A Life of Faith

It’s not easy trying to live a life of faith. In the first place we tend to believe that there is nothing we can’t do or fix, and we don’t need God or anyone else to give us a hand. That might prove to be true until we get stuck in a quagmire of our own doing and no matter what we try we can’t fix it. We’re stuck. Everything we try fails and it’s not until we realize that we can’t do it alone that we cry for help.


We cry to God for help or relief or maybe just a lifeline because we’ve tried everything else and nothing helped.

The writer of Lamentations is in that spot. God had warned the people through the prophets that he was not happy with them following other idols and doing things that he had explicitly warned them against doing. When God gave the Law to Moses he told them that if they did what he commanded them then they would be blessed but if they didn’t they would be cursed. It seems that they didn’t hear that last part.

You know I can understand that. There are times when people tell me something and I hear the first part but I don’t hear the last part. Then, when whatever I’ve been trying to do doesn’t come out right it’s usually because I didn’t hear all the instructions. I could write a book about all the times I’ve messed up because I didn’t follow all the directions that were given to me. Or I didn’t hear all the directions given to me.

Maybe that’s why it’s so important for us to hear the Word read and proclaimed every Sunday, even though we’ve heard this particular passage a gazillion times before. Maybe we’ve missed hearing the most important part.

In the Hebrew Bible it sounds as if you keep all the commandments then you will be richly blessed and if you don’t then you will receive God’s discipline. Many of us believe today that if we keep God’s rules then we’ll be blessed. So, if we see someone who is struggling with life we assume that they’ve not been keeping God’s rules and he has punished them. We forget the words that talk about blessings falling on the just and the unjust.

We seem to forget Jesus’ words about believing in him, loving God and neighbor, and we completely missed the part about being servants. We think that if we just do this or that then God will bless us. Friends, it doesn’t work that way.

These lives we are living today in this place and at this time aren’t easy. There seems to be a great chasm between those who have and those who don’t. The ones who have are fearful that what they have will soon be gone. The ones who don’t have much are fearful that they will never, ever be able to have anything. They don’t see anyway out. No one has much faith, either in the society in which they live or in God.

The pastoral letter to Timothy sounds like the writer is afraid that Timothy may give up on his faith when things get tough and suffering comes. He is told to stay at it, keep his faith and love rooted in Christ just as he was taught.

Jesus had just told his disciples that hard times and temptations would come their way. And pity the one who gave any of the little ones a hard time. It would be better to have a boulder tied around their neck and tossed into the ocean than to do that. That’s when they realized that what Jesus was asking them to do was going to be more difficult than they imagined. They weren’t sure they could do it with the faith they had. They weren’t sure they would be successful walking in Jesus’ footsteps, living lives serving God’s children. So, they asked him to give them more faith.

I imagine Jesus looking at them with love in his eyes and saying, “More faith? You have all you need right now.”

Isn’t that how we all kind of feel when we step out on a new venture? Isn’t that how we feel when we decide to risk investing in a new career, or begin life together with the one God has chosen for us. We’re not sure we have enough of what’s needed to be successful.

But don’t we usually find, if we take the risk, that we had everything we needed. I think that’s what Jesus was saying to his disciples, “You have everything you need right now.” “You have just enough faith. Just live it.”

I think that’s the Message for us today. We have just enough faith. Just live it. Trust in the One who gave us this faith. It is sufficient for what He has called us to do.

I don’t believe he’s asking us to move trees or mountains but Jesus is asking us to trust him, to have faith in his Word and his love for us.

Our lives aren’t easy. Everyone, every family, has problems, everyone experiences some suffering. Jesus is telling us that our calling is to be ministers to each other using the gifts we have been given to serve others and to bring glory to Him. That is our calling; that is our purpose in this life. Just as those we work for expect us to give them an honest day’s work so God expects us to give him the same.

Do we expect a reward? Do we expect to be forgiven for our sins? Well maybe, but it all depends on God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice. And part of God’s grace is the faith we have received from him.

Friends, God sent his Son, Jesus, here because he loves us. He died for us because he loves us. He defeated death because he loves us. He gives us just enough faith because he loves us. All he asks us to do is just live it.

Friends, remember God does love you. Trust and believe. Have faith and then just live it.

Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Evangeliving

John 17:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 2:8
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.

