"Reconstructive Surgery," Sermon for Sunday March 30th, 2014 By: Nicole A.M. Collins

Did anyone own the game ‘Operation?’  I never had one but remember the myriad of commercials for the game when I was younger.  Today’s texts come in a long series of “surgeries” you could say.  Starting with Ash Wednesday we are brought to bear the future reality of our fleshy selves as well as its implications from death to New life through Christ Jesus.  Last week’s Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well had Jesus doing spiritual, unrelenting surgery on the young woman’s heart—appealing to her reception of the living water of life—His Word! 

Today’s Gospel has a similar ‘spiritual surgery’ taking place with Jesus appealing to the window of the soul—a blind man’s eyes.  As we know the eyes are receptive but in context to Jesus miracle and rebuke to the Pharisees, Jesus is doing spiritual surgery on what the eyes of the heart perceive.  The whole of the Lenten walk could be considered an ongoing reconstructive surgery of the entire person to be resurrected alongside with Jesus into the New Creature to live into the lifestyle of GRACE—the discipline of the Kingdom of God!

The unrelenting tension in today’s Gospel text examples the reality of death (the Law) in the graceless indifference and cruelty the Pharisees inflict upon the poor blind man as well as what they try to inflict upon Jesus!  Here is an innocent man blind from birth healed without even a thought by Jesus.  The man felt Jesus love, compassion, mercy and hope flow from his fingers gently swiping the mud upon his eyes.

My favorite portrayal of this miracle is in the Franco Zefferelli Jesus of Nazareth movie where we see the blind man clinging to Jesus in thanksgiving and true joy.  Like a nurturing parent Jesus gently has his hand upon his shoulder as the Pharisees begin their campaign to try to squelch both the man’s joy and discipline Jesus for enacting a healing upon the Sabbath.  They are unrelenting in grilling the poor blind man denouncing and condemning him with an old belief that sin was the cause of his blindness in the first place.  Excommunicating him from the synagogue as if God was in their control to begin with!

While sheltering the former blind man, Jesus begins his spiritual, unrelenting surgery upon the Pharisees with this very loaded statement: “³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” ⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” ⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

Let us look deeply upon these last few surgical Words: ^41b... “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”  The Pharisees blindness can relate to us as well when we fight and resist dying to the Old Nature & the Law and rising to New Life—the New Creation with Christ.  As Pastor D would say, got to go the full 180 into the do’s of the Gospel in order to be truthfully and most completely living into the lifestyle of GRACE.

We are once again on that road to Easter as disciples of Jesus—the seasons of our lives living into GRACE.  GRACE by the way is an “all-caps, Hollywood Sign-sized reality” lived in the heart of one submissive through faith.  That’s another loaded Word which could be easily twisted towards the Law and its bondage upon the discerning, transforming heart of the believer.  This past week in my Bible class, there was a debate about the context of the Greek word for submission to the Will of God...  Submission meaning lower than or Submission actually and TRUTHFULLY meaning intentionally obedient to one’s calling to be accountable to love God and neighbor?

Just like the latest Lutheran magazine dodge of the reality of Christus Victor being that Christ Jesus was indeed victorious over sin, death and the devil...  The author chose to leave Satan out of the picture... “out of sight and out of mind”—what perceptions does that truthfully lead us to in regards to reconciling our hearts to the full Gospel of GRACE of Christ Jesus?!  It’s a huge, intentional blind spot to speak to keeping “control” over the wildly, uncontrollable, “full-monty” of the Gospel.

But then the purveyors of this theological perspective consider themselves to be “progressive” advocates for the full or “pure” gospel of grace over those who are truthfully “Evangelical, Confessional and Biblically” Orthodox.

Well there was a big bunch of theological doctrine I just relayed in example to illumine the Pharisees’ perspective on what was just so awful and problematic with this man being healed, having the audacity to share joy in proclaiming and Jesus, a rabbi daring to impart “spiritual surgery” upon the hardened hearts of the very legally righteous Pharisees!  An ugly and graceless encounter with a group of “holy men” with no intention in hearing, seeing or transforming themselves spiritually to the reality of the New Covenant.

