We are reading the Gospel of Luke one chapter a week this year and the fourth Sunday we looked at fourth chapter. The second part is Jesus Inaugural sermon in his home town of Nazareth. There are some awesome moments in this story as well.
Last blog we looked at the temptations of Jesus and saw how scripture came to his rescue and helped him resist the wrong influences in his life and for the direction of his earthly ministry. This episode we are looking at his introduction to his wider ministry.
I love the part, that is often overlooked that says, he went to the synagogue as was his custom. He went to worship every week. If the Son of God, the co-creator of the universe, was in worship every week, shouldn't we? Imagine what he must of thought of the weekly message? WE need to see that we can worship and have a message that may not meet all of our needs spiritually at that moment. WE can't possibly expect that a twenty minute message will take care of all of our spiritual challenges and give us enthusiasm and energy and direction for the whole of the upcoming week. Yet we seem to put that kind of pressure on the pastor's message and judge it for what it might or might not give us. If Jesus can receive the message, we sure should.
But Jesus gets a turn to do so here in his hometown. He is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reading from Isaiah 61, we find he announces. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." He rolls up the scroll, hands it back and sits down. Every eye in the synagogue was upon him. He began to explain to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it." (CEB)
We have such a blessing here and so many points to ponder out of this message. It gives us the purpose Jesus had for his work, and when we look at what he said to us at the end of his ministry, that this would be our purpose too, to do this work, and even greater work, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can only say breathlessly, WOW!
So we should be helping people we know who may feel oppressed or trapped or blind to some resources or help. We are given the same purpose to proclaim, help, encourage one another, that God is doing great things among us. The connections we have with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and other acquaintances are ways we can speak and bring God's favor into their lives by our being filled with the Holy Spirit too. And the more we have the words of God inside of us, through our own commitment to study them, learn them, pray over them, meditate on them the easier it will be for us to pass God's message onto others who need a time of God's favor. When this seems overwhelming, simply pray, "God I invite you to help me with this." That prayer can be said over and over again.
As we read a chapter a week this year, may the Holy Spirit encourage us to see how we can be a fulfillment of God's grace and love into the lives of others. May we sense that we are supposed to have the same purpose Jesus had to bring good news to others. May we see the joy of knowing we have helped bless another because we were deeply touched by the Holy Spirit to be able to share it.
Blessings on each of you. Remember to read ch. 5 for this week, from a couple different translations if possible, and we will reflect on the call to be a disciple on Sunday coming up.
Pastor Jeff
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
Year with Luke Ch. 4
A year with Luke gives us such a powerful and dynamic look at Jesus and the work of the people who are now fully devoted followers of Jesus. Each chapter is filled with things we can learn, and copy, and share with others to make a difference in the lives of the people we know. This week we look at both the temptations of Jesus, driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and tested by the adversary, and his first sermon in his hometown synagogue, great stories to help us see what God is doing with us and for us.
The wilderness fasting for forty days is another example of how hard life is for Jesus, so we can see that God is with us in all situations and challenges. The Devil reaches out to him and suggests that he take care of his hunger, by turning all those little stones and rocks, into bread. That would take care of his hunger, and give him a way to begin to meet the needs of the world's hungry, just change rocks into bread. That doesn't seem that evil does it?
But Jesus reminds us, as much as we get carried away with the physical and immediate needs, the work of God is far more important. Jesus turns to the Scriptures, from the very part where God feeds the hungry Israelites in the desert, to remind us that we do not live by bread alone, but by the very word of God. God's purpose is more important, God's plan is more important, and God's resources and provisions for us are more important. Trusting God is the most important thing. We need to see that the Bible does have tools for us to resist making poor decisions and succumbing to temptations that come our way, even okay temptations. The more we know about what we need to do, the better our answers will be to stop the temptation from hurting us.
Next the Devil took Jesus to a place where he could see the whole of history, the kingdoms and powers of the world. If Jesus was going to make a positive influence on the world, getting to be in charge of all this would be a great step ahead. The Devil said it was his, and he would gladly hand it off to Jesus if he would bow down and worship him. Jesus knows that we are to only worship God. He knew the trouble the Israelites got into when they missed Moses and built the golden calf. Jesus knew how much trouble Solomon got into following the gods of his many wives and bringing destruction down on the nation of Israel, for his lack of purpose and focus on the One True God.
We need to stay focused on what God wants, to worship and give allegiance only to our Creator, anything less will bring destruction, and division, and criticism and frustration and a whole slew of other really bad things. We are encouraged by the answer to focus once again on God alone, for all things. Worship, committing ourselves to what God wants in every part of our lives takes work and constant application.