What are the important things in our lives? Is there one thing we would give our very lives for? What is so vitally important in our lives that we can’t keep it just for ourselves? What do we possess that is so valuable that we have to share with everyone?

What is it? Is it your home? Is it the money you have sitting in your certificates of deposit? Is it the food you have stored in your pantry? Or is it something that no one can see?
Here we are sitting in our comfortable padded pews. Jeremiah is in jail, the rich man is in torment in Hades, Lazarus is resting in the bosom of Abraham, and Timothy is being told to live a life of rich simplicity. And we are being asked, what do we possess that is of the greatest value to us.

Whenever I ask myself these questions I always come back to a question I’ve asked for a long time, “Why am I here? What purpose does God have for me being here?”

Why do you think we’re here? What is your purpose for living? I don’t believe that we are all here to gain more possessions or great wealth. I don’t believe that we’re all here to raise families and work at jobs that pay us a good wage.

I have quite a few questions today. If you have answered the question why we’re here then let me ask you another. What is you’re greatest hope? Or this, “In what do you place all your trust?”

Have you placed all your trust in your financial investments? Or have you put all your trust in real estate? Or have you placed your trust in something that is intangible?

What are the lessons to be learned from today’s scriptures? Why is Jeremiah buying land when he’s been telling everyone in Jerusalem that someone from the north is going to defeat their armies and take everyone into captivity?

Could it be that God has told him that as bad as things are going to get it won’t stay that way forever. Someday it will all get better and they will be able to come home again. At least some of them will be able to come home.

He bought the land because God told him that he should do that. Not because it was a good time to buy land because the market was depressed. No, he was to buy the land because it gave him hope for an end to God’s punishment. He trusted in what God told him.

The Message from the epistle is that a devout life will bring us wealth but not the wealth that the world desires. The writer is saying that a life of rich simplicity being ourselves before God will bring us rewards beyond anything we can imagine.

This wealth doesn’t come easily. Timothy is told that he needs to run hard and fast in the faith and seize the eternal life he was called to. Anytime the words run and seize are used I just know there’s some strenuous physical activity involved.

So, what are we to do and how do we do it? That’s the real question isn’t it? Well, we know that we can’t do it like the world around us would have us do it. We know that we have to change our lives. We have to repent.

And once we do we have to spend time with God. We have to allow Him to become an intimate part of our lives. Once we do that we find that there is more we are compelled to do. We discover that we can’t keep quiet about what God has done and is doing in our life.

Our lives have changed. We act different. We talk different. Our attitude about everything isn’t like it used to be. Without realizing it we have become evangelists. We’ve started to evangelive.

Yes, you heard that right, evangelive. We have started to evangelize just by changing how we act and talk when we are out in the community. And people notice that. And they want to know why we’re different.

They might even be brave enough to come to us and ask what’s the reason for the change. And then we might have to use words to explain the transformation in our lives. That’s evangelizing. Telling our testimony, our story, of what God has done to change our priorities. What was number one isn’t any longer.

Because we’ve changed we also see people differently. We don’t classify people like we did before. We don’t think about the poor or the homeless or the aliens in our country as being any different from us. In fact they become our sisters and brothers and we begin to care about the things in their lives.

We actually notice them as the lay in our doorways. We pay more attention to them when we see them in Walmart or at garage sales. Their skin may be a different shade than ours but that doesn’t make any difference now.

Will any of these changes guarantee a place in eternity for us? No, they won’t. Our only guarantee is when we give our lives 100% to Jesus and pray that he will grant us his grace.

We have been commanded by Jesus to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We have the best chance of achieving eternal life if we keep these commandments and give our lives to Jesus asking him to forgive us for our sins, for turning our backs on him for so long.

Friends, those are the things we should be striving for. Those are the things that should be very most important to us. Will we ever get it right? I doubt that I ever will but I trust in Jesus to intercede for us before God. I trust in God’s good grace.

So good friends, let Jesus come into your heart and allow him to transform you. Go out into the world, tell God’s story, your story, to all who will listen. Pay attention to those who are struggling in this world. Feel their pain and take a risk. Invite them into your lives. Sit with them and listen to their story. Love them and care for them.

Friends, that’s why we’re here, that’s our calling, to be ministers to God’s children, to make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God for his loving, forgiving grace. Amen.