We must remember that a graceless reality is the realm of empty promises, idolatry and evil—the true reality of Hell.  The true reality of hell is certainly not a “nice, little theological metaphor,” for self-contained, moral disciplines(!)  It is INDEED real, caused and causal.

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend in my theology class and we talked about the Malaysian airplane crash...  The question we pondered for a time was what does the (truthfully, invisible) face of Satan look like?  Well I said we most certainly got a good glimpse of his work with the horrible photos and history of the Holocaust.  We saw another glimpse of him visibly at work with the recent Christian persecutions in the East with the beheadings of Coptic Priests and the burning of their churches. 

Even though, the media, investigators and scientists have yet to decipher the motives of the pilots or what exactly happened on flight 370... The thought that ran in my mind for yet another glimpse, was wondering about the horror of small children, mothers and infants who were violently crashed into the Indian Ocean to most literally die a death of drowning, asphyxiation and perhaps dismemberment from the impact of crashing....  Did the pilots “see” this or perceive this to be a diabolical political statement of some kind?  Here is the invisible face of evil—Satan’s work—temptation upon us to curve inward and die—NOT to rise!

Isaiah’s strained, near hollering voice rumbles God’s frustration in trying to get through to the people of Israel to wake up: “¹⁸Listen, you that are deaf; and you that are blind, look up and see! ¹⁹Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like my dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the Lord? ²⁰He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.”  Obviously the perception at the time with the Israelites Isaiah was proclaiming to, was that they were deeply entrenched with being in exile—(actually and spiritually that is.)

Who’s to say that we are not still there as well?  We are in an exile of our own making... circumventing the cross with merely sin and death...  cheap grace feeding the soul with fast food theology... NOT costly GRACE.  What was Christ’s victory then I ask? Are we in denial of the bondage that is still and ever so real: Sin, Death and the Devil!?

St. Paul imparts timeless, kairotic hope to us in his efforts to clear the eyes of the Ephesians away from idolatry: “⁸For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— ⁹for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. ¹⁰Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; ¹³but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Like Laser surgery—the light is our teacher, reconstructive artist and builder to our New foundation—the lifestyle of GRACE—the New Nature.  God’s surgery within us is invisible in one sense but MADE manifest through our transformed hearts to bear the fruits of faith: compassion, mercy, kindness, healing and LOVE.  Love towards our font of living water, the surgeon to our lives through His Word and GRACE—The Lord Jesus Christ and towards our neighbor!

When you say outside of the “sanctuary of the self,” Jesus is Lord, it is a confessional, New creed as well as a commitment to BE-live (& believe) into your commission, calling as a disciple of GRACE freed from the bondage of Sin, Death and the Devil eternally. Let the Gospel realize a miracle in your lives by living into it!

AMEN

March 30^th, 2014; 4th Sunday in Lent; Year A; SOLA Lectionary                         Nicole Collins

Isaiah 42:14-21 Psalm 142 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41

http://youtu.be/pY7vamVg99E

"Resurrecting Waters," Sermon for Sunday March 23rd, 2014 by Nicole Collins

The oldest and deepest well known to exist according to Wikipedia is located in Cyprus, dating around 7500 BC. The name origin of the region of Cyprus means flowing tree. Another pair of wells from the Neolithic period, around 6500 BC, were discovered in Israel. One is in Atlit, on the northern coast of Israel, and the other is the Jezreel Valley.  These wells don’t really go too deep nor are really all that wide but were dug for a particular purpose, to fulfill a particular need...

Such is the similarity in the journey of the spirit’s formation—our living witness as disciples of Christ Jesus the Messiah, the TRUTH of living water—font of GRACE!  I have yet to watch the new TV series that just started up called: “Resurrection...” but have to wonder—are we immersed in a culture of denial that we actually DO NEED God?

