Day 29: 1 Corinthians 16 – 2 Corin. 9 Opening Reflection

BOASTING…

            Once again in 2^nd Corinthians we hear this notion of boasting.  It is an ongoing theme through out 2^nd Corinthians, however, the notion of boasting is rectified ultimately with our prescribed text today (2 Corin. 10:17-18): “Let the one who boast, boast in the Lord, for it is not those who commend them selves that are approved, but those whom the Lord commends

Paul is obviously fed up with people who say they are something and boast about what they do or have become and are really not.  I can see Paul, once known as Saul, coming around now – today, 2007 – I know not in Trinity but maybe stand outside the doors and talk to those passing by: YOU FOOLS, YOU SAY YOU ARE CHRISTIANS, BUT HOW IS THAT SO?

Paul goes through a long list of hardships – Paul says I have been though many trials and tribulations, been beaten, jailed, stoned, and shipwrecked, but all of these latter things made Paul stronger.  Therefore Paul boasts about his hardships because they make him Stronger in Christ.  I wonder what would happen if every time we went through hardships, we would begin to grasp them in a positive light and boast about them because we know they will make us stronger?Paul says: “Examine yourself to see whether you are living in Faith.  Test Yourself.  Do you realize that Jesus Christ is in YOU?” – DO YOU PASS THE TEST?FAITHFULNESS…IS THE KEY

            Galatians speaks to our times, just like it did in its intended era 1^st century CE, where people will preach things other than God and Jesus Christ the Savior.  Galatians emphasizes various social issues: Racism, Classism and many other Social “isms”.  What is the “Circumcision Faction” today?

 What ever the Case I believe Paul’s one resounding point in his writing is this: “the one who is righteous will live by Faith.”

Day 28: 1 Corinthians 16 – 2 Corin. 9 Opening Reflection

In 2 Corinthians we find Paul, Timothy, and mention of Titus Boasting.  Boasting may be defined of as speaking of yourself or about an entity in superlatives.  They were boasting on how good the Corinthians were and boasting about how much work they had put forth to help the people of Corinth get to this point.  The whole scene reminds me of how God was boasting about Job to the devil and I can imagine Jesus doing the same for us right now.  I have done countless things for my people and they serve God through Me, I even died for them so I know they live righteous and upright lives so that they may glorify GOD…

            Are we dissapointing Jesus? Are we allowing Jesus to sound like the barber shop man or beauty parlor woman whom are always boasting about what they have and then it turns out every time not to be true or not to the degree that they describe?  Are we letting Jesus down by:

·        Not having any faith  even though Jesus has done enough for our faith never to falter

·        Not being true servants even though Jesus faithfully served us until brutal death for us

·        Not loving even though God loves unconditionally and despite the love Jesus showed to us by dying on the cross.

·        Not praying as if you don’t need a higher intervention as if you are strong enough to conquer all things by yourself.

·        Not letting you light shine even though you have been instilled with a proper light bulb, faith, and refuse to turn your switch on…?

Our prescribed text today truly shares some Good News that I am sure we all knew – For in Christ the answer is always YES, for in Christ every one of God’s promises is a YES and through Jesus and the resurrection we say AMEN.  For though Christ all things are possible and in knowing that we can already count what we need done in Christ.

The prescribed text also says it is written – I believed and therefore have spoken…

Is what you believe speaking for you?

Day 27: 1 Corinthians 10-15 Opening Reflection

1 Corinthians 10:13 stands out to me most and speaks to all of us especially me in a profound way…

 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is Faithful and God will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with testing God will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure.”

Day 26: 1 Corinthians 2-9 Opening Reflection

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS HERE…         

The Spirit – Holy Spirit – knows everything

               ·       The spirit teaches you

               ·       The Spirit helps you

               ·       The Spirit blesses you

Sometimes, however, we deviate from the spirit and let the worldly persona edify us.  When we do that we end up like mere infants in Christ. And when we get caught up in doing what is popular in the world we end up like mere men quarreling and fighting about worthless issues.  Quarreling over who plants the seed and who waters the seed for the sake of knowing whom is better missing out on the whole point that its is God’s power that allows the seed to grow.

