Is God speaking to you today. Probably, The question really should be are we listening to what God is saying. I asked the class Sunday morning if someone wanted to share something God was saying this week to them. Amazingly enough several people had heard from God. It was great to here how God was touching and leading each person. It never ceases to amaze me that when God draws us closer to himself he will use everyday mundane things to communicate with us. All of a sudden everything we see, hear, or experience takes on a spiritual application. I love that.
Of course, sometimes, the messages aren't so subtle. Every once in a while God slaps us upside the head so he can get our attention. I told the story this Sunday morning about my daughter Lyndsay. Lyndsay had posted on Facebook earlier in the week her stress level about some upcoming decisions and tasks that she would be facing. My first thought was "great". Push outside of your comfort zone and experience the growth that comes from that. God, however, had a different message to Lyndsay. On Friday morning Lyndsay fell and broke her leg. The break was in both bones just above her ankle. Unfortunately Lyndsay is going to have to have surgery and cannot walk at all for at least two weeks after that. This means she is going to have to slow down and rest. Sometimes we get very caught up in the stresses of our lives and even though the things we're doing are very worthwhile they start to become an extra weight that we carry. While I may say "press on", get out of your comfort zone, that may not always be what God wants, at least at this particular moment. In some cases God may be saying " be still and know that I am God".
Now don't take this to mean that I believe God broke Lyndsay's leg! I am just saying God will use situations to communicate with us. Hopefully yours will be in the everyday,mundane type instead of the kind that you go to the hospital for. Either way lets be sure were listening.
John
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Romans 3:11- 18
11. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. 13. There throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. 14. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16. ruin and misery mark their ways, 17. and the way of peace they do not know. 18.There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:11-18. NIV
What do you think Paul means when he says " their throats are open graves "? The quote was taken from Psalms 5 verse 9. In that verse it begins " Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Those are pretty strong words coming from David about his enemies. Hopefully we do a better job today at taming our tongues than the enemies of King David although it is easy to slip up and say things that in retrospect we wish we hadn't said. I guess a hot topic here would be gossip but I think we all know what gossip does to a church body.I'm thinking today of some of the more subtle ways we hurt others with our words.
Years ago, I owned and operated an Exxon station in Durham. One of my employees was a young man named Tommy. Tommy was a great guy with an awesome sense of humor and every one liked him. Tommy's only real problem was that he was just 5.0 feet tall. Tommy developed a pretty good set of comebacks for all the short jokes that came his way over the years and didn't mind telling you what he thought of you in the process. Now this particular story isn't about a short joke or even a response to a short joke. I only tell you about this because I think you should know Tommy was used to harassment and adept at setting you straight if you were out of line. One day I was talking about Tommy to a group of people gathered in the office. Of course Tommy was there as the butt of some of my most brilliant, clever one liners at his expense. These were not short jokes. I don't really remember what I was saying but obviously I had found some other character flaws to pick on. I also always made it a point not to bring up things I knew a person was particularly sensitive too. I was a pretty noble guy, huh. Anyway I was letting him have it pretty good and getting some laughs from those around us when he said something to me that at the time no one had said before and made a profound impact on me. He said," I'm not worried about it. I know the only way you can build yourself up is by tearing me down". Now that may not sound like much to you but it stopped me in my tracks. I all of a sudden realized how right he was. My self worth was being inflated by hurting someone else. I had never even stopped to consider it before that moment. Now I'm sure that you've heard what Tommy said to me before, but I think its important to consider that sometimes the hurt we cause with our tongues isn't the obvious things like gossip or backbiting. Sometimes it's the things we think are funny that we don't really mean anything by. I'm not out to make everbody hyper-sensitive but I think that maybe before we speak we should consider what the impact of what we say will be to someone else. Of course I'm still guilty of this with Cathy, though I have tried to tone it down a little. One of my favorite lines comes from Everybody Loves Raymond.
Raymond's wife Deborah asks " Why do you have to make me look bad for you to look good"? Raymond's reply was. " I wish there was another way".
Some things to think about for the next Sunday we have class from the verses I listed;
Why do you think Paul calls their throats open graves?
What is the real harm in what we say?
What exactly do you consider cursing? Is it different words for different people? Is their really anything wrong with some of the words most people consider cuss words?
What does it mean to fear God? Proverbs 1:7
Is their a right and wrong way to fear God?
Who is Paul talking to in these verses? Who is Paul talking about in these verses?
Do these verses apply to anyone today?
These questions and more in our next class.
What do you think Paul means when he says " their throats are open graves "? The quote was taken from Psalms 5 verse 9. In that verse it begins " Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Those are pretty strong words coming from David about his enemies. Hopefully we do a better job today at taming our tongues than the enemies of King David although it is easy to slip up and say things that in retrospect we wish we hadn't said. I guess a hot topic here would be gossip but I think we all know what gossip does to a church body.I'm thinking today of some of the more subtle ways we hurt others with our words.
