Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Sunday, 3 September 2017 "Heavy Glory" by Duane Brush - Psalm 145:1-13

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Sunday, 3 September 2017 "Heavy Glory" by Duane Brush - Psalm 145:1-13

Psalm 145:1 (0) Praise. By David:

(1) I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king;

I will bless your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless you;

I will praise your name forever and ever.

3 Great is Adonai and greatly to be praised;

his greatness is beyond all searching out.

4 Each generation will praise your works to the next

and proclaim your mighty acts.

5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor

of your majesty and on the story of your wonders.

6 People will speak of your awesome power,

and I will tell of your great deeds.

7 They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness,

and they will sing of your righteousness.

8 Adonai is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and great in grace.

9 Adonai is good to all;

his compassion rests on all his creatures.

10 All your creatures will thank you, Adonai,

and your faithful servants will bless you.

11 They will speak of the glory of your kingship,

and they will tell about your might;

12 to let everyone know of your mighty acts

and the glorious majesty of your kingship.

13 Your kingship is an everlasting kingship,

your reign continues through all generations.

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“That’s heavy!” was a phrase popularized in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was typically used to describe something that was impressive, important, or intense, such as, “Jesus died for our sins? That’s heavy!”
It is interesting that the word translated “glory” or “glorious” in Psalm 145 has a similar root meaning in the original Hebrew. The word kâbôwd (kaw-BODE) is from a root that can literally mean “weighty” or “massive,” but is most often used in the Bible figuratively, as in “honor,” “majesty,” or “splendor.”
In this psalm, there is a link between “the glorious splendor of [God’s] majesty” (v. 5) and “the glory of [His] kingdom” (v. 11). “The LORD [who] is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love” (v. 8) creates a kingdom that displays the glory of His true nature. His faithful people “tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom” (vv. 11-12). When we pause to think that we are the faithful ones called to proclaim His glory, well, that’s heavy!
Hymn for Today:

"God of Grace and God of Glory" by Harry Emerson Fosdick

1. God of grace and God of glory,

on your people pour your power;

crown your ancient church's story,

bring its bud to glorious flower.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

for the facing of this hour,

for the facing of this hour.

2. Lo! the hosts of evil round us

scorn the Christ, assail his ways!

From the fears that long have bound us

free our hearts to faith and praise.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

for the living of these days,

for the living of these days.

3. Cure your children's warring madness;

bend our pride to your control;

shame our wanton, selfish gladness,

rich in things and poor in soul.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

lest we miss your kingdom's goal,

lest we miss your kingdom's goal.

4. Save us from weak resignation

to the evils we deplore;

let the gift of your salvation

be our glory evermore.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,

serving you whom we adore,

serving you whom we adore

Thought for Today:

Be exalted, God, above heaven!

May your glory be over all the earth!(Psalm 57:5).
Please pray:

for developing Christian leaders in Costa Rica.
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Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - Nazarene Publishing House (Foundry Publishing House) of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Saturday, 2 September 2017 = "A Life-Changing Conversation" by Duane Brush - John 4:16-30

John 4:16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 She answered, “I don’t have a husband.” Yeshua said to her, “You’re right, you don’t have a husband! 18 You’ve had five husbands in the past, and you’re not married to the man you’re living with now! You’ve spoken the truth!”

19 “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet,” the woman replied. 20 “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim.” 21 Yeshua said, “Lady, believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim. 22 You people don’t know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming — indeed, it’s here now — when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him. 24 God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly.”

25 The woman replied, “I know that Mashiach is coming” (that is, “the one who has been anointed”). “When he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Yeshua said to her, “I, the person speaking to you, am he.”

27 Just then, his talmidim arrived. They were amazed that he was talking with a woman; but none of them said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water-jar, went back to the town and said to the people there, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could it be that this is the Messiah?” 30 They left the town and began coming toward him.

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An evangelist friend once told me that when he was flying, his seatmates often tried to make small talk by asking, “So, what do you do for a living?” He had endured shocked expressions, blank stares, and even verbal attacks when he gave a straightforward reply. So, he began answering, “Fire insurance.” When they asked what kind, He replied, “Eternal.” My friend was not attempting to deceive his questioners; instead, he was trying to direct the conversation toward a spiritually vital subject: eternal life.
The woman at the well in John 4 tried to distract Jesus by raising an old point of contention between Jews and Samaritans regarding the right place to worship God. Jesus didn’t fall for it. God was far more interested in the personal devotion and open honesty of His worshipers than in where they worshiped.
In this confrontation between the truth of God, embodied in Jesus Christ, and the truth about her life, this woman was transformed into a fervent evangelist. She ran to proclaim to her astonished neighbors, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. could this be the Messiah?" (John 4:29).

