Judy W reminded us of this precious picture last night. It's definitely a picture that speaks volumes. Remember . . . your faith is your strength. Blessings and love to you all !
3 Comments
What a sobering thought from Max Lucado . . . "the moment the forbidden fruit touched the lips of Eve, the shadow of a cross appeared on the horizon." 09/19/15 - When will I learn??? I have been lamenting over something for months now. In my heart, I know that it will happen in God's time - OR - He will tell me it will not happen at all. In my mind, I fret and get discouraged because what I want to happen is not happening . . . in MY time. I have felt that it's just not fair. I have felt like giving up, throwing in the towel. I needed to be reminded of these words by the author . . . "God wraps up my good with your good and the good of both of us with the good of others. The plot lines of our individual stories weave together to perform HIS MASTER PLAN (caps are mine!!!). Nothing is wasted. Nothing is left out. There are NO DEAD ENDS (again, my caps). HE always has the big picture in mind." And here is another reminder - especially for me . . . "Don't get upset when point A doesn't automatically lead to point B. There are no detours in God's story line . . . just complications that He's more than able to resolve . . . The Author of our salvation really does know what He's doing, even when we can't figure it out." I needed to be reminded of Joseph's little side trip to Egypt where God shaped him into a man who would not only save his family, but also Israel and the entire known world from starvation. And let's not forget poor Daniel in the lion's den who had no idea he wouldn't be dinner for the lions, but would serve as the catalyst for the conversion of a nation. God ALWAYS has a plan. I NEED to not only believe this, but live like I believe it. AND . . . when it happens - as always - I will look back on this time and realize all the dots He connected along the way. I pray that for now, I will enjoy what I am doing and the lives I am interacting with and wait . . . wait for His time and His plan to unfold for me. Jeremiah 29:11 (my life verse . . . hmmm) - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I've been saving this devotional for this time when we talk about Lazarus. This was sent to me by Dr. Dawn on August 3rd when she received it. It is something I need to hear . . . A Wait - A Weight. 3 August A Wait – A Weight To wait for a promise to come to fruition can indeed be a heavy burden. Long periods of waiting, can wear one down. Our frustration and fatigue from this weighty trial may even blur our vision of our Vision. We may begin to doubt if God has really called us to work for Him, or we may ask ourselves if it was merely our own desire. Perhaps today your hope is fading. Mary and Martha’s hope also faded when Lazarus, Jesus’ friend became ill and died. Jesus waited until he began to decay before he visited the tomb. Our hope for our Vision ever to be fulfilled may have died and may be decaying. Today like Mary and Martha you may be saying to Jesus, “Sir, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. And even now it is too late….” (John 11:21, 23 TLB) It’s too late; you are growing older; your energy is waning; you are discouraged with this long wait; friends and family doubt that you will go; and people are judging you. You may be confused and embarrassed and harassed with all the questions. Take heart, my brother and sister. Look up! Focus once more on your Vision, because Jesus said in John 11:40 (TLB), “But didn’t I tell you that you will see a wonderful miracle from God if you believe?” Nothing will thwart God’s purposes, not even your waning Vision. Jesus will come along after those “long and weary four days” and say, “Roll the stone aside!” He will say to your seeming dead Vision, “Lazarus, come out! And Lazarus came – bound up in grave clothes…” Jesus said, “Unwrap him and let him go.” (John 11:43, 44 TLB) Soon God will remove the grave clothes from your long wait. If you weren't at the group study you didn't receive the handout I reviewed - pasted below for your benefit is a Teaching Outline I wrote in 2013. Life Through Death (John 11:2, 4, 25, 43-44) I. Concentration: on Jesus gives the gift of life. 1. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. (v.2) 2. When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (v.4) 3. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (v.25) 4. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (vv.43-44) II. Meditation: on giving God the glory. 1. While Jesus is traveling and preaching, His friends Mary (who previously anointed him) and Martha send word to him that His good friend, Lazarus, is very ill and dying. 