Texas Travel Devotions

SATURDAY, April 13  "Cornerstones"

Psalm 118: 22-23 (The Message)

The stone the masons discarded as flawed
    is now the capstone!
This is God’s work.
    We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!

      Jesus refers to the cornerstone in preparing the disciples for his death.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and Peter all make reference to this Psalm 118 passage in their writings.  The builders rejected it.  We are building…. Habitat Homes, communities of faith, lives together.  Are we making sure that the foundation is Jesus Christ?  Do we build God into every part of a Habitat house?  Is God the first and most important building block of our life?

     Tomorrow we will be participating in a Habitat build as part of worship with the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church community in San Antonio, TX.  We will come as strangers, but with a common purpose to build Christ into each wall we frame, each roof truss assembled.  May we prayerfully “pound God” into the building, so that the love and power of the Almighty is the cornerstone and foundation for His children who will live there. 

     This IS God’s work!  Amen! 

FRIDAY, April 12  "Believe in What?"
John 20:30-31 (The Message)
Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.
What are we to believe?
John makes it very clear. 
Jesus is the Messiah. 
Jesus is the Son of God. 
The resurrection was real in every sense. 
God came to earth. 
The Creator of the Universe walked among us!
That's mind boggling -
History shattering, 
A monumental event that changed the world. 
Changed us....forever. 
It makes a difference.
May we LIVE that difference.  

(Little tough writing this morning as we continue our visit with Katy's parents, Jim and Diane Schneider, in San Antonio, TX!  I have Beju, Dianna's dog, half on top of the laptop keyboard.  We have been having a love-hate relationship so far - I seem to bring out the best in his high pitch barking!  But....for the moment....peace reigns.)    

THURSDAY, April 11  “Hope from Love”

Joel 2:21-27 (Selections from The Message)

”Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate!  God has done great things…

Children of Zion, celebrate!  Be glad in your God…

I’ll make up for the years of the locust, the great locust devastation..

You’ll eat your fill of good food.  You’ll be full of praises to your God.

You’ll know without question that I’m in the thick of life…

That I’m your God, yes, your God, the one and only real God. 

God, it is good to know of your love:

Your unbounding, unmatchless love.

Filled with grace and forgiveness.

Love that binds up our past mistakes

And allows us a chance to start over. 

Love that rescues, mentors, and provides.

Love that erases years of separation and abuse

And provides the basis for a lasting relationship.

When the locusts come, we can hope.

When we stray, we can KNOW

That you are waiting with outstretched, open arms,

Waiting to welcome us home,

Home to a future of hope and love. 

Children of God, celebrate!

God is doing great things! 

WEDNESDAY, April 10  “KISS Theory”

2 Corinthians 1:13 (The Message)

“Don’t try to read between the lines or look for hidden meanings in my words.  We’re writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that you’ll now see the whole picture as well as you’ve seen some of the details.”

     Paul, in this verse, appears to be a proponent of the common KISS Theory: Keep It Simple, Stupid!  And in essence, the message of the Gospel can be made very simple: God loves us.  Accept God’s love. God’s love frees us…forever.

     James Madison warned the writer’s of the Constitution against becoming too voluminous as to discourage reading, too convoluted to be understood.  Today’s congressmen definitely need to heed Madison’s advice, and some modern preachers need to remember the same.  We can’t get caught up in the details of doctrine that we forget the main message! 

     I like to add a different line to the end of KISS Theory in this instance, however.  It is through the Spirit we are given the freedom to understand in simple ways; therefore, Keep It Simple, Spirit!   

TUESDAY, April 9  “Get Dirty”

Proverbs 14:31 (The Message)

“You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless;

   When you’re kind to the poor, you honor God.”

     I had time last night to read through the Relevant Magazine that arrived with our mail pack. I found myself pulling out pages to keep.  One such article and book advertisement really struck home, titled “Christians Should Get Dirty”.    I have used that term in discussing mission opportunities.  I feel our church, myself included, does well at giving money, donating to organizations where OTHERS do the work.  And sometimes this is exactly what is needed.  But it is CLEAN mission.  It is often mission without personalization.  I wanted to do something where I had to get my hands dirty, where I had to

work side by side with the oppressed, learn their name and know their story.  That seems to be when mission becomes REAL, when we begin the process of truly ‘honoring God’ as the scripture says. 

     Here is one quote from the article by Johnnie Moore (author of Dirty God: Jesus in the Trenches):

     “Jesus, by His life example, showed us how to live ours.  He gave us a model – and a responsibility – to continue the work He started in healing this broken world.  If we’re honest, we haven’t always helped as we should.  Just look at the world in its unnecessary distress.  We, who have the responsibility of healing this world, have been too preoccupied far too often. 

     It’s time we move into the trenches.

     Each of us can do a little more to make this world a better place, and we should do it now.  We can raise the banner higher for the causes burdening us.  We can give a little money to those in need.  Better yet, we can ruthlessly war against our selfish sense of entitlement and give more of ourselves in service of others. 

     Having received grace from God, through Jesus, we ought to be the first to give it to the world in a thousand small ways every day.”

     Hmmmm….his last line sounds somewhat familiar to yesterday’s devotion! 

