The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "Teach your children" for Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Deuteronomy 6:5 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. 6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; 7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, 9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.
20 “Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which Adonai our God has laid down for you?’ 21 Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22 Adonai worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes. 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us. 24 Adonai ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear Adonai our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today. 25 It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before Adonai our God, just as he ordered us to do.’”
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It appears that the Israelites alive at the time of Moses’ message had learned from the mistake their parents made. They were not afraid to follow God’s leading into the Promised Land. But it was not enough for God’s mission in the world that just they be faithful. It was vital that they not let their faith die with them, but that they teach it to their children and future generations.
• Who (if anyone) were the people in your childhood and youth who taught you about God’s covenant, about the principles by which God calls you to live? Did they do it in effective ways that won your respect and affection, or did you reach a point at which you rebelled against the way of life they tried to teach you? What good things do you carry with you from that background?
• In what ways today are you actively seeking to transmit your faith to people who are
younger than you are? If you have children or grandchildren, how have you learned to
make the faith appealing to them, and not just a tiresome set of rules that make no sense to them? If you do not have children of your own, how can you be an effective communicator and example of faith to younger people?
Prayer: Living LORD, make of my life a beacon of faith and hope, an example and inspiration to younger people to follow you. Remind me every day that you call me to be one of your human partners and instruments in your saving mission in this world. Amen.
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Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
My son has a real penchant for asking why. I know this is pretty common in kids, but my kid does it to a fault. Many times, a tautological answer is the only appropriate response to his questions. Why is it 4:00? Because it’s 4:00. Why is our appointment at 2:00? Well, I could go into my daily schedule, the doctor’s schedule, the travel times, daylight savings time, and the rotation of the earth–no, just kidding, it’s because our appointment is at 2:00.
These sorts of questions can make it a lot easier to dismiss some of his other questions, though, like why we go to church, or why we follow the rules in the Bible. This isn’t that different from the question in today’s passage from early Israelite children: “What is the meaning of the laws, the regulations, and the case laws that the LORD our God commanded you?” This is essentially the children who didn’t live through slavery in Egypt asking why: Why does it all matter? Why do we believe? Why do we follow?
And notice how the question is answered: not with a simple explanation or a restatement of the premise, but with a story. The answer to the question of why is the story of what God has done for the Israelite people. It’s a remembrance of changed lives.
When our children ask why, it can be very difficult to answer if we don’t have a good answer for the question of what God has done for us, how he has changed us. If we can’t explain in simple terms how our lives are different–without regurgitating spiritual lingo and cliches–then we cannot adequately answer the question of why.
Your story is not something anyone else can teach you. It probably won’t be the same story as anyone else’s. It is uniquely yours, and it’s up to you to understand it and articulate it. Likewise, the story of what God does for your children, or anyone you’re mentoring, will be uniquely theirs and not defined by yours–but it may take your story to convince them to explore theirs.
This week, focus on what God has done for you, how he has changed your life. What is the story you will leave behind for the people who look up to you? What is the story that will inspire others to discover their stories? You may want to spend the time to write it out. But if we can’t articulate it, we can never share it, and that could make a world of difference for the people in our lives.
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"Warning against self-sufficiency"
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Deuteronomy 7:7 Adonai didn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Maftir) 9 From this you can know that Adonai your God is indeed God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot, to a thousand generations.
(ii) 11 “Be careful not to forget Adonai your God by not obeying his mitzvot, rulings and regulations that I am giving you today. 12 Otherwise, after you have eaten and are satisfied, built fine houses and lived in them, 13 and increased your herds, flocks, silver, gold and everything else you own, 14 you will become proud-hearted. Forgetting Adonai your God — who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves; 15 who led you through the vast and fearsome desert, with its poisonous snakes, scorpions and waterless, thirsty ground; who brought water out of flint rock for you; 16 who fed you in the desert with man, unknown to your ancestors; all the while humbling and testing you in order to do you good in the end — 17 you will think to yourself, ‘My own power and the strength of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 No, you are to remember Adonai your God, because it is he who is giving you the power to get wealth, in order to confirm his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as is happening even today.