Let's not waste breath on trivial things. Let's boldly proclaim the God who still seeks "true worshipers."
Hymn for Today:

"I Love to Tell the Story" by Katherine Hankey

1. 

I love to tell the story

  Of unseen things above,

Of Jesus and His glory,

  Of Jesus and His love.

I love to tell the story,

  Because I know ’tis true;

It satisfies my longings

  As nothing else can do.

Refrain: I love to tell the story,

’Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

  of Jesus and His love.

2. I love to tell the story;

  More wonderful it seems

Than all the golden fancies

  Of all my golden dreams,

I love to tell the story,

  It did so much for me;

And that is just the reason

  I tell it now to thee.

Refrain: I love to tell the story,

’Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

  of Jesus and His love.

3. I love to tell the story;

  ’Tis pleasant to repeat

What seems each time I tell it,

  More wonderfully sweet.

I love to tell the story;

  For some have never heard

The message of salvation

  From God’s own holy Word.

Refrain: I love to tell the story,

’Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

  of Jesus and His love.

4. I love to tell the story;

  For those who know it best

Seem hungering and thirsting

  To hear it like the rest.

And when, in scenes of glory,

  I sing the new, new song,

’Twill be the old, old story,

  That I have loved so long.

Refrain: I love to tell the story,

’Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story

  of Jesus and His love.

Thought for the Day:

Yeshua said, “I AM the Way — and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.(John 14:6).
Please pray:

That many people in Costa Rica will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
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Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas city, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Friday, 1 September 2017 "An Unlikely Encounter, An Unexpected Result" by Duane Brush - John 4:1-15

John 4:1 When Yeshua learned that the P’rushim had heard he was making and immersing more talmidim than Yochanan 2 (although it was not Yeshua himself who immersed but his talmidim), 3 Yeshua left Y’hudah and set out again for the Galil. 4 This meant that he had to pass through Shomron.

5 He came to a town in Shomron called Sh’khem, near the field Ya‘akov had given to his son Yosef. 6 Ya‘akov’s Well was there; so Yeshua, exhausted from his travel, sat down by the well; it was about noon. 7 A woman from Shomron came to draw some water; and Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His talmidim had gone into town to buy food.) 9 The woman from Shomron said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for water from me, a woman of Shomron?” (For Jews don’t associate with people from Shomron.) 10 Yeshua answered her, “If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water.”

11 She said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep; so where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Ya‘akov, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it, and so did his sons and his cattle.” 13 Yeshua answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!”

15 “Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so that I won’t have to be thirsty and keep coming here to draw water.”

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What an odd encounter, in John 4, between Jesus, an itinerant Jewish rabbi, and a Samaritan woman. Jews and Samaritans despised each other. They were rivals in an ancient debate over which group was the true people of God. In addition, this woman was an outcast in her own community. She came to the well at midday, probably hoping no one was there.
However, there sat Jesus asking her for a drink of water. It was an outlandish request. Rabbis were very careful about dealings with women–women who were not from their own families and certainly all sinful women. Such encounters held the potential for ritual defilement and could destroy a rabbi’s reputation and authority. Yet, it was a risk Jesus was willing to take.
When the woman balked at Jesus’ request, He told her of a resource He had of “living (fresh) water" that would satisfy the thirst of all who drank it forever. Even more, this water would become “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” All this proved true in the Samaritan woman’s life, but not in the way she expected.
Jesus is still waiting in unexpected places to encounter unlikely people and offer His lavish grace.
Hymn for Today:

"The Crystal Fountain" by Floyd W. Hawkins copyright 1952, Renewed 1980 by Lillenas Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 

Oh I have found it the crystal fountain 

Where all my life's deep needs have been supplied 

So freely flowing from Calvary's mountain 

And now my soul is fully satisfied

Thought for Today:

Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!”(John 7:38).
Please pray:

For developing Christian leaders in Belize.
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