Posts Tagged ‘study’
Lectionary Scriptures for March 4th, 2012 – Second Sunday of Lent
February 27, 2012Lectionary Scriptures for February 26th, 2012 – First Sunday in Lent
February 20, 2012Lectionary Scripture for February 22, 2012 – Ash Wednesday
February 20, 2012Pastor’s Ponderings, Wanderings, Wonderings
February 13, 2012
Mark 1:40-45 – 40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
As I read this scripture from the Gospel of Mark I was struck with the desire this outcast had to be healed from this disfiguring, crippling, slow death disease. Jesus shows us His compassion in His willingness to heal this man. We see the Leper’s desire in his daring to even think about approaching a group of Jewish men walking down the road. This leper came to Jesus even though he knew that if he got within 50 paces the Law said that the men were within their right to throw stones at him to keep him at a safe distance. He also was required by Law to shout unclean whenever he was coming upon people. Can you just imagine the compassion that led Jesus to walk up to this man and touch him even though under the Law Jesus would be considered unclean himself. I don’t know but it seems to me that Jesus was there alone with the Leper. The disciples probably kind of hung back to keep the proper distance.
This thought pattern led me to think of how many of us truly seek healing from the touch of Jesus Christ. Many of us are plagued by diseases of the heart, mind and soul. Our spirits are held back and our spiritual growth is stunted because we hang on to the disease we have. It could be drugs or alcohol or sex or pornography or greed or selfishness or jealousy or many other diseases that cripple our souls. Jesus wants us to seek Him out like this leper did. He wants us to call out to Him because we want to be healed by Him. He can and will set us free from the disease that is plaguing us. Is the life you lead making you feel unclean? Do people shun you because of your actions? Seek out Jesus and call on Him. Seek His healing touch. Then go out and tell everyone who healed you.
Have a blessed week,
Randy
Lectionary Scriptures for February 19th, 2012
February 13, 2012Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
February 7, 2012
In our Bible Study for this Wednesday we will be reviewing Matthew Chapter 20. Jesus tells the parable about workers getting the same pay (1 denarius) for the work they have done. Some of these workers went to work early in the morning, some in the middle of the day and some late in the day. In the parable they all receive the same pay. Jesus is telling His disciples that no matter what time in our life we come to a saving knowledge of Him we will all receive the same reward. That reward of course is our salvation and life eternal in Heaven with Him. The reward however does go further than that. Those of us who come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ early in our lives are blessed with a new outlook that can make our lives much better and can give us the opportunity to witness and share with many more people.
Jesus also was addressing the Jewish belief system which was saying that their favored nation status was being taken and given to all who believed in Him. We who come to this saving knowledge of Jesus Christ become children of God without following the letter of the law. Jesus teaches us that we are to love God and to love our neighbors as the most important guidelines we can follow. He even calls them two new commandments. Very important for us and for the new disciples. Jesus gives us all favored nation status as His children.
A learning for many in churches today would be that no matter how long we have been followers of Jesus Christ we are to be accepting of and care for those who are new believers. We need to remember that our status in God is just the same as the new believer. Our blessings in this life are that we have the opportunity to be known as people who love, care for and support each other no matter how long we have known our Savior. We are to be known as people who reach out to the world and exclude no one.
God’s Peace and Blessings to each and everyone,
Randy Branch
Lectionary Scripture February 12th, 2012
February 6, 2012Pastor’s Ponderings, Wanderings, Wonderings
February 2, 2012
I had to leave the Fellowship Hall and got a glimpse of the sun peaking through the clouds. I walked out into the parking lot and was treated to a beautiful sunset view. I took the picture with my Iphone and it is a little blurry but what a beautiful picture it turned out to be.
Our Bible Study was on the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 19. Tommy Day covered the material for me because we were out of town last week and he needed another night to finish covering it. Tommy did a very good job and brought out some very good points. One of them was from verses 16-22. The rich young man came to him and asked the question “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Here was a man who had wealth and followed all the commandments but was still searching for the one thing he could do to gain eternal life. When Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
How often do we grieve over our gift to God? Is our gift given with a heart that is glad to give? Are we sad over the things we could have had if we didn’t give?
Jesus call us to share and gives us a guideline, the tithe, one tenth of all that you have coming into your household. That guideline is the minimum not the maximum because we are called to give our tithes and our offerings. So the tithe is to be given as if it truly does belong to God and we consider other gifts to be given to the needy. The rich young man must have been grieved because Jesus told him to give the money to the poor. His place in society would say that the poor were untouchables and he would have taken the suggestion better if he were told to sell and give it to whom he chose such as relatives or friends. Jesus did not give him that choice because He knew that the man would selfishly give to those who would be able to give back to him.
Could Jesus’s point be that our gift is to be given with a heart that says we give it with no strings attached. That the place we worship is to do what it has been charged to do with whatever money is given. Most mainline denominations have extensive aid organizations that do very well with helping others in ways we as individuals could never afford to do. An example is the United Methodist Church’s UMCOR organization. The United Methodist Committee On Relief as an organization is supported in it’s entirety by the Church and its giving. Any gift given to UMCOR then is 100 percent applied to the designated need. Some disasters such as Haiti, Japan, the Tsunamis and Hurricane relief are examples of the massive aid effort helped by UMCOR.
Any gift given should be given with no strings attached and by a heart that is glad to help others. Is your heart really in your tithe? Do you go above and beyond because your heart says to share? Does your heart reflect the Holy Spirit into the world as Jesus calls you too?
God gives us beautiful sunsets and beautiful hearts. Take the time to see them both.
Randy
Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 