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Sometimes when a nation or a company faces a big challenge, their leaders seek to energize
them by telling them what special, exceptional people they are. But Moses had led this group for 40 years—he couldn’t honestly give them a pep talk about how awesome they were. Instead, he reminded them that it was important for them to live out God’s values. Only when they did that could they depend on God’s blessings.
• The next time you hear an ad telling you that you “deserve” some luxury as a reward for all your hard work and success, keep Deuteronomy 8:17 in mind: “Don’t think to yourself, My own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me.” Do you agree with the outlook that says it is God “who gives you the strength to be prosperous”? How can you believe that without devaluing your own effort and dedication?
• Events like the recent Olympics put our focus on national identities. It’s logical to cheer when “our” athletes win. It’s fun and harmless—unless we forget what Moses said to Israel: “It was not because you were greater than all other people that the LORD loved you and chose you.” Under our surface differences, we are, in Archibald Macleish’s phrase, “riders on the earth together.” How central has feeling greater than other people been to your identity? How can you rejoice in being a child of God, like all other human beings?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you said “people who are humble” will inherit the earth. So much in this world pushes back against that. Help me to understand true humility, not as feeling worthless, but as rooting my worth in you, not in myself. Amen.
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"The crucial decision: 'Choose life'”
Thursday, 29 September 2016
Deuteronomy 30:(RY: iv, LY: vii) 15 “Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil — 16 in that I am ordering you today to love Adonai your God, to follow his ways, and to obey his mitzvot, regulations and rulings ; for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers; and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you are drawn away to prostrate yourselves before other gods and serve them; (LY: Maftir) 18 I am announcing to you today that you will certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Yarden to enter and possess.
19 “I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants, 20 loving Adonai your God, paying attention to what he says and clinging to him — for that is the purpose of your life! On this depends the length of time you will live in the land Adonai swore he would give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.”
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There was profound urgency in the simple, stark way Moses set the ultimate spiritual choice before the Israelites: life or death? And how much resonance it would have had if it was the scroll found in King Josiah’s time (cf. 2 Kings 22 ff), as that righteous king tried to eliminate shrines to pagan gods while restoring the badly neglected Temple. Bluntly put, God is the ultimate source of all true life. To choose to live apart from God is, then, to refuse life.
• Methodist teacher Leslie Newbigin wrote, “God did not want us to know evil; he wanted us to know only good. But there creeps in that little snake of suspicion: ‘Should we not find out for ourselves the other side of the picture?.... Let us find out for ourselves what is good and what is evil. Surely we can’t simply trust God for that!’ And so… the bond of trust is broken, and we are lost…. We hide ourselves from God; we compete with each other…. Right through the Bible runs the anguish of God as he seeks his foolish people…. God will not leave us until he has won us back to be his children.”1 Picture yourself hearing the aged Moses plead, “Choose life.” What’s your choice—how does your heart respond?
Prayer: LORD God, I like choosing from many different brands when I shop, or having many
options when I go to the movies. Help me to choose life in you, not just for an evening but for all my life. Amen.
1 Lesslie Newbigin, A Walk Through the Bible. Kansas City: Barefoot Ministries, 1999, pp. 16-18.
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"Clear support for new leadership"
Friday, 30 September 2016
Deuteronomy 31:1 Moshe went and spoke the following words to all Isra’el: 2 “I am 120 years old today. I can’t get around any longer; moreover, Adonai has said to me, ‘You will not cross this Yarden.’ 3 Adonai your God — he will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess them. Y’hoshua — he will cross over ahead of you, as Adonai has said. (LY: ii) 4 Adonai will do to them what he did to Sichon and ‘Og, the kings of the Emori, and to their land — he destroyed them. 5 Adonai will defeat them ahead of you, and you are to do to them just as I have ordered you to do. 6 Be strong, be bold, don’t be afraid or frightened of them, for Adonai your God is going with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
(RY: v, LY: iii) 7 Next Moshe summoned Y’hoshua and, in the sight of all Isra’el, said to him, “Be strong, be bold, for you are going with this people into the land Adonai swore to their ancestors he would give them. You will be the one causing them to inherit it. 8 But Adonai — it is he who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.”
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Numbers 27 told about Moses following God’s directions and authorizing Joshua to succeed
him in leading the Israelites. As Moses neared the end of his life, he made it plain to Israel that he was not irreplaceable: “The LORD told me ‘You won’t cross the Jordan River.’ But the LORD your God, he’s the one who will cross over before you!” Moses knew he’d led in God’s power, not his own. He blessed Joshua, and urged him and the people to fearlessly trust God.
• Have you ever seen a case in which a corporate leader, a government official, a church pastor or even a family patriarch clung to power too long, harming both himself/herself and the people they had served? What kind of attitude and inner spirit does it take to recognize, like Moses, that while we have gifts to offer, only our God is irreplaceable?
• Numbers 12:3 said, “Now the man Moses was humble, more so than anyone on earth.”
(Pastor Hamilton has observed that if Moses wrote that about himself, it wasn’t true!) If the first generation of Israelites had been willing to trust God and enter the Promised Land, surely Moses would have led them. Yet in his parting words, forty years later, we hear no trace of bitterness or blame. What lessons can you learn from Moses about dealing with disappointments, especially if other people have played a major role in them?
Prayer: O God, help me meet all of life’s ups and downs with grace, not necessarily because I am graceful but because you are gracious. I’m not Moses—but help me to learn from him. Amen.
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"The visionary end of Moses’ Earthly Life"
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Deuteronomy 32:(Maftir) 48 That same day Adonai said to Moshe, 49 “Go up into the ‘Avarim Range, to Mount N’vo, in the land of Mo’av across from Yericho; and look out over the land of Kena‘an, which I am giving the people of Isra’el as a possession. 50 On the mountain you are ascending you will die and be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.
34:1 (vii) Moshe ascended from the plains of Mo’av to Mount N’vo, to the summit of Pisgah, across from Yericho. There Adonai showed him all the land — Gil‘ad as far as Dan, 2 all Naftali, the land of Efrayim and M’nasheh, the land of Y’hudah all the way to the sea beyond, 3 the Negev, and the ‘Aravah, including the valley where Yericho, the City of Date-Palms, as far away as Tzo‘ar. 4 Adonai said to him, “This is the land concerning which I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over there.”
5 So Moshe, the servant of Adonai, died there in the land of Mo’av, as Adonai had said. 6 He was buried in the valley across from Beit-P‘or in the land of Mo’av, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
7 Moshe was 120 years old when he died, with eyes undimmed and vigor undiminished. 8 The people of Isra’el mourned Moshe on the plains of Mo’av for thirty days; after this, the days of crying and mourning for Moshe ended.
9 Y’hoshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moshe had laid his hands on him, and the people of Isra’el heeded him and did what Adonai had ordered Moshe.
10 Since that time there has not arisen in Isra’el a prophet like Moshe, whom Adonai knew face to face. 11 What signs and wonders Adonai sent him to perform in the land of Egypt upon Pharaoh, all his servants and all his land! 12 What might was in his hand! What great terror he evoked before the eyes of all Isra’el!
Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!
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At least from the time of the burning bush (cf. Exodus 3), and probably even earlier, Moses had a God-given vision: living in the Promised Land. Before his earthly life ended, God gave him a mountaintop view of the place he’d hoped and dreamed of. It seems likely that as Moses died he held in his mind that vision of the Promised Land’s beauty. Israel mourned, and remembered their great leader. But Moses’ story wasn’t over. He reappeared centuries later in the Bible’s story. If anything, now he had a greater honor—he was encouraging Jesus, the LORD he’d served all his life, as Jesus prepared to face the cross on which he would save the whole world (cf. Matthew 17:3).
