If You Would Only Get to Know and Trust Me...Signed, God

From Psalm 91  The Message

"If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God, 

      "I'll get you out of any trouble. 

   I'll give you the best of care 

      if you'll only get to know and trust me. 

   Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; 

      I'll rescue you, then throw you a party. 

   I'll give you a long life, 

      give you a long drink of salvation!"

If you'll only get to know and trust me...


That sounds like me, and every other parent I've ever known.  We really want to know our kids...to have them know us...and to have them trust us.  


That trust gets in short supply, of course, as they go through the trials of their adolescent years.  


How long will we be spiritual adolescents?  Sometimes, for all of us, it seems like the answer is, "forever."  


But the consistent witness of scriptures gives us hope that it doesn't have to be that way.  


There is real, spiritual food, there is a long drink of salvation, offered by the God who loves us.  


If you'll only get to know and love me.  


God is here.  Scripture, Worship, Relationships, Prayer, Giving and Serving.  These are the ways to know Him.  


Grace & Peace,
Adam 

God is Good, Humans are Greedy, and God is Still Good

From Exodus 16  The Message

Check out another great story of God, Moses and the Complainers:

The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The Israelites said, "Why didn't God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You've brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!"

 God said to Moses, "I'm going to rain bread down from the skies for you.

Moses and Aaron told the People of Israel, "This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, he's listened to your complaints against him. You haven't been complaining against us, you know, but against God."

Moses said, "Since it will be God who gives you meat for your meal in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, it's God who will have listened to your complaints against him. Who are we in all this? You haven't been complaining to us—you've been complaining to God!"

That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. 

The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). 

They had no idea what it was.

 ^15-16 So Moses told them, "It's the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God's instructions: 'Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent.'"

The People of Israel went to work and started gathering, some more, some less, but when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered more had no extra and those who gathered less weren't short—each person had gathered as much as was needed.

Moses said to them, "Don't leave any of it until morning."

But they didn't listen to Moses. 

A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It got wormy and smelled bad. 

And Moses lost his temper with them.

Where are you in this story?  

Are you Moses?  Responsible, leader, long-suffering, eventually angry?  

Are you the unappreicated provider, like God?  Do you hear the grumbling, but continue to give?  

Or are you the Israelites?  Most of us are just like them.  We complain.  We receive anyway.   We hoard.  God still loves us.  

But he does try to teach us.  Let's let Exodus work on us to teach one of the lessons...sooner than later.  God provides food for soul and body.  And we don't have to snatch His gifts from His hands.  

Grace & Peace,

Adam 

It Takes More Than Bread to Stay Alive

Matthew 4:1-11  The Message

^1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. 

That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."

 ⁴Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."

^5-6For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."

 ⁷Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."

  

^8-9For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours."

¹⁰Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."

¹¹The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.

This week, we'll be thinking about Jesus as "Food for the Soul."  

And we already find him tempted to make food for the body. 

"If you really are who you say you are...you don't need to be hungry...turn these stones to delicious loaves of home made bread."  

The devil always knows just how to tempt.  He doesn't just work on our physical needs, but much more often on our spiritual weaknesses.

He tries this mind game with Jesus:  "who are you, really?"  Jesus knows that his identity is not to be displayed through acts of miraculous power (though those will also come along, in their time).  

His real power is spiritual.  The lesson he teaches us is the opposite of the Garden fall of Genesis.  

Rely on God for the real bread, the bread that lasts.  It sticks to the spiritual ribs.  

What are the spirit-weakness temptations we face this day? 

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Simple, Childlike Believers (or, "Stop It, You Arrogant...)

Matthew 18:10-14  The Message 

"Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly.

 You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?

"Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one? 

And if he finds it, doesn't he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put? Your Father in heaven feels the same way. 

He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers.

"Arrogance:  an attitude of superiority, manifested in an overbearing manner, or in presumptuous claims or assumptions."  

Jesus warns us against treating others, especially new believers, with arrogance.  

I'd love to say that Christians are never guilty of "an attitude of superiority," but of course I'd be lying.  

It's hard when you believe so strongly that you know the truth.  It's hard when you're convinced of what Jesus Christ has meant in your own life, and what his life can mean for others.  

But I never fail to be amazed at how people (including me sometimes) can have an attitude of "I got mine, good luck getting yours."  

That is arrogant.  There is no humility in that.  That is not Jesus.  

He says that we care about everybody.  We do it because we have a shared identity as children of God.  

Don't gloss over that.  

The person, or the group of people, or (you fill in the blank of your personal prejudice, whatever it may be), are as equally loved by God as you are.  

Let that settle.  

God loves everybody.   That's a period.  Period.  

We're all lucky to be found.  Lucky to receive his great love.  Lucky to love one another.  

All really is gift.  

That's the nature of our shepherd, and he promises that with practice it can be our nature too.  

Grace & Peace,

Adam 

Hurry up and relax!

Luke 12:22-32  The Message

 "What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. 

People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 

Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 

Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

What does the fear of "missing out" do to us spiritually? 

It does great violence, I'm afraid.  

We're not just talking about worries over money or possessions here.  

