Confidence

It is something we all want. Some of us show it more than others. There is much written about it (maybe not using the word confidence but that is the idea). CONFIDENCE

Are you a confident person? Do you feel confident in your skills and abilities as a person? Are you confident about tomorrow?

Merriam Webster: 1. a feeling or consciousness of one's power's or of reliance on one's circumstances. 2. faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way.

We all have things we are more confident in than others. So what does the writer in Hebrews mean when he says, "since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,"? (Hebrews 10:19, ESV - part of the text for Sunday, November 15, 2009)

In this section the writer is drawing our attention to the "once for all" sacrifice Christ paid for our sins and won for us forgiveness so that we can have "confidence" to approach God. Why? Because He has fulfilled His promise of salvation and has broken down the wall of sin that separated us from Him. He wants us to come to Him - this we can have confidence in!

Before this section Hebrews 4:15 says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." We can have confidence in God that He "will act in a right, proper and effective way." Confidence in the God who has brought salvation through Jesus Christ.

It allows us to carry on in life - even when things get tough or uncertain - confident that God is with us always!

• What do you have confidence in in this life?


• Have there been things you have had confidence in that have let you down?


• Have you had doubts that God would "act in a right, proper or effective way" in your life?
  
• Knowing what Jesus has done for us (read Hebrews 10:11-25 or even all of chapter 10) how can you have "more" confidence in Him? How will this change your outlook on life?

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Everything She Had

This Sunday (November 8, 2009) our Old Testament reading - 1 Kings 17:8-16 and the Gospel reading - Mark 12:38-44, show us a radical trust in God. In the 1 Kings passage we see a widow share the last of her food with Elijah. In the Mark passage we see Jesus observing a poor widow putting in two small copper coins into the offering box in the Temple courtyard and tells His disciples that she is giving all she has into the box.

"Everything she had" (Mark 12:44) is how Jesus states this radical trust in God. The same could be said of the widow and her son in the Old Testament passage. These women gave everything they have to God's purposes. Wow, now that is trust in God. They showed a trust that God would take care of them and that they could give all that they have back to Him. I just stand in awe of this kind of trust.

Could I give all that I have to God?

If I was on my last resource would I share with others?

Could I give 100% of my income to God?

Now I am not advocating that we all give everything and become poor - but what these passages do is remind us that we can trust in God with everything and that is not easy. We want to hang on to our "treasures" in this world - and yet Jesus asks us to give Him everything we have. Wow, that is radical trust. But don't fret if you struggle with releasing everything to God - we all do! Sin keeps us from truly relying on God. That is where God's grace and mercy come to us and gives us the strength to each day, try again, to give our whole lives over to Him. And He foirgives us when we fail. Thanks be to God!

• What are we holding back from God?


• How could we "give" more to Him?


• God has given us everything - how can we be motivated to trust him more?

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Reformation and Freedom

This past Sunday (October 25, 2009) we celebrated Reformation Day (which officially is October 31 every year, we just celebrate it on the closest Sunday before). It is a good time to remember what God did through Martin Luther and others to re-awaken the church to the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in Scripture and to not let the things of the world over shadow the Gospel.

The typical Gospel lesson appointed for Reformation is John 8:31-36 with the focus on "the truth will set you free" that in Christ we are set free from the bondage of sin, death and the power of the devil. It is a beautiful verse describing the kind of freedom that can only be found in Jesus and experienced when we see, with the eyes of faith, that what the world offers ends up in destruction, but what God offers in Christ is freedom and inheritance to eternal life.

We sang as our hymn of the day, "The Rescue We Were Waiting For" which was beautiful in sharing the enormity of God's grace to us. Here are a few phrases (due to copyright I can't publish all the words) "While we were groping on the floor of despair...The hand of Jesus...came reaching down to us alone." and "When in the deepest throes of gloom, I heard the hammer blows constructing my salvation." And there are others but I think you get the point - God's grace, His mercy in Jesus Christ, is so amazing and free and even overwhelming (in a good way) for us.