Unjust, Dishonest, Prudent, or Shrewd

Okay, you have just listened to a parable Jesus told to his disciples about a manager who had been taking advantage of his position in order to gain more wealth. You see the owner of the property may have been living in the big city, Jerusalem. That may be the reason he hired someone to oversee the mundane tasks of taking care of the orchards, the fields, and the livestock. He may have owned many such properties and wasn’t able to manage all of them so he hired managers to do that for him.

Because someone brought charges against the manager he decided to have the financial records audited and found to his surprise, or maybe he suspected, things didn’t quite add up. And so he told this dishonest manager to get his affairs in order and prepare to leave because he no longer had the authority to spend the manager’s money caring for the property. His employment was terminated immediately.

Jesus doesn’t explain why but this shrewd manager called in those who were indentured to the property owner and had them creatively change their liens, one was halved, another was reduced 20 percent. Of course that made those who owed the landlord much happier. And they may have assumed that it was the landlord who had authorized this reduction.

How would you feel if the mortgage on your house was reduced by half or your operating note at the bank was cut by 20 percent? You might begin to believe that the banker actually had a heart. You might begin to be happy to see him arrive because now it looks as if you might finally be able to get out from under this debt.

The manager in this parable had definitely been fired but he still had time to call in those who were renting the different parcels of ground and have them adjust their rental contracts. And that is what Jesus said that he did.

So when he took the financial records back to the landowner he knew that the shrewd manager had taken some liberties with the contracts. And he knew that the renters assumed that the manager was making these adjustments with the full authority of the owner.

The owner could have let the renters know that he wasn’t the one who had authorized these changes but then they would have been ready to hang him. And right now they thought he was a pretty decent landlord since he had reduced what they owed him when the harvest came in.

Being the astute businessman that he was he knew better than to get his renters all riled up and so he commended the unjust manager for what he had done.

So what is Jesus saying to us in this parable, that we should be shrewdly dishonest like the manager in this story? What do you think it says?

What was the manager doing exactly when he had the renters make the changes to their contracts? Wasn’t he forgiving them a portion of their debt to the Master? And by being generous in his forgiveness and not expecting anything else from them, at least at the present, he was protecting his position. It was a huge risk because he didn’t really know how the Master would react and if one of the servants had come in while he was transacting this business he could have been found out by the renters and he would have been out on his ear right away.. But it was a chance he was willing to take.

So the question for us is would we be willing to forgive people who owe us, or who we believe owe us, so unconditionally? What would happen to the community in which we live if we could forgive like this without condition? What would the world be like if people could forgive and grant mercy without condition to someone who, say, killed four people because he was four times over the legal limit? What would the world be like if forgiveness could have been given to those who are responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf? What if forgiveness had been offered in response to terrorists acts? What if? How would our world be different today?

Is that what Jesus is saying here? Is it about forgiveness? What does the unjust manager expect to get by being forgiving? He hopes that he doesn’t have to resort to digging or begging. Do you think he succeeded? Jesus doesn’t really tell us. He leaves it to our imagination.

So, do you suppose we could negotiate a deal like this with God? Or maybe it’s already been done for us in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Our debt has been paid and we have been forgiven.

Are we willing to let our Lord do that for us? Are we willing to risk everything to follow the One who paid our debt? What’s more important, our possessions or eternity? Each of us has to answer that question in our own hearts. That’s between us and our God.

Thankfully he is patiently waiting for us to make that decision. Thanks be to God for his patient, compassionate grace. Amen.

Lost? Who, Me?

Have any of you ever been completely, totally lost? Have you ever been so turned around that you had no idea how to get to where you needed to be? Have you ever lost all sense of direction and couldn’t be certain where north, south, east or west were?

I’ll bet that everyone here is remembering a time when you were traveling somewhere and became turned around. You’re remembering sometime when you were so lost you couldn’t even find anyone who could tell you where to go.

I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. I have and it’s sure not any fun, especially if you’re all alone and no one speaks you’re language.

Every time it’s happened to me I feel so stupid. How could I not know where I was going? How come I can’t tell north from east? How come no one understands what I’m saying?

Are you lost today? Did you find your way here today hoping to get some directions that would get you home? Have you lost your point of reference?

