Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7 -- June 22
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Meditation
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7, faced the troubles of following God, again. The Psalmist, David, of course, shared his woes and transitioned to the greatness of God watching over and protecting him, bringing him good.
The Old Testament lesson in Genesis established the age old problem of competition between wives and children. Hannah, as a hand servant to Sarah, had obeyed her mistress’s command to provide a child. Ishmael was the product. But he was not the child of promise and was not to receive the blessing of Abraham.
Despite Abraham’s sadness at losing Ishmael and Hannah, he sent them away. God promised to make them a great nation, too, since they are born of Abraham. However, Abraham trusted the Lord and they went to live in the Paran Desert (today: North Arabia—trans Jordan).
The children have grown into a great nation. The Ismaelites became modern day Arabs. The enmity between Arabs and Jews continued from that first separation to the present.
For believers, the New Testament lesson in Matthew spoke at length of the importance of not allowing misguided people to cause us to change our behaviors. Our loyalty and our guidance must be to and from God. Only God can truly teach us the best way to go.
The bottom line is enumerated in the New Testament epistle to the Romans. Since Christ’s death and resurrection has covered our sinfulness by grace, should we then go helter-skelter and sin like crazy, since we’re “covered?”
Paul’s resounding answer was “NO!” Absolutely not. We shouldn’t treat God’s grace for our sins like a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card from the game, Monopoly. Instead, our love for God’s grace and the greatness of the free gift should engender doing things because of an intensified desire to please.
Just like a new romance or a deep love catapults the desires of two people to please each other, our relationship with God is created with a hunger to please, too. We no longer desire the old girl/boyfriend, but cherish the new one. In the same way, the new life in Christ replaces the old desires with new ones of pleasing God. Paul said, we are dead to sin and alive to Christ.
Love is like that. When we love, the old ways grow dim to us and the joy and exhilaration in doing good things for our new life replaces the old ways.
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 12/Proper 7Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis 21:8-21;Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17;Romans 6:1b-11;Matthew 10:24-39&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;NIV;GNT (multiple versions)
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7
Genesis 21:8-21
Psalm 86:1-10 Psalm 86:16-17
Romans 6:1-11
Matthew 10:24-39
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. Human beings that you care for them?
Ordinary 12/Proper 7 Music
Revive Us Again – Greg Allen NoW
[embed]
http://youtu.be/mRJY7SlujNw [/embed]
Jacob’s Well
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5165/5226270933_f949af4b02_b_d.jpg "Jacob's well at Nablus with a group of men." by The Palestine Exploration Fund; CCL flickr
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Romans 6:1-11
King James Version (KJV)
6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, thank you for your transforming grace which helps us desire to do good in your name and put away the old ways. We know that there is trouble for the believer—troubles that are old in their origins and continue to plague us. Empower us to rise up and show our determination to please you. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Conclusion
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7 struggled with all the challenges of the believer’s life. David wrote about his struggles in the Psalm, but as he often did, he started from a point of frustration and sorrow and ended with a praise of God for solving the issue, or sustaining grace through the struggle.
Abraham struggled to let Ishmael go. Hannah struggled in the desert—a lone woman, with a son, in the desert. Many single parents could identify with the issues of raising a child without a helpmeet. Life was extraordinarily tough…or more to the point…trouble happened, often. It was the ordinary. We must expect that life will not be easy. That was never the promise.
God promised to be with us, to uplift us, to care for us. Just as God promised Hannah that Ishmael would become a great nation (and it did come true), God’s promise to us of sustenance through all challenges will come true. We can count on it, just as Hannah did.
However, that doesn’t call for us to be lazy. God will take care of me, so I don’t have to do anything. Paul wrote the Romans, who had asked about Grace covering their sins. Should we sin more often so that grace has LOTs of opportunity to be seen? Absolutely not. We must hold our love for Christ and his sacrifice above all. We must desire to please God the more.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. l. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7, faced the troubles of following God, again. The Psalmist, David, of course, shared his woes and transitioned to the greatness of God watching over and protecting him, bringing him good.
