Deuteronomy 5:29 (32) “Therefore you are to be careful to do as Adonai your God has ordered you; you are not to deviate either to the right or the left. 30 (33) You are to follow the entire way which Adonai your God has ordered you; so that you will live, things will go well with you, and you will live long in the land you are about to possess.
Acts 5:27 They conducted them to the Sanhedrin, where the cohen hagadol demanded of them, 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name! Look here! you have filled Yerushalayim with your teaching; moreover, you are determined to make us responsible for this man’s death!”
29 Kefa and the other emissaries answered, “We must obey God, not men. 30 The God of our fathers[
Acts 5:30 Exodus 3:15] raised up Yeshua, whereas you men killed him by having him hanged on a stake.[Acts 5:30 Deuteronomy 21:22–23] 31 God has exalted this man at his right hand[Acts 5:31 Psalm 110:1] as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Isra’el to do t’shuvah and have her sins forgiven. 32 We are witnesses to these things; so is the Ruach HaKodesh, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
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When we choose to obey God, we honor God’s love for us and live as God desired. When we
disobey God by choosing to live our own ways, we live into our freedom, but also make the
possibility of sin a reality. How do we move beyond a love for self and toward a whole-hearted love for God? When we don’t do what God intends we must choose to confess our actions (or lack of actions) and ask for forgiveness. Confession taps into God’s forgiveness, and forgiveness gives us a fresh start. God’s love is always greater than your biggest blunder.
• In what areas of my life am I choosing my own desires over God’s desires? Where can I find help in overcoming my shortcomings? In what ways do you think Jesus models for us the way God intended for humans to live?
• How can I worship God with the freedom God has granted me, rather than going my own way
in rebellion against God? Here’s one idea: memorize the verse, “To you, Lord, belong
greatness and power, honor, splendor, and majesty, because everything in heaven and on
earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingship, and you are honored as head of all”
(1 Chronicles 29:11). When you sense a struggle within you to obey God’s authority, repeat it to yourself.
Prayer: God, you gladly and graciously forgive all who repent and turn toward you. Thanks for your promise of enduring and redeeming grace! May I strive to be as Christ is, so that I might reveal my love for you to the world around me. Amen.
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Insight from Evan Palmer
Acts 5:27 They conducted them to the Sanhedrin, where the cohen hagadol demanded of them, 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name! Look here! you have filled Yerushalayim with your teaching; moreover, you are determined to make us responsible for this man’s death!”
29 Kefa and the other emissaries answered, “We must obey God, not men. 30 The God of our fathers[
Acts 5:30 Exodus 3:15] raised up Yeshua, whereas you men killed him by having him hanged on a stake.[Acts 5:30 Deuteronomy 21:22–23] 31 God has exalted this man at his right hand[Acts 5:31 Psalm 110:1] as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Isra’el to do t’shuvah and have her sins forgiven. 32 We are witnesses to these things; so is the Ruach HaKodesh, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
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When we choose to obey God, we honor God’s love for us and live as God desired. When we
disobey God by choosing to live our own ways, we live into our freedom, but also make the
possibility of sin a reality. How do we move beyond a love for self and toward a whole-hearted love for God? When we don’t do what God intends we must choose to confess our actions (or lack of actions) and ask for forgiveness. Confession taps into God’s forgiveness, and forgiveness gives us a fresh start. God’s love is always greater than your biggest blunder.
• In what areas of my life am I choosing my own desires over God’s desires? Where can I find help in overcoming my shortcomings? In what ways do you think Jesus models for us the way God intended for humans to live?
• How can I worship God with the freedom God has granted me, rather than going my own way
in rebellion against God? Here’s one idea: memorize the verse, “To you, Lord, belong
greatness and power, honor, splendor, and majesty, because everything in heaven and on
earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingship, and you are honored as head of all”
(1 Chronicles 29:11). When you sense a struggle within you to obey God’s authority, repeat it to yourself.
Prayer: God, you gladly and graciously forgive all who repent and turn toward you. Thanks for your promise of enduring and redeeming grace! May I strive to be as Christ is, so that I might reveal my love for you to the world around me. Amen.
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Insight from Evan Palmer
Evan Palmer has been a member of Resurrection since 2002. She graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in International Relations and worships at Resurrection’s Downtown campus.Have I disobeyed God in anything? Yes. A resounding yes. 1,000 times 1,000 times over, yes. Obedience is difficult for human beings in general, let alone to the Lord of the Universe. It goes against our very nature. We are (I am) self-serving. I often live for myself and work solely to fulfill my own needs/wants. Instead of taking a moment to re-center and shift my focus, I credit my behavior to the “busyness” of my day, or perhaps the “demands” of my job. It’s hard to obey God. If we’re honest, it’s hard to not think about ourselves. How do we move from a life of self-service to one obedient to God? Where do we even begin?
When I am overwhelmed with a task, or am working to better understand a topic, I try to simplify it. I think that’s what we have to do here. Obedience to God is a vast subject. It’s difficult to understand and can be discouraging when we start to consider all it entails. What does God ask of us? He asks us to obey His commands. What are his commands? There are ten of them I am sure you are familiar with, but the greatest, the most important, is to love; “‘…You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39, New Living Translation). So, love God, love other people. Though a lot easier said than done, seemingly simple. What else, then? What if we look to Jesus’ life? What can we learn from the way He lived?