Finally, the Devil took him to the Temple and suggested he jump off, that quoting scripture could be done by the devil too, and the angels will rescue you, so you won't hit the stones at the bottom. Just think about the great entry into ministry that rescue will bring you. Instant stardom, and a following because of the rescue by the angels. Evening news lead story for sure. But Jesus responded, that we are not to put God to the test. That's a hard one, because we do all the time.
We ask God to save us from whatever trouble we are in now, with a promise to go to church, or to give money to the poor, or to pray more regularly. We want God to fix our trouble, we want to be the one who tells God what needs to be worked on. We are the ones who hope that those angels rescue us before our feet hit the rocks at the bottom of the jump off. We do test God and are often very disappointed that God doesn't work that way, and yet we keep trying as if we only have to do this often enough to get it to work right.
The Devil left Jesus for a while, waiting for another chance later, probably thinking about the garden of Gethsemane later on. Jesus returns to his home town to begin his ministry with a sermon in his home synagogue. To which he went to regularly. Imagine, Jesus went to church all the time, if he did, we sure should.
The story of his visit to Nazareth, will come up in my next blog, until then, blessings on you all.
Pastor Jeff (PS, you've help me pass the 2,000 views mark for my blog, thank you)
The wilderness fasting for forty days is another example of how hard life is for Jesus, so we can see that God is with us in all situations and challenges. The Devil reaches out to him and suggests that he take care of his hunger, by turning all those little stones and rocks, into bread. That would take care of his hunger, and give him a way to begin to meet the needs of the world's hungry, just change rocks into bread. That doesn't seem that evil does it?
But Jesus reminds us, as much as we get carried away with the physical and immediate needs, the work of God is far more important. Jesus turns to the Scriptures, from the very part where God feeds the hungry Israelites in the desert, to remind us that we do not live by bread alone, but by the very word of God. God's purpose is more important, God's plan is more important, and God's resources and provisions for us are more important. Trusting God is the most important thing. We need to see that the Bible does have tools for us to resist making poor decisions and succumbing to temptations that come our way, even okay temptations. The more we know about what we need to do, the better our answers will be to stop the temptation from hurting us.
Next the Devil took Jesus to a place where he could see the whole of history, the kingdoms and powers of the world. If Jesus was going to make a positive influence on the world, getting to be in charge of all this would be a great step ahead. The Devil said it was his, and he would gladly hand it off to Jesus if he would bow down and worship him. Jesus knows that we are to only worship God. He knew the trouble the Israelites got into when they missed Moses and built the golden calf. Jesus knew how much trouble Solomon got into following the gods of his many wives and bringing destruction down on the nation of Israel, for his lack of purpose and focus on the One True God.
We need to stay focused on what God wants, to worship and give allegiance only to our Creator, anything less will bring destruction, and division, and criticism and frustration and a whole slew of other really bad things. We are encouraged by the answer to focus once again on God alone, for all things. Worship, committing ourselves to what God wants in every part of our lives takes work and constant application.
Finally, the Devil took him to the Temple and suggested he jump off, that quoting scripture could be done by the devil too, and the angels will rescue you, so you won't hit the stones at the bottom. Just think about the great entry into ministry that rescue will bring you. Instant stardom, and a following because of the rescue by the angels. Evening news lead story for sure. But Jesus responded, that we are not to put God to the test. That's a hard one, because we do all the time.
We ask God to save us from whatever trouble we are in now, with a promise to go to church, or to give money to the poor, or to pray more regularly. We want God to fix our trouble, we want to be the one who tells God what needs to be worked on. We are the ones who hope that those angels rescue us before our feet hit the rocks at the bottom of the jump off. We do test God and are often very disappointed that God doesn't work that way, and yet we keep trying as if we only have to do this often enough to get it to work right.
The Devil left Jesus for a while, waiting for another chance later, probably thinking about the garden of Gethsemane later on. Jesus returns to his home town to begin his ministry with a sermon in his home synagogue. To which he went to regularly. Imagine, Jesus went to church all the time, if he did, we sure should.
The story of his visit to Nazareth, will come up in my next blog, until then, blessings on you all.
Pastor Jeff (PS, you've help me pass the 2,000 views mark for my blog, thank you)
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
A Year with Luke chapter three
We have just read through chapter 3 of Luke in our year long chapter at a time challenge with the gospel and the acts of the apostles. Chapter three includes the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan.