     I take a look at my hands today.  They still have three colors of paint around the fingernails.  The drywall mud has dried them out.  I finally got the mud out of my clothes with yesterday’s washing.  We have washed and swept to clean the fine-grain sand of Hobbs out of the trailer, our hair, our car. I worked Saturday with one of the Habitat homeowners and her young daughter.   It feels GOOD to have been dirty! It feels good to KNOW who we are building with and for!  May we continue to share the grace of our loving God in a thousand small ways! 

     (Once again, I sense God at work.  I woke up last night, thinking about using the article as the basis for this morning’s thoughts.  I wondered if a scripture had been included.  No.  But when I turned in my Walk Though the Bible devotional, the scripture for April 9 was the Proverbs verse above.  Guess it was meant to be!) 

Serve God. 

Care for the poor.

Here’s a donation.

That didn’t hurt, I have plenty more.

I sometimes wonder WHO will be helped,

But it’s better to remain detached,

And the poor faceless and nameless.

My conscience is clear; I’ve done my part.

Honor God.

Help the oppressed.

You want MORE from me?

Very well, God, I’ll write another check.

But I do have a big trip coming up.

I have to save my money!

Love God.

Know the poor and needy.

Learn their name.

God, this is getting too personal!

I might feel obligated if I KNOW them.

I might have to actually get involved!

Can’t you just take my money?

Live God’s grace.

Walk with the downtrodden.

Work side by side.

Share God’s love.

Lord, my hands might get dirty!

My clothing rumpled and soiled.

This kind of service takes valuable time!

It disrupts my manicured life!

Please – just take my clean money!

Grace demands dirt.

Love requires an investment of time.

Love God.

Honor God.

Serve God.

Get dirty for God. 

MONDAY, April 8  “Eternal Banking”

Proverbs 14:14 

“The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good man rewarded for his.” (NIV)

“A mean person gets paid back in meanness, a gracious person in grace.” (The Message)

     The power of a small investment left untouched over time has been proven again and again in the financial world.  Our small church, for example, was bequeathed a few US Bank stocks back in the 1950’s.  The stocks were left untouched (somewhat forgotten) for over 50 years until needed for a building project.  The net worth?  Over 1.5 MILLION dollars.  If used wisely, that money can now be spent to further the Kingdom of God in great ways!   Financially, we often don’t have such patience for such investments….We want quick gains!

     Spiritually, the same principals of investment apply.  We often don’t realize the power of a wise word, a timely gift, a moment of compassion, or a simple act of service.  These small faith-moments may compound daily for all eternity!  The scope of God’s investment program is immense! May we all seek the opportunity to DAILY make a deposit in the eternal Bank of the Kingdom.  

SUNDAY, April 7  “Just Love ‘Em”

Proverbs 25:21-22 (The Message)

“If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch; if he’s thirsty, bring him a drink.  Your generosity will surprise him with goodness, and God will look after you.”

     Caring for our enemies rubs us the wrong way.  It goes against our grain of self-preservation. But who are our enemies???  We might quickly think another country if we are at ‘war’, but for most of us in the USA we are fairly immune from the day to day encounters with war. Our enemy might be someone who just ‘bugs’ us; someone we really disagree with in terms of philosophy or lifestyle; someone we perceive has wronged us.  How do we treat them?  Human nature is NOT God-nature in this case!

     I admire people of faith who simply say, “Just love ‘em to death!  God will take care of the rest!”  If we truly put OUR faith in the Almighty, God WILL handle the justice issues.  By treating our enemies well, we are in some ways proclaiming our own faith.  Don’t hold grudges, use avoidance techniques, or pray for vindication.  Leave that up to God.  Our job is to bless, provide, compliment, and….’love ‘em to death’!  If we continue to spread the Light of God’s Love, a little shine is bound to rub off! 

“In Jesus and for Him, enemies and friends alike are to be loved.” (Thomas à Kempis)

WTtB

He bugs me. She wronged me.

He thinks differently. She looks odd!

He is dirty. She smells.

Not MY friends. 

Must be enemies.

Walk the other way.

Avoid them.

Seek vindication.

Hold a grudge.

That’s how we humans are wired.

That’s how our mind thinks.

But human nature is not God-nature:

Human-nature doesn't spread the Gospel of Love.

Vindication tells the world there is nothing

Special about our God and God’s love.

Love our enemies.

Share with those who look strange.

Clothe the ones who think in radical ways.

Feed the ones who wrong us.

Smile, bless, compliment, encourage!

Just plain love ‘em to death.

It will surprise them, shock them,

Perhaps confuse them.

But, ultimately, reveal to them

The immense love of our God.  

SERMON NOTES  Hobbs FPC 

John 20:19-31  “Not Doubt, But Reality”  Rev. Harold Armstrong

• ·       Do not doubt, believe!
• ·       Easter isn’t just a day, but a new normal, a new reality.
• ·       Reality is sometimes painful and discouraging, a reminder there is an end to life as we know it.
• ·       Thomas isn’t a doubter, he is a realist. 
• ·       In his encounter with Christ, Thomas’ doubt is erased, but not his realism.
• ·       In Christ, there is a new reality.  Are we ready to accept it, live it, and release it?
• ·       Graces leaves both the recipient and the giver transformed. 
• ·       God’s new kingdom has transformed the reality of our world. 
• ·       He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  And nothing will ever be the same.