Mathew 1:18-25

Mathew 1:18-25

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Luke 1:47-55

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Luke 1:47-55

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Matthew 3:1-12

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[Art credit: Biblical Storytelling for the Global Village,http://gotell.org/pages/stories/Matthew/Mt03_01-12.html] 

Romans 15:4-13

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Psalm 72

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Isaiah 11:1-10

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Luke 1:47-55

Read Luke 1:47-55

[Art credit:http://seedstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/advent-4-b-december-18-lovesaying-yes.html]

Luke 2:1-20

Read Luke 2:1-20

[Art Credit: Network of Biblical Storytellers, International. http://www.nbsint.org/luke21-20]

Luke 1:47-55

Luke 1:46-55

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Matthew 3:1-12

Matthew 3:1-12

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Romans 15:4-13

Romans 15:4-13

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A couple of things to note in this passage:

1)  Every time Paul is talking about "gentiles" he's talking about you and me.  He's calling us to remember that though the roots of the Christian faith are found in Judaism, God's intent from the beginning, was global transformation.  The scope of the mission of Jesus, was to redeem the whole world.

2) We are promised overflowing hope!  This isn't something we have to manufacture or conjure up, it is something the Holy Spirit's presence will produce in us.

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

As you read this passage, see how it is good and right to desire justice.  This desire to see justice comes from God, and it is captured as an act of worship here for future generations.  Seeing it here in a Psalm helps us see that we can express our deepest longings to God in prayer.

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Isaiah 12

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Isaiah 65:17:25

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Romans 13:11-14

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Psalm 100

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Psalm 100

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Luke 21:5-19

Read  Luke 21:5-19

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2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

What helps you to live a faithful, self-disciplined life?

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Psalm 118

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Isaiah 65:17-25

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Psalm 100

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What 'joyful noise' are you making to God today?

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John 14:12-14

Read John 14:1-14

John 14:12-14

Read John 14:12-14

[Art credit: http://heisourstrongtower.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/sabbatical-day-17-works-greater-works/]

Luke 20:27-38

Read Luke 20:27-38

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Encsourage

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 

Whose faith are you encouraging today?

[Art credit: http://whoareyoulord.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/i-am-the-god-of-eternal-encouragement-and-good-hope-2-thess-3-13-17/]

Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21

Read Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21

 

[Art credit: http://authorangelaloveandjosephpaulwilliams.blogspot.com/2010/11/psalm-14510.html\

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Read Haggai 1:15b-2:9

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John 14:12-14

Read  John 14:12-14

[Art credit: http://heisourstrongtower.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/sabbatical-day-17-works-greater-works/]

Proverbs 11:25 Live Generously

Read  Proverbs 11:25

With whom will you be generous today?

Whom will you refresh?

[Art credit: http://myra.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/66687.html]

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 About your calling

Read  2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Are you seeking - looking, listening for - God's calling in your life?

Your awareness of it begins in recognizing that God loves you, and wants to be in relationship with you. He has given you Jesus to show, to tell, you how to fully live.

What is at least one way that you can live and love like Christ today?


[Art credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Live_a_Life_Worthy_of_the_Calling.jpg]

Psalm 119:137-144 How do you respond to stress and strain?

Read Psalm 119:137-144

Stress and strain have caught up with me,    but your commandments are my joy! (Psa. 119:143, CEB)

Engineers can teach us how much stress and strain an object can tolerate. Humans have a tolerance level, too; and, when exceeded, damage can result.

When stress and strain catches up with you, how do you respond? Do you push yourself to a point where you become ineffective?

This psalms teaches us that one of the ways that we can respond to the stress and strain in life is to spend time with the scriptures, to delight in God's great love for us.


[Art credit: http://willgallucci.com/wordpress/?p=167]

A new candidate for ministry

If you don't already know her, then meet Marianne Brown.

She is a remarkable young woman with a deep love for Christ and the Church. A member of St. Philip's, she is also on our Staff Team serving as our Student Ministries Intern. 