• Moses was not alone in dying before his grand, God-given vision was fully realized. When Abraham died, the “great nation” God promised he would become was just one person—
his son Isaac. King David dreamed of building God a beautiful Temple, but his son, King
Solomon, got to build it. After listing many heroes of faith, the letter to the Hebrews said, “All these people didn’t receive what was promised, though they were given approval for their faith” (Hebrews 11:39). The true Promised Land, toward which all God’s people
journey, is not in this dark, broken world—it is God’s eternal realm of light and unending
life, seen in vision in Revelation 21-22. What are your biggest God-given dreams? How can you pursue them fearlessly, knowing that beyond the limits of this world they will all come fully true in God’s eternal kingdom?
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for Moses (and your faithful servants who wrote and transmitted his story). Let me live my life energetically for you, with my ultimate hopes fixed on that wonderful day when both Moses and I can praise you in your eternal kingdom. Amen.
Family Activity: One way we experience a relationship with God is through Scripture. Create a box filled with Bible verses. Using colored paper, markers, ribbon, magazine cut-outs, family photos and other fun materials, decorate a shoebox or photo box to represent your family and your faith journey. Write some favorite Bible verses on colorful strips of paper and place them in the box. (Psalms is a great place to find many verses of praise and thanksgiving, as well as promises from God.) Once a day, maybe at mealtime, pull a strip from the box and share the
passage aloud. Ask older children and youth to join you in adding Bible texts to the box. Thank God for the gift of being in relationship with God and God’s Word.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Shane Presley and family on the death of his grandmother Betty Curtis, 9/20
• Beth Hartwell and family on the death of her sister Jenny Wallace, 9/17
• Jeff and Jan Marrs and family on the death of their daughter Lane Marrs, 9/16
• Nancy Spoolstra and family on the death of her sister Carol Walker, 9/15
• Randall Rock and family on the death of his mother Emma Rock, 9/15
• Keith Erich and family on the death of his uncle Eldon Erich, 9/11
• Jeff Locklear and family on the death of his mother Mary Ann Locklear, 9/10
• Richard Messerschmidt and family on the death of his father Eldon Messerschmidt, 9/9
• Mike Patton and family on the death of his mother Betty June Patton, 9/8
• Debbie Noblitt and family on the death of her mother Eileen Smith, 9/7
20 “Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which Adonai our God has laid down for you?’ 21 Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22 Adonai worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes. 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us. 24 Adonai ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear Adonai our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today. 25 It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before Adonai our God, just as he ordered us to do.’”
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It appears that the Israelites alive at the time of Moses’ message had learned from the mistake their parents made. They were not afraid to follow God’s leading into the Promised Land. But it was not enough for God’s mission in the world that just they be faithful. It was vital that they not let their faith die with them, but that they teach it to their children and future generations.
• Who (if anyone) were the people in your childhood and youth who taught you about God’s covenant, about the principles by which God calls you to live? Did they do it in effective ways that won your respect and affection, or did you reach a point at which you rebelled against the way of life they tried to teach you? What good things do you carry with you from that background?
• In what ways today are you actively seeking to transmit your faith to people who are
younger than you are? If you have children or grandchildren, how have you learned to
make the faith appealing to them, and not just a tiresome set of rules that make no sense to them? If you do not have children of your own, how can you be an effective communicator and example of faith to younger people?
Prayer: Living LORD, make of my life a beacon of faith and hope, an example and inspiration to younger people to follow you. Remind me every day that you call me to be one of your human partners and instruments in your saving mission in this world. Amen.
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Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.My son has a real penchant for asking why. I know this is pretty common in kids, but my kid does it to a fault. Many times, a tautological answer is the only appropriate response to his questions. Why is it 4:00? Because it’s 4:00. Why is our appointment at 2:00? Well, I could go into my daily schedule, the doctor’s schedule, the travel times, daylight savings time, and the rotation of the earth–no, just kidding, it’s because our appointment is at 2:00.
These sorts of questions can make it a lot easier to dismiss some of his other questions, though, like why we go to church, or why we follow the rules in the Bible. This isn’t that different from the question in today’s passage from early Israelite children: “What is the meaning of the laws, the regulations, and the case laws that the LORD our God commanded you?” This is essentially the children who didn’t live through slavery in Egypt asking why: Why does it all matter? Why do we believe? Why do we follow?
And notice how the question is answered: not with a simple explanation or a restatement of the premise, but with a story. The answer to the question of why is the story of what God has done for the Israelite people. It’s a remembrance of changed lives.
When our children ask why, it can be very difficult to answer if we don’t have a good answer for the question of what God has done for us, how he has changed us. If we can’t explain in simple terms how our lives are different–without regurgitating spiritual lingo and cliches–then we cannot adequately answer the question of why.
Your story is not something anyone else can teach you. It probably won’t be the same story as anyone else’s. It is uniquely yours, and it’s up to you to understand it and articulate it. Likewise, the story of what God does for your children, or anyone you’re mentoring, will be uniquely theirs and not defined by yours–but it may take your story to convince them to explore theirs.
This week, focus on what God has done for you, how he has changed your life. What is the story you will leave behind for the people who look up to you? What is the story that will inspire others to discover their stories? You may want to spend the time to write it out. But if we can’t articulate it, we can never share it, and that could make a world of difference for the people in our lives.
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"Warning against self-sufficiency"
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Deuteronomy 7:7 Adonai didn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Maftir) 9 From this you can know that Adonai your God is indeed God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot, to a thousand generations.
(ii) 11 “Be careful not to forget Adonai your God by not obeying his mitzvot, rulings and regulations that I am giving you today. 12 Otherwise, after you have eaten and are satisfied, built fine houses and lived in them, 13 and increased your herds, flocks, silver, gold and everything else you own, 14 you will become proud-hearted. Forgetting Adonai your God — who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves; 15 who led you through the vast and fearsome desert, with its poisonous snakes, scorpions and waterless, thirsty ground; who brought water out of flint rock for you; 16 who fed you in the desert with man, unknown to your ancestors; all the while humbling and testing you in order to do you good in the end — 17 you will think to yourself, ‘My own power and the strength of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 No, you are to remember Adonai your God, because it is he who is giving you the power to get wealth, in order to confirm his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as is happening even today.
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Sometimes when a nation or a company faces a big challenge, their leaders seek to energize
them by telling them what special, exceptional people they are. But Moses had led this group for 40 years—he couldn’t honestly give them a pep talk about how awesome they were. Instead, he reminded them that it was important for them to live out God’s values. Only when they did that could they depend on God’s blessings.
• The next time you hear an ad telling you that you “deserve” some luxury as a reward for all your hard work and success, keep Deuteronomy 8:17 in mind: “Don’t think to yourself, My own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me.” Do you agree with the outlook that says it is God “who gives you the strength to be prosperous”? How can you believe that without devaluing your own effort and dedication?
• Events like the recent Olympics put our focus on national identities. It’s logical to cheer when “our” athletes win. It’s fun and harmless—unless we forget what Moses said to Israel: “It was not because you were greater than all other people that the LORD loved you and chose you.” Under our surface differences, we are, in Archibald Macleish’s phrase, “riders on the earth together.” How central has feeling greater than other people been to your identity? How can you rejoice in being a child of God, like all other human beings?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you said “people who are humble” will inherit the earth. So much in this world pushes back against that. Help me to understand true humility, not as feeling worthless, but as rooting my worth in you, not in myself. Amen.
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"The crucial decision: 'Choose life'”
Thursday, 29 September 2016
Deuteronomy 30:(RY: iv, LY: vii) 15 “Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil — 16 in that I am ordering you today to love Adonai your God, to follow his ways, and to obey his mitzvot, regulations and rulings ; for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers; and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you are drawn away to prostrate yourselves before other gods and serve them; (LY: Maftir) 18 I am announcing to you today that you will certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Yarden to enter and possess.
19 “I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants, 20 loving Adonai your God, paying attention to what he says and clinging to him — for that is the purpose of your life! On this depends the length of time you will live in the land Adonai swore he would give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.”
