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“Clear me of any unknown sin”
Monday, 16 October 2017
Psalm 19:12 (11) Through them your servant is warned;
in obeying them there is great reward.
13 (12) Who can discern unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from hidden faults.
14 (13) Also keep your servant from presumptuous sins,
so that they won’t control me.
Then I will be blameless
and free of great offense.
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The first part of this psalm poetically described two ways in which God communicates with the human family: the glories of nature, and the transforming power of God’s instruction, direction or teaching (Hebrew torah—cf. Psalm 19:1-11). The prayer at the end of the psalm asked that God help the poet not only be aware of the divine message, but put it into practice every day of his life.
• “The meditations of my heart” has a nice “spiritual” ring. But the Hebrew term meant a lot more than sitting thinking quietly while burning some nice incense. “It is implied that [the person meditating] intends to put it [God’s teaching] into practice (cf. Dt. 17:19; Jos. 1:8).” * Have you ever said, “I’ve got to quit binge-watching that reality show” or “…eating so much of that ice cream” when you knew you had no plans to quit? Are there any parts of God’s instruction that you think about, but have no intention of putting into practice right now?
• Most of us recognize, ruefully, our capacity to rationalize, and that’s at least one reality that “clear me of any unknown sin” addressed. But the psalmist was also honest enough to add, “Save your servant from willful sins.” A great place to start the process of examining your spiritual progress is your “I know what I should [or shouldn’t] do, but I’m doing it anyway” behaviors. Can you honestly pray, every day, “Save your servant from willful sins”?
Prayer: Lord God, you are my rock and my redeemer. I want that to be, not just pious “church words,” but the governing reality of my life. Please guide and strengthen me. Amen.
* John W. Baigent, comment on “meditates” in F. F. Bruce, New International Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1979, p. 557.
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Melanie Hill
Melanie Hill is the Guest Connections Program Director at Resurrection.
In my senior year of high school, I'd get up early and meet my small group leader for breakfast before school every Thursday. We had to meet early since I had volleyball practice and training after school every day. I had accepted a college scholarship to play the following year, and training to stay at the top of my game was important. But so was my faith, so every Thursday I dragged myself out of bed early and met her at the donut shop.
The donut shop made the early hour worth it. If you are going to miss an extra hour of sleep, you should do it somewhere that smells like heaven. So there we were, ready to study Scripture and gorge on delicious fried and frosted goodness.
Then my small group leader shared something I will never forget. She read Romans 13:14 (NLT): “Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.” To make matters worse she asked if I ever made plans to indulge in things I knew I shouldn’t be doing. With a chocolate long john half way to my lips I had to ask myself, “Did I?” The answer was yes--yes, I had. In fact, I was doing it right then!
You see, when I accepted that full ride scholarship to play volleyball at a division 1 school, I agreed that I would give them my best in return for my tuition. I had made plans with my current coach for training and, er, nutrition. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying donuts are evil. Far from it--I think I might have a small love affair with them. But they definitely weren’t part of the plan I had agreed to.
And yet, every Thursday, I made plans to partake. It had been my idea to meet at the donut shop. We could have met somewhere else; somewhere that served egg-white omelets. Those are good for you, right? Instead I had chosen the donut shop knowing full well that all they served were, well, donuts.
Now I know this might seem like a small thing. After all, I could have just worked it off by running a few extra laps--but I didn’t. I had made plans to enjoy the donuts, but I hadn’t made plans to work harder. The truth is, I was cheating. I was sabotaging myself, while patting myself on the back for getting up early to do Bible study. I had completely justified it. And the problem with planning to indulge what might seem like a small desire (in this case a defenseless donut) was that I was giving myself permission to indulge in even more dangerous desires.
Have you ever done this? Taken something that isn’t in and of itself evil, but chosen to use it in such a way that it becomes hurtful to yourself or to others? I learned a good lesson that day. I need to stop and examine the things I am doing on a regular basis. Am I making plans to indulge in things I know I shouldn’t be doing? Am I making plans that take me away from important relationships? Am I indulging in things I know I shouldn’t be?
Maybe think of it this way. Synonyms for "indulge" include: wallow in; give oneself up to; give way to; yield to; abandon oneself to; give free rein to; luxuriate in; revel in; lose oneself in. If I am allowing myself to be lost in something, I am surely not clothing myself in the presence of Jesus. In my heart of hearts Jesus is more important than a donut, or watching one more episode, or buying one more thing. My prayer for you and for me this week is that we would ask ourselves the hard questions and change our plans so that we "indulge" in clothing ourselves in the presence of Jesus.
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Melanie HillMelanie Hill is the Guest Connections Program Director at Resurrection.
In my senior year of high school, I'd get up early and meet my small group leader for breakfast before school every Thursday. We had to meet early since I had volleyball practice and training after school every day. I had accepted a college scholarship to play the following year, and training to stay at the top of my game was important. But so was my faith, so every Thursday I dragged myself out of bed early and met her at the donut shop.
The donut shop made the early hour worth it. If you are going to miss an extra hour of sleep, you should do it somewhere that smells like heaven. So there we were, ready to study Scripture and gorge on delicious fried and frosted goodness.
Then my small group leader shared something I will never forget. She read Romans 13:14 (NLT): “Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.” To make matters worse she asked if I ever made plans to indulge in things I knew I shouldn’t be doing. With a chocolate long john half way to my lips I had to ask myself, “Did I?” The answer was yes--yes, I had. In fact, I was doing it right then!
You see, when I accepted that full ride scholarship to play volleyball at a division 1 school, I agreed that I would give them my best in return for my tuition. I had made plans with my current coach for training and, er, nutrition. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying donuts are evil. Far from it--I think I might have a small love affair with them. But they definitely weren’t part of the plan I had agreed to.
And yet, every Thursday, I made plans to partake. It had been my idea to meet at the donut shop. We could have met somewhere else; somewhere that served egg-white omelets. Those are good for you, right? Instead I had chosen the donut shop knowing full well that all they served were, well, donuts.
Now I know this might seem like a small thing. After all, I could have just worked it off by running a few extra laps--but I didn’t. I had made plans to enjoy the donuts, but I hadn’t made plans to work harder. The truth is, I was cheating. I was sabotaging myself, while patting myself on the back for getting up early to do Bible study. I had completely justified it. And the problem with planning to indulge what might seem like a small desire (in this case a defenseless donut) was that I was giving myself permission to indulge in even more dangerous desires.
Have you ever done this? Taken something that isn’t in and of itself evil, but chosen to use it in such a way that it becomes hurtful to yourself or to others? I learned a good lesson that day. I need to stop and examine the things I am doing on a regular basis. Am I making plans to indulge in things I know I shouldn’t be doing? Am I making plans that take me away from important relationships? Am I indulging in things I know I shouldn’t be?
Maybe think of it this way. Synonyms for "indulge" include: wallow in; give oneself up to; give way to; yield to; abandon oneself to; give free rein to; luxuriate in; revel in; lose oneself in. If I am allowing myself to be lost in something, I am surely not clothing myself in the presence of Jesus. In my heart of hearts Jesus is more important than a donut, or watching one more episode, or buying one more thing. My prayer for you and for me this week is that we would ask ourselves the hard questions and change our plans so that we "indulge" in clothing ourselves in the presence of Jesus.
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“Live as children of the light”
Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Ephesians 5:8 For you used to be darkness; but now, united with the Lord, you are light. Live like children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light is in every kind of goodness, rightness and truth — 10 try to determine what will please the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the deeds produced by darkness, but instead expose them, 12 for it is shameful even to speak of the things these people do in secret. 13 But everything exposed to the light is revealed clearly for what it is,
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The familiar spiritual contrast of “darkness” with “light” finds its roots in a typical human reaction to the physical presence of light. People who want to do something wrong, or something they are ashamed to have others see them doing, usually choose to do those things in darkness if they possibly can. Ephesians was confident that, living in both God’s grace and God’s power, Christ followers can be at peace with the prospect of “everything” being exposed to God’s light.
Ø Verse 8 did not say, as we might expect, “You belong to the light.” It used a stronger phrase: “Now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” What is the source of the light that shines from our lives in our best moments? In what ways have you become aware of Christ’s light shining through you to brighten the lives of others?
• What are some of the attitudes or behaviors (even if you’ve always been a Christian) in which God has moved your life from darkness to light? Did you intentionally “test” the parts of your life to discern light from darkness? If not, how did the change come about? How can recalling those past advances give you hope and confidence for God’s leading in the future?
Prayer: God, creator of light, keep illuminating the darkest corners of my life. Keep guiding me as I test habits and practices, seeking to live every day as a child of your light. Amen.
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"An ordinary rock became a sacred pillar"
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Genesis 28:10 Ya‘akov went out from Be’er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep. 12 He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai were going up and down on it. 13 Then suddenly Adonai was standing there next to him; and he said, “I am Adonai, the God of Avraham your [grand]father and the God of Yitz’chak. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth. You will expand to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. By you and your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15 Look, I am with you. I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won’t leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 Ya‘akov awoke from his sleep and said, “Truly, Adonai is in this place — and I didn’t know it!” 17 Then he became afraid and said, “This place is fearsome! This has to be the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!” 18 Ya‘akov got up early in the morning, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a standing-stone, poured olive oil on its top
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Fleeing his angry twin Esau (cf. Genesis 27:41), Jacob had showed no vision much greater than his own survival. He stopped at what the text simply called “a certain place” to sleep. Alone in the wild, with only a stone for a pillow, he had a dream in which God promised him heirs who would bless the whole earth. That dream gave him a life-changing, awed sense of God’s presence. When he awoke, he worshipped, and named the place Beth El (Hebrew “God’s house”).
Ø Can you recall a time when you especially felt the need for reassurance of God’s presence? What was going on in your life? In what way(s), big or small, did you find a renewed sense of God’s presence? How might the practices on the daily reflection prayer card given out in worship make God’s presence real to you? Which of them do you already follow to help you remember to seek God, and respond to God’s presence?
• Jacob’s world didn’t have structures like our church sanctuaries, which we often refer to as “God’s house.” What are some ways you might deepen your experience of God when you come to God’s house? What about the other days of the week? Identify one step you will take to draw closer to God through the act of worship, corporately with others and by yourself on days that do not have corporate worship.
Prayer: Lord God, that “Jacob’s ladder” we still sing about is always there, connecting earth and heaven. Open my eyes to remember that even on my most “wilderness” days, you are with me, waiting to hear from me. Amen.
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"Elijah found God in the quiet"
Thursday, 19 October 2017
1 Kings 19:9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. Then the word of Adonai came to him; he said to him, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for Adonai the God of armies, because the people of Isra’el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I’m the only one left, and they’re coming after me to kill me too.” 11 He said, “Go outside, and stand on the mountain before Adonai”; and right then and there, Adonai went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before Adonai, but Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, fire broke out; but Adonai was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice. 13 When Eliyahu heard it, he covered his face with his cloak, stepped out and stood at the entrance to the cave. Then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?”
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God gave Elijah a great public victory (cf. 1 Kings 18:1-39). But Queen Jezebel was still in power. Angry about her “god” Baal’s defeat, she threatened to kill Elijah. Her defiance of him and God was too much for the “successful” prophet, the bold man of action. Tired, depressed and afraid, he ran. God cared gently for Elijah’s physical and mental fatigue. Then God spoke again to Elijah in his wilderness experience—perhaps in the way Elijah least expected.
Ø Archeologists have found Canaanite figurines showing Baal with fists full of thunderbolts. God had sent fire on Mt. Carmel, but not here. Scholar John Bimson said, “‘A gentle whisper’ and ‘a still small voice’ (RSV) do not do full justice to the enigmatic Hebrew, which may be better rendered ‘a brief sound of silence.’…it implies God was at last passing in the silence after the storm.” * When have you sensed God, not in sound and spectacle, but in small, quiet ways?
