Text:  John 8:31-42

On this day, the contentious dialogue between Jesus and the Jews continues. There are some sayings here which we would do well to reflect on deeply.

“If you make my word your home, you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.” The Pharisees take umbrage at that statement. As descendants of Abraham they were never slaves to anyone. In fact, in the long history of their people, the Jews were almost continuously enslaved to invading powers. However, the slavery Jesus speaks about is the slavery of sin.

In responding to Jesus’ words, how many of us who want to be disciples of Christ have truly made his word our ‘home’? How many of us have to admit that we are not really very familiar with Jesus’ word in the New Testament? Yet we cannot truly follow him unless we are steeped in that word.

Again, how many of us really believe that the truth about life that is communicated to us through Jesus makes us genuinely free? How many of us experience our commitment to Christianity as a liberation? How many have left the Church because they felt suffocated and wanted to be free? What freedom were they looking for? For many being a Christian is sacrificing freedom in exchange for a promise of a future existence of pure happiness. We can say with confidence that, if we do not find being a Christian a liberating experience here and now, we do not really understand the true nature of our Christian faith.

“If God were your father, you would love me, since I have come from God.” To know Jesus, to love Jesus, to follow Jesus is the way to God and it is in God and only in God that we will find true happiness, freedom, and peace. But the only way to know the truth of that statement is to experience it personally.

May today be a liberating day for you.  Michael

Help us see signs like those you saw, Lord,
signs so small they may be missed.
Yes, signs are there in our lives and especially as we struggle.
Sometimes it’s an outsider
whom we never expected to help us at all.
Sometimes it’s something unexpected
we never thought about before.
Sometimes it’s as small as Bread.
You are the God who works great wonders,
but mostly you send us simple signs,
words, things that seem like nothing.  Amen.

Watch for God’s signs to you today.  Michael

Read John 12:20-33

Our gospel reading is part of the Palm Sunday event, when crowds acclaim Jesus by casting palm branches before him as he enter Jerusalem, crying "Hosanna to the Son of David."

Jesus is troubled as he enters the city, as well may he be. "My soul is troubled now, yet what shall I say, "Father, save me from this hour. But it was for this hour I have come."

It was a critical moment. Jerusalem’s religious establishment, resenting his words and actions, means to exterminate him. He has just raised Lazarus from the dead; his popularity grows; he could easily topple the uneasy balance at a volatile time and place.

As he enters Jerusalem a marked man, Jesus is given a sign to strengthen him, a very simple sign. Some Greeks approach Philip and Andrew and say, "We would like to see Jesus." In their request and eagerness to meet him, Jesus sees the lasting fruitfulness of his mission on earth. “Like a grain of wheat I will fall to the ground and die,.."

The gospel of John is known for signs like this, signs that point to glory. They are signs that say it is not the end, but the beginning. The Greeks who come as Jesus approaches his death are like the Magi at his birth. They are people from afar and they are the first of many. People will come from the east and the west; they will come from centuries beyond his own.

Like a grain of wheat, he falls to the ground and dies, but his life and his death bring much fruit .

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. James 3:9-10

Those who know me, know I like to talk.  But an abundance in anything can be unhealthy.  It is amazing how quickly some good remarks can spark a fire and how easily one’s comments can be taken the wrong way.  Walk lightly today and take care in your speech.

Praise God and little more and speak about others a little less.

Have a great day.  Michael

I write to you this morning from the Salvation Army Camp in Lawrence County.  I am retreating with the other ministers from Jackson County.  You have to be lost or have a reason to be here.  It sits upon the top of a ridge overlooking the county.  It is isolated and beautiful.  Not a wilderness but close to it.

This morning we rose early to greet the day and talk with our Lord.  We read from His Word about the week preceding Palm Sunday.  We thought about the calm before the storms of life.  We are each glad to be in ministry but carry the scars that come with it.

Such is life.  Our discovery this morning is that God is not an exacting God.  He doesn’t want His pound of flesh.  What He wants is a life lived well.  A life full of life.  Such a life comes with a price but is better than going through the motions.  Live this day.  The good and the bad and the ugly.  But live it!

Living this life with you.

Michael

Lord,

This is the week you raised Lazarus.  This is the week you wept twice.  Amid all the joy of what you were to accomplish, you endured your greatest pain.  Help us Lord not just to praise you this week but to understand you.  Help us not just to applaud you but to apply you.  Let our minds and hearts be open to the calm before the storm. 

In your name, we ask it.  Amen.

Matthew 4:19:Follow me and I will make you fishers of Men.