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There was profound urgency in the simple, stark way Moses set the ultimate spiritual choice before the Israelites: life or death? And how much resonance it would have had if it was the scroll found in King Josiah’s time (cf. 2 Kings 22 ff), as that righteous king tried to eliminate shrines to pagan gods while restoring the badly neglected Temple. Bluntly put, God is the ultimate source of all true life. To choose to live apart from God is, then, to refuse life.
• Methodist teacher Leslie Newbigin wrote, “God did not want us to know evil; he wanted us to know only good. But there creeps in that little snake of suspicion: ‘Should we not find out for ourselves the other side of the picture?.... Let us find out for ourselves what is good and what is evil. Surely we can’t simply trust God for that!’ And so… the bond of trust is broken, and we are lost…. We hide ourselves from God; we compete with each other…. Right through the Bible runs the anguish of God as he seeks his foolish people…. God will not leave us until he has won us back to be his children.”1 Picture yourself hearing the aged Moses plead, “Choose life.” What’s your choice—how does your heart respond?
Prayer: LORD God, I like choosing from many different brands when I shop, or having many
options when I go to the movies. Help me to choose life in you, not just for an evening but for all my life. Amen.
1 Lesslie Newbigin, A Walk Through the Bible. Kansas City: Barefoot Ministries, 1999, pp. 16-18.
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"Clear support for new leadership"
Friday, 30 September 2016
Deuteronomy 31:1 Moshe went and spoke the following words to all Isra’el: 2 “I am 120 years old today. I can’t get around any longer; moreover, Adonai has said to me, ‘You will not cross this Yarden.’ 3 Adonai your God — he will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess them. Y’hoshua — he will cross over ahead of you, as Adonai has said. (LY: ii) 4 Adonai will do to them what he did to Sichon and ‘Og, the kings of the Emori, and to their land — he destroyed them. 5 Adonai will defeat them ahead of you, and you are to do to them just as I have ordered you to do. 6 Be strong, be bold, don’t be afraid or frightened of them, for Adonai your God is going with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
(RY: v, LY: iii) 7 Next Moshe summoned Y’hoshua and, in the sight of all Isra’el, said to him, “Be strong, be bold, for you are going with this people into the land Adonai swore to their ancestors he would give them. You will be the one causing them to inherit it. 8 But Adonai — it is he who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.”
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Numbers 27 told about Moses following God’s directions and authorizing Joshua to succeed
him in leading the Israelites. As Moses neared the end of his life, he made it plain to Israel that he was not irreplaceable: “The LORD told me ‘You won’t cross the Jordan River.’ But the LORD your God, he’s the one who will cross over before you!” Moses knew he’d led in God’s power, not his own. He blessed Joshua, and urged him and the people to fearlessly trust God.
• Have you ever seen a case in which a corporate leader, a government official, a church pastor or even a family patriarch clung to power too long, harming both himself/herself and the people they had served? What kind of attitude and inner spirit does it take to recognize, like Moses, that while we have gifts to offer, only our God is irreplaceable?
• Numbers 12:3 said, “Now the man Moses was humble, more so than anyone on earth.”
(Pastor Hamilton has observed that if Moses wrote that about himself, it wasn’t true!) If the first generation of Israelites had been willing to trust God and enter the Promised Land, surely Moses would have led them. Yet in his parting words, forty years later, we hear no trace of bitterness or blame. What lessons can you learn from Moses about dealing with disappointments, especially if other people have played a major role in them?
Prayer: O God, help me meet all of life’s ups and downs with grace, not necessarily because I am graceful but because you are gracious. I’m not Moses—but help me to learn from him. Amen.
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"The visionary end of Moses’ Earthly Life"
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Deuteronomy 32:(Maftir) 48 That same day Adonai said to Moshe, 49 “Go up into the ‘Avarim Range, to Mount N’vo, in the land of Mo’av across from Yericho; and look out over the land of Kena‘an, which I am giving the people of Isra’el as a possession. 50 On the mountain you are ascending you will die and be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.