The Old Testament lesson in Genesis established the age old problem of competition between wives and children. Hannah, as a hand servant to Sarah, had obeyed her mistress’s command to provide a child. Ishmael was the product. But he was not the child of promise and was not to receive the blessing of Abraham.
Despite Abraham’s sadness at losing Ishmael and Hannah, he sent them away. God promised to make them a great nation, too, since they are born of Abraham. However, Abraham trusted the Lord and they went to live in the Paran Desert (today: North Arabia—trans Jordan).
The children have grown into a great nation. The Ismaelites became modern day Arabs. The enmity between Arabs and Jews continued from that first separation to the present.
For believers, the New Testament lesson in Matthew spoke at length of the importance of not allowing misguided people to cause us to change our behaviors. Our loyalty and our guidance must be to and from God. Only God can truly teach us the best way to go.
The bottom line is enumerated in the New Testament epistle to the Romans. Since Christ’s death and resurrection has covered our sinfulness by grace, should we then go helter-skelter and sin like crazy, since we’re “covered?”
Paul’s resounding answer was “NO!” Absolutely not. We shouldn’t treat God’s grace for our sins like a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card from the game, Monopoly. Instead, our love for God’s grace and the greatness of the free gift should engender doing things because of an intensified desire to please.
Just like a new romance or a deep love catapults the desires of two people to please each other, our relationship with God is created with a hunger to please, too. We no longer desire the old girl/boyfriend, but cherish the new one. In the same way, the new life in Christ replaces the old desires with new ones of pleasing God. Paul said, we are dead to sin and alive to Christ.
Love is like that. When we love, the old ways grow dim to us and the joy and exhilaration in doing good things for our new life replaces the old ways.
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 12/Proper 7Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis 21:8-21;Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17;Romans 6:1b-11;Matthew 10:24-39&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;NIV;GNT (multiple versions)
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7
Genesis 21:8-21
Psalm 86:1-10 Psalm 86:16-17
Romans 6:1-11
Matthew 10:24-39
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. Human beings that you care for them?
Ordinary 12/Proper 7 Music
Revive Us Again – Greg Allen NoW
[embed]
http://youtu.be/mRJY7SlujNw [/embed]Jacob’s Well
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5165/5226270933_f949af4b02_b_d.jpg "Jacob's well at Nablus with a group of men." by The Palestine Exploration Fund; CCL flickr
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Romans 6:1-11
King James Version (KJV)
6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, thank you for your transforming grace which helps us desire to do good in your name and put away the old ways. We know that there is trouble for the believer—troubles that are old in their origins and continue to plague us. Empower us to rise up and show our determination to please you. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Conclusion
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7 struggled with all the challenges of the believer’s life. David wrote about his struggles in the Psalm, but as he often did, he started from a point of frustration and sorrow and ended with a praise of God for solving the issue, or sustaining grace through the struggle.
Abraham struggled to let Ishmael go. Hannah struggled in the desert—a lone woman, with a son, in the desert. Many single parents could identify with the issues of raising a child without a helpmeet. Life was extraordinarily tough…or more to the point…trouble happened, often. It was the ordinary. We must expect that life will not be easy. That was never the promise.
God promised to be with us, to uplift us, to care for us. Just as God promised Hannah that Ishmael would become a great nation (and it did come true), God’s promise to us of sustenance through all challenges will come true. We can count on it, just as Hannah did.
However, that doesn’t call for us to be lazy. God will take care of me, so I don’t have to do anything. Paul wrote the Romans, who had asked about Grace covering their sins. Should we sin more often so that grace has LOTs of opportunity to be seen? Absolutely not. We must hold our love for Christ and his sacrifice above all. We must desire to please God the more.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. l. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
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