Super hero pilot series Smallville ended three years ago, ‘Ancient Aliens’ replaced that time slot on the History 2 channel and now we have a show about resurrection.  TV exec’s and struggling actors and actresses are digging that well in the wilderness of our worldly selves needing but still fighting to feed that spiritual thirst for the living water of New Life—liquid GRACE: Jesus Christ! I doubt they had this song on their lips: “¹O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! ²Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”

That meal we share together at the table each and every Sunday is one we could use spiritually—daily as our internal reminder that we need to be FED, we need to be FILLED, that we need to open our mouths and be filled down to our very souls!  The Word and testimony shared, of gathering together is to both be building that foundation of faith and living into the lifestyle of GRACE.  In order to live into the lifestyle of GRACE we need to be fed and we need to feed our neighbors through love.

The Gospel writer didn’t have a water cooler as the set for his scene with Jesus and the Samaritan woman’s social exchange, he had a well.  What a profound image and symbol to be the fixture of interaction between the purveyor of Grace, living water himself—Jesus the Christ and a person very bound to the world in sin and condemned by the world for sin—the Samaritan woman!

The heart of the Gospel today is in these key verses: ^10b... “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Is it just the notion of living water that is a spiritually explosive revelation for us or could it be the fact that God is Spirit and Truth combined?  God as Spirit and Truth combined and shaped as the seed of faith planted within us needing to be reaped!  But are we often like struggling church structures bound to the demands of the world over and above God’s with our bricks becoming merely stacked and the mortar of our faith crackling away?

Having sat upon many council meetings in different communities of faith, you see and experience the sad reality of “survival.” Just before last week’s council meeting, the Pastor & I drove through the downtown area of Joliet to gather more of a sense of where and how the community of Santa Cruz began and where their future lies.  Travelling east, we went by where the former mission house stood which is now long gone.  The building was not only torn down but the foundation was buried and grown over with grass as if it never existed at all...

The community has obviously resurrected and grown significantly in its shared ministry with First Lutheran church. They are two different communities entirely on one level but on another a true family where the labels of German and Hispanic blend to BE the people of God FOR the people of God.  Spiritually reflecting upon the former mission building in light of the well in today’s Gospel, no matter where the circumstances of our lives lived in Christ take us as disciples journeying down that same road... We are built by the GRACE of God—we are spiritual structures ourselves of the Living God’s work!

We are living vessels, members of the same priesthood—the priesthood of all believers commissioned and commanded to live into our transformed hearts (the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit), centered in Christ, fed by Living Water and the Word.  The world however finds ways in being and becoming our stumbling blocks to reaping that faith much like the lack of faith and tolerance that tore down the former mission project’s building, burying it away as if it had never existed in the first place!

Just a little further down the road, a few random turns and twists, sits the old Joliet state prison now a side attraction in memory of the Blues Brother’s famous beginning scene of “We’re on a mission from God.”  The untouched, empty structure, with its gnarled barb wire fences and its emptied, darkened windows is now just a symbol.  It is now a symbol of imprisonment and a Hollywood attraction, a completely different purpose and function not necessarily an improvement, mind you more than a reminder!

We are our own structures of faith in one regard and in the other we are built by and for our Heavenly Father—most fearfully and wonderfully made, indeed!  Jesus upon closing his life-giving conversation with the Samaritan woman challenges the disciples spiritually: “³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

For us to truly and truthfully understand this challenge from Jesus means facing head on those stumbling blocks to our faith.  It means facing the wrecking ball of indifference and cynicism whether or not your foundation is completely solid... but facing it nonetheless with hope and perseverance as St. Paul says this morning to the Romans: “¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

The woman at the well much like ourselves was longing and thirsting for God without even realizing it, truly—truthfully!  We are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God, this is true BUT we are all planted.  We are planted upon this earthly plain and we are planted with the seed of faith and watered most generously with the living waters of GRACE.  As St. Paul continues to illumine for our understanding: “⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”

Luther echoes our spiritual challenge in his commentary to the Romans: “Step by Step he, (the Apostle), leads us toward love, which, as he says, we have as a gift from the Holy Spirit.  He shows us thereby that we must ascribe all that we might claim for ourselves to God who by Grace grants us His Holy Spirit.  We must understand these words as an added motivation or instruction of the Holy Spirit, showing what we can glory in tribulation, though this is impossible by our own strength.  It is not the effect of our own power, but it comes from the divine love which is given us by the Holy Ghost.”

