mindy

Exercise...Then report to the forum what the exercise meant to you personally or share what you've written with others. I took Psalm 8 and rewrote it using names of places and people in my daily life. "You have set Your glory above Madison. From the lips of Jade and Kendall You have ordained praise..." It was so cool seeing the Psalm personally. Not a dusty story from an age old book, but rather, my God cherishing me personally. It's one of those things you always know, but suddenly it just felt more real. Cool exercise.

Q3: In what way does the wonder of creation in the psalm seem to affect the psalmist? Wonder becomes awe, awe becomes reverence, reverence becomes surrender. Q3: In his concluding prayer in verses 23-24, what does he ask God to do? Get closer and lead him through forever.

Q2. (Psalm 19) Verses 1 to 6 seem very different from verses 7 to 13, but there is a common thread that relates the first part to the second part. What is it? As I understood the lesson, Dr. Ralph said these parts were linked by a common existence as products of God's Word. As I read the Psalm though, I noted that the common thread was not that they were both created by God's Word, although that is most assuredly true. The common thread according to my reading in this context is that both creation and Bible point us to God. These sections of the Psalm tell me how creation and Bible evangelize, proclaim, declare and illustrate God for us teency-weency-made-in-the-Image-of-God humans. Q2 continues: In what way does the psalmist seem to bask in God's Word? Have you ever felt that way? How does the psalmist's wonder in creation seem to affect him in this psalm? I see the beauty of creation and the Bible driving David to passionate, joyful dedication to his relationship with God. Q2 continues: In the classic prayer of verse 14, what is David asking God to do? David would like to be an acceptable offering to God. In this prayer David asks God to make him fit for Heaven even on the earth. Sounds alot like another prayer, don't it?

This Psalm teaches me that even God's name is far greater than I can ask or imagine. It shows me that I have nothing to fear even though I am vapor in the wind. I'm not sure I can say it teaches specifically about Jesus, although I can infer some things about Jesus because He is one with Yahweh who is the person praised in this Psalm.

Luke 16:22 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' 25 "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' I don't know where this paradisical bosom of Abraham is. I am sure I want the angels to carry me there! The tortures of the damned are apparent here as well. I know I don't want to go there. I trust that when I die Jesus will put me in a safe, happy, free and loving place until those last days come. Whether we call it Heaven or Paradise, or the Bosom of Abraham makes little difference to me as long as I get to hug my Jesus.

I signed up to go wherever Jesus is, to be like Jesus is, to become all that Jesus co-created me to be. I intend to let Him plant me in His presence where we can all enjoy one another forever. I hope to see you there.

In baptism, God affixes the sign and seal of innocence upon us AND imparts to us our ministerial calling. From this position of innocence we are born again as witnesses to His faithfulness using whatever talents He created us with.

God chooses witnesses to share the Good News. Here is a case where He chose good witnesses and set them on a course to change the world. Thank God He gave them the experiences they needed to come to believe and to pass that faith on to others who have passed that faith on throughout the generations all the way to me and you!

I love that Jesus is raised from the dead, the first fruits of all creation. I am having a bit of trouble being distracted by the language in this lesson, though. I sense that I am supposed to be angry at liberal Christian scholars as I read this rhetoric. The liberal Christian is not my enemy. The scholar is not my enemy. No matter how conservative my viewpoint, nor how liberal theirs, our common enemy is God's adversary (also known as beelzebub, the devil, satan, etc). I would like to see language that addresses resurrection without vilifying people.

In times of great crisis, those who keep their heads about them can maintain control over positions of power. We have seen this again and again in business and on church boards. The Pharisees and Saducees knew the Bible and knew the possibilities. They kept their cool against many Messiah-wanna-be's. They probably did this 'guard-the-tomb' thing many times. Keep in mind this is apocryphal thinking on my part. My point is this: If you know the truth and you want to keep the power you hold over the masses, all you have to do is prevent the truth from setting people free. There are three steps to accomplish this power play: 1) Learn to express your own truths confindently when Scripture offers options which offend you. 2) Post guards to prove that you are defending the faith against thieving interlopers. 3) Continue teaching your perspective confidently while the "Messiah's" disciples are grieving and crying and afraid.

Jesus is already my life. Everytime I draw breath, everytime I set His example, everytime I come to the Communion Table; I am participating in a foretaste of my resurrection joy. I think Jesus will open my heart, mind, soul, and strength to a greater experience of that new life. I will be "like a tree planted by the water" and God (Father, Son, Spirit) will be the water... forever and ever, Amen

Hello all. It is a beautiful rainy spring day in Kansas. I pray all is well in your neck of the woods. I hope these posts can uplift us and help us make stuff "on earth as it is in heaven."

These two witnesses received a call from God and answered it humbly and without fear even unto death...Out of His grace and mercy, God raised them into new life with His own breath, adding His proof to their faithfulness.