·       Not circumcision

·       Not food

·       Not all the idols we worship

          o      Money

   o      Cars

   o      Celebrities

   o      The American dream

                         §       None of these have the Power of the Holy Spirit to help you grow nor God’s power to make a way

God freely gives of his power to those who condition them selves to be 5 star Christians.  For God wants us to win the race.  In a race all compete and all the runners are trying to win, but only one takes the prize.  In essence Paul is telling us and the people of Corinth: God wants you to be focused – not running aimlessly; God wants you to concentrate your energy on being a 5 Star Christian – not batting the air; God wants us to be Disciplined and Responsible – even if it takes punishment and enslavement.

If you do all you can, especially the latter, you can win the race, but Paul makes it perfectly clear that if you fall prey to or succumb to being in opposition to doing ALL the things it takes to win the race  - YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED

 I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I AM TRYING TO WIN THE RACE…!

Day 25: Romans 11 – 1 Corinthians 1 Opening Reflection

GOD CAN GRAFT YOU…

            Are you ready to be connected, are you ready to be spiritually well-nourished, are you ready to be physically happy, are you ready to be grafted to the most Fruitful vine ever?

            We have, unfortunately, all done things that have cut us off from the Lord, but by faith you can be grafted – meaning you can receive God’s grace and mercy and be allowed to Grow with the Lord… To grow with God takes 3 things

·        Love

·        Faith

·        Perseverance

Growing with God has it seasons, and rather than complain about the season we have to adapt to the season for love fertilizes our hearts and faith sustains us in droughts and allows us to grow in the spring and summer and perseverance is the fruit of faith – the ability to endure anything

            You have to get connected for we ALL are going to HAVE to answer to the Lord.  The Lord is going to want to know about our situation in relation to the VINE.

·        Will you say that you are disconnected because…

o       Your faith could not endure the pruning season

o       You could not own up to what you did to be cut off

o       You could not meet the minimal requirements to be grafted onto the VINE

o       You allowed the wrong people to sit on your branch severing your ties with the VINE

Paul was grafted to the VINE.  If Saul can become Paul you can also go from a sinner to a saint and be Boastful in God through Faith

Day 24: Romans 5-10 Opening Reflection

FAITH…FAITH…Faith…faith

            Faith produces justification, faith produces accessibility to God, and Faith produces a certain level of boastfulness in all things

            Faith allows you to boast when you are going through that midnight hour, faith allows you to boast when you are just going through it, faith allows you to boast when things are not going your way, faith allows you to boast doing your trials and tribulation, faith allows you to boast doing times of anguish and bereavement, FAITH ALLOWS YOU TO BOAST EVEN IN YOUR OWN SUFFERING – because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character hope. . .

            Hope and faith have from time to time have been used interchangeably – but hope in essence is the fruit of faith – for hope is the act of waiting in expectancy and you can’t wait in expectancy without faith.

            Today’s prescribed text speaks engagingly about sin and how it lurks around every corner, in dark places as well as in bright day light right in front of your face – looking to deceive, looking to kill, and looking to enslave us to devilish thoughts, words and actions, justifying and making it easier do what you don’t want to do and avoid doing what you want to do.  But because we are sinners by nature God thought kindly enough about us that while WE WERE YET SINNERS, God gave his son to die for our sins, ultimately buying us into slavery – we are slaves of God.

            Because of our status if we work for God, we can have faith to ask the semi-rhetorical question: if God is for us who can be against us?

            The hard thing about faith though is that it has to be disciplined and conditioned to endure for God is a sovereign God.  Do you have faith, however, to deal with the fact that God does not have to justify anything?  God can like and love whom God wants to like and love as well as hate who God wants to hate.  God can cause us to trip, stumble, and fall with out justification or explanation – How do you deal with the fact that you may feel that God may be picking on you?  

            The word tells us today, on the contrary, ANYONE who trusts in the Lord will not be put to shame – How many are willing to trust in God to the breaking point of humiliation?  DO YOU HAVE TRUE APPLICABLE FAITH or conditional faith?