We can never know God’s timing but are spiritually disciplined to trust and hope upon his guidance, building and watering so that we may become life-giving ourselves.  Disciples extraordinaire humbly built by the power of the Cross and resurrected for servant leadership—living witnesses, FREED from our imprisonment bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God!

AMEN

Sunday March 23^rd, 2014; Year A; SOLA Lectionary; 3^rd Sunday in Lent        Nicole Collins

Psalm 95:1-19; Exodus 17:1-7; Romans 5:1-8; & John 4:5-42

"GPS of Faith," Sermon for Sunday, March 16th, 2014 by Nicole A.M. Collins

How many of you here this morning use a GPS unit to help you find somewhere you want to travel to?  They’re pretty convenient aren’t they?  There’s even android and I-Phone apps available to help you find your way!  The same could be said as well for faith with the exception that the application takes yourself and the motivating unit is the Holy Spirit! There’s always however an element that you need to put your trust and hope in, to get you to where you need to Go—this is the faith journey.

This past Wednesday, we had an active day of service here at First and Santa Cruz with the Blessing Bench Pantry ministering to over fifty needy families and individuals within the downtown Joliet area.  Many of these individuals who come to be served at the pantry rely on us as their situations become more challenging and government aid dwindles.  For them the Blessing Bench is more than an outreach service to the community but a visibly, active sign of faith that there are better times ahead for us all.

How many people know the sign of here’s the steeple and inside are the people?  What just happened with what I have done with my hands?—the four walls are gone and what remains are the people or the hands & feet of the Body—the motor of the church.  Speaking of certain people in today’s Gospel text we have Nicodemus. Nicodemus’ story is an interesting one for his life was already involved in the world of ministry. Nicodemus was an esteemed rabbi and secret follower of Jesus.  It almost seems that in his misunderstanding Jesus he inadvertently mocks the notion of conversion (the initial step of coming to faith) by saying: “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 

Nicodemus’ initial reactions though are the first steps of beginning the faith journey’s spiritual formation: this would be questioning.  Questioning and challenging ourselves is that fine line of spiritual discipline between fear and doubt to trust and hope as our motivation to move forward—live into our faith.  Living into our faith is that realm that challenges us to go beyond the borders of Sunday and this room.  It challenges us to open the doors to that inner sanctuary within each of us being the Heart—the Holy Spirit’s sanctuary of Grace initiator of response—our internal GPS.  This is the first church the Gospel of Christ Jesus hopes for us to operate from. 

Just like with anything else, turning on the switch or activating our faith journey takes willingness and discernment.  A part of this discernment truly needs to be discovered through each other in fellowship, Bible Study, Worship and Prayer (or as the people under the steeple). We see Nicodemus definitely deep in discerning to overcome his own fears and doubts to take that step forward.  It’s taking that step forward that is our first hurtle.  We do have guiding lines however to discerning, incorporating and living into our faith Journey destination—being for the Love of God and Neighbor...  This guiding line is GRACE, our response is our walk—stepping out in faith with the Gospel of LOVE as our motivation and the Holy Spirit as our spiritual fuel to be bold and take those steps.

This GPS to our spiritual life’s journey into discipleship—takes discipline and a new kind of motivation—Christ Jesus as the center of your life.  Being aware of Grace is a spiritual GPS feature. It is when you just know and see/ experience clues of God’s work spiritually guiding your life...  The deeper your faith grows the more in some senses they seem like miracles of God’s timing and hand. Here again, however we find ourselves questioning or discerning our moves forward just like Nicodemus: is it fair to say the moment of conversion (transformation—spiritual rebirth)—realizing and beginning to live into our faith, does eventually have to come to an end?  Or does it just turn another corner either going up another mountain peak or sinking down into the valley of our contemplation and toil? 