Obedience, period. It is important because nobody else ever did, or ever could, be obedient.

We have become apathetic because we have forgotten (or we never learned) that everyday is precious opportunity to live in God's presence. Every moment of breath we are given is truly a gift that we may revel in or squander. We are creatures designed for worship, and without the energizing power of that worship, we lose our passion to be His well loved children.

I overheard two pastors talking the other day about ways to meditate to learn the value of God's presence. One spoke of Hindu and Tao methods. The other of prayer and meditation as done by the desert mothers and fathers in the early Christian monastic movement and compared them to Tai Chi. A third pastor said she enjoyed reading the Scripture devotionally in the morning, for sermon preparation at noon, and meditatively in the evening. The other two stared at her for a moment and then agreed that her "regimen" was like a to do list rather than a devotion. I was flabbergasted to see that Hindu, Tao and Tai Chi meditative techniques were considered more valuable than immersing oneself in Scripture, but I guess that is exactly the point of this question. We are watering down our disciplines to make them more palatable to an internet world. We can't ask people to read the Bible three times a day, because then they would have to take time away from school sporting events. We can't ask people to come to church on Sunday because they are working every other day of the week. We cannot expect people to pray and fast, because that would be offensive to Mohammad and Buddha and Wiccans. And so, we give in. We teach what people will listen to rather than having the faith to teach the truth to those God has given ears to hear. We count it enlightened when our leaders take up an "alternate path," because we'd hate to admit that we were following an errant leader. We choose to point judging fingers at immorality while at the same time allowing idolatry to infect the bride of Christ, because it's easier to say that outsiders are bad than to say that insiders are. We have allowed Phariseeism and compromise to seep under the walls and seperate us from our foundation stone, Jesus. I imagine one day He's going to ask us why.

A congregation loses it's first love when anything replaces God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as the center of the church's life. We often mistake activity for abundance. We often worry more about offering money, than offering our hearts. We often hear the siren call of "let someone else do my share of the work" and are so surprised when our leaders burn out or fall into sin. There are so many ways to lose love, but only one way to keep it ...Ps 74:20 - Remember your covenant promises, for the land is full of darkness and violence!

It is extremely important to keep God's Law and to model that Law for others. We can never compromise in our own behavior those things we have learned from God's Holy Word. At the same time, we must always love the Image of God in others, even when they behave contrary to our understandings of Scripture. I live in Kansas where Fred Phelps pickets churches and restaurants and, worst of all, funerals. He carries signs that say, "God hates ****" and other atrocities. God doesn't hate those who are lost, He seeks those who are lost. Let us try to offer healing grace to those with whom we disagree, without compromising on what is sinful, because we were still sinners when He offered grace to us.

I have become convinced that the church is truly the arms and legs that bear the heart of God in the world. Thank you Joyful Heart for being good bearers.

We are made holy by Christ alone. All of our actions as individuals or as church are merely a response to that justifying, sanctifying gift of grace. How wonderful to discuss this on Pentecost week...wait for the power from on high to come upon you and lick you like a tongue of fire in your soul. It is that holy fire (the Holy Spirit) that will enlighten the world. We are kind of like the burning bush of Moses' time, on fire but not destroyed by it...the fire simply displays the presence of God.

When I think of unity in the church I like to imagine the temple that God says we are (2 Cor 6.16). Everyone who is born again gets their name engraved in a brick. Each brick is placed perfectly upon the cornerstone (Jesus) and even though we are just dumb bricks, God has made each of us fit a perfect place for all of eternity. How tragic would it be if we didn't work together with the other bricks that God has placed has placed around us to form a home for Him. It ain't about us, it's about becoming a home for Him....

An evangelist is the one who looks like Good News. They are the face of Jesus for us as He overflows from their heart. Evangelism is a lifestyle of the heart, not an act or hairstyle.

Baptism is a dying to self and rising to new life. Most often our disagreements stem from defending our own position or opinion. Remeber that when Jesus was accused He offered no defense. I think that is probably our difficulty with allowing others to be wrong and still love them, we know that kind of love leads to a cross. Very few of us are ready to take our baptism all the way.

The fantastic thing about the apostles and the prophets is that they were/are all regular folks. They didn't know they were going to be remembered on earth, although they probably expected to be remembered in heaven. Most of them didn't even want the job of changing the world. God made them great and will do the same for us. Church growth seems to have a rather interesting recipe. You take a leader who is made a leader by grace. Add a congregation that is held together by love. Move the whole thing by the power of the Holy Spirit and suddenly folks come from all over to share in feasting on Christ.

God's power is found in the heart of the faithful. We don't see the evidence of this limitless power because "we see through a glass darkly." We live in a perpetual state of spiritual blindness that can only be defeated by faith. As we open our hearts, God fills us with light. When we open our physical eyes, we close our hearts because we only see the darkness of sin in the world around us.