There are some great moments in this story because it relates to a lot of what we go through now. We look around and hear the news, see magazines and TV reports that can be very discouraging, and wonder "is now the time for God to do something dramatic?" This is much like the time in John the Baptist's era, where the Israelites were really tired of the Roman rule and expected a dramatic rescue from a Messiah warrior king, like David had been a thousand years earlier. The expectations were very high for that kind of dramatic change in their world.
Could John the Baptist be him? Actually the introduction to John includes the reminder of Isaiah the prophet who announced that there was one who was to come to prepare the way for the Lord. That passage is pretty exciting in itself, because we all feel like we could use that kind of delivery.
"A voice crying out in the wilderness: "prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth. All humanity will see God's salvation." Isa 40:3-5 quoted in Luke 3: 4-6 CEB.
Imagine how relieved you might be to know that the valleys of depression, discouragement, uncertainty and darkness would be filled in, raised up, brought back to where it should be. And imagine that the mountains, the walls, the barriers that keep you from seeing what God is doing would be leveled so you could see clearly for the way forward. Imagine that the crooked, back and forth going here and there, would come to an end and the rough places, even the horrible pot holes that eat cars, would be smoothed over, and the way made straight and purposeful? What joy that could mean.
John was not going to make those changes from a political or military standpoint, and neither was the Messiah. The Christ was coming to restore our relationship to God. The announcement meant that we would have our valleys spiritually filled in, that those threatening mountains would be leveled, so we could move directly and smoothly toward God. That is what John was announcing would happen. And that approach to God would involve the baptism for forgiveness of sins, a sign that we had overcome the missing the target and plan God had for us, and so we could experience a complete and fulfilling connection to God.
John calls us to repent, not so much a religious word, but a directional word, to turn around, to leave the wrong path for the correct path. To go from missing your exit on the expressway, to turning to get you back on track. The GPS announces that at the next available place, turn around to get back to your destination. The invitation was to put us back in touch with God and the life God wanted for us. He offered suggestions to those who came, share your clothes, your food and do the right thing for each other. We are invited to repent, to get away from missing what was planned for us, and become the people God called us to be, so that all humanity would feel and see God's salvation, God's peace, God's redemption and healing. What a glorious opportunity this is.
Stay tuned for the rest of the lesson, Jesus comes to be baptized, not for his sin, but to collect our sins, so that he could truly remove them, so that by his wounds, we are healed.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
There are some great moments in this story because it relates to a lot of what we go through now. We look around and hear the news, see magazines and TV reports that can be very discouraging, and wonder "is now the time for God to do something dramatic?" This is much like the time in John the Baptist's era, where the Israelites were really tired of the Roman rule and expected a dramatic rescue from a Messiah warrior king, like David had been a thousand years earlier. The expectations were very high for that kind of dramatic change in their world.
Could John the Baptist be him? Actually the introduction to John includes the reminder of Isaiah the prophet who announced that there was one who was to come to prepare the way for the Lord. That passage is pretty exciting in itself, because we all feel like we could use that kind of delivery.
"A voice crying out in the wilderness: "prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth. All humanity will see God's salvation." Isa 40:3-5 quoted in Luke 3: 4-6 CEB.
Imagine how relieved you might be to know that the valleys of depression, discouragement, uncertainty and darkness would be filled in, raised up, brought back to where it should be. And imagine that the mountains, the walls, the barriers that keep you from seeing what God is doing would be leveled so you could see clearly for the way forward. Imagine that the crooked, back and forth going here and there, would come to an end and the rough places, even the horrible pot holes that eat cars, would be smoothed over, and the way made straight and purposeful? What joy that could mean.
John was not going to make those changes from a political or military standpoint, and neither was the Messiah. The Christ was coming to restore our relationship to God. The announcement meant that we would have our valleys spiritually filled in, that those threatening mountains would be leveled, so we could move directly and smoothly toward God. That is what John was announcing would happen. And that approach to God would involve the baptism for forgiveness of sins, a sign that we had overcome the missing the target and plan God had for us, and so we could experience a complete and fulfilling connection to God.
John calls us to repent, not so much a religious word, but a directional word, to turn around, to leave the wrong path for the correct path. To go from missing your exit on the expressway, to turning to get you back on track. The GPS announces that at the next available place, turn around to get back to your destination. The invitation was to put us back in touch with God and the life God wanted for us. He offered suggestions to those who came, share your clothes, your food and do the right thing for each other. We are invited to repent, to get away from missing what was planned for us, and become the people God called us to be, so that all humanity would feel and see God's salvation, God's peace, God's redemption and healing. What a glorious opportunity this is.
