trust in trouble

Good evening friends,
Please keep Barb Miller in your prayers as she begins rehab at Hill Haven following a fall on Sunday. Our reading today reminds us that faith requires discipline to be the people God calls us to be. When we really trust and follow God, we will sometimes find ourselves in places we wouldn't ordinarily like to be. Even then, God's word is free, powerful and effective. Faith means trusting God, and God is trustworthy in life and in death.

God bless,
Sam

2 Timothy 2:1-13

You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. ³Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer. ⁵And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. ⁶It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. ⁷Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. ¹¹The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; ¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

gentleness or a stick

Good morning friends,
Tonight there will be a supper and service for Christian unity at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church (553 Humboldt St, Humboldt and Floverton). It should be a great service and a wonderful opportunity to meet our neighboring brothers and sisters in Christ. We all share many of the same ministry challenges, so it helps to work together. Also, as some of you know, my grandmother, Tina Land, died on Friday evening. I'll be flying to Durham, NC for the memorial service on Thursday morning and returning Saturday night. I'll be available by phone or email, but if there's anything you'd like to talk about it would be best to give me a call before then. I'd also appreciate your prayer, especially for my mom, my uncle Everett and my grandmother's honorary daughters Kay and Jody.

Gary commented on one of our recent readings that the feeling of that part of Paul's writing was, "Young Jedi, get your act together or I'll whack you with a stick." That feeling is even more applicable today where Paul actually talks about coming to them with a stick if they aren't careful. Notice that Paul isn't just angry; he's worried about the Corinthian church because he thinks of them as his children in Christ. This was probably the church Paul spent the most time with, so when he hears about arrogance and division there, it breaks his heart. I pray we would imitate Paul's passion for Christ and for the church today.


Blessings,
Sam

1 Corinthians 4:14-21

14I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.


17For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. 19But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. 21What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

strength in hardship

Good morning friends,
Our author has just reminded the readers of Jesus' steadfastness in the face of opposition. Today he moves on to address their situation. It seems the Christians to whom Hebrews was written were discouraged and faced some kind of persecution. Elsewhere in the letter it mentions loss of property and here it says, "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." The goal is to encourage them in their difficulties now so that even if the time comes later for them to shed blood for their faith they will be ready.

The author also compares the hardship these Christians are facing to a parent's discipline. It's sort of surprising to think of persecution under the heading of God's discipline, since persecution comes usually when we are doing right for God rather than doing something for which we need correction. Maybe the bigger point is that the suffering comes in the process of growing in faith and helps us in that growth process. The author's hope is that with proper encouragement and teaching these difficulties will build up the church rather than discourage them. I pray God would also turn our hardships into learning to deepen and strengthen our faith.

God bless,
Sam


Hebrews 12:4-17
4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children— “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; 6for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” 7Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children.

9Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. 16See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears.