The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Sunday, 28 February 2016 – Prayer Tip: “I AM the Good Shepherd”
Daily Scripture
John 10:7 So Yeshua said to them again, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he isn’t a shepherd and the sheep aren’t his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf drags them off and scatters them.
14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me — 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father — and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep.
[3 This is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out. 4 After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.]
Prayer TipThis last week, I was reminded that temper-tantrums aren’t only for toddlers. For my birthday, my husband Andy gave me the privilege of adopting a dog. As a self-proclaimed cat person, the prospect overwhelmed me, but as an animal lover I was overjoyed. Side note: Now that I have the dog I am already dreaming of what animals will be next… chickens are on my wish list. Anyhow, after a week of parading our new beagle Barley around and even bringing him into work, I was in love.
And then came the dark days. It became clear very quickly that our pup wasn’t house-trained – he began pooping and peeing everywhere. Not only that, but my husband and I returned home one night to find that Barley had chewed the trim off the parsonage window. The cherry on top (that sent me over the top) was Barley’s decision to eat a plate of potluck desserts that my husband had brought home from a recent funeral. I lost it! I called my husband crying. My patience was shot. I quickly convinced myself that if I couldn’t raise a dog then I wasn’t capable of doing ANYTHING right. I was a mess!
Why do I share this – not one of my finest moments – with you? As we journey through the Christian life, so often we find our strong points and seek to strengthen them. This is obviously never in vain. However, I found that my meltdown revealed the areas in my life where I most need to experience God’s grace.
Each season of my life I try to take time to reflect upon what I have been learning and what God is calling me to. I make a list of those things and I post it somewhere I spend lots of time. This isn’t a “to-do” list. Instead, it is a “to-be” list. In this season of life, I feel called to peace, gracing myself and others, and patiently pacing myself. My lack of these things became evident when I had my meltdown.
For this week’s prayer challenge, I am asking that you consider a moment that was “not your finest.” What might it reveal about areas God desires to transform in you? With this in mind, what type of person do you think God might be calling you to become this Lenten season? Write those traits on a card, place it somewhere you visit often and invite God through prayer to begin the work of transformation in your life.[Katherine Ebling, Pastor of Prayer]
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Sunday, February 28, 2016 John – The Gospel of Light and Life
“I AM the Good Shepherd”
Scripture: John 10:7-12, 14-15
Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by
me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… [He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.] The hired hand, who is not
the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away… I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.”
“I AM the Bread of Life”
Monday, 29 February 2016 John 6:1-71
In John 6:35, 48 and 51, Jesus used the words “I AM.” This was loaded language—the Greek equivalent of YHWH, the divine name by which God identified himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14.
In the rest of John, Jesus made major six other major “I Am” claims. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “In his words, ‘I am the bread of life,’ Jesus draws from the Passover seder and the manna by which
God sustained the Israelites in the wilderness. He does so to point to the deliverance he will bring by his death, and the way ongoing belief in him sustains his disciples.”1
• Jesus invited his listeners to consider what kind of "food" they valued most: "Don't work for the food that doesn't last but for the food that endures for eternal life" (verse 27). Physical food wasn’t bad—he’d just fed the hungry crowd with bread and fish—but it didn’t give lasting life. How clear is your sense of the two kinds of food, the two “worlds” Jesus spoke of? Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” In what ways are you consistently nourishing yourself spiritually on him?
• Feeding the huge crowd seemed impossible to the disciples. Andrew brought a lad’s small lunch saying, “But what good is that for a crowd like this?” Consider what Jesus did with that small lunch. What talents and resources do you have that you might offer to Jesus, trusting him to creatively multiply your gift(s) and bless others through what you offer?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for offering yourself as the bread of life. I trust you to satisfy my inner hunger—to fill the God-shaped hole inside me. Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 67.) For a more detailed study of John 6, see pp. 64-68.
“All who are thirsty should come to me!”
Tuesday, 1 March 2016 John 7:1-52
Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in him (verse 5). The crowds had mixed views (verse 12). Jewish leaders wanted to kill him (verse 1, 25). Yet Jesus steadily chose his own course under God.