Stay tuned for the rest of the lesson, Jesus comes to be baptized, not for his sin, but to collect our sins, so that he could truly remove them, so that by his wounds, we are healed.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Adventure in Florida
Last week, Elaine and I traveled to Orlando FL, to help clean out my mother in law's apartment. Her Dementia had gotten bad enough that the apartment complex asked her to leave. My wife was able to find a group home for her through "A Place for Mom" and the internet and reviews of various places like this. We have been blessed that God was able to help us in this process, and the folks who run the home she is now in are gracious and active church people who understand both loving people as Jesus loved us, and about the hectic schedules that pastors often get involved in.
This trip to Florida was one set of competing emotions and experiences, from Madness to Miracles and back again, several times. I'll try to share the story with you, because I think we can all learn that in the chaos there is opportunity for God to be at work and in the stress a way to learn to depend even more on God's help. It's just so unusual to have all of it get wrapped up in a few short days, as we did last week. The chaos and darkness of Genesis one comes to mind, and the Holy Spirit moved across the darkness and brought forth light, and life and order.
The plane was late getting into Baltimore, so it was late leaving Baltimore. When we landed in Orlando and went to get our luggage, we learned it hadn't made the plane. No luggage, no work clothes, no pajamas, you can imagine what was going through our heads at that point. Fortunately we had both packed contact solutions for our eyes and our medication, so we wouldn't freak out the next day. I didn't know about the luggage thing for a while I was busy negotiating the rental car. I had reserved an SUV, thinking we would need to carry loads to the dumpster or the Salvation Army or both. Well the reservation last week, was messed up and the only thing they could rent us at the time we were there was a huge Suburban. I could hardly get in and out, the drop down was pretty difficult and when we went to take mother in law out to dinner, we could hardly get her in the vehicle.
Back to the luggage, the airlines promised delivery of our stuff to the hotel, but not right away. Well it turns out there were 8 other flights from Baltimore to Orlando and it missed them too. We got our bags mid morning the next day. So after seeing the disaster of our work, we hit the mall for sales to find the clothes we needed to get us through the next day. January sales can be great, if you know how to shop in an emergency.
That was madness, the miracle appeared the next day. One of the men in our church, has family property in Florida and was thinking he could arrange his trip down there to coincide with our work and offered to help us. He appeared on Tuesday, like a legion of angels coming to the rescue. We could not have done it without his help. He had a pick up truck to carry stuff to the dumpster and the Salvation Army, he had a calming demeanor to help with the emotional struggle of going through the family material and making difficult choices. And we laughed, and had great meals together, and we absolutely could not have done it without him. I thoroughly embarrassed him in church Sunday, but we were extremely grateful indeed.
Madness next day, the charity that offered to pick up our stuff, has a strange way of doing things, or maybe it's just crazy laws in Florida. The truck showed up on Wednesday instead of Thursday, which threw us off on one point, but also saved us with time for recovery. They could only take the few items I mentioned on the phone from Maryland, they could not or would not do a clean out of an apartment as they had promised, only items I could think to mention the week earlier could actually be picked up. So we were left with so much stuff. The driver suggested we call college hunks, hauling junk. They wanted way too much money and weren't available on a moment's notice. The next line down on Google was Junk Angels, and they sure were. Yes we can help, yes we know where you are, yes, we can come this morning. Two handsome and very courteous guys showed up and even helped us carry some things out to our truck for delivery elsewhere.
Madness and miracles yet again. The charity of the wednesday pick recommended we try again and name the right items this time. Well I did, when we called to confirm the morning pick up, the best they could do was afternoon, after our plane left. And we can't take anything made of particle board, apparently a Florida state law. So we were once again stuck with time running out fast. So I called Junk Angels again, pleading with them to forgive us for calling back, "No Problem, my truck is around the corner from you now, is ten minutes soon enough?" Miracles happen, I tell you, not when we expect it but they do happen. So by noon on the last day, the apartment was empty, cleaned up and we were ready to have lunch with mother in law and fly back to Maryland, mission accomplished!
So I learned again, that we serve an AWESOME God! The madness was covered by miracles. I never would have thought to pray for a helper from our church in Maryland to be available in Florida, I made arrangements as best as I knew how, that didn't work out so well, and God just smiles and says, you have got to trust me, come on get out of the boat, try walking on water, you can do it!
So we say Praise the Lord, thank you all for the many prayers that were made on our behalf, that made the miracles in the middle of madness work. Thank you and by all means keep praying.
Blessing
Pastor Jeff
A Year with Luke
Hello fellow pilgrims and travelers on the journey of faith. I would like to invite you to join me and the congregation I'm serving in reading the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles one chapter a week. There are 24 chapters in Luke and 28 in Acts and that equals 52, a whole year then. This idea has been offered by the Florida Annual Conference of the UMC, and since I was down there last week to help clean out my mother in law's apartment, I came across her church mail on this. I thought it would be a worthy challenge.