Feeling the particular calling in her life to full-time ministry, she visited with me about what it means to be a Pastor in The United Methodist Church. She was then interviewed by our Staff-Parish Relations Committee who recommended her (unanimously) to the annual Charge Conference to be a Candidate for ordained ministry. (Theses are the first steps in a multi-year process of education and preparation.)

One of the highlights of this past Sunday's Charge Conference was their unanimous vote to affirm Marianne's call and begin her in the formal process toward becoming a United Methodist Pastor.

One of the signs of St. Philip's vitality is the intentional culture of being a church where persons can be attentive to God's calling in their lives, encouraging and affirming their 'gifts and graces' - their spiritual fruitfulness - for ministry. St. Philip's, you do that very well, indeed.

If you don't already know her, then meet Marianne Brown. 

If you're a United Methodist, then she'll be your Pastor one day. And you will be blessed by her ministry.

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

Proverbs 11:25

Read Proverbs 11:25

How do you measure prosperity?


[Art credit: http://www.extrafaith.com/2012/04/proverbs-11-25/]

Matthew 6:9-15; Matthew 26:39

Read Matthew 6:9-15; Matthew 26:39

Think about the saints - persons who lived faithfully - in your life. 

How did they receive God's daily gifts? 
How do you?

How did they receive God's will?
How do you?



[Art credit: http://www.layministryfumc.com/BillsSundayMessage/tabid/77/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/97/All-Saints-Sunday.aspx]

Matthew 6:9-15; Matthew 26:39 What does God want you to give?

Read Matthew 6:9-15; Matthew 26:39

Consider what God wants to give to you.

In teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus is confident that God wants to meet our daily needs. Praying before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus acknowledges that God wants to give us God's purpose - God's will - for our lives.

What does God want you to give?

What does God want you to live?

[Art credit: http://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/worship-its-all-about-giving-2/]

Luke 18:9-14 Lord, have mercy on me

Read Luke 18:9-14

Kyrie eleison means, Lord, have mercy.

Jesus' parable of two would-be faithfuls invites disciples to be honest with themselves. 

Is there something haughty in you that distracts people from seeing Jesus in you? 

[Art credit: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-kyrie-eleison/]

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Faithfulness without a finish line.

Read 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

In 1977, Nike posted this ad:

God's love for you in Jesus has no finish line.

Imagine your faithfulness responding to Jesus without a finish line. What would you keep?
What would you go? What would you share first and keep sharing?

Psalm 65

Read Psalm 65

Mark 12:41-44; Acts 5:1-11

Read Mark 12:41-44; Acts 5:1-11

Think about the spirit of giving in each story. With what kind of spirit do you give to God?

[Art credit: http://www.pinkchocolatebreak.com/2013/08/19/monday-quotes-giving/?lang=en]

Luke 18:1-8 The buzzard, the bat, and the bee

Read Luke 18:1-8

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 How are you using the Bible?

Read 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

How are you using the Bible?


[Art credit: http://kjvchristianwallpapers.blogspot.com/2010/06/ii-timothy-31617.html]

Psalm 119:97-104 What do you think about?

Read Psalm 119:97-104

What do you think about?

When you mind inclines to wandering, to day-dreaming, where do you direct your thoughts?

Jeremiah 31:27-34 What is on your heart?

Read  Jeremiah 31:27-34

What is on your heart is no less important than what is on your mind. Notice how you usually feel before your think.

[Art credit: http://dlyrflctns.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-16th-reflection-pledge-by-bill.html]

Mark 12:41-44; Acts 5:1-11 What do you want to give to God?

Read Mark 12:41-44; Acts 5:1-11

An unpleasant story: (Yes, the Bible has some of those.)

What do you want to give to God?

[Video credit: http://www.danstevers.com/store/ananias_and_sapphira/]

Isaiah 7:10-17; Matthew 1:18-23

Read Isaiah 7:10-17; Matthew 1:18-23

How can you help someone to know God personally?

Isaiah 7:10-17; Matthew 1:18-23

Read Isaiah 7:10-17; Matthew 1:18-23

How do you know God personally?

Luke 17:11-19 Who are you in the story?

Read Luke 17:11-19

Who are you in this story?

All 10 were glad to be healed, relieved of their disease and the burden that their illness make them spiritually as well as physically unclean.

1 said "Thank you" to the One who healed.

Who are you in this story?

[Art credit: http://newlifecommunitychurchblog.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html]

2 Timothy 2:8-15 Remember Jesus

Read 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Remember Jesus.

In the act of remembering, you bring an experience from the past into the here and now of your life. 

In this present awareness, remember Jesus and that he lived, died, and lives for you.

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Psalm 66:1-12 On the right track

Read Psalm 66:1-12

Relying on God to keep us 'on the right track,' we remember that Jesus' presence in our lives gives us more than we would ever have on our own. This abundance is received as we live with confident faithfulness, loving as Christ loves.

We may still make mistakes and less than best choices; but, from even those God's great love for us in Jesus restores us, returning us to live in the direction that God has designed for our lives.


[Art credit:http://seedstuff.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html]

Jeremiah 29: 1-7 Pray for where you are

Read Jeremiah 29: 1-7

Read verse 7 again:

Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare. (CEB)

Living in exile means that your address has been imposed on you. You had no choice; nor is there any indication that your condition will change anytime soon. It may seem counterintuitive - if not absurd - to pray for a place that you do not want to be; yet, those are God's explicit instructions.

There is a connection between where you are and how you are. There is a common good that affects us all.

Wherever you are today, whether by choice or circumstance, pray for that place and for all the people there.


[Art credit: http://www.torontocall.com/2012/08/16/jeremiah-297/]

Read 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Luke 17: 5-10

Read Luke 17: 5-10

Read verse 10 again:

In the same way, when you have done everything required of you, you should say, ‘We servants deserve no special praise. We have only done our duty.’”

Compare and contrast in your own life the power contained in the smallest amount of faith and how you constrain it by expecting recognition of what the presence and power of the Holy Spirit accomplishes through you.

[Art credit: http://fumcob.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/doing-faith-until-you-have-it/]

1 Timothy 1:1-14 The goal of instruction

Read 1 Timothy 1:1-14

Read verse 5 again:

The goal of instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. (CEB)

Knowing that the goal of spiritual instruction is love enables you to clarify your condition as you start and progress toward that goal.

For a pure heart, what feelings towards someone do you need to acknowledge and change? Toward yourself?

For a good conscience, what thoughts do you need to redirect? What subjects do you need to ignore except in prayer?

For a sincere faith, in what ways are you trying to fool God? To fool yourself?





[Art credit: http://relevantfaithchurchpeoria.com/belief-statement/]

Jeremiah 8:18–9:1

Read Jeremiah 8:18–9:1

"There is a Balm in Gilead"

Chorus (in bold):

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

Some times I feel discouraged,

And think my work’s in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit

Revives my soul again.

(Chorus)

If you cannot sing like angels,

If you can’t preach like Paul,

You can tell the love of Jesus,

And say He died for all.

(Chorus)

[Art credit: http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-there-no-balm-in-gilead.html]{

John 14:1-7

Read John 14:1-7

[Art credit: http://episcopal.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/john-141-7-an-exegesis/]

Genesis 1:27-31; John 9:1-7

Read Genesis 1:27-31; John 9:1-7

Genesis 1:27-31; John 9:1-7

1 Timothy 1:12-17 How are you living now?

Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17

¹⁵ This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all.

The biggest sinner of all? Really? Really? 

"Sin" is any action, or inaction, that hinders your relationship with God. 

Is Paul (who wrote 1 Timothy; see 1 Timothy 1:1) bragging? Confessing? No, he is simply being honest with Timothy, transparent in sharing his self-awareness of how he lived before he met Jesus.

This week, our campus hosted Explore God discussion groups asking, "Is there a God?" A follow-up voiced, "If you answered, 'Yes,' then are you living like there is a God?"

John 8 includes a story of a woman caught sinning who was brought to Jesus for him to affirm the religiously authorized punishment of stoning her to death. Jesus responded to her accusers, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.” (John 8:7, CEB)

Each of us, all of us, haved sinned. Jesus gave his life for us. We are forgiven.

Now, how are you living? How are you living now?

Psalm 14

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Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

Read Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

[art credit: http://onthechancelsteps.wordpress.com/page/5/]