Need a reason to follow Christ:

This reason is right here in the text. The call, "Follow me" is enhanced with the promise, "I will make you". Charles Spurgeon says that this call and promise should lead us to repent of who we have been and rejoice in what we may be. The promise is just as relevant to us today, we have been made new creatures in Christ, the old things have passed away and behold new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) The "I will make you" is just as much for us today as it was for the Apostles to whom it was spoken.

Notice also that Christ does not say to them, "Follow me, you know you guys are just the people I have been looking for. You are so skilled in your craft, and you are prepared to come work with me." Nor does He say, "Follow me, I see real potential in you, you guys might turn out to be somebody someday and I want you on my team." Nope, Christ says, "follow me and I will make you". These two who Jesus called were fisherman. They were brothers named Simon (Peter) and Andrew. They were from Capernaum and they were Galilean.

The Talmud says of Galileans, "They were more anxious for honor than for gain, quick-tempered, impulsive, emotional, easily aroused by an appeal to adventure, loyal to the end." Both brothers were probably uneducated. Christ says to them, "I will make you" and what did they become? Both became leaders in the establishing of the Christian Church. Both became Martyrs for their faith in Christ. Both were crucified on a cross, both begged that they not be crucified as Christ had been crucified. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, now called St. Andrew's cross and Peter was crucified upside down.

"To resist one's cross is to make it heavier." Henri Amiel

"The greatest of all crosses is self--if we die in part every day we shall have but little to do on the last. These daily deaths will destroy the power of the final dying." Francois Fenelon

"Die before you die. There is no chance after." C. S. Lewis

"The cross is rough, and it is deadly, but it is effective." A. W. Tozer

Jackson County.  Take up your cross today.  Michael

Dear Lord, what an honor and privilege to have you as my teacher. There is no one in all creation I would rather have teach me how to live.

So teach me your truth, Lord, so that I might know you and your ways. Teach me to live in the manner of Jesus. Teach me to represent you accurately in this world, both in my words and in my deeds. Teach me how to be faithful in all of my roles: at work and at home, in church and in the community.

Thanks be to you, gracious God, for allowing me to be your student. So teach me, Lord, all that I need to know. Amen

May He teach you today.  Michael

As of January, 51 of Indiana's 92 counties have unemployment rates of 10 percent or more. Another 17 counties have unemployment rates of more than 9 percent.

            These statistics show the cold, hard truth of the challenge facing lawmakers in the 2009 session of the Indiana General Assembly. Not only do we need to find more jobs for Hoosiers, but we must protect those men and women who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are trying to care for their families as they look for work.

            The problem is that the trust fund used to provide unemployment benefits is bankrupt. For the past several years, the amount paid in benefits has been greater than the amount paid into the fund through employer contributions.

            Indiana has been forced to borrow more than $580 million from the federal government in order to continue to support out-of-work Hoosiers, with no end in sight. That figure could easily exceed $1 billion by the end of this year and keep growing unless the Legislature does something to make the fund solvent again.

            Along with job creation and passing a state budget, fixing Indiana's unemployment insurance crisis is a priority for state legislators this year. I believe the best solution is one that protects our working men and women at a time when they need our help the most.

            A reform plan that came before the House earlier this session would have protected worker benefits, but those efforts failed when the House minority chose to derail the process by claiming the burdens facing employers were greater than those of people who had lost their jobs.

            The matter then was taken up by the Indiana Senate, which passed out a plan this week (House Bill 1379) that offers a tentative first step toward reforms. It is guaranteed that this legislation will end up in a House-Senate conference committee to work out a compromise.

            Based on what I have seen in the Senate's version of House Bill 1379, it fails to protect workers and families who are trying to survive these difficult times. The plan will cut benefits to unemployed Hoosiers by more than $540 million, and make it even more difficult to qualify for those benefits.

            I cannot support a plan that hurts workers and their families when they already are suffering. Their concerns will guide my vote on any reforms.

            While we still have several weeks to find a compromise, I would like to see the governor take a more active role in this matter. So far, he has said only that he doesn't believe Indiana needs $148 million in federal stimulus money to help the unemployed, but he does think that out-of-work Hoosiers already receive "Rolls-Royce" benefits. For your information, the average weekly benefit provided currently is about $300 before taxes are taken out.

            I want to mention another issue that came before the House this week.

            Representatives passed a measure (Senate Bill 388) that will give Indiana property taxpayers nearly $200 million in additional relief this year if it becomes law. The proposal would speed up enactment of property tax caps already in Indiana law to give owners of homes, farms and businesses the full benefit of those caps this year instead of next.

            The plan would limit a homeowner's bill to no more than 1 percent of the property's assessed valuation, while the cap on farm and rental property would be no more than 2 percent and the limit on business property would be no more than 3 percent. This proposal also gives us a chance to get additional information to show how the caps will affect schools and other local units of government.

Dear Lord, thank you for calling us to deep intimacy and mutual care in your body.

When we weep with those who weep, we find that our relationships are more meaningful, more permanent, more transforming.

But, you know, Lord, how much I struggle to do what Romans 12:15 requires. I can find people’s sadness to be unsettling. Plus I don’t want them to be in pain. So I want so much not to weep with them, but to get them to stop. Help me, gracious God, to live out this verse in my life: with my family, my colleagues, my friends, my brothers and sisters at church, and all those you bring into my life. Give me a tender heart for those who hurt and the willingness to feel their pain.

I thank you most of all, dear Lord, for entering into our suffering through the Incarnation. You have modeled the kind of costly intimacy and vulnerability that you expect of us. How good you are to us! Amen.

Watch for those today who are hurting.  Encourage them.  Michael.

Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
Know that the Lord is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him;
bless his name, for
he is good:
the Lord,
whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100

Under Jewish law, a newborn is officially given a name on the 8th day (Luke 2:21). If the child is male, he has to be circumcised (Leviticus 12:3).

Jesus’ mother, Mary, was purified as required by the Law (Luke 2:22). A new mother of a son was considered unclean for 7 days and had to wait for another 33 days before she could enter the temple. The Law required a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. The poor could substitute a dove or young pigeon for the lamb (Leviticus 12:2-8). Mary offered the sacrifice of the poor (Luke 2:24). The Messiah was born a poor man’s son.

The Law also required that Joseph and Mary dedicate Jesus to the Lord in the temple because Jesus was their firstborn son (Exodus 13:2; Luke 2:22-23).

For Joseph and Mary, the past 11 months had been the most amazing time of their lives. Angels visited them. They experienced the miraculous birth of Jesus. Yet despite all these amazing and miraculous events, we see them living in humble and complete obedience to the Law. Luke highlights their obedience to God’s commands in Luke 2:22-24,39.

What’s important in your life is not the extraordinary experiences you may have. Joseph and Mary remind us that the key component of the life of the believer in Jesus is obedience to God’s Word.

Spring has brought it’s rain but the resurrection is near.  Honor our Lord today in Jackson County by obeying Him to the best of your abilities.

Michael

Dear Lord,

When your people are unleashed for ministry, they become a powerful force to advance your kingdom. Yet, sadly, many of your people don’t realize how you want to use them in the church and in the world.

Help your people, Lord—all your people—to realize who they are as your ministers. May your body – represented in local churches as well as in your church throughout the world – be fully functional, one in which all members are doing their part.

Help me, Lord, to be faithful in using the gifts and talents you have given me for the sake of your body. May all that I do be for your honor and glory. Amen.

May God use you mightily.  Michael

Long-term commitment whether in marriage, religious life or in other forms, is harder these days because of change. The loved one changes, and we change ourselves with time; so our relationships change.

We cannot live our whole lives at concert pitch. But when the tune changes, it need not be the end of the concert. It often is. In some countries half the marriages end in divorce. What is there in us that can survive the changes of time, and the up-and-down of living relationships?

As we look back at the promises kept, we see our commitment is at once richer and more painful than when we started. Faithfulness is a bit of a mystery and a marvel; it has a value in itself. Faithful love builds up the one to whom we are faithful, expresses our hope in them. It is a grace, a gift: not so much what we do for God as what he does for us.

In a world ravaged by greed, the following prayer is worth reciting to our Lord.

Displaying the treasures of Your work,
Jesus, You invited me to follow You,
To sell my goods, to give to the poor,
And to completely submit Myself to You.
Desires for wealth leads to greed,
Satisfaction never being reached.
He who seeks no earthly possessions
Is free of avarice and greed.
Jesus, teach my weak human nature,
To resist unnecessary possessions.
May I subdue all greedy tendencies!

I ask this in your name and for your kingdom.  Amen.

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. -Isaiah 40:8 (NRSV)

I love the following insight from a Christian in Alabama to begin my week.

I know that spring is coming because the daffodils are blooming outside my kitchen window on this winter morning. Daffodils are a sure harbinger of spring. The daffodil bulbs that I planted came from my Grandmother Darby's garden. She has been gone nearly 30 years, but her flowers return and bloom each year, reminding me of her.

