the change is in the release, release of doubt, fear, unforgiveness. Releasing those right there renews us for our journey. The Magi trusted God and returned a different way. It’s the trust that makes the difference. Happy New Year! more later.

What did Mary Ponder

Luke 1:28 “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”

This is the time for us to go back and read Luke 2. Start at the annunciation in Luke 1:28. I have always wondered what did Mary ponder. When you read, you can see that she trusted God’s word. She was favored, but for us we look at favor as all good things working for us. No, All things work together for the good   For those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. 

Mary was called, she accepted and trusted God’s word, she submitted to God’s will, and she believed that with God nothing is impossible. And there in Bethlehem, the house of bread, she gave birth to the bread of life.there in Bethlehem, the place where the sacrificial lambs were cared for- for the temple sacrifices, the ultimate sacrificial lamb was born. She gazed into the face of her precious baby and herSavior. All because she trusted, submitted, believed. And we must followed that- to trust God, submit to his will, Believe that with him birthing is impossible. Merry Christmas! 

Surely

Isaiah 53:4-6 NiV

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, 

smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; 

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, 

and by his wounds we are healed.”

Go back and reread this. See the power between the affirmation and the end. Surely is an adverb which modifies verbs. Infirmities - our pain. Sorrows - our suffering. He took up our pain and carried our suffering. 

He was wounded for our transgressions - violations of law, command, sins. He was crushed for our iniquities - gross injustices or wickedness, violations of a right or duty, sins. 

In the “Lion, Witch, Wardrobe,” the white witch (the personification of Satan) demanded hardheaded Edward’s life, the one she had enticed to follow her. Aslan the lion (personification of Jesus) said, “No, I will go.” He volunteered to take the Edward’s place in dying. That was all the white witch wanted, as she was forever trying to set Aslan up, and she had finally succeeded (or so she thought). Edward was no longer important to her. 

Aslan allowed himself to be bound, sacrificed, and placed on the altar to die. Ahhh but . . . love. 

The very thing that allowed Aslan to be sacrificed was the thing that kept him. The one thing the white witch could not understand was love. And so the ropes that had bound Aslan were broken. Love, the one thing that Satan just cannot understand. Love. 

Hear the verbs in Isaiah, Carried, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed. Jesus did that for our nouns, our sins. They are all past tense, it’s already done. We are already released from things that bind us because of God’s love for us. 

We have hope today because of the verbs between the affirmation and the end

Surely . . . We are healed. And we celebrate his birth because of God’s love for us. enough for now

Hope

Matthew 3:3 NRSV

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” 

We are to prepare the way of the Lord. It is a call for repentance. That word ‘prepare’ is an aorist active imperative in Greek. It’s a command to the hearer, the reader “You prepare and keep on preparing.”  At that time they prepared for royalty by fixing the roads, so the original hearer would have understood this. This is more than just receiving Jesus. We repair the broken places in our hearts to receive him. We repair and keep on repairing. We remove the clutter of negativity, we keep it out through our constant communication. 

The path is made straight because of our vertical connection. When everything is coming at us (and it will) we call out to him and hold on. There are times that even when we can’t hold on-we know that he has us. 

This is the first Sunday of Advent- we have hope in him. He is who we look to. Enjoy this day in him. more later.