I think Jesus is trying to help us see when we worry about missing out in all kinds of ways.  

What if I don't marry the right person?   What if I don't take the right job opportunity?  What if I do something that somehow lets God down?  What if I miss out on the right moment, or don't go to the right place, or (insert your personal paranoia here).  

What if, what if, what if????

Oh my.  We are a mess, people.  

Jesus says calm down.  

He says more than that.  He says, "relax."  He says, if you really trust me, there is NO WAY you can miss out.  

Think about that.  No way we can miss out.  

What would our lives be like if we believed that?  

What if we didn't have to wrangle with and try to manipulate each other to get what we want?  

What if we just lived...relaxed...and made the main focus of our lives absolute and complete connection to the heart and soul of Jesus Christ?  

Grace & Peace,

Adam 

The Lord, Our Shepherd

 ¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 ²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 ³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

 ⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; 

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

 ⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; 

my cup runneth over.

 ⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (Psalm 23, King James Version)

Psalm 23 must be considered one of the great, iconic passages in all of scripture.

It endures. 

It has been recited on battlefields and at funerals.  It comforts in homes and hospitals, seats of power and homeless shelters. 

We are drawn to the comfort it offers, like moth to flame. 

And why not?  We humans need a shepherd.  We need the Lord.  We are not ourselves the creators of green pasture.  We are its recipients. 

That's the formula of Eden, and Douglasville, and all points in between. 

The Lord is our Shepherd, and the Lord is good.  Live in that peace today. 

Grace & Peace,
Adam

40 Days

^{Deuteronomy 9}

¹³ And the LORD said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

 ¹⁵ So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire.

And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. ¹⁶ When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. 

¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD’s sight and so arousing his anger. 

I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me.

 

²⁰ And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.

 

²¹ Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

Truly sit with the images in this scripture, and let them sink in for a bit.  

Moses is saving his people from the wrath of a just God.  

For 40 days he fasts, face down before God.  

Moses, crushing the people's idol. Grinding it to powder, throwing it in the river.  

This is an important piece of our relationship with the Father, and one that we could strenghten during our own 40 days of focus.  

During this Lenten season, we can choose to stop being so stiff-necked, and we can earnestly turn toward a new direction and path. 

Grace & Peace, and see you Sunday!

Adam

The Father's Heart

Luke 15, The Story of the Compassionate Father (or, the Prodigal Son)

When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 

The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'

 "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. 

Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 

My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!'

What's the worst trouble you've ever been in?  

That ranges a lot from person to person.  Maybe you've seen the wrong side of a jail cell, had a scary visit from the IRS, or found your name at the top of some threatening legal documents.  

Or, maybe you've led a gentler life, and things have never quite been that bad.  

Still, I bet we can all think of some moments when we had that deep-in-the-gut feeling of sickness and heartache.  We all know what it means to know that we have messed up, big time.  

What happened next?  

Have you ever had the slate wiped clean?  Have you ever known the feeling of being truly forgiven?  

Or, have you ever loved someone so much, that no matter what they've done or where they've been, you would simply hug and cry and love them if they returned?

Jesus gives us a window to the heart of the Father that helps us remember those feelings.  

This is life with God.  We can return.  We can be loved.  

All is gift.  

Grace & Peace,

Adam 

Do You Want to Stand Out? Step Down

Matthew 23:1-12 - Passage Lookup - The Message - BibleGateway.com: 

"Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. 

No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. 

And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

'Do you want to stand out? Then step down. 

Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. 

But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty."

We human beings have a way of always looking for someone else to blame.  We love "a leader" that we can depend upon, and we want to let them worry about the details.

But Jesus says that won't work when it comes to the living of our lives.  There are pastors and coaches and teachers.  There are presidents and governors and kings and queens.  There are parents and spouses.  All of these can play a role in our lives and in our world, but none of them can be responsible for our own actions and our relationship with God.

We only have one leader.  And his example is the way that we should go in our own lives.

We should serve.  Jesus took a towel and basin and washed the feet of his disciples.  This is our leader.  The presence of the one God, our true Father.

What would it mean to strip away all of our idols and only follow Jesus today?  What would it mean to truly become a servant?

Grace & Peace,
Adam

I Will Give You Rest

Matthew 11:25-28  NIV

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

   ²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

   ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

What's the most "weary" you've ever been? 

I don't think weary is a word we say too often.  Somehow it connotes more than just being "tired."  

"Weary" is something deep down.  It's almost more a condition of the soul than the body.  

Jesus tells us in this passage, in no uncertain or unclear way, that he and the Father are one.  He is the ultimate revelation of the very nature and heart of God among us.  

And that nature?  

Rest for the weary.  

We don't have to go through the beauty of this life angry, frustrated or road-worn.  There is rest.  He is our God.  And all will be well. 

Grace & Peace,

Adam 

On Your Toes

 Psalm 99 The Message

God rules. On your toes, everybody! He rules from his angel throne—take notice! 

   

God looms majestic in Zion, 

   He towers in splendor over all the big names. 

   Great and terrible your beauty: let everyone praise you! 

      

Holy. Yes, holy. 