The daffodils fade, but they return. Jesus died, but he arose. Easter is our celebration that Christ is alive and that God's love and power are our everlasting shelter. The psalmist calls us to take delight in the Lord and to commit everything we have and do to God. If we trust and obey God's will, we will find God always there for us. We can count on God to bring us "the desires of [our] heart."

Just as the daffodils bloom each spring, God stays with us - but never withering, never fading. How wonderful that the Lord can use such a small thing as a flower to remind us of the great cycle of eternal love!

Dear God, thank you for your love in sending your son. Help us to do your will as Jesus did - knowing that you are always with us, even when we fail. Amen.

Watch for a daffodil today.  Michael

Gracious God, for many people today, the economic crisis has sent us into the darkest valley. We wake up in the middle of the night with worries that won’t be calmed. Each day brings new headlines that fuel our fears.

Help us, dear Lord, to know that you are with us even in scary times. May we trust you so that we are not afraid. May we sense your protection and feel your comfort.

Today I want to pray specifically for people who have lost their jobs or realize that they may soon do so; or for those who have seen their investments plummet in value and worry about their future or for others who are experiencing the sorry impact of the economic downturn.

Dear Lord, help them in tangible ways. But even more than this, I ask that you make your presence known to them. May they feel the peace that surpasses understanding, even today. Amen.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.    Romans 12:2

Dear Lord, I confess that I feel the lure of this world in so many ways. Even though I seek to live for you and think your thoughts, in so many ways I am conformed to this world. Forgive me, Lord.

Today I hear your call not to “copy the behavior and customs of this world.” You are instructing me to reject the ways of this world that are contrary to your ways. If I’m to do this, Lord, I need to see myself and my world as you see me. I need new clarity of vision to see through the lies and pretenses of my culture. I need especially to see where I have bought into these without even knowing it. So help me, Lord, to see with your eyes, so that I might say “No” to the fallen ways of this world.

At the same time, I ask you to keep me from the temptation of withdrawing from this world and its people. May I continue to live in this world for you and your purposes. Use me, Lord, as a channel of your grace, truth, and love wherever I may be. Amen.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. [Romans 12:1]

Gracious God,

Today I thank you for my body. I must confess that I take for granted the ways you have blessed me in my body, focusing instead on its limitations, pains, and failures. Yet my body is a gift of inestimable value. So I give you thanks for this physical center of my life.

Lord, may I recognize that my body finds its true and whole purpose when it is given to you. May I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice, devoting my whole self to you and your purposes. As I do, may I abstain from all that dishonors, weakens, or distresses my body. May I care for my flesh so that it might be fit for your service. And then, may I give my body to you each day, serving you with all that I am in every situation. Use me, Lord, for your kingdom’s purpose. Amen.

At certain times in our life, all of us will have feelings of inadequacy. Perhaps your job requires a new skill that seems beyond your ability; maybe a relationship is not progressing the way you had hoped; or it could be that you have been asked to serve in a ministry for which you lack experience. These situations are never comfortable, but they may not be entirely negative. In fact, feeling that you don’t have what it takes can actually be a blessing rather than a barrier in your life.

A sense of inadequacy is oftentimes a roadblock that prevents us from experiencing God’s best. It can lead to fear of failure or the feeling that we will not measure up to expectations of family, employers, church associates, or friends.

Sometimes, when we regard ourselves as unqualified for certain relationships or tasks, we try to rationalize avoiding responsibilities and healthy risks. For example, if people lack training or a certain spiritual gift, they might feel justified in declining opportunities like teaching Sunday school or taking a mission trip. But that is not a good excuse; when God calls us to an assignment, none of us really should feel adequate in and of ourselves to accomplish it.

By turning our backs on a task God assigns, we suffer the loss of a blessing He intended.

Christians should ask, How can I experience God’s best in my life when I feel unqualified and unworthy of His blessing?

The key is found in 2 Corinthians 3:5: “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. . . .” This confession of Paul’s own shortcomings comes just a few verses after he described believers as “a fragrance of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16) The people who observe us can sense “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and self-control” radiating from our lives. (Galatians 5:22-23) Even though unbelievers may dislike aspects of our behavior or beliefs, something about God’s followers is attractive, like a flora scent—namely, Jesus Christ living His life in and through us.

Don’t let your insecurities limit you today. Trust in the influence of God’s Spirit in your life. He will make you a blessing in every avenue of your life. He will not make you an engineer instantly but he will empower you to become one. He will not force a relationship to be that chosen relationship but he will guide the right one to you. So lighten up today and just do your best and trust the rest to God.

I will be home tomorrow. Michael