I wonder if there’s anyone here who can help those of us who are lost. I wonder if there’s anyone here this morning that’s been in our predicament.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m not talking about being physically lost, though that can still happen to some of us. I’ve been told that Daniel Boone said that he’d never been lost but he’d wandered around for a few days before he came home.

Friends, I’ve been lost. I’ve been so lost that I thought I’d never find my way back. There have been times that I didn’t think God would ever find me. And still today, I get off the path. If it weren’t for God and his grace I’d probably not be here today.

I could very easily be one of those sinners that Jesus ate with. I could have been one of those the Pharisees were grumbling about.

You see I’ve not always followed Jesus’ footsteps like I should have. In fact I strayed a long way off the path a few times. If it wasn’t for God calling me home I wouldn’t be here today. I know there was nothing I did that helped me find my way back.

I’m not sure I could use Paul’s excuse that I didn’t know better. I knew better. Just like the Israelites I got stupid and went and did my own thing. I got lost.

So, are any of you lost today? Have you wandered off the path and don’t know where to go to get back on?

I believe that if you’re here today it’s because the One who created you, the One who loves you has been searching for you and in his own way has brought you to this sanctuary. Friend, God has found you and brought you here so he can help you get your bearings.

None of us have all the answers but together, like a family, we can help each other when we wander off the path. And we will stray. We’re not so much different than the sheep Jesus referred to in his parable. We put our heads down and go our way never looking up. And when we do we find we don’t know where we are or how we got here. Pretty much like sheep.

Friends, I don’t think we’re stupid but I do believe we can be pretty hard headed or hard hearted and that’s why we get lost so often.

I don’t get so scared anymore when I get lost because I have hope that the One who loves me will find me and bring me home. My trust is in the One who died to save me, the One who defeated death so I no longer have to fear it. I always hope that this is the last time but it isn’t.

Now there may be some here who have never been lost. And for you I’m eternally grateful because you are the ones God sends to help us who get lost all the time. I thank God for you.

Friends, if you never have been lost. If you’ve always known your directions, then I believe God has given you a great gift. You are the ones he uses to find the lost. You’re probably the ones who find us sinners and eat with us and love us unconditionally. Thank God he’s put you here. Or maybe it works this way, you know where you’re at when we’re lost and then when you’re lost we know where we’re at and therefore we help each other.

I don’t really know. I just trust in God’s grace to find me, and you, when I’m lost. And however that’s accomplished I’m grateful to the One who keeps me in the shadow of his wings.

Thanks be to God for his gracious love that finds us when we’re lost. Amen.

You Cannot Follow Jesus

You cannot be my follower…Why can’t I be your follower? I love you! I’ll do anything you ask!

Put me first, Jesus says. Love me more than these, he says. Give up everything you have, he says; otherwise you cannot be my follower.

Put you first? But I have a family. Linda needs me. My children still need me. I have grandchildren who need me. Lord, you are first but I have to take care of my family too. Won’t you let me do both?

Lord, you know everything about me. Surely you understand the predicament this Message puts me in. What do you mean, give up everything, everything like my bike, my routers, my books, my computer, my dog, everything? I must be misunderstanding what Luke’s written, everything?

I cannot be your disciple unless I give it all up? Jesus, that doesn’t sound fair. How can I possibly give up everything?

Friends, these are questions I’ve asked Jesus many times. How do you understand the lesson from Luke today? What’s it saying to you? Does he really mean that we have to hate our parents and our siblings and our children, even our own lives? Hate is such a strong word and my mother taught me not to use that word. But Jesus uses it here. Hate, are we reading that right? We have to hate before we can be His follower? We must not be reading that right.

Following Jesus costs more than we realize, at first. And at first we think the cost is too much. We try to barter with Jesus. We try to negotiate an easier package but He won’t budge. It’s all or nothing. Jesus will not back down until we’ve consented to giving him all our attention, all our desire, all our love.

What does it mean to you to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus? How much has it cost you? Who comes first in your life? If Jesus calls you and your spouse calls you at the same time, who do you follow? Where are your priorities?

Before you committed your life to Jesus did you sit down and calculate what it was going to cost you? If you’re following Him today is it what you expected it to be?

What’s happening to those who can’t give it all up? They cannot follow him, so what now?

