2×4 Time

This was the reading at Hosanna (my Church) several weeks ago.  I remember these first verses being a 2×4 to the head (think ‘Tommy Boy‘).  How often do I find myself using God’s grace as an excuse to sin…  I think we are all guilty of it from time to time.  Or maybe there is that one specific sinful addiction that you can’t seem to break.  The one that has be come so habitual that you’ve stop trying.

Romans 6:6 ⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Slaves to???

Paul makes a good point about the dedication we need to present in our lives.  Just as Christ was obedient unto death for us, we are asked to due the same out of joy and gratitude for what has been done for us.  This is something we should strive for daily…even if yesterday was a bust.  We can make the effort and pray for obedience to Christ and His will be done in our lives.

Mark 10:27 ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible,but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Prayer

My Father,

I pray for obedience today.  For obedience to your will.  For your newness of life to overtake my purpose and grant me the freedom from sin that your grace brings.

In His most Holy Name,

Amen.

Chapter 8 is a chapter recounting many of Jesus miracles.

1. Jesus heals a man with leprosy, tells him not to tell anyone about it. (verses 1-4)
2. Jesus heals a Roman centurion’s crippled servant. (verses 5-13)
   1. The centurion comes to Jesus for help.
   2. Jesus offers to go to mains house, but centurion feels unworthy and tells Jesus that He can help him from there.
   3. Jesus is amazed by the man’s faith and heals his servant without going to his house.
3. Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law Mary from a fever. (verses 14-15)
4. Later in the evening after healing Mary, Jesus exorcises many brought to him who are demon possessed.  (verses 16-17)
5. Jesus is approached by several individuals who want to follow him.  Jesus tells the first man that He himself has no home.  The second man says he needs to go and bury his father first and Jesus responds, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (verses 18-22).
6. Jesus is awoken by His frightened disciples and calms a storm while out in a boat. (verses 23-27)
7. Jesus casts demons out of two men. (verses 28-34)
   1. Demons acknowledge Jesus and begged to be cast into a nearby herd of swine.
   2. Jesus casts them into the swine, which then proceed to run down the hillside into the lake and drown.
   3. Upon seeing and hearing this, the local people came to Jesus and pleaded with Him to leave their region.

Full Chapter Summary

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Full Text Matthew Chapter8

³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Cain and Abel

1. Eve gives birth to two sons: Cain, the older, and Abel .
2. Abel is a shepherd a finds favor in God’s eyes by bringing a pleasing offering to the Lord.
3. Cain is a farmer and skimps on his offering. The Lord isn’t pleased with this.
4. Cain becomes angry with the fact that his brother’s offering was better than his.
5. Cain lures Abel out into the field and kills him.
6. God curses Cain, places a mark upon him and sends him away.
7. Genealogy of Cain:
   1. Cain fathers Enoch.
   2. Enoch fathers Irad.
   3. Irad fathers Mehujael.
   4. Mehujael fathers Methushael.
   5. Methushael fathers Lamech.
   6. Lamech fathers Jabal — Jabal’s descendants are nomadic.
   7. Lamech fathers Jubal — Jubal’s descendants are musicians
   8. Lamech fathers Tubal-Cain — Tubal-Cain’s descendants are blacksmiths.
8. Lamech is a very boastful and ungodly man.
9. Eve gives birth to Seth.
10. Seth has a son named Enosh.

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Full Text Genesis Chapter 4

Continuation of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (these are Jesus’ teachings)

1. Jesus discusses judgment:
   1. Do not judge anyone, for similar judgment can also be placed on you.
   2. Always reflect on yourself before pointing out other’s flaws. How can you hypocritically point out a small flaw in another when you are guilty of a much larger one?
   3. Teaching others should be done within their spiritual understanding.
2. Jesus continues with seeking the things of God
   1. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.
   2. Jesus compares how parents take care of there children’s needs to how God will fulfill our needs in a greater capacity.
   3. The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have the do to you.
3. Wide and broad is the road to destruction and hell. Narrow is the road that leads to eternal life.
4. Jesus warns against false prophets. He points out that you can recognize them by the ‘fruit’ they produce, by there works and actions.
5. Building upon God’s Word is like building on rock. Your faith will stand the storm. Anyone who hears the Word and rejects it is building on sand and is doomed to destruction.
6. The people listening to Jesus are amazed because He teaches differently; as one who has actual authority.

Full Chapter Summary

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Full Text Matthew Chapter 7

Another amazing insight from the book of Proverbs. In my life…this rings true on a regular basis. Sometimes God gives me some foresight into the road ahead…but more often then not, I see the plan in the ‘rear-view’ as I continue my journey to the next part of His plan.

I’m sure there are plenty that will argue that free will is what governs us. I’d challenge you to think of this for a second. A master luthier (guitar/stringed instrument maker) spends months shaping and forming his next creation. And when the finishing touches are put on it and he sits down to play it…wouldn’t it be an absolute shock it the first string plucked sounded like a trumpet… My point is that God made you. He knows every aspect of you. Every facet of your personality, your mind, your being. To often our minds take the phrase ‘God made me’, and turns it into the visual of God piling up so dirt…mushing it into a humanoid shape…and then ’say the magic words’…PPoofF! We have human. God created more than that. He created the way you perceive things, the environment you’d be exposed to, your ability to interpret things…and the way you see the world. With a hand in creating all of that…it would probably be pretty easy to create us so that we were prepared to take the journey He had in mind for us.

Prayer

Lord,

I praise you for I am ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. Some days I feel overwhelmed with the tasks set before me. Help me to use the abilities that You have created in me to accomplish the tasks that You have given to me. I love You. I know I don’t say that enough. I love You. Thank You for loving me first.

Amen .

²⁸“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ²⁹” ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³²For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

The context of these verses involves Jesus speaking with some of the Jewish leaders. He proceeds with a few parables that very much fly in the face of these leaders. Being told that you would enter the kingdom of God behind prostitutes and tax collectors didn’t sit very well with these leaders either.

The main point I pull out of these verses is that ‘change matters‘. The one son immediately said he wouldn’t go. That, to often, reminds me of myself. My initial reaction to a lot of things, probably isn’t the best/right one. I’ve gotten better about ‘digesting’ something before I ‘weigh-in’ on a topic. Still, there are times with things I’m most passionate about that I just say ‘No…I’m not doing that’, or ‘Sure I can’ only to end up regretting it. The beauty of these pages though, is that Jesus is telling us that we can make mistakes…and although we can’t ‘take them back’…we can change.

I’ve been posting a lot about change here lately. My life is in a bit of a ‘changing’ stage. Getting married…starting a life with someone…feeling excited and nervous at the same time. I think change always feels like that. Embracing something new and different. The tag line for this blog…”Today is a New Day… Today I Pray for Change… Today I Begin My Change…” is something I hope to live by each and every day.

Prayer

Father,

I know ‘change’ will come in my life. I know that your will for me involves that. Thank you for the struggles that strengthen me. Guide me so that ‘change’ is not something I fear…but something I embrace and become closer to You through.

In Jesus Name,

Amen.