He spoke firmly of his heavenly origin and life-giving mission: “I haven’t come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. I know him because I am from him and he sent me” (verse 28, 29). Nicodemus, who visited with Jesus at night in John 3, asked his colleagues on the council to at least give Jesus a fair hearing.
• John was a master at pointing out denial (what we today call “cognitive dissonance”). Verses 1 and 25 recognized that the leaders wanted to kill Jesus. Yet when he spoke of it openly, they denied it heatedly: “You have a demon. Who wants to kill you?” (verse 20)
When have you been in settings where you or others tried to deny “the elephant in the room”? How can you and Jesus face any issues in your life more honestly?
• Jesus’ brothers used “world” to mean the physical planet Earth and all who live in it (verse 4). But Jesus used it to mean an inner spiritual orientation that turns away from God and tries to live without God and God’s values (verse 7). In what ways does “the world” (in that second sense) try to draw you into its values and way of life today? How is your life better when you live in Jesus’ world, rather than in “the world” that hates him?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I want to be a citizen of your world, to know you and the one who sent you. Guide me as day-by-day I submit my heart to your kingship. Amen.
“I AM the light of the world”—“before Abraham was, I AM”
Wednesday, 2 March 2016 John 7:53 - 8:59
In the first story, the Pharisees were fine with shaming or killing a woman they had probably lured into the act of adultery. (Why did they let her partner escape? She couldn’t commit adultery alone.) Jesus gave her a new start. Then he said, “I Am the light of the world” (verse 12) and later added, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (verse 58), twin claims to God’s name from Exodus 3:14. He said he was “from above,” his foes “from below” (verse 23). His self-righteous
enemies were furious, ready to stone Jesus for blasphemy.
• Jesus’ opponents asked, “Who do you make yourself out to be?” (verse 53). They shortly had their answer: “‘I assure you,’ Jesus replied, ‘before Abraham was, I Am’” (verse 58). They rejected and mocked Jesus’ claim. Do you believe it? What difference does your answer make to the way you live your life?
• Jesus said, “The truth will set you free” (verse 32). His foes replied, “We’ve never been anyone’s slaves. How can you say that we will be set free?” They were in political denial—one historian called Israel’s life under Rome a “semi-slavery.” Worse, they were in the dark about their own pride. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “John wants us to understand that Jesus came to guide those who believe in him through the darkness.”1 Have you ever felt, “I don’t need what Christ offers”? Is there any area now where you particularly need Christ’s light to set you free?
Prayer: Lord God, you showed your eternity and power to Moses in the Hebrew name “I Am.” When you became flesh in Jesus, you again identified yourself with that name. You assured me that I can be your child, and I’m thankful that I am. Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 69.) For a more detailed study of John 8, see pp. 68-71.
“I was blind and now I see”
Thursday, 3 March 2016 John 9:1-41
John evoked the creation story (Genesis 2:7), as Jesus used mud made from dust to give a blind man sight (verse 6). The story’s deeper meaning was to point to the tragedy of spiritual blindness. Rather than admit anything good about Jesus, the religious leaders scrambled to deny the plain fact that a man born blind could now see! In his beautiful confession of faith in verse 25, the man showed that he could “see” more clearly than the religious leaders.
• Pastor Hamilton wrote, “The sixth miraculous sign ends by offering a powerful contrast between the blind beggar who listened to Jesus’ voice, trusted him, obeyed his commands, washed, and thus came to see; and the religious leaders who refused to listen to Jesus and
condemned him as a sinner…. In describing the man’s story, this miraculous sign, John asks us, in effect, ‘Are you blind, or can you see?’”1
• Jesus repeated his claim to be “the light of the world.” At what age or stage did Christ’s light first shine into your life? What were some of the first things that you remember seeing more clearly in the light of Jesus’ love and grace? What are one or two ways that Christ’s light has helped to clear your sight in the recent days and weeks of your walk with him?