The freedom Christ won for us wasn't for us to have more privileges or rights or even "stuff" in this world. It is a freedom from the very thing that is causing our destruction. And it is freedom to be heirs of eternal life. Sin is the mess we got ourselves into - freedom is the mercy God showed us to get us out of the eternal mess we were in. Thanks be to God for His amazing love.

• What are some ways you feel the "gloom and despair" of life?
• What false freedoms do you cling to?
• What situation were you in that you felt God's amazing love release you from?
• What other ways have you "defined" God's amazing love in your life?

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Impossible ~ Possible

Two Sundays (Oct. 11, 2009) ago we heard the story in Mark 10:17-22 about the rich young man who comes to Jesus inquiring about eternal life. He leaves sad because Jesus asks him to sell all and give to the poor. He was afraid to give up his earthly wealth for heavenly treasure.

There was a clue to the rich young man focusing on eternal life in the wrong way when he asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Mark 10:17)Did you catch the subtle error? "I do" was his way of focusing in on his good works. The rich young man thought he could do something, be good enough, maybe even buy his way, into eternal life. The focus was on himself and not on what Jesus was teaching - that He was going to die and rise again to make the impossible possible.

That is where last Sunday (Oct. 18, 2009) Mark 10:23-31 lesson picks up the story. The disciples just heard and saw what happened with the rich young man. They ask, "Then who can be saved?" (Mark 10:26) Again, maybe confusion on their part about "earning" eternal life but this provides and opportunity for Jesus to pull the attention away from our efforts and focus on God. Jesus says, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." (Mark 10:27)

Because of our sin (Romans 3:23, 6:23) we can do nothing to inherit eternal life - nothing. It is impossible for us to restore our broken relationship with God - but in Christ, His death and resurrection, the impossible becomes possible. We can have salvation in Jesus! These are similar words spoken to Mary when she learns she will be the mother of Jesus - all things are possible with God. And in Christ we now have the certainty that heaven is our inheritance.

• What earthly treasures are keeping you from heavenly treasures?
• How does that make you feel when you hear Jesus saying, "For all things are possible with God."?
• Is there someone you know who is trying to do the "impossible" and needs to hear the "possibilities" in Christ?
• By the way, the image in this blog is an ambigram - a word that is written in such a way that read one way it is one word and turn it upside down it is another word (or the same word)
  

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Complaint or Lament

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29


On Sunday September 27, 2009 our Old Testament lesson was from Numbers where we hear the Israelites complaining about the wilderness. They had been brought out of slavery in a miraculous way and are now wandering in the wilderness. The come to Moses and complain about their predicament and reminisce about the "good old days" in Egypt. Good old days? They were slaves! But their complaining had taken them to that point and it showed a lack of faith in God.


There complaints were more than the harsh situation they were encountering. It was evidence that they weren't trusting God. You see, recognizing the harshness of a situation and expressing it isn't bad - the Psalms are filled with such statement (often called "laments"). It is good to realize that the world is tough, broken by sin and not "fair". It is health to recognize that we, in our sinful condition, can't see or know what God is up to and that our eyes only see pain and suffering. But what makes a recognition of reality an unhealthy "complaint" is when we lose trust in God.


A couple of weeks ago our Gospel lesson was about a healing by Jesus of a demon possessed boy. In the dialogue Jesus asks the man about his son and asks about his belief that God could do anything. The man responds, "I believe; help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24). This little phrase sums up how we can be realistic and trusting in God in this broken world. We see the effects of sin and our brokenness and even our lack of trust in God's mercy, but we don't lose that spark that hopes in God and that He has something better in store for us.


So, lament like the Psalmist and others in scripture over the "tough life" we all encounter. But never lose hope that God is there for us and bringing new life to each and every one of us.

• Why do you think it is so easy to complain, but not see the good?
• What things plague you in life that being you to complaint?
• How has God taken a bad situation and turned it for good so you could hope in Him?
• Is there a "lament" in scripture that you can relate too and how does it also show hope?

