Pastors Corner

The stories in Luke chapter 15 have to do with Jesus seeking lost people. In Luke 19:10 Jesus said; “The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost. Lost in this context express the fact that people have left God out of their lives. They have left the source of life, their relationship with God is broken in some way. As you read the story of the lost son think about how both sons are lost or have a poor relationship with their dad. (vs 11-32). How do we encourage people to stay lost? What road blocks do we put in their way as they try to journey back to God? You have returned to God through the Christ but you may at times still feel lost. What can you do about that?    

1st Corinthians 10:1-13

Paul is concerned that the Church in Corinth might fall into idolatry. They have a false sense of security because they experienced God’s presence in worship and in the sacraments. But Paul tells them their ancestors also experienced God’s presence in the wilderness. These experiences of God in the wilderness did not save them when they turned away from God to other gods.

Any one of us can fall when tempted and the way of escape is Christ. Christ is the person who makes turning back to God possible. So if you have fallen it’s not too late to return. 

Philippians Chapter 3 and 4:1

This text is about Jesus Christ being all you need to be acceptable to God. Jewish missionaries came to Paul’s Church and tried to get the Christians to obey Jewish regulations. Paul tells his Church that he threw all that away in order to know Christ and he is glad he did. We cannot become acceptable to God by living a strict life or obeying religious laws. Paul understood that when we have faith in Christ God declares us righteous in the same way that God declared Abram righteous when he believed God. This is much better then trying to be good enough because we never know if we are good enough.    

This is the third 3 colors books we have done. The Author Christian Schwarz believes that liberal Christian (green) and Evangelical Christians(red) and Charismatic Christians (blue) each have a part of Jesus message. He believes each group needs to move towards God at the center.

In this book he maps out 9 spiritual styles that are natural to Christian people. Generally he says each style is represented by a denomination. But imagine how powerful it would be for Christs Church if we bring all of the people together and they grow in their understanding of each other. Instead of running from Church to Church and becoming a poor witness for Christ, we could actually grow up together in him.

For example people could work on understanding, enthusiastic and mystical Christians and enthusiastic people could work on being more doctrinally correct etc. The book does not ask you to accept a sinful life style which is how some people understand tolerance. But the book is asking you to stop kicking other people who are experiencing Christ in a different way to the curb.

The whole book is a Bible study on Mark 12:30 the two greatest commandments. The command is there and the book helps us find a way to do it in our every day lives. I hoped the whole congregation would study the book for Lent unfortunately there have been some gross misunderstanding of the book. I hope you will read it and then decide if it is worthy of consideration. 

Instead of following our bliss, sometimes God calls us to go with him to dark places to rescue the people that are there.

King David’s sibling position and his psychological profile would not point to him as a leader. Instead his oldest brother would be a better fit. But God’s ways are not our ways.

Youngest brothers of brothers tend to be followers and this may be why God choose David over his older brother. David was willing to follow God. David understood humble people receive God’s help. Psalm 138 vs 6

Things to think about—- From Jeremiah 1:1-10

1. What is the number one reason you would doubt God’s call in your life?

2. What happens when we refuse the call?

3. How does God respond to our weakness?

4. How do you and God respond to your weakness?

5. Jeremiah’s call was not permanent, God stopped speaking to him when Judah was taken captive. In what ways have you experienced temporary calls from God? How did you respond and what were the out comes?

6. What do you understand Gods universal purpose for all of us to be?

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