Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?
John 4:43-54
This was an overwhelming week for many of the people in this room today. Special events that accompany the end of a school year pile on top of the regular schedule. There are dozens of details that have to be handled and when the week finally came to an end we look forward to taking a deep breath and a nap!
Just when you think you'll get to relax, death comes knocking. Really. A neighbor who is close to us had a massive stroke that left him with no brain activity. Rather than taking a nap, we were at the hospital with the wife who was in shock. This was all moving so fast and took such an unexpected turn to the very worst it is only natural for us humans to ask, "Why is this happening to the father of four children who need him?"
What do we do? Where do we go? The Godless run to alcohol or drugs or as far away as they can get from the sadness.
However, the only reaction that follows the teaching of the Bible is to run to God.
Or, stay with God. Trust God in every situation then even though grief will come it can be turned into something good when placed in God's hands. Nothing good comes from what so many do with tragedy. Running away or to substance abuse destroys relationships and productivity. You can end up losing much more that what the crises brings to you.
In John 4:46-48 we read about the man who begged Jesus to heal his son. Jesus was a bit irritated when he said, "Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle you refuse to believe." Jesus is right. We all want what we want and we want it right now but Jesus is saying that God's ways are not our ways. We have to trust God with our lives even when it seems God is ignoring us.
Our simple faith, trust and submission allows God's plan to work.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
We Put God in a Box
Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?
Matthew 28:16-20; II Kings 17
We try to put God in a box and we assume God is going to do things our way. Just like us, the disciples were human, so they tried to put Jesus in a box. They assumed he had come to change Judaism because he was a Jew and because he taught in the temple and because he was a preacher and spiritual leader.
They figured after the death and resurrection of Jesus that they would continue his ministry right there close to home. Jesus surprised them when some of his last words as recorded in Matthew 28:16-20 and in Mark 16:15 were commands that they preach his resurrection in the uttermost parts of the earth including Samaria. This meant that Jesus didn't come just to change the Jews or Judaism, he came to change every human being and religious believe and practice.
This was shocking and very inconvenient. In II Kings 17 we learn that the Jews who were taken captive by the Assyrians melted into the Assyrian way of life. Maybe some Jews still tried to worship Jehovah God but in addition they took on the customs of their captors. This happened on the land that in Jesus' time was called Samaria. So when Jesus told his disciples they were to go preach to the Samaritans they were horrified. This was not their plan for how they would live out the rest of their lives. They wanted to stay with their Jewish family and friends who had never become tainted by the false gods of foreigners.
Has God asked you to do the unthinkable? Are you open to God's direction knowing that it is probably not what you think is the logical direction for you? We know from history and from people whose lives we admire that running from God will cause pain and stunt your growth. And, running to and with God will give you great joy. Take God out of your little box and start experiencing all He has planned for you.
Speaking of taking God out of a box, my brother-in-law, Bruce Camber, is a math whiz and he is trained in physics. More than once he has substituted for one of our math teachers and in preparation for one of the classes, Bruce created a teaching tool he calls, The Big Board for Our Little Universe. The tag line for it is, It's time to take God out of a box and put science in one. He is teaching kids to see the bigness of God and the smallness of science. He wants kids to stop being afraid of science and to start seeing the vastness of God's creation.
For a complete discussion of The Big Board, Click Here.
Matthew 28:16-20; II Kings 17
We try to put God in a box and we assume God is going to do things our way. Just like us, the disciples were human, so they tried to put Jesus in a box. They assumed he had come to change Judaism because he was a Jew and because he taught in the temple and because he was a preacher and spiritual leader.
They figured after the death and resurrection of Jesus that they would continue his ministry right there close to home. Jesus surprised them when some of his last words as recorded in Matthew 28:16-20 and in Mark 16:15 were commands that they preach his resurrection in the uttermost parts of the earth including Samaria. This meant that Jesus didn't come just to change the Jews or Judaism, he came to change every human being and religious believe and practice.
This was shocking and very inconvenient. In II Kings 17 we learn that the Jews who were taken captive by the Assyrians melted into the Assyrian way of life. Maybe some Jews still tried to worship Jehovah God but in addition they took on the customs of their captors. This happened on the land that in Jesus' time was called Samaria. So when Jesus told his disciples they were to go preach to the Samaritans they were horrified. This was not their plan for how they would live out the rest of their lives. They wanted to stay with their Jewish family and friends who had never become tainted by the false gods of foreigners.
Has God asked you to do the unthinkable? Are you open to God's direction knowing that it is probably not what you think is the logical direction for you? We know from history and from people whose lives we admire that running from God will cause pain and stunt your growth. And, running to and with God will give you great joy. Take God out of your little box and start experiencing all He has planned for you.
Speaking of taking God out of a box, my brother-in-law, Bruce Camber, is a math whiz and he is trained in physics. More than once he has substituted for one of our math teachers and in preparation for one of the classes, Bruce created a teaching tool he calls, The Big Board for Our Little Universe. The tag line for it is, It's time to take God out of a box and put science in one. He is teaching kids to see the bigness of God and the smallness of science. He wants kids to stop being afraid of science and to start seeing the vastness of God's creation.
For a complete discussion of The Big Board, Click Here.
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