Category Archives: Sunday

Backwards Cliff Notes on Layers

Posted on September 15, 2019 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 13 – 9
Throughout the book, we are also challenged to remain faithful to Jesus and follow great models of faith from the Old Testament despite hardships and persecution. These challenges will make us uncomfortable but instead of fearing them, remember that rejecting Jesus is foolish.  Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God’s love and mercy and is worthy of all our trust and devotion.
[The Bible Project]

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All of Scripture is God letting us look into the past to show us how to build our life of faith today.  Usually I read as if chapters are layers that pile up one after another to result in the truth of the book.  Reading Hebrews backwards is like peeling those layers back, one a time, to discover for myself truth that can be built into everyday life AND the future.  So these are cliff notes from my writings on chapters [13 – 9] each numbered and listed without further editing in that same “backwards” order.  My goal is to discover confirmed evidence the Holy Spirit is working through these layers of God’s word to teach me exactly what I need to learn.

         [13] Outside” is where Christ receives your brokenness and disgrace and makes them his own.  It’s the plan of God that we who are outsiders can go to where “new” begins, the Cross.  [12] God has saved the unmerited favor of His Grace IN us.  Living with the reality of that forgiveness is the discipline of Grace that turns faith into action.
          [11] Those ancestors made it into this “By Faith” chapter because their faith reached into the future of US.  That past and their faith has reached beyond time to strengthen our present with the promise of completion for US all as the future unfolds.  US is God’s version of “outreach” at it’s most creative. [10] Today we have God’s incredible exception to those annual sacrifices.   The blood of Jesus and the Grace of God have provided a way to remove the guilt of our sin from God’s memory forever…but our memory is still a natural consequence of sin.   [9] Circumstances are where God begins. Right from the beginning God desired to be present with us because of love.  Right from the beginning when circumstances might have denied that truth, God began.
          √ Confirmed

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Memory

Posted on September 8, 2019 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 10 NIV
• 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
•14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
• 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

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These Hebrew worshipper’s sacrifices were an annual reminder for them of the guilt of their sin. They counted on sacrifice for relief from the penalty of sin and to temporarily remove the sin from God’s memory as well as their own.  Today we have God’s incredible exception to those annual sacrifices.   The blood of Jesus and the Grace of God have provided a way to remove the guilt of our sin from God’s memory forever…but our memory is still a natural consequence of sin.  

The memories of confessed and forgiven sins can still hurt when they pop up but they are only meant to remind us to give thanks in that moment for our renewed awareness of the permanence and purpose of His forgiveness and Grace at work in us.  “He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” and “where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”  

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In Us

Posted on September 1, 2019 | Leave a comment

NLT Hebrews 12 and James 1 & 2 [NLT]
Hebrews 12:2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy [or instead of the joy] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame…23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which `speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.  25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking…

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You have come…. x4 to the place that “speaks of forgiveness.”  When we ask God to forgive our behavior His response is the unmerited favor of His Grace.  Forgiveness is the foundation of our faith that becomes this specific discipline of Grace; “Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” and “mediates the new covenant between God and people.”  

Hebrews urges “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.” The first words I heard as I listened were; “forgiveness” [what only God can do] and “discipline” [what I can do].  Then I heard a familiar echo of those words with these from James 1 and 2 – “faith” and “actions.”   They’re copied below for you to read with ‘forgiveness’ substituted for the word [faith], ‘discipline’ for the word [endurance] and ‘Grace’ as the verb that replaces [actions].

James 1:3 For you know that when your forgiveness [faith] is tested, your discipline [endurance] has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your discipline [endurance] is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing…2:14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have forgiveness [faith] but don’t show it by your Grace [actions]? Can that kind of forgiveness [faith] save anyone? 

This post has become a perfect example for me of these truths:
ALL the books of the Bible work together for our good.  The Spirit really does link truths from different Scriptures in new and meaningful ways.  Forgiveness and discipline do help explain faith and actions AND faith and actions do help explain forgiveness and discipline.

AND finally the most important truth of all: God has saved the unmerited favor of His Grace IN us.  Living with the reality of that forgiveness is the discipline of Grace that turns faith into action.

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Contrasts that Complete

Posted on August 25, 2019 | Leave a comment

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

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You know the story: Day 1: Light and darkness.  Day 2: Sky and water, Day 3: Land and sky.  Day 4: Day and Night.  Day 5:  Sea creatures and land creatures.  Day 6: Increase, His own image in man and woman, reproductive rights and responsibility.  Day 7: And at last rest.

God chose to highlight the universe He was creating by accenting the contrasts of each day. This is His world system: completeness built from contrasts that complete each other.  In the beginning there was only “sameness” and then God spoke all of these contrasts into being.  Clearly the method God has chosen for His creation to succeed is the ability to see each of those contrasts as part of His complete design. 