We are all witnesses on our faith journeys—It is a life time experience and process.  It is a lifetime of making those many leaps of faith.... Where leaping over the chasms of uncertainty and fear nearly throw out your back! Do you just run for the Tylenol or do you run to the Lord?  It is a lifetime of falling down but having the Lord lift you up by your very heart and renewing your steps once again...  It is a lifetime of realizing just how amazing the Love of God IS as GRACE is ever flowing around you like the proverbial dust in the air!

The Psalm we heard earlier this morning could be considered like the travelling music for a person’s walk of faith.  “¹I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?  ²My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”  As we heard, the Psalm continues with great statements of not only trusting in the Lord but being Obedient which in our Old Testament text this morning we hear how Abram answers his call from God to begin his faith journey.

We hear about God leading Abram almost literally by the hand to journey forward upon His promise: “^1b... Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

We must know that God is still speaking to each and every one of us through the Holy Spirit.  That internal GPS of GRACE manifested as faith never turns off—it is a process.  A process of receiving the gift of Faith, discerning and incorporating it through intentional obedience and trust to then graciously respond with the spiritual fruit of our lives being— LIVED through faith!

Removing the title of rabbi to Nicodemus, he simply is a human being—something we all have in common of course! BUT he would soon grow to realize that he was beginning to be changed by Jesus spiritual, unrelenting challenge to him: “⁵...Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Just what does Jesus mean here?: What is born of the Spirit is spirit.  How do we come to understand the Spirit working in our lives through us, alongside us within the Lifestyle of GRACE? John the Gospel writer alludes to our understanding of spirit as Jesus not only talks about water and the Word but also the air: “⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The mystery of God’s Spirit is just that—mystery BUT it is one adhered to, lived into by Faith through GRACE.  The manifestation of GRACE in our lives is the living gift of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  This living gift of faith is sewn in the heart and reaped naturally by our loving and Gracious response to a loving and Gracious God.  The love and GRACE of God is our spiritual fuel to trust in a new promise and live by a new law.

We have a problem though, much like poor Nicodemus.  We really do not understand abstract, invisible, unknowable things....  We want to grasp as St. Paul says in today’s Letter to the Romans—the fleshy, worldly understanding of things.  It is what is empirically available.  FAITH however requires us to fight the human tendency of rationalizing and creating an understanding of the mysteries and miracles of God.  This is our ongoing, internal spiritual formation battle.  How do we live into the spiritual?  How do we truly comprehend the miracle of God’s LOVE made available through Christ Jesus and His Cross?  A good example would be Wednesday’s Blessing Bench Pantry ministry is one way but there are many others we can enact or join into by faith.

The explosive aspect of the Gospel of Jesus is the reality of GRACE—that 5 letter abstract “breath” of God freely given to us as we “grow and go” as freely responsible servants of Christ.  Not servants of a religion—obedience and accountability to the Living Word of God as living into the lifestyle of GRACE—a resurrected, recreated life in the image and spirit of Our Lord and Savior—Jesus Christ!  “¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Let us Pray:

Heavenly and Most Gracious Savior,

May we grow a Living FAITH built upon Your Word

May we die to the Old Nature and truly be Converted—transformed into the New!

May we take that bold leap and tread into the unknown—

Knowing fully that Your Love and GRACE is guiding every step & that every breath we take is full of your GRACE!

AMEN

March 16^th, 2014; 2^nd Sunday in Lent; Year A; SOLA Lectionary                         Nicole Collins

Psalm 121; Genesis 12:1-9; Romans 4:1-8, 13-17; John 3:1-17

Preached at First & Santa Cruz Lutheran Church of Joliet, Illinois

 

A S.O.A.P. Series on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians Chapter 5:22-26 By Nicole Collins

A S.O.A.P. Series on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians Chapter 5:22-26 By Nicole Collins

Scripture || Observation|| Application|| Prayer

Galatians 5

²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

For  Sunday March 2^nd, 2014

Today’s Verses Scripture: ²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

Observation: The Christian life needs to be centered in obedience to the work of the Spirit which bears great gifts.

