SATURDAY, April
6 “WHY”
1 John 3:18 (The Message)
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love;
let’s practice real love. This is the
only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality.
Today is our last
day of the Hobbs build. Isy and Cathy
have been here continually since January, participating in 12 straight weeks of
builds. There will be a 3 week break and
another 2 builds have been listed and filled.
The Care-a-Vanner Program has been a God-send to the Hobbs
affiliate!
Our Hobbs Habi-town community has changed
and evolved over the spring. Isy and
Cathy have seen various couples and singles come and go, individual talents and
skills. But it is the love practiced
together, within and through this group of volunteers, that makes the
difference. It is the morning devotions
that remind us daily WHY we are here, doing what we are doing. It is hard work
at times – physically demanding. There
are times during Habitat work when you pause and mutter to yourself, “I am
doing this voluntarily! I quit my job
for this!” (I had one such moment
yesterday as Pam and I were 4’ down in a utility trench clearing it out of
loose dirt in a blowing wind.) The WHY is what keeps you coming back, the
spirit of a serving community.
I found the following poem by Teresa of Avila
a good reminder:
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands but yours,
No feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ’s compassion must look out
on the world,
Yours are the feet with which
He is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which
He is to bless us now.
We are the body of Christ at work in the
world, practicing love in a concrete way.
Together we are the hands and feet of God. What a responsibility, what a wonderful ‘WHY’
we do it! What a glorious life!
FRIDAY, April 5 “User Manual”
Deuteronomy 30:11-16
selections (The Message)
This commandment that I’m commanding you today
isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach….The word is right here and
now – as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your
chest….I’ve placed in front of you Life and Good, Death and Evil…. And I command you today: Love God, your
God. Walk in his ways.”
Aren’t we
fortunate that God doesn’t pen that kind of manual for life! He puts it VERY simply in Deuteronomy: Choose
life with God!!! He gives us Ten Rules, which
Jesus then simplifies down to Two Rules: Love God, Love each other! No fine print here! It’s understandable, just hard to put into practice at times! Sometimes the other is perceived as
unlovable! When that happens, we should
just go back to Rule One and substitute God’s face in place of ‘other’!
Habitat work gives
us plenty of opportunity to practice our love commands! May we keep our user manual ever handy and
thank God for its simplicity and clarity!
“There is no
fine print in God’s communication with us.” (ODB)
THURSDAY, April 4 “Hand in Glove”
James 2:18 (The
Message)
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying,
“Sounds good. You take care of the faith
department, I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast.
You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show
you my faith apart from my works. Faith
and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. “
Faith comes from knowing God.
Faith comes from God-conversation.
Works are God-acts.
Works are God in service to others.
They are a team, inseparable;
A union bonded in marriage.
They fit together, meant for each other.
Faith and works:
Hand in glove.
Is my faith-hand numb with cold?
Is my works-glove hollow and limp?
Have I kept the marriage sacred,
The partnership cemented
With the glue of God’s love?
Faith and works,
Hand in glove.
You can’t have one
Without the other.
WEDNESDAY, April
3 “Faith,
Not Religion”
Numbers 9:22-23
(The Message)
“It made no difference whether the Cloud
hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the
Cloud was there, there were there. And
when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God’s command and they marched
at God’s command. They lived obediently by God’s orders as delivered by
Moses.
We cannot put God into a mold.
We cannot practice religion by formula
 |
| This isn't a scribble for today's devotion, but it IS the Hobbs Habitat composite that I completed today! |
We cannot assume that today’s call from God
Is the same as yesterday’s.
Our God is consistently loving,
But unpredictable in his ways.
God changes directions and alters methods.
He delights in the unexpected,
He uses the unanticipated to
Issue his call to faith.
Religion can be memorized;
Laws followed; patterns established.
But religion is NOT faith.
God demands our obedient FAITH!
How do we know the difference?
How can we obey that which changes?
Know God.
Live in relationship with God.
Within the security of His unfathomable love,
Maintain a flexible obedience to changes in the path;
Wait patiently,
And follow surely.
Know God.
Love God.
Obey God.
“The evidence of
knowing God is obeying God.” (Eric Alexander)
TUESDAY, April 2
“Sowing Unselfish Seeds”
Galatians 5:16,
6:7-8
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and
motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you
won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness…..
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the
needs of others – ignoring God! – harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is
weeds! But the one who plants in
response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a
crop of real life, eternal life.
What kind of seeds do I sow? What kind of land do I till? What kind of harvest will I gather?
Sowing to please
our selfish nature is a poor investment in the land of our life. And most of us can avoid the BIG mistakes:
murder, substance abuse, immorality and infidelity, greed and cheating. It is the small seeds of our selfish nature
that do the damage to our hearts: self-sufficiency and independence from God,
self-righteousness and conceit, self-promotion, or self-sustenance above
all. A life of SELF is not a sound
investment! The harvest will be weeds!
When we sow the
seeds of service and life in the Spirit, we are joined in God’s plan and the
harvest will be great! As I continue to
drywall mud today, may I do so with the joy of service in the Spirit! Each corner another seed of love for the
homeowner Debbie and her extended family. With the right attitude, my labors
will reap a huge harvest!!