 ^4-5 Strong King, lover of justice, 

   You laid things out fair and square; 

   You set down the foundations in Jacob, 

   Foundation stones of just and right ways. 

   Honor God, our God; worship his rule! 

      

Holy. Yes, holy. 

 ^6-9 Moses and Aaron were his priests, 

   Samuel among those who prayed to him. 

   

They prayed to God and he answered them; 

   He spoke from the pillar of cloud. 

   And they did what he said; they kept the law he gave them. 

   

And then God, our God, answered them 

   (But you were never soft on their sins). 

  

 Lift high God, our God; worship at his holy mountain. 

     

 Holy. Yes, holy is God our God.

This is the image of God that Jesus will give us in our readings this week.  

It seemed important to make a first stop at this powerful Psalm.  

God is enthroned.  Ruler.  "On your toes everybody!"  That makes me smile.  

We can smile with assurance, in the midst of an unsure world.  

As the cable news blares out anxiety and worry, we can trust.  As the world whips around us, we can be an island of security...not in ourselves, but in the God of Moses, Aaron and Samuel.  

"Lift high our God" this week by paying attention to the work that he is doing. 

He is everywhere to be seen.  

Grace & Peace, 

Adam 

His Voice is Life

 Today's Reading, John 5  NIV

 ²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 

²⁵ Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

   ²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

His voice is life.  

Consider.  Those who hear his voice, and respond with what is good...will rise from their graves.  

This is radical stuff.  It is radical hope.  Jesus-followers, please don't ever sell this short.  

His voice is life.  It is victory over the grave.  The Son has "life in himself," and he is our hope.  

If this is our eternal hope, it's also our hope every day. There are countless opportunities for us to experience new life each moment.  

John 5 calls these moments "the works of the Father" accomplished through Jesus.  They are the proof of Jesus' identity.  

Where have you seen these works in your own life this week?  

See you Sunday at SOTH as this week's come together to give us the image of Jesus as the Living Word.  

Grace & Peace, 

Adam 

Today's Reading

Revelation 22:16-17 The Message

Jesus sent my angel to testify to these things for the churches. I'm the Root and Branch of David, the Bright and Morning Star.

"Come," say the Spirit and the Bride. Whoever hears, echo, "Come!". Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life!
------------------------------------------

So the theme of this week's readings just keeps going. God continually offers us abundance if we will choose to receive it!

I've heard that sort of thing said in church my whole life, but I'm so thankful that bit by bit, God is helping me understand and experience it more fully.

Are you thirsty in your soul?

I can promise you that there truly is living water all around.

But the old saying about thirsty horses is true. God leads us but doesn't make us drink.

He allows us to struggle as long as we need to. At some point it is left to us to kneel down, scoop hands, open mouths and receive.

For me, that means gratitude. God is so good. Living water...bread of life. This is God's good gift.

Grace & Peace,
Adam


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Get Up

 ^1-6Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.

   Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"

 ⁷The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."

 ^8-9Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

 ^9-10That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules."

 ¹¹But he told them, "The man who made me well told me to. He said, 'Take your bedroll and start walking.'"

 ^12-13They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

 ¹⁴A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "You look wonderful! You're well! Don't return to a sinning life or something worse might happen." (John 5:1-14, The Message)

What do we do when Jesus says, "Get Up."

Or, maybe, he says it more like...GET UP.

It's a command, not a suggestion.

Most of the time, we like to feign ignorance.  We pretend not to know what Jesus is commanding us.  That's one reason we don't read more scripture.  His words pierce our lives.  He tells us what we need to do.  He doesn't suggest, sometimes he commands.

Of course, that sick man could still have chosen to lay there.  At least, that's what I think.  He didn't.  He obeyed, and obedience was the key that unlocked a miracle.

What commands could Jesus be giving you as his disciple?  How might being obedient lead to greater healing in your own life?

Grace & Peace,
Adam

Smile

Psalm 67 The Message

   God, mark us with grace and blessing! Smile! 

   The whole country will see how you work, 

      all the godless nations see how you save. 

   God! Let people thank and enjoy you. 

      Let all people thank and enjoy you. 

   Let all far-flung people become happy 

      and shout their happiness because 

   You judge them fair and square, 

      you tend the far-flung peoples. 

   God! Let people thank and enjoy you. 

      Let all people thank and enjoy you. 

   Earth, display your exuberance! 

      You mark us with blessing, O God, our God. 

   You mark us with blessing, O God. 

      Earth's four corners—honor him!

As we explore "The Words" of Jesus together, we find ourselves in the midst of step one.  Who does Jesus say he is?  This week, our theme is Jesus as the "living word."   How can the word be alive in our lives?  


We have to learn to hear it.  To see it.  To experience it, believe it, and then celebrate it.  Shout it, Psalm 67 tells us.  


If you've been at SOTH the last two Sundays, you know that Holly and I cannot say enough good things about One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  We'll be reading this book together as a congregation during Lent, which begins next Wednesday.  


I hope you can take about 5 more minutes to read here what she says about "hard eucharisteo."  It matters, and can make so much difference as the living word lives among us.  


Grace & Peace,
Adam