2. Jesus tells this will be a magnificent miracle bringing glory to God – Jesus refers to Himself explicitly as the Son of God; He is in no hurry and stays another two days. 3. When He arrives in Bethany Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days; Jesus declares that He is the one who gives life – He has unified Himself with the Father; those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life. 4. Jesus declared the glory for God in front of all those who gathered at Lazarus’ tomb; the irony of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is that He gives life to others by giving up His own life on the cross; this is the final straw for the Pharisees who demand His death. III. Revelation: on eternal life. 1. Regardless of where we are or what we are involved in, as true disciples we should lift up our request(s) to Jesus, with humility, asking that His will be done. 2. Sometimes our best teaching moments include sharing the most painful parts of our lives – when we do, we need to lift it up to God’s glory – God never wastes a hurt. 3. Believing in Jesus, accepting Christ as our savior, offers us eternal life; let’s not stop there, but find ways to serve our Lord (James 2:14-17) 4. Just as Jesus resurrected Lazarus from the dead, so will He raise us up into heaven. IV. Application: As a Christian, I need to: 1. Remember that when I am praying Jesus always hears me; He will respond in His time with His will. 2. Give up my control; allow any parts of my life to be used as the Lord sees fit In order to bring others closer to Him. 3. Lift up my own sins daily, requesting forgiveness; serve the Lord in the ministries He has chosen for me – serve joyfully. 4. Be ever thankful that I have been offered eternal life – Praise God! These pictures above were sent to me September 13th from my friend and Chancellor in Ecuador, Dr. Dawn. They had been having major internet problems and been offline for 12 hours at a time. Her son, Earl, fiddles around quite often trying to keep it working. The four guys erected two poles to help the problem. They come from a village near there. They never had a Bible before. Dr. Dawn gave each one of them one of the Spanish Bibles we sent and wrote, "Earl says they were completely blown over. One opened his BIBLE and just pointed anywhere. HOW BEAUTIFUL THAT WAS!!!!!!! THEY WERE SO PROUD."
In this country we take so much for granted. If I have to wait a second for internet response I'm wondering what is going on. And we have access to any version of the Bible we want. I wanted to share these pictures with you to remind all of us how much we have to be grateful for. I received an update today (Sunday - 09-20) . . . Thank you so much for your email. How amazing, our electricity has just gone on again. There was a huge explosion and the neighborhood dogs went crazy and then the whole town was out. It has been such a succession of events. For more than 2 months we struggled with internet. They came out this week and worked all day. 5 minutes later it was off again. Back to reporting. Two days later worked all day. The wind died down for 2 days, internet now on and off again. They will not believe it that there must be a broken cable down the road. So back to reporting again this week. We erected poles and they replaced out 300 meter cable. Then we had a major fire on a mountain close-by, and we had water cuts. They had to draw from our main water supply. Then both Earl and I got the most dreadful flu. We are in our 3rd week and still not over it. A week ago, I thought instead of cooking we would order a takeaway from a restaurant. I am now at the tail end of 6 days of violent food poisoning. There have been so many attacks, but praise GOD we go through the fires as Isaiah says. These are just some of the things that have been happening here. The month of September through to the beginning of Oct is our main fiesta month, and hopefully all the storms we have been going through here will have leveled out when I will be able to get the other BIBLES mobilized. Those 4 men I am positive were sent by the LORD. They are cut off from normal life here, and live far in the mountains, and that is where those precious BIBLES went. How strange to see people thinking that the BIBLE is the most amazing gift that anyone could get, and then many who have them do not grasp the opportunity to study them. Dr. Dawn continues to be an instrument of the Lord at every opportunity - even to the service personnel that came down from the mountains to gerry-rig their internet into working. Let's follow in kind by giving the Word of God to anyone we see in need of it. This weeks assignments:
I absolutely loved reading this in the book . . . "Of all the identifying marks of a Christian, Jesus said love would be the thing that gives us away" . . . "By this all men will know that you are my disciples," he said, "if you love one another." John 13:35. Imagine . . . we carry no visible mark like a tattoo on our body - we don't wear a placard around our neck with words telling others who we are . . . we show the love of Christ through our words and actions - then others know that we are followers of Christ. Last night we spoke in-depth about foot washing - how it just was not done - how the Midrash taught that NO HEBREW, not even a slave could be commanded to wash feet. It was the lowest of low dirty tasks. Why? Because they didn't drive their cars, take buses, trains or planes to where they were going. Because they walked . . . and walked . . . and walked. They didn't walk on paved roads or sidewalks. They walked on rugged, unsurfaced and unclean roads. Betsy, Lorraine and I can attest to that from our trip to the Holy Land. The pictures below are typical of the terrain we walked in the Holy Land. As you can see, a lot of it was hilly, but almost always dusty. We reviewed this Teaching Outline last night which was very appropriate for this week's discussion. For those of you who weren't able to attend in person please feel free to send me any questions or comments. Your Feet Need A Washing (John 13:5, 14-17) I. Concentration: on Jesus sets an example before His disciples. 1. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (v.5) 2. “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (vv.14-15) 3. “Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” (v.16) 4. “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (v.17) II. Meditation: on humble love. 1. Jesus removed His outer garment thereby resembling a servant; He shows His disciples how much He loved them by washing their feet, even the feet of the one who would soon betray Him – Judas Iscariot. 2. Jesus’s act of love was done with true humility and taught that in order for them to have eternal life they must be washed by Him (although they will not completely understand this until seeing Him on the cross); He tells them to do “as” He did, not “what” He did. 3. Jesus is the one sent by God, just as the disciples are the ones sent by Jesus; the disciples are to be submissive just as Jesus has been. 4. The Good News, the Gospel, must be lived by actions, not just in thoughts. III. Revelation: on serving and being a Christly example. 1. As servants of God, it is important for us to show Christly love to His children – those who have already accepted Him as their savior, but especially those who are in such a great need of being washed by Jesus. 2. Learn from Jesus’ example of true humility – demonstrate our love for Jesus by serving others; be an example for others to follow. 3. Never feel we are above any type of serving; all works are for the glory of God, not our egos; if we are called upon to serve in any capacity – serve with joy. 4. With a servant’s heart, spread the Good News with our actions. IV. Application: As a Christian, I need to: 1. Continue offering myself up as a servant of our Lord; seek opportunities within my church, ministries, family, neighborhood and strangers – wherever the need exists. 2. Be truly humble in my serving and always remember how Jesus’ love brought me back out of my despair; offer that same type of love to others to help them turn their lives around. 3. Always remember that my actions are for God’s glory, not my ego or pride. 4. Seek opportunities to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. WE are God's love letter to the world - WE were set apart for His purpose. WE are to communicate His Glory to a lost and dying world. We don't have to look far or wide to know this to be true. It isn't enough to "call" ourselves Christians, we must "live" like Christians. Each one of us can ask ourselves . . . Am I modeling God's love letter to the world??? The Vine and the Branches John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." The vine is the source of life for the branches. It provides the water and nutrients by which the grapes are produced. Without the vine, no fruit could ever result. Branches are utterly dependent upon the vine. Without Christ, there is no spiritual life or hope of eternal reward. We learned from Brother Lawrence that "it's not just what we do for Christ that matters, but how we go about it." When he joined the monastery he thought he would spend his days in prayer and meditation. Instead - he was assigned to work in the kitchen - something on his list of least favorite things to do. Instead of resenting, he chose "to do everything for the love of God and with prayer" - he found this service a joy and a way to walk closer to God. He said: "The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I posses God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament." I, myself, have used the excuses that "I would have prayed, but there were people around . . . there were too many distractions . . . it was too noisy" I need to learn this art from Brother Lawrence and make it my goal to worship the Lord wherever and whenever. The author reminds us that Jesus ministered 1) as he went on his way, 2) as he went out of his way and 3) in all kinds of ways. We read about the story of the little boy who asked the evangelist at a revival meeting, "You said everyone should ask Jesus into their hearts, right?" . . . "Well, I'd like to . . . but I got to figurin' . . . I'm so little and Jesus is so big - he's just gonna stick out all over." The preacher replied, "That's the point son . . . that's the point." We can truly make a difference if we get ourselves "connected to the vine" and by "living in a way that Jesus sticks out all over." May God continue to bless each and every one of you!!! This week's assignments:
- Continue performing your RAKs (random acts of kindness). - Read Chapter 8 in your book - Answer week 7 study questions in your workbook - Memorize Romans 8:28 - Continue to ask yourself . . . HCIDWJDIIDKWHD? (How can I do what Jesus did if I don't know what He did?) . . . Stay in The Word until we meet again. |
CategoriesAuthorArchives
April 2018
|