34:1 (vii) Moshe ascended from the plains of Mo’av to Mount N’vo, to the summit of Pisgah, across from Yericho. There Adonai showed him all the land — Gil‘ad as far as Dan, 2 all Naftali, the land of Efrayim and M’nasheh, the land of Y’hudah all the way to the sea beyond, 3 the Negev, and the ‘Aravah, including the valley where Yericho, the City of Date-Palms, as far away as Tzo‘ar. 4 Adonai said to him, “This is the land concerning which I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over there.”
5 So Moshe, the servant of Adonai, died there in the land of Mo’av, as Adonai had said. 6 He was buried in the valley across from Beit-P‘or in the land of Mo’av, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
7 Moshe was 120 years old when he died, with eyes undimmed and vigor undiminished. 8 The people of Isra’el mourned Moshe on the plains of Mo’av for thirty days; after this, the days of crying and mourning for Moshe ended.
9 Y’hoshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moshe had laid his hands on him, and the people of Isra’el heeded him and did what Adonai had ordered Moshe.
10 Since that time there has not arisen in Isra’el a prophet like Moshe, whom Adonai knew face to face. 11 What signs and wonders Adonai sent him to perform in the land of Egypt upon Pharaoh, all his servants and all his land! 12 What might was in his hand! What great terror he evoked before the eyes of all Isra’el!
Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!
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At least from the time of the burning bush (cf. Exodus 3), and probably even earlier, Moses had a God-given vision: living in the Promised Land. Before his earthly life ended, God gave him a mountaintop view of the place he’d hoped and dreamed of. It seems likely that as Moses died he held in his mind that vision of the Promised Land’s beauty. Israel mourned, and remembered their great leader. But Moses’ story wasn’t over. He reappeared centuries later in the Bible’s story. If anything, now he had a greater honor—he was encouraging Jesus, the LORD he’d served all his life, as Jesus prepared to face the cross on which he would save the whole world (cf. Matthew 17:3).
• Moses was not alone in dying before his grand, God-given vision was fully realized. When Abraham died, the “great nation” God promised he would become was just one person—
his son Isaac. King David dreamed of building God a beautiful Temple, but his son, King
Solomon, got to build it. After listing many heroes of faith, the letter to the Hebrews said, “All these people didn’t receive what was promised, though they were given approval for their faith” (Hebrews 11:39). The true Promised Land, toward which all God’s people
journey, is not in this dark, broken world—it is God’s eternal realm of light and unending
life, seen in vision in Revelation 21-22. What are your biggest God-given dreams? How can you pursue them fearlessly, knowing that beyond the limits of this world they will all come fully true in God’s eternal kingdom?
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for Moses (and your faithful servants who wrote and transmitted his story). Let me live my life energetically for you, with my ultimate hopes fixed on that wonderful day when both Moses and I can praise you in your eternal kingdom. Amen.
Family Activity: One way we experience a relationship with God is through Scripture. Create a box filled with Bible verses. Using colored paper, markers, ribbon, magazine cut-outs, family photos and other fun materials, decorate a shoebox or photo box to represent your family and your faith journey. Write some favorite Bible verses on colorful strips of paper and place them in the box. (Psalms is a great place to find many verses of praise and thanksgiving, as well as promises from God.) Once a day, maybe at mealtime, pull a strip from the box and share the
passage aloud. Ask older children and youth to join you in adding Bible texts to the box. Thank God for the gift of being in relationship with God and God’s Word.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Shane Presley and family on the death of his grandmother Betty Curtis, 9/20
• Beth Hartwell and family on the death of her sister Jenny Wallace, 9/17
• Jeff and Jan Marrs and family on the death of their daughter Lane Marrs, 9/16
• Nancy Spoolstra and family on the death of her sister Carol Walker, 9/15
• Randall Rock and family on the death of his mother Emma Rock, 9/15
• Keith Erich and family on the death of his uncle Eldon Erich, 9/11
• Jeff Locklear and family on the death of his mother Mary Ann Locklear, 9/10
• Richard Messerschmidt and family on the death of his father Eldon Messerschmidt, 9/9
• Mike Patton and family on the death of his mother Betty June Patton, 9/8
• Debbie Noblitt and family on the death of her mother Eileen Smith, 9/7
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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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