I wouldn’t give up hope. God is like the potter. He made us and he can reshape us if we haven’t turned out like he planned. It isn’t without some pain and discomfort, this reshaping.

Have you ever watched a potter at work? They begin by cutting a chunk of clay from a big block. Then they add water and beat and hammer that lump with their fists until the block becomes a little more malleable. They add more water and beat and shape and hammer and push with fingers and fists until they have a ball.

Then they throw the ball onto the wheel. More water is added as they begin to spin the wheel keeping pressure on the ball with their fingers and palms. More water and the potter keeps the wheel spinning. Soon there is a cone. Fingers push into the center of the cone and, it’s a miracle how it happens, there’s a bowl.

Friends, it’s a whole lot of work. There’s a lot of pressure exerted on that lump of clay. And if it doesn’t turn out exactly as the potter planned he just pounds it down, reshapes it, and begins again until it comes out like he wants it.

So, good friends, there’s still hope for us. We may not be exactly as God planned for us but he’s just like that potter, he can and will reshape us. But it isn’t without a lot of pressure and not a little pain. If we give up and don’t let him shape/reshape us then, well we cannot follow him.

So, can we give it all up to follow Jesus? Are we willing to pay the price to be a follower? Do we trust the One who came to save us?

If we’re struggling with these questions what is it that we find so hard? Is it giving it all up? It’s not really ours you know. None of these things can we take with us when he calls us home. So why do we find it so hard to let them go? What’s it costing to hold onto them? That’s the real question, isn’t it.

Jesus says, “If you don’t give up everything you cannot follow me.” Tough love, but friends it is love. He has our best interests at heart. He loves us and he knows we aren’t able to do it right by ourselves.
Friends, Jesus wants our all, otherwise we cannot follow him. Are you ready to give him all of you? He’s waiting for our answer. What’s it going to be, yes or no?

My prayer is that you will be a follower of Jesus and give it all to him. Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.

What’s for Dinner? Who’s Invited? Who’s Excluded?

When you plan your meals do you make enough extra just in case some one knocks on the door or rings the doorbell just as you’re sitting down to lunch or supper? I wonder how many times that’s happened? How many times have we invited them in to sit down at the table with us?

Most times, if we’re honest with each other, we are a little peeved when the doorbell rings or the phone rings just as we’re getting ready to sit down to eat. Maybe you aren’t but I am. And then, what does Hebrews say to me, “Be ready with a meal or a bed when it's needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!”

I read that passage and I wonder how many angels have come to me for a meal and I have turned them away. Or I’ve been so grumpy that they chose to walk on down the street. I wonder.

Luke doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable. He tells of the time that Jesus told a parable about being invited to a wedding party and how everyone scrambled to seat themselves at the most prestigious spot at the table. I read that and I wonder how many times I have arrived at a dinner and tried to find a table where I could sit and be noticed. I wonder.

I wonder how many times I have failed to take the least conspicuous seat at the table. How many times have I forgotten the lesson that Jesus is teaching here? I wonder.

How many times have I heard these lessons read, how many times have I read these lessons and failed to heed God’s warning? How many more chances will God give me? I wonder.

I don’t think that I wake up everyday and intend to be exclusive. In fact, I like to think that I’d welcome anyone into my home but the facts are I haven’t. Therefore I’m convicted by these scriptures.

I know it’s not about me. I know that but I haven’t changed. I know that Jesus died and rose again so that I could be forgiven. How many more times is he going to say, “Son, you’re forgiven. Go and sin no more.” If I were God I think I’d be ready to right me off for a lost cause. I’d think, “He’s never going to change.”

Fortunately for me, God is forgiving and he gives me another chance to get it right. So, is today that day I might welcome an angel? Is today the day I will do the right thing? I wonder.

Jeremiah was called by God to prophesy to the people of Israel. They had been just like me. They had forgotten how He had delivered them from the oppression of the Egyptians and led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. They were seduced by the gods of the countries God helped them to conquer.

Maybe that’s my problem. I’ve been seduced by the things of the world that are all around me. Maybe I don’t want to share them with anyone who comes knocking on my door. I wonder if that’s it.

I know what I should do but every time an opportunity presents itself I do the wrong thing. The angels God sends have to go somewhere else to find their meal. And I’m the one who loses.