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Breath

James 3:13-4:10

What a great sermon Sunday (September 20, 2009) by Pastor Shearier! Using James to show the physical and spiritual side of our lives and then using the three analogies - Breath (Breath of Life), Eat (Inwardly digest God's Word) and Waste Management (Confession and Absolution), Pastor Shearier showed to us how James wants us to align our inner lives with our outer lives through Christ.

This sermon and theme has stuck with me. So much so that I would like to share with you what happened when I was on highway 25 this past week.

I was driving to an appointment on Monday over on the west side of town. I had just turn onto 25 from interstate 70 when I got behind this delivery truck that was belching out black smoke. Even with the windows closed I could smell the smoke and was probably breathing it as well. But then I noticed what the truck was delivering (at least what was advertised on the back) - Odwalla Natural Juices. The slogan is "Nourishing the Whole Body" (http://www.odwalla.com/). How ironic! The truck delivering jucie that is good for the body was belching out black smoke that was probably bad for the body. Breathing and Eating came to my mind from Sunday's sermon.

How often have we tried so hard to get things right in one area of our lives to only find out another area need help? Thanks be to God that "getting right" with Him isn't a matter of drinking the right drink or breathing the right air but letting Him take control and shape our lives. That is where the "waste management" is so vital in my life. If waste goes unchecked it can destroy anything good. Sin is destroying us, but God cleans us up and takes out the trash. In our baptism we are washed clean. Luther reminds us to daily "drown the old adam" which means - let God take our sin away.

Breath, Eat, and Waste Management - let's align our inside and outside lives by the power of Christ.

• What bad habits do you have with "breathing, eating, and waste management"? Physical and Spiritual?
• What good habits have you created for "breathing, eating and waste management"? Physical and Spiritual?
• What has been a good "cleaning" experience for you in your life with God?

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Taming the Tongue

James 3:1-12

What a challenging passage for the Epistle lesson this past Sunday (September 13, 2009)!


James minces no words when he is speaking about the power of our tongue and the speech it can produce. "Set on fire by hell"..."no human being can tame the tongue"..."it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison"..."from the same mouth come blessing and cursing."

What are we to do about our tongues, our speech, if the Bible speaks so clearly of the evil and the impossibility of change for our speech? First we have to recognize that we can't fix our speech on our own. Jesus, when speaking to the father of the demon possessed boy (Mark 9:14-29) says "All things are possible for one who believes," not meaning the person but that with God all things are possible. The change of heart God brings in Christ can bring a change to our tongues, our speech. A heart change is the key!

“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34b)

The tongue is the “overflow of the heart,” and that is why, we are often embarrassed at the “slip” of our tongue when we say something “we didn’t mean.” Truthfully, we must admit that we certainly did mean what we said at the time. We apologize of course and try to cover it up because we’re embarrassed at the evil overflow of our heart that slipped from our tongues. If you want to clean up your speech and put an end to the gossip, the lying, and the hate that your tongue sometimes spew forth, you must first receive a change of heart so that the overflow of your new heart will be sweet rather than bitter. The condition of one’s tongue is a window to the condition of one’s heart.
(Quoted from "Taming the Tongue – For Bloggers Too", August 20, 2007 on Kingdom People blog)

James finishes this passage with the idea that a fig tree produces figs, not other fruit and a fresh spring produces fresh water, not salt water. In other words - a heart controlled by sin with produce sinful words and a heart controlled by God will produce beautiful words. Does that mean we will never say hurtful words? No, Luther said we are saint and sinner on this side of eternity. But when we hurt others with our words, we can bring the beautiful words of forgiveness that come only from Christ.

• We all have said hurtful words - what have you done to bring "beautiful" words to others? Even ones we have hurt?
• What do you do to "fill" your heart with good things so that the "overflow" will be good in life?
• We can't tame our tongues, but have you used prayer or scripture to help tame your tongue? What was helpful?

We want to hear your beautiful, God-tamed words!

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