Day 23: Acts 27 – Romans 4 Opening Reflection

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP…In the Midst of your Storms

·        STAY ON THE SHIP

o       Even when the ship is beaten,  even when it does not look too favorable, even when the ship looks like it is going in the wrong direction, even when the things on the ship are looking dreadful – STAY ON THE SHIP

§         Because when the ship becomes dismantle and crumbles, any little remnant of THE SHIP can still save you

God is our ship, and God is trying to take you to the next level in your life, to the caliber of a 5-star Christian, but many of you are jumping off the ship prematurely.  It’s hard to stay on the ship when everything is going wrong for you feel as though the ship is causing your problems and that you would be better off off of the ship, and you are being pushed to your limits end.    In the midst of it all Stay on the SHIP

            If you can just wait on God to move, if you can just hold on to any part of God, if you can just trust in the God you will be saved from the wreckage.

            We are going to face hard times in life, we are going to face times were we feel like giving up, and we are going to have times were we feel like jumping off the ship even if it kills for we may be better off, but if you want to make it to the promise land you have to stay on the ship.   God’s deck is big enough for all of us don’t be afraid to ride God on in to your blessing

Day 22: Acts 21-26 Opening Reflection

Being Bound…Doing the work of the Lord will always lead to being bound by chains literally and figuratively, being persecuted, and being in opposition to the majority of society’s beliefs and culture.

            When doing the work of the Lord, unfortunately you are going to need a defense like Paul.  His defense was: “All I am doing is believing in Jesus Christ, The Resurrection, and following what the Bible says.

            Paul also understood that as he completed the work of the Lord that God would also have his Back.  Just like Paul formerly Saul, we have done many things adverse to the will of God and hurtful to the mission of the Lord.  But similar to Paul, by GRACE & MERCY we have come to know the Lord…!

            I would suggest, however, that if you know the Lord then you have no choice but to do the work of the Lord.

            DO YOU REALLY KNOW THE LORD?

Day 21: Acts 16-20 Opening Reflection

PRAISE IN THE MIDST…

            Have you ever just been going through something…been down, felt like there was no way out of our situation, felt like there was no hope, no reason to have faith, and really begin to question what life is really all about?  Have you just been going through it…?

A time of death, a time of bereavement, a time of sorrow, a time when things just do not seem to be going right…

A time when it just seems like you have been shackled to the pits of life and someone has just thrown away the key, a time where there just feels like a heavy burden is constantly on your back…

Peter was in this position…we are going to title this position of going through … midnight…the valley between your decline to the pits and the incline out.  It’s the midway point but it’s your lowest point. Midnight is also your coming out point if you know how to handle it right…

Our prescribed text says that Peter and his cohort were thrown in jail basically locked under the jail…but AT ABOUT MIDNIGHT…THEY BEGAN TO SING THE LORD’S PRAISES…YOUR MIDNIGHT IS YOUR COMING OUT POINT IF YOU KNOW HOW TO PRAISE THE LORD IN THE MIDST…

Praise is all it takes to set you free in the midst of trial and tribulation.  Praise the Lord for what the Lord is going to do, can do, and will do.  This “IN THE MIDST OF” praise can liberate your demeanor, liberate you attitude, and liberate how you feel about your present situation…Praise can not only set you free but set others free.

There is no limit to what can happen when you believe in Jesus Christ and Praise the Lord for in God we live, move, and have our being.

Whether in tongues, by shouting, by dancing, by praying, by any means necessary PRAISE  is necessary…right now you ought to be able to Praise the Lord – Praise the Lord for what the LORD is doing, for what the LORD is about to do, and if your reading this the LORD has already done too much – PRAISE THE LORD IN THE MIDST – PRAISE THE LORD ANYHOW – PRAISE THE LORD RIGHT NOW!!!

Day 20: Acts 10-15 Opening Reflection

GOD SPEAKS…

 

DO YOU LISTEN AND MOVE WHEN GOD SPEAKS OR DO YOU SIT AND WAIT?

 

We all suffer from procrastination but what must God do to get us to move?

            Sometimes God’s message is in contrast to what we observe, what we desire, and sometimes what may seem right to us.  God was speaking through many entities – men and women, through dreams, and through angels and still may speak to you in other various ways.  When God, speaks to you, however, you have to move.

• If you do not move when God speaks
  • You cannot be free from your oppression – god may be trying to get you out of a situation you see no way out of like Peter but if you do not move when he says move you will be stuck in oppression
  • You allow others to miss out on their blessings – for what Peter did in response to what God told him allowed others to receive their blessings

You kill the praise and testimony God is trying to manufacture – By what God does in your life, and what you allow to happen in other people’s life by listening to God gives you and others a testimony