• Elijah didn’t just wander aimlessly in the wilderness. He went to Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai—the very place where God made a covenant with the people of Israel in Moses’ day (cf. Deuteronomy 5:2). Are there sacred places that form the “fixed points” in your life’s journey with God? Do you ever return to any of them in times when difficulty or pain make you hungry for God’s presence?
Prayer: Lord God, this is a very noisy world. Guide me to the outer and inner places of silence that I sometimes need in order to hear your quiet, sustaining voice. Amen.
* John Bimson, comment on 1 Kings 19:12 in The New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994.
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“Examine yourselves…test yourselves”
Friday, 20 October 2017
2 Corinthians 13:3 since you are looking for proof of the Messiah speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you. 4 For although he was executed on a stake in weakness, now he lives by God’s power. And we too are weak in union with him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God’s power.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don’t you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you? — unless you fail to pass the test.
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The apostle Paul learned, with sadness, that some Corinthian Christians, people he had personally brought to faith in Jesus, now thought badly of him and his message. A group of “super apostles” had turned their hearts and their faith in a different direction (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4-6). Verse 3 in today’s passage showed their desire to “test” Paul. But he asked them to take a hard look at themselves, to make sure their motives and attitudes were in tune with Christ’s.
• Scholar N. T. Wright suggested some self-test questions that may supplement those you received in church. “When you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see someone in whom King Jesus is living and active, or someone who once knew him but now seems not to? When you listen to the sort of things you yourself say, does it sound like words that might have come from King Jesus himself, or are you simply talking the same way everyone else does?” *
• Wright went on, “And when you settle down and quieten your mind and heart, to pray and wait for God, do you know and sense the presence, the life and the love of King Jesus close to you, within you, warming and sustaining, guarding and guiding, checking and directing you? These are searching tests, but they are the kind of thing Paul has in mind.” *
Prayer: King Jesus, it’s rather scary to search my life and heart. Give me the courage to test myself, to find the good you’ve already grown in my life, and to discover what is still missing that you wish to give me. Amen.
* N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, page 144.
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“Each person should test their own work”
Saturday, 21 October 2017
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too. 2 Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself. 4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else; 5 for each person will carry his own load.
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The apostle Paul pictured lots of interdependence and interaction when he described the living Christian community to the Christians in Galatia. But even as he called them (and us) to support, and even correct, one another, one of the most common ways of reacting to others was specifically ruled out: “not compare themselves with others,” said verse 4. As we grow in the discipline of examining ourselves each day, one unhelpful answer is, “Well, I’m better than ____________________.”
Ø What inner factors tempt you to compare yourself with others? How does God’s love and grace empower you to gradually erode the negative, competitive, comparative patterns taught by a culture whose values are not the same as God’s? What steps can you take toward living into the freedom to which God invites you, basking in the light of God’s favor and approval without fearing what others will think or how your path will “stack up” against someone else’s?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach me how to be happy with doing a good job without worrying about how my life and work compare with someone else’s. Remind me that you, and only you, are the master and Lord I ultimately aim to please. Amen.
Family Activity: This simple activity may help even smaller children begin forming the habit of examining their way of life. Read Matthew 7:12(Matthew 7:“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.), the Golden Rule. Give each person in your family an index card. Have each person write, “I did or said something kind” on one side of the card. On the other side write, “I did or said something hurtful.” Ask each person to pay attention to their words and actions each day. Encourage them to place a mark on the appropriate side of the card each time they do something kind or hurtful. No one else needs to see the cards. These are for each individual and God. Each day, work towards having fewer marks on the “hurtful” side and more marks on the “kind” side. Pray for God’s help to treat others kindly.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Larry and Sharon Forbach and family on the death of their son Rick Heinitz, 10/10
• Janine McPhee and family on the death of her sister Judy Jackson, 10/10
• Christine Polo and family on the death of her husband Joe Polo, 10/6
• Loryn and Sydney Polo on the death of their father Joe Polo, 10/6
•Patsy Shipley and family on the death of her mother Mary Stockard, 10/5
• Christal Heier and family on the death of her grandmother Mary Stockard, 10/5
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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