Good Friday Morning Adventurers: Coffee is made, Pandora is playing Christmas music, Shelley is off today, so between answering the phone and the door, I am ready to settle in with you all. My Thursday Village Bible Study group is getting a little antsy. I told them that I would be gone the next two Thursdays on vacation. Their question, “Are you coming back?” Of course, I am. “Are you going to continue this Bible Study after you retire?” I’m not sure. I confess that those folks are fun to be with. And what is even better, they are loving Bible Study and learning some new things. That is pleasing to me. I enjoy leading Bible Study groups. I can usually find something interesting and fun to add to the discussion. I also love it when they are putting in their opinions and asking questions. That has always been one of the fun parts of ministry for me. Lorolie and I will be gone the next two weeks in Sedona. The place where we stay and the surrounding area is remarkably free of Wi-Fi and cell phone signals. Something about the area just makes it difficult to receive any signal. So you may not hear much from us for the next two week. I do hope that you will continue your adventure through the Old Testament. Perhaps Paul or someone else would take the lead and send some thoughts on the passages for the day to the rest of the group? At some point we do need to think about what happens to the group after October. But not right now. Let’s jump in to Jeremiah once again. READ: Jeremiah 4:1-4 If you return, O Israel, says the LORD, if you return to me, if you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, "As the LORD lives!" in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall be blessed by him, and by him they shall boast. 3 For thus says the LORD to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire, and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your doings. REFLECT: Amazingly in the midst of the coming destruction and devastation, God’s love once again came to the fore. If the people repented of their sin. If they turned away from other gods and set themselves to worship God alone. If they renewed their covenant with God and kept it. God would hear their prayers and forgive them. They would avoid the terrible consequences that were to have been the result of their rejection of God. Jerry reminded them of the plight of Israel, their sister kingdom. He reminded them that by refusing to return to God, they had signed their own death warrant. Their cities were destroyed. Thousands of people were killed, not just soldiers. Thousands more were carried off to captivity in Assyria never to be heard of again. The people of Jeremiah’s time saw all of that and remarkably did not repent and return to God themselves. Honestly, I just don’t get it. Their rejection of God hardened their hearts and they refused to return to God as the people of God. They would have turned to God, if it had been on their terms. Unfortunately for them, God did not and does not work that way. RESPOND: I wonder if one reason that most Presbyterians do not invite others to encounter Jesus, is that they are only willing to do that and to serve Jesus on their own terms. We are willing to return to Jesus and serve him, doing his work in the world. But only on our own terms. Those terms generally do not include any discomfort or sacrifice on our part. As long as we come first, we will serve God, when and if we have the time and left over money. I know this is not true in every case. As we learned last week, there is always a faithful remnant in the people of God. And so it is in most churches. We can be that remnant. We can be the faithful people of God. We know what it takes and the blessings that come from that kind of relationship with God. Repent and return to Jesus. All is forgiven and we will have new life. REQUEST: Come into our hearts and souls, Lord. Rule us in every way and at every moment of our lives. Be our sovereign and make us your faithful people. Forgive our unfaithfulness and our failures to be your people. Renew and restore us we pray in Jesus name. Amen. I’ll try and be in touch while we are away. May God bless you in the weeks ahead. Peace and Love, Doyll
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 15:51:00 +0000
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