Friends, if a stranger walked in here today as we were worshipping how do you think we’d react? What if the stranger who came in was a little scruffy? What if the stranger had a lot of different piercings and tats? How would they be received? I wonder.

I believe that God’s lesson for us today is that we need to take the focus off of us and be more observant to how God is present in and around us in those who come to visit our churches and our homes.

We are called as God’s children to serve others, to love without reservation, without judgment, and care for those whom He sends our way. I, for one, haven’t always done that. And I’ve missed many opportunities to serve our Lord.

Friends, don’t be me. Pay attention to God’s presence in every person you meet. And welcome them wherever you may be because, you never know, they may be angels sent from God.

Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.

Called, Shaken, Freed

Jeremiah, the boy, was called by God to prophesy to Israel. Hebrews reminds us that God is going to give things one more good shake so that all that remains is what cannot be shaken. In the gospel of Luke a woman who has been bent over, not able to straighten up at all, for 18 years is released from the prison her body had put her in.

Called, shaken, and freed are key words for us today. All of us have heard the Message that we are called, all of us, to be ministers to God’s children. Friends, I believe that we aren’t only called to be ministers but we are called to serve God’s purpose in the world in various ways. Not everyone who is called wants to answer the call. Many of us, like Jeremiah, think we aren’t equipped with the tools we need to do the work God calls on us to do. Our weak, feeble excuses don’t carry much weight. God, I’ve found out, does what he’s going to do. And if he calls us to a particular work, no excuse we give is going to sway God from what he’s called us to do. If he’s called us to work then he will equip us with everything we need to accomplish what God has planned.

Often when we realize that it’s God who’s calling us we get a little worried. We know if God calls then sooner or later we’re going to have to get started. Our comfortable world is shaken by what God calls us to do, sometimes. Once in a while our world is turned completely upside down and everything we’ve grown comfortable with changes. Not only is our world shaken but so are we. We’re not exactly accustomed to having our lives changed so drastically. God has an agenda, a timetable, a plan, and the time for Christ’s return, even though some would not like to think about that, is getting closer. When Jesus does come back things will really be shaken.

In the meantime here we are bound up by the things of the world. We are so bent over with the burdens of our lives that we can’t even see the signs that Jesus’ return is imminent. We have been bent over with this infirmity for so long that we don’t know that there is any other view than the one we see right in front of our toes. We’re almost like those ponies that are trotters with their blinders on. All they can see of the world is what’s right in front of them.

We’re not much different than those trotters. We’re not so very different than the woman Jesus healed. I wonder if she had become so used to her condition that she accepted it; it was normal for her. I wonder if those who met her every day were so used to seeing her that way that they never thought about what it must be like for her. It was just the way she was. They may have assumed it was a punishment from God for some sin she had committed.

Jesus knew better. He knew she didn’t deserve to be trapped in that prison for the rest of her life. And so he called her over to him. He told her she was free from her ailment. I don’t think any of us can imagine what joy she must have felt when Jesus laid his hands on her and she stood up straight, able to see people eye to eye. What joy must have filled her heart.

God calls us. God shakes our world. When he lays his hands on us, when his Spirit comes into our souls we are freed from the chains of sin that have kept us bent over all our lives.

That’s just one more reason to heed God’s call to us. When we answer his call we find new freedom. Yes, we might be fearful of what God is asking of us but when we accept his call we soon experience exhilaration, joy and a certain peace and it’s all because we’ve invited God’s Spirit inside.

So, good friends, have you heard God’s call? Have you been hesitating to answer? Are you afraid to be set free because it’s different from what you’ve been used to seeing? Is God shaking your world?

Friends, maybe it’s time for us to let God keep on shaking. Maybe it’s time for us to let go of those things which have us bent over. Friends, it’s time to let Jesus lay his hands on you and be healed.

He’s calling our names. He knows each of us intimately. He’s known us since before we were conceived. Sure our world will change. But friends, isn’t that really what our souls desire. Our souls have been leading us to Jesus. We’ve just been so bent over we couldn’t see him. Listen to his voice. Let him touch you. Let him shake up your world.

Then go out and let the Spirit lead you in a dance of joy as you go to serve those God places on your path of life.

Thanks be to God for his compassionate grace. Amen.