Prayer: Lord, continue your spiritual “eye surgery” in me. Make it ever more true in all parts of my life that “I was blind, but now I see.” Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 43.) For a more detailed study of John 9, see pp. 38-45.
“I AM the gate—I AM the good shepherd”
Friday, 4 March 2016 John 10:1-42
Jesus said the spiritual blindness of Israel’s leaders didn’t just hurt them. It left the human “flock” God had entrusted to their care in spiritual danger. (He strongly echoed the message of the prophet Ezekiel—cf. Ezekiel 34:1-16.) But God had promised Israel that he would shepherd them himself if their human shepherds failed. Jesus was the promised “good shepherd” who would safely guide and protect all who trusted him.
• When Jesus said “I Am the gate,” he referred to a physical reality for those who watched over flocks of sheep. Scholar N. T. Wright noted, “In many Eastern sheepfolds, the shepherd lies down at night in the gateway, to stop the sheep getting out and to stop predators getting in. Here Jesus seems to indicate the way in which the shepherd keeps the sheep safe, and, like God himself in Psalm 121:8, watches over their going out and their coming in.”1 In what ways has Jesus been “the gate” who offers you spiritual safety?
• “I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest,” Jesus said in John 10:10. In what ways have you seen ads for everything from banks to automobiles, from alcoholic beverages to hair-care products, hold out a similar promise?
How easy or hard do you find it to trust, in your day-to-day life, that Jesus’ way truly offers you the fullest, most satisfying life?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I want to “live life to the fullest”—the way YOU define that phrase. Plant the seed of your word in my heart, and grow it into a life that nourishes life in others. Amen.
1 N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, part 1. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004, p. 150.)
“I AM the resurrection and the life”
Saturday, 4 March 2016 John 11:1-53
Jesus’ seventh miraculous sign was his mightiest: he restored Lazarus, dead for four days, to life. Going to Bethany, just a few miles from Jerusalem, could expose Jesus to his enemies’ malice again (verse 8, 16). He intentionally waited before going to where his friend lay deathly ill (verse 15). When he reached Bethany, Lazarus had died. Grieving her brother, Martha told Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Yet the darkness hated the light more than ever—Jesus’ enemies increased their efforts to kill the one who gave life.
• Jesus’ words to Martha are probably the most cherished of his "I Am" statements: "I am the resurrection and the life… everyone who believes in me will never die." Martha and her sister Mary had “if-only” questions for Jesus—“if only” he had done things differently, they thought, things would be better. But Jesus has many ways of bringing good news, hope, and new possibilities into the mess and grief of life. He asks us for trust, as he did Martha and Mary, because our “if-only” questions, like theirs, may simply reflect our time-limited, earth-bound understanding. We face the question Jesus asked Martha: "Do you believe this?" How easy or hard do you find it to trust that Jesus is working for your good, even when what you wish would happen doesn’t?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes it is hard for me to trust you in the midst of my “if-only” questions. Thank you for offering me an eternal hope. Help me to trust your eternal ways. Amen.
Family Activity: Gather your family into the darkest space of your home. A closet or a dark bathroom would be good options. When you are all together, say, “Jesus is the light of the world!” Describe how just as life can be dark at times, so are our hearts, lives and the world without the light of Jesus. Discuss how when we follow Jesus, his light lives within us and he wants us to share it with the world with our words and actions. Open the door of the room and
celebrate the light of Jesus together! Give thanks to God for Jesus and the light he brings to our lives. Commit to sharing the light of Jesus with all people.
Prayer Requests
Prayers for Health & Healing for: Hannah Feindel
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Marilyn Shetlar and family following the death of Martha Steincamp (Sister), 2/19
•Alec England (age 15) and family following the death of Carol England (Mother), 2/18
•Emma Cook and family following the death of David Cook (Husband), 2/16
•Keith Ehrich and family following the death of Janice Ehrich (Aunt), 2/10
• Jean Lanahan and family following the death of Joe Lanahan (Husband), 2/13
•Dan Parkman and family following the death of Doris M. Parkman (Mother), 2/7
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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