The idea is to read one chapter each week, all at once, a couple times a week or parts until the week and the chapter are covered. You might want to read in different versions of Scripture each time during the week. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), The Message (MSG), Common English Bible (CEB), New Living Translation (NLT), New International Version (NIV), to name a few will give you a great source of discovery. This might be the time you tackle a parallel translation. They offer two or more versions side by side so you can see the difference. I have an 8 way parallel version which is pretty exciting for me, but that comes with the territory.
The idea is that we will be reading together chapter 3 this week, and on Sunday Jan 19, I'll preach on the third chapter, and select one story or event to highlight. Chapter 4 for next week with the sermon on the Temptations of Jesus on Jan. 26. etc. I'll try to provide a summary or interesting results of my study here in the blog after the sermon is done. This might get you coming back here for follow up or for a chance to ask questions or respond to what I find.
Another reason for doing this is that every church needs a common focus sometimes, and this would be an awesome way to encourage that. If the whole church was reading the same story of Jesus and then the same story of the beginning of the church, when we get to Acts, we might see how the Holy Spirit can join us together. If the purpose that Jesus gave us was to make disciples, then studying his teaching and seeing his life a week at a time, might be a great source of guidance, comfort, and encouragement for us. I'll try to juggle the depth of the lesson with interesting discoveries for those who may not have been on the path of following Jesus for as long as I have. I have to remember what it was like not to know all the stuff I do know now. And I have to learn stuff I don't know yet so I can growing in my faith, as will you.
I will also be providing a Bible Study on the chapter we are looking at. Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday evenings we will have a class on Luke. You won't need a book except your Bible to do this and if you can't make every week, there is no penalty applied in any way. Come join us.
Oh, another part of this challenge of reading a chapter a week of Luke includes the offer to find someone else to join you in the reading. It should be someone not in the church you go to, but a neighbor, co-worker, friend, or acquaintance who you would invite to read the same chapter you are and talk about it together. What did you learn about Jesus? Does he offer any help for the crazy life we are living now? Any surprises, or new discoveries, or something you knew but forgot? It doesn't have to be a Seminary Scholar debate, but a conversation about the most interesting person in history. Try it you might like it.
Well, Blessings on your reading adventure
Pastor Jeff
The idea is to read one chapter each week, all at once, a couple times a week or parts until the week and the chapter are covered. You might want to read in different versions of Scripture each time during the week. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), The Message (MSG), Common English Bible (CEB), New Living Translation (NLT), New International Version (NIV), to name a few will give you a great source of discovery. This might be the time you tackle a parallel translation. They offer two or more versions side by side so you can see the difference. I have an 8 way parallel version which is pretty exciting for me, but that comes with the territory.
The idea is that we will be reading together chapter 3 this week, and on Sunday Jan 19, I'll preach on the third chapter, and select one story or event to highlight. Chapter 4 for next week with the sermon on the Temptations of Jesus on Jan. 26. etc. I'll try to provide a summary or interesting results of my study here in the blog after the sermon is done. This might get you coming back here for follow up or for a chance to ask questions or respond to what I find.
Another reason for doing this is that every church needs a common focus sometimes, and this would be an awesome way to encourage that. If the whole church was reading the same story of Jesus and then the same story of the beginning of the church, when we get to Acts, we might see how the Holy Spirit can join us together. If the purpose that Jesus gave us was to make disciples, then studying his teaching and seeing his life a week at a time, might be a great source of guidance, comfort, and encouragement for us. I'll try to juggle the depth of the lesson with interesting discoveries for those who may not have been on the path of following Jesus for as long as I have. I have to remember what it was like not to know all the stuff I do know now. And I have to learn stuff I don't know yet so I can growing in my faith, as will you.
I will also be providing a Bible Study on the chapter we are looking at. Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday evenings we will have a class on Luke. You won't need a book except your Bible to do this and if you can't make every week, there is no penalty applied in any way. Come join us.
Oh, another part of this challenge of reading a chapter a week of Luke includes the offer to find someone else to join you in the reading. It should be someone not in the church you go to, but a neighbor, co-worker, friend, or acquaintance who you would invite to read the same chapter you are and talk about it together. What did you learn about Jesus? Does he offer any help for the crazy life we are living now? Any surprises, or new discoveries, or something you knew but forgot? It doesn't have to be a Seminary Scholar debate, but a conversation about the most interesting person in history. Try it you might like it.
Well, Blessings on your reading adventure
Pastor Jeff
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