Application: How we come to bear spiritual fruit is through a disciplined focus on listening deeply for God’s Word in your heart—allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through you.  Spiritual fruit is not born of human wisdom but of heart wisdom grown in faith as a manifestation of GRACE lived.

Prayer:  Gracious and ever loving God, help us to build our spiritual foundation,

Mold and shape us through your Grace to be fruitful trees,

May our hearts over flow with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, May we come to share this with the world

As we grow in obedience to your New Law—

The one founded in the Love and Grace of Christ Jesus Your Son.

AMEN

For  Thursday March 6^th, 2014

Today’s Verses Scripture: ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Observation: We will know when our hearts are completely turned to Jesus when we have died to the ways of the world—where the Old Adam and Old Eve have fully transformed spiritually to be selfless loving vessels for the Lord’s Will and Purposes.

Application: Belonging to the Lord takes obedience—which for us means intentionality and accountability to truly be freely responsible servants of Christ Jesus.  The reality of the lifestyle of GRACE is the New Creation fully incorporated and shared.  Reflecting daily upon our Baptismal calling should have us reflecting, confessing, repenting and renewing daily—dying to the Old Nature and rising to the New.

Prayer:  Dear Jesus, Help to train our hearts to realize the true fruits of repentance.

May our walk of faith deny and turn away from the empty promises of the Evil One.

May we see the joy of compassion naturally flow as we dedicate our every thought and action to You.

May any evil than lingers within us be trampled under the power of your Word burning deep in our hearts.

Thank You Lord, for all you have done

May I never not be grateful!

AMEN

For  Sunday March 9^th, 2014

Today’s Verses Scripture: ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Observation: Living by the Spirit is truly listening deeply from the heart which is the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit.  Heart (Spiritual formation’s foundation) + Head (Spiritual Transformation)= Reformation (Diakonia & Kerygma)

Application: The Spirit is the driving force working on empowering us to be beacons of Light, stewards of the earth and proclaimers of the Word.  The Holy Spirit is our great motivator as Christ Jesus is our heart’s center.  When we chose to invest in building our spiritual foundation as disciples; we transform to the image of who God wants to become.  With this realized we can live into the lifestyle of GRACE by being active through servant leadership and unity to accomplish God’s Will and purposes for the World!

Prayer:  Gracious and Loving God, build up our hearts with your great and glorious Spirit. 

Help us to obediently and intentionally build that foundation of the Holy Spirit’s work within us.

Make us beacons of light—where your Holy Spirit guides and shines through all we do in Your Name.

May the work of our hands and feet bring shalom and Kingdom fruit

A Reformation that will be a revolution of the faithful committed to spread your Gospel to the ends of the earth!

We Thank You Lord for all you do to guide us and lead us down your intended path.

In Your Most Holy and Precious Name We Pray—

AMEN

For Monday March 10^th, 2014

Today’s Verses Scripture: ²⁶Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Observation: Spiritual Formation is not to ever be a competition more than a time of humble development. The ego must die to be united with God as well as truly love neighbor.

Application: The place of Spiritual Formation is the most intimate aspect of our being.  The Old Nature continually asserts its desire to create a world catering to the self—it is instinctual but NOT Godly.  The New Nature Christ Jesus wants us to grow into is other worldly, and truly an open heart for compassion toward others.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, you hold our hearts in your loving hands.

Help us to strive to be in the World but not of it.

Help us to be humbly molded to Your Will and precepts for our lives in GRACE.

May Your love teach our hearts to die to the Old Nature and rise into the New Creation and It’s lifestyle of GRACE.

May everything we do in our time of formation and transformation grow ever closