Category: Media



Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who he is and what he has done. It is expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.

How we live either affirms or contradicts what we profess about God. Our daily life, not what we do on Sunday mornings, is the gospel message other people receive. For the next two weeks, begin each day with this thought in mind. What you do and say does make a difference.

 

This week’s reading:

• Monday – Revelation 1-4
• Tuesday – Revelation 5-9
• Wednesday – Revelation 10-14
• Thursday – Revelation 15-18
• Friday – Revelation 19-22

Please Pray for:

• Our Nation and Our Leaders
• Phase 2 (Renovation of Current Facilities)
• Phase 3 (Construction of New Youth Building)
• For all those still affected by the flu epidemic
• For all those suffering in silence

The Winter Olympics have just begun. I love the Olympics, winter or summer makes no difference—I’m a fan. I marvel at each country’s athletes who train their entire life for the hope and chance of a gold medal.  I always watch the Olympic games full of anxiety for all who compete.

Often, just before and during each Olympics, past medal winners are interviewed. We are all reminded of their journeys, struggles, and accomplishments.  This past week, I listened to Michelle Kwan’s interview. She is the most decorated U.S. skater with two Winter Olympic medals, five-time World Champion medals, and nine-time U.S. Champion medals. I remember watching her compete. She was the epitome of grace.

What I didn’t know was that in 1993 she competed in her first U.S. completion finishing sixth. She fell four times! For a skater, that is the worst. Interestingly enough, she could have quit, stopped, given up to pursue something else. However, she stayed the course; perfected her technique through discipline and hard work. As I listened to her interview, I thought of the value of spiritual disciplines. For the Christ-Follower, spiritual disciplines are the countless hours of faith practice yielding the nature of Christ inside the nature of the believer.

Don’t discount the countless times you practice your faith, even if you can’t see the effects of it. Like an Olympic athlete, practice makes perfect. Moment by moment, God is perfecting your nature so that it looks like the nature of Christ.

 

This week’s reading:
Monday – John 12-14
Tuesday – John 15-18
Wednesday – John 19-21
Thursday – 1 John 1-5
Friday – 2 John, 3 John
 

Please Pray for:
Our Nation and Our Leaders
Phase 2 (Renovation of Current Facilities)
Phase 3 (Construction of New Youth Building)
For all those affected by the flu epidemic

Romans 8 is my favorite chapter in the Bible. In different seasons of my life, this chapter has been personally meaningful. I marvel at God’s love for humanity and the constancy of Jesus’ intercession on our behalf. He, Jesus, is our High Priest. When I think my prayers are inchoate mutterings, how comforting it is to know that one can take my struggling gibberish and present it to the God of the universe.

Scottish theologian Alan Torrance wrote about Christ as our High Priest and the comfort he received at a dark time in his life.  In his book, Reclaiming the Continuing Priesthood of Christ, he wrote:

“In January 2008, my wife, Jane, died of cancer. She was the most wonderful Christian woman, wife, and mother. Watching her die in pain as the cancer spread throughout her body was hard, and seeing our children witness her gradual disintegration not only physically but mentally as the cancer spread through her brain was extremely hard. There were times when, in my grief, I really struggled to find the wherewithal to pray and, indeed, to know how to pray and what to pray for. In sum, I did not know how to pray as I ought.  In the depth of that valley the continuing priesthood of Christ became more relevant than I can begin to articulate—the fact that as I held Jane in my arms, the risen, ascended Priest of our confession was present by the Spirit interceding on our behalf meant that we could repose in his presence and know that communion that is the beginning and telos [end] of everything.”

What powerful words! In the end of it all, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Thanks be to God.

This week’s reading:
Monday – 2 Peter 1-3; John 1
Tuesday – John 2-4
Wednesday – John 5, 6
Thursday – John 7, 8
Friday – John 9-11
 

Please Pray for:
Our Nation and Our Leaders
Phase 2 (Renovation of Current Facilities)
Phase 3 (Construction of New Youth Building)
For all those affected by the flu epidemic