Jesus’ life was scandalous. He went against cultural norms and lived a life defined by His obedience to God. His character made evident His obedience. Luke 19 is one of my favorite stories of who Jesus is. Zacchaeus, a total outcast and hated member of society, wanted to see Jesus as he entered Jericho. Since he couldn’t see among the crowd, he climbed a tree to get a better look. Jesus sees him and invites him to dinner. Instead of ignoring him, Jesus seeks him out. Zacchaeus’ life forever changed after his encounter with Jesus. We share this same calling—to love the unlovable, to seek out the unwanted, to be bold, to be brave, to not succumb to society’s demands, temptations, and expectations. To show grace to those who wronged us, to show grace to ourselves, to always show grace. To think of ourselves less, and to, ultimately, live a life defined by love and service to The Lord.
Hebrews 5:8 says, “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Jesus was obedient even when He faced suffering. Through obedience, our character is strengthened. The reality of our human condition is that we all have, and we all will, disobey God. However, I trust we can become better at obeying our Creator when we work to realign our hearts. We must first submit ourselves to the Lord each day (and, for me, multiple times throughout the day). When we seek His guidance, and put the needs of others before our own, I am sure we will be able to keep more of His commands. I encourage you to continue loving the people in your life well. If you’re not doing a very good job at this, make it a goal to become better. Pray for the people in your life that are hard for you to love. Ask God to love them through you. Finally, I hope that you and I live more like Jesus. Seek out the outcasts. Love people regardless of their circumstances. I pray that we forgive more, love more, and strive towards a life obedient to the One who made it.-------
"Do I pray about the money I spend?" for Friday, 11 November 2016
Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi, tell my brother to share with me the property we inherited.” 14 But Yeshua answered him, “My friend, who appointed me judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 Then to the people he said, “Be careful to guard against all forms of greed, because even if someone is rich, his life does not consist in what he owns.”
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Wesley famously said, “Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” That was why he included the question, “Do I pray about the money I spend?” To pray about the money we spend means that we go to God realizing that we do not possess any money of our own. Rather, we are simply holding God’s money for the purposes of God’s work in the world.
• What inner reactions did you have to Wesley’s statement, “Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can”? Which dimensions of Wesley’s guideline most surprised or challenged you? How does this approach to handling money match up with advice you get from financial publications, web sites or advisers? In what ways does it differ?
• Evaluate your recent spending. How closely do your habits align with Wesley’s advice? Make a three column chart: Gain, Save, Give. In each column, estimate the amounts you have gained, saved, and given in the past year. How do you believe your spending habits, as they might be reflected in next year’s chart, might change if you prayed daily about the money you spent?
Prayer: God, I want to be a sensible steward of all you have provided. Protect me from an attitude marked by greed. May I grow toward faithful generosity, spending whatever money you entrust to me in a way that brings glory to you. Amen.
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"Do I give time for the Bible to speak to me every day?" for Saturday, 12 November 2016
Hebrews 4:11 Therefore, let us do our best to enter that rest; so that no one will fall short because of the same kind of disobedience.
12 See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword — it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart. 13 Before God, nothing created is hidden, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.
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Wesley didn’t ask this question to create more for Christians to do. He wanted us to look at our efforts to daily engage the Bible as a way for God to speak to us to shape us into more deeply committed Christians. Bible reading is not a task to be completed. It is a habitual practice to shape us and mold us into who God invites us to be. Learning to listen to God through the Bible forms a
life foundation that helps us become more aware of other ways, such as music, prayer or the beauty of creation, in which God also desires to speak to us.
• Do you struggle with finding (or taking) the time to read the Bible each day? As with any other good habit, start small—even five minutes a day, and let the time increase as the discipline strengthens your spiritual life. Is your challenge more with understanding and interpreting what you read? Guides like this GPS can help guide your understanding—but you still need to reflect
and pray, taking in what you understand from each Bible passage. You can find more help in
understanding in a quality study Bible, such as the CEB Study Bible or many other fine options. If you know someone who has developed the discipline of daily Bible reading, ask them about their experiences and routine, and what helps them hear God speaking through the Bible.
Prayer: God, stir in me a passion to read the Bible daily, and meditate on what I read. Give me the ability to understand, so that I can put your teachings into practice. Help the words of the Bible to not be just words on a page, but passageways of mercy into my heart. Amen.
Family Activity: In this season of thanksgiving and time of growing in authentic faith, encourage your family to create a Thanksgiving jar. Decorate some type of small, simple container such as a basket, jar or bucket. Place a stack of index cards or strips of paper next to the container along with pens, colored pencils or crayons. Every day, from now until Thanksgiving, invite each family member to grow in faith by writing or drawing a picture of something they can thank God for specific to that day. You can do this together at the same time or individually throughout the day. If you wish, your family can share these aloud each night at the dinner table, or you can save them and read them all at once on Thanksgiving. Either way, continue to add to them as you thank God!
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Derrick Rieke and family on the of his mother GeGe Rieke, 11/1
• Susana Kokoruda and family on the death of her father Ruben Martinez, 10/30
• Monique Exposito and family on the death of her son Blake Exposito, 10/29
• Barbara Ostby and family on the death of her husband Fred Ostby, 10/27
• Neil Ostby and family on the death of his father Fred Ostby, 10/27
• Carol Walje and family on the death of her mother Betty Swope, 10/27
• Janice Walje and family on the loss of her grandmother Betty Swope, 10/27
• Ruth and Joe Ceule and family on the death of her son Terry Johnson, 10/25
• Scott Brandt and family on the death of his mother Mary Antonio Brandt, 10/23
• Kathy Demarest and family on the death of her sister Ruthelyn “Lyn” Neyhart, 10/14
• Lilly and Chad Atcheson and family on the death of their son CJ Atcheson, 8/12
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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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