Years ago, I owned and operated an Exxon station in Durham. One of my employees was a young man named Tommy. Tommy was a great guy with an awesome sense of humor and every one liked him. Tommy's only real problem was that he was just 5.0 feet tall. Tommy developed a pretty good set of comebacks for all the short jokes that came his way over the years and didn't mind telling you what he thought of you in the process. Now this particular story isn't about a short joke or even a response to a short joke. I only tell you about this because I think you should know Tommy was used to harassment and adept at setting you straight if you were out of line. One day I was talking about Tommy to a group of people gathered in the office. Of course Tommy was there as the butt of some of my most brilliant, clever one liners at his expense. These were not short jokes. I don't really remember what I was saying but obviously I had found some other character flaws to pick on. I also always made it a point not to bring up things I knew a person was particularly sensitive too. I was a pretty noble guy, huh. Anyway I was letting him have it pretty good and getting some laughs from those around us when he said something to me that at the time no one had said before and made a profound impact on me. He said," I'm not worried about it. I know the only way you can build yourself up is by tearing me down". Now that may not sound like much to you but it stopped me in my tracks. I all of a sudden realized how right he was. My self worth was being inflated by hurting someone else. I had never even stopped to consider it before that moment. Now I'm sure that you've heard what Tommy said to me before, but I think its important to consider that sometimes the hurt we cause with our tongues isn't the obvious things like gossip or backbiting. Sometimes it's the things we think are funny that we don't really mean anything by. I'm not out to make everbody hyper-sensitive but I think that maybe before we speak we should consider what the impact of what we say will be to someone else. Of course I'm still guilty of this with Cathy, though I have tried to tone it down a little. One of my favorite lines comes from Everybody Loves Raymond.
Raymond's wife Deborah asks " Why do you have to make me look bad for you to look good"? Raymond's reply was. " I wish there was another way".
Some things to think about for the next Sunday we have class from the verses I listed;
Why do you think Paul calls their throats open graves?
What is the real harm in what we say?
What exactly do you consider cursing? Is it different words for different people? Is their really anything wrong with some of the words most people consider cuss words?
What does it mean to fear God? Proverbs 1:7
Is their a right and wrong way to fear God?
Who is Paul talking to in these verses? Who is Paul talking about in these verses?
Do these verses apply to anyone today?
These questions and more in our next class.
John
Friday, February 5, 2010
Romans 3: 9-10
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already Made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. Romans 3:9-10 NIV.
I ran across a post from a Bible commentary as I was doing some of my own studying. The post sited a question from a popular newspaper to it's readers. The question was "What is wrong with the world today"? A reader wrote this response to the paper: " Dear sirs, I am. In verse 9 Paul is bringing home the point that even though the Jews were the chosen people, they had a sin problem. Even though the Gentiles may have been ignorant of the Law, they too had a sin problem. As it turns out I have a sin problem as well, and I'm afraid so do you. I would dare say the sin curse is what is wrong with the world, to answer the papers question. As Paul quotes from Psalms " There is no one righteous ". The problem is not just that we sin, it's that we are sinners. Sin is not just what we do, it is a part of our being. Its tough to convince someone that they are a sinner and are in need of a savior, maybe because we don't want to believe we are really that bad. Sometimes we make it a relational thing and say "if this person or that person are OK then I will definitely be alright". Honestly, if we don't realize the depth of sin and how it has corrupted our relationship with God we are not likely to see the need for savior. No one can claim to be sinless and pure, therefore all stand guilty before God. We all share in the responsiblility for Jesus going to the Cross to save us from our sins. If the newspaper tomorrow asked the question:" Who or what was the reason Jesus died on the cross"? We could all write back Dear sirs, I am. The message in these verses is all are sinners but salvation through Jesus Christ is available for everyone no matter who you are or what your background. I'm sure you have heard, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
John
I ran across a post from a Bible commentary as I was doing some of my own studying. The post sited a question from a popular newspaper to it's readers. The question was "What is wrong with the world today"? A reader wrote this response to the paper: " Dear sirs, I am. In verse 9 Paul is bringing home the point that even though the Jews were the chosen people, they had a sin problem. Even though the Gentiles may have been ignorant of the Law, they too had a sin problem. As it turns out I have a sin problem as well, and I'm afraid so do you. I would dare say the sin curse is what is wrong with the world, to answer the papers question. As Paul quotes from Psalms " There is no one righteous ". The problem is not just that we sin, it's that we are sinners. Sin is not just what we do, it is a part of our being. Its tough to convince someone that they are a sinner and are in need of a savior, maybe because we don't want to believe we are really that bad. Sometimes we make it a relational thing and say "if this person or that person are OK then I will definitely be alright". Honestly, if we don't realize the depth of sin and how it has corrupted our relationship with God we are not likely to see the need for savior. No one can claim to be sinless and pure, therefore all stand guilty before God. We all share in the responsiblility for Jesus going to the Cross to save us from our sins. If the newspaper tomorrow asked the question:" Who or what was the reason Jesus died on the cross"? We could all write back Dear sirs, I am. The message in these verses is all are sinners but salvation through Jesus Christ is available for everyone no matter who you are or what your background. I'm sure you have heard, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
John
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