EASTER MONDAY, April 1
aka "Bright Monday, Dingus Day, Wet Monday"
"Traveling by Faith"
Lamentations
3:26 (The Message)
“God proves to be good to the man who passionately
waits,
To the
woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
Quietly
hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
To stick
it out through the hard times.
“Simply wait
upon Him. So doing, we shall be
directed, supplied, protected, corrected, and rewarded.” (Vance Havner)
Today’s message
from my Walk Through the Bible devotional
hit home with the arrival Saturday of our last Care-a-Vanner, Barbara. A self-proclaimed gypsy, Barbara has heard the call of God to live life ‘on the edge of
faith’ in service to others. At first
view you think, “You’ve got to be kidding!
She LIVES in that!” THAT meaning
a 12’ cargo trailer with one ‘people’ door on the side, a loading door in the
back, and a 12” vent in the top. No windows. Inside,
the walls are covered with fur blankets and brightly colored scarves and wall
hangings. Bunk beds and an heirloom
trunk comprise the furniture (include two folding chairs!) Her kitchen is a
dishpan, hotplate, and mid-size Coleman ice chest. Her bathroom a solar shower
hung from the outside corner, a porta-potty she bartered for, and a blue tarp
to partially block the view from neighbors.
This i55 yr-old woman is truly taking to heart Jesus’ command to carry not
an extra tube of toothpaste or sandals (our missional Luke 10:1-12
passage!) Barbara was late in arriving
as she had to ‘wait’ for God to send some gas money!
 |
Barbara wends her way from the deep south
to Alaska, working odd jobs as a cook or writer, selling fair trade items or
bartering for what she needs,
volunteering here and there for animal rescue (how she got the dog who
accompanies her), social relief organizations, and most recently Habitat. She
arrives like a cyclone of energy and enthusiasm, in her own robust way announcing
“Peace Be with You!” She has felt the open reception among Habitat of the peace being returned to her. (Rick and I
bought Barbara her Easter dinner last night and she brought me a brilliant
turquoise blue pair of tie-dye socks! And later a book for Rick! She said she always tries to trade!)
Mostly, Barb carries and shares
stories….stories of God’s intervention into her life, stories of God supplying
her needs, protecting her, and rewarding her for her trust. Stories of picking up hitchhikers with just
the right connections and skills when injury struck; stories of selling just
enough of her bartered goods to pay for ferry tickets to Alaska, segment by
segment of the Inland Passage. Stories
of God’s mercy and grace, of God-moments on a daily basis.
As we work side by side with Barbara this
week on the job site, I am sure we will hear more stories of God’s goodness,
stories of mini-miracles of faith.
EASTER SUNDAY, March 31
“Do Not Fear! He Is Not Here!”
“The angel spoke to the women: ‘There is nothing to fear here. I know, you’re looking for Jesus, the One
they nailed to the cross. He is not
here. He was raised, just as he said.” (Matthew
28:5-6, The Message)
”[The angel] said, ‘Don’t be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus the
Nazarene, the one they nailed to the cross.
He’s been raised up, he’s here no longer.” (Mark 16:6, Message)
“The men said, ‘Why
are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery. He is not here, but raised up.”
(Luke 24:5, Message)
“Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the
stone was moved from the entrance. She
ran at once to Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved, breathlessly
panting, ‘They took the Master from the tomb.
We don’t know where they’ve put him.” (John 20:1-2, Message)
Do not fear the
angels said
On a starry night
o’er Bethlehem.
The Son of God has
come to earth
To teach the world
to love.
Do not fear the
angels said
As the women came to
an empty tomb
The Son of Man has
left this earth
And bridged the gap with
God above.
He is not here the
angels said.
He has defeated
death, defeated sin.
Seek not in the
empty grave
For he’s been raised
up, he lives again.
Do not fear? I’m terrified!
I saw him dead! If
it is not so..
God’s changed the
plan,
How life works, I no
longer know!
He is not here said
Mary Magdalene,
We know not where
they’ve put him.
Where HAVE we put
the Son of God?
Is he here within
us?
Here in our world?
In our hearts?
Where HAVE we put
our risen Lord?
Where have we put
our fears?
Do not fear!
Christ is here!
God is here!
Love is here!
Earth is shattered
with HOPE!
He is Risen indeed!
Allelulia, Amen!
SERMON NOTES
“ Where Is the End?” Harold Armstrong, Hobbs FPC
Matthew 28:1-15
- · What is our plan for life? We all get up with a strategy for the day ahead.
- · Sometimes God comes and quickly changes our plans to his plans! That is frightening!
- · If Jesus is not dead, then we don’t understand how life works. Death is supposed to be the end of the story! Our lives are organized around our belief in death.
- · The true symbol of Easter is not the egg, the cross, or the lily – it should be the women running, with skirts hiked up, in terror from the empty tomb!
- · You cannot believe in Easter without dramatically reorganizing your life.
- · Ask what difference does Easter make in my life?
- · Jesus’ plan was to interrupt our plan more than we can imagine.
- · He has gone on ahead of you – there you will see him. Look for him there!
No comments:
Post a Comment