Bearing Witness

Eph. 4: 25-32: Speaking the truth in love. What does that look like? What does it have to do with being spiritually mature?

Eph. 3:14-21: How high and deep and long and wide is God's love!! Can you SEIZE it and really KNOW it! If so, think how that would change the world!?!

Eph. 2:11-22: Christ destroyed the dividing wall. Why do we rebuild it? We are no longer foreigners but citizens. There is ONE new humanity through Christ's work. Let us make it so.

It is by God’s gift (grace) we have been saved. This gift then transforms and equips us to share God’s love in tender action with the world.

Us vs. You. We Jews need you Gentiles. We seem to need someone to "other". But the Cosmic Christ - the one that is in all and through all - not just the Jesus who died and rose, breaks the dividing wall. We may have differences but God makes us one new people. One God,  one Church, One... One... One. There is no "we're in"/"you're out". 

A group reading of the letter to the Ephesians.

We are salt & light. We live in the Now & Not Yet - 2 realities at once.... Our saltyness & lightyness are gifts given by grace of Jesus, not something we earn through behavior. Go be salt & light - bringing flavor & color. 

How do we build the king of community that Jesus was building? 

What happens when the Holy Spirit shows up and disrupts everything? At the Jerusalem council, the Pharisees KNEW that they were following God correctly because they knew the law and kept it but Jesus' disciples were teaching something new and different. The Pharisees followed Jesus plus law but the disciples said - Nope, just Jesus.... that was different, seemingly breaking rules. How will we resp...

Change! It's not an option. It's always happening. Saul KNEW (he "believed") that he was Right! Recognizing that he was wrong.... Revising his understanding was a blinding experience! God links Jesus and His Church when He asked, "Why are you persecuting ME?" Ananias was told to GO and he did. Does our certainty keep us from going? From following Jesus away from what we KNOW is "right"?

The end of the journey is never really the end. We hit roadblocks. The question is... How are we going to get to the other side? A step of faith (aka: risk) is needed before we see God move.

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Jesus appears in a garden - a call back to the first garden. A renewing of all things. There is new creation! Look for it. Live like it!

What happens when a people forget who God is and what He has done?

What does the word "Torah" conjure for you? Not for the Israelites or Jewish people. For them it means order, community, structure, guidance on how to worship and serve Yahweh. The law was a step forward for those who had just left captivity and slavery in Egypt, who needed to know how to do this new life among all the other people groups around them.

Scarcity mindset. What if we viewed the wilderness as, not a place of bareness, but a place of preparation for abundance. In the wilderness, God provides divine abundance. "Day by day and with each passion moment strength I find to meet my trials here ...."

Exodus 14 - Our Deliverer. How quickly we forget, or choose to forget, that God has delivered us time and time again. 

The great reversal. While the Israelites were in pain and oppression, God was blessing them and preparing them for liberation. Keeping vigil. Pack your stuff and go. “I will build my life upon you lord you are firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken.”

Exodus 1 & 2 - God looked upon the Israelites and He took notice of them. He heard their groaning. Danger, Oppression, Exile - A common biblical narrative. Remember what God has done.... The Israelites have multiplied even while being in Egypt & in captivity as slaves. Egypt was afraid of them, not wanting to lose their free labor, yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied...

John 1 - What does it mean to be a disciple? A disciple is a learner. It's not all about head knowledge, thinking the right things, knowing the right things. It's being present with Jesus so that you can then BE like Jesus so that you can Proclaim the Gospel - Live the Gospel.

Psalm 139 - Search me and know me... We can and need to be honest with God because He already knows and He loves us. When we voice our anxiety and pain to God, we have the choice to ask God to search us and help us or to become the monster we hate. Chronic anxiety is so high these days - we must give it to God. Trying to deny or hide our real selves doesn't work. Only God can heal us.

God likes you, He really likes you! Self-examination can sound scary, but it really depends on your view of God. Is He angry and full of wrath or does He love you, warts, sins and all? Well - He loves you, He really loves you. Psalm 139 can fill us with comfort as long as we see God as someone who loves us, not who is angry with us. We are sinners in the hands of a loving God. Good news!

On Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, we look to what Jesus has to say about Reconciliation. This is not only personal but corporate. We are Ambassadors of Christ, called to bring reconciliation where there is division. Christ is reconciling ALL things to him and he invites us to participate. We now look, not AT reality but FROM reality as part of the New Creation in Christ Jesus. (taken from Richard...

We will be discipled. The question is "Who are we listening to?", "Who or What is forming us?". There are all kinds of influences that inform us/disciple us. Our job is to make sure that we are being discipled by Christ more than any other source.

Christ is Born....

The message for us from Mary & Elizabeth is in their faith that God's favor was resting upon them. Joy is resting in the truth that God's favor and love are present in the Coming of Jesus.