Today we are challenged by a world less concerned about completeness than it is with identifying contrasts that separate us.  The adversary’s god is the sameness that blurs the value of the contrasts God revealed.  Our challenge is to remember God chose contrasts, not sameness, to be the elements that would complete His creation and THAT is what He declared good.  

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Sin and Should

Posted on August 18, 2019 | Leave a comment

Continue reading →

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Posted in Ephesians, Sunday

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Silence

Posted on August 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.  God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

“Silence is one of the deepest disciplines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.  One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don’t need to straighten others out.”   Richard Foster Seeking the Kingdom

The effort I spend daily to sort and write my thoughts for these blog posts is my door into the “house of God.” It’s as simple as this: when I’m writing, I’m not talking…I’m listening.  It’s a different kind of listening that let’s you “hear” what God is silently speaking into your heart.

God’s Words have power even when they’re unspoken.  I was so certain what had been silently spoken into my heart was meant for someone else that day but God chose silence for me.  The unspoken Word I’d prepared to support “my” right position and straighten “them” out, changed me instead.  The obedience of silence became a repentance of tears that saved me from using the power of the Word as “the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.”

How, why and when we speak matters.  “Do not be quick with your mouth do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.”  “God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” 

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And God Spoke…

Posted on August 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words:  2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before[besides] me.”

Current events have once again challenged my perspective and driven me back to these words from God’s own mouth, His #1 commandment.  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”  This is God’s #1…forever!  

God’s “Egypt,” then, didn’t specifically mention the little “g” gods that occupy our “land of slavery” now.  Today our “land of slavery” is defined by vital issues like mass shootings, racism, political affiliation, sexual orientation and  individual rights.  Too often we’ve let those issues lead us to justify any means to an end as long as it’s the end we’ve decided is best.  That’s a sure sign we’ve replaced the real #1 with the god we know best, ourselves.  Over time we’ve let God’s Word go in one ear and out the other.  

God’s #1 purpose is still to remind us the “land of slavery” is real.  It’s filled with vital issues we can’t solve alone.   Only when we’re willing to recognize that fact will He bring us out of the “Egypt” of our own making and make His own #1 commandment our #1 priority too.  “You shall have no other gods before [besides] me.”

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Everything

Posted on July 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

The “everything” of v15 was the primary word that caught my attention as I read.  Then a simple word count of other key words in the passage became a sort-of-outline for me today; choose/chose [2], servant. [2], friends [3], Father [2], and finally, Love [4]. 

We love being “chosen.” We are blessed to be called a “servant” of Christ.  It’s even better to be called a friend but it’s a humbling to realize that our determination, time commitment, intellect and choice to follow Christ are not the same as “everything.”  A servant’s loyalty can mimic friendship but not necessarily be evidence of the shared intimacy of love.  

You were “appointed”…so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last…” fruit based on a special love relationship. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” is a really important part of our personal relationship to Christ because it’s a really important part of the shared intimacy of love between Jesus and his Father.  That relationship is the primary part of “everything” Jesus wants to share with you.  “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

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“Who are you, Lord?”

Posted on July 21, 2019 | Leave a comment

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

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Saul’s question, “Who are you, Lord,?” was the unexpected beginning of his identity with Christ.  We see the reality of the man God created Paul to be unfold in a large part of the New Testament.  Those words still inspire us today to discover the reality of our own identity with Christ.  

You know Paul’s story.  He walked down that Damascus road convinced he knew the unassailable truth about God.  Paul saw himself as obedient, full of moral virtue and willing to brutally ensure the future of what he believed.  God saw something more: a committed man who was not Godless, but not Godly either when He asked “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Paul’s identity with Christ began when he replied “Who are you, Lord?”  The answer would open his eyes and change his heart from the unassailable truth he knew ABOUT God to the unassailable truth OF God.  The Bible is filled with stories of flawed, but not Godless, people we can easily identify with who were changed into Godly people with a new identity.  Paul wrote about his own experience of God’s revealed truth.  That truth still has the power to change the identity of those who dare to ask “Who are you, Lord?”

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Second [and last} Chance: Revelation 2

Posted on July 14, 2019 | Leave a comment

Revelation 2

√ Re·new·al: the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:  These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.  4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

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I’ve looked for evidence in these second chapters of God’s continuing desire to replace and repair what is worn out, run-down, or broken.  That word “broken” has been a part of every post. God created life to be an unending circle for those first two people but they broke the circle because they violated the rule of one unique tree. “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  Why two unique trees?   I know what the results of that break are and I know Revelation 2 is the answer that repairs that broken circle.

Despite our best efforts here on earth perfection is still lost.  God has noticed our desire has changed from being content to know His perfection to the confusion of trying our best to sort out the knowledge of good and evil.  “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance…you cannot tolerate wicked people.” I know “that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.” I know “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary…Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ” 

Here’s the Good News from Revelation 2 about that other unique tree.  “The tree of life” is still standing, untouched, and we still have it’s promise of that first love.  There is repair and renewal for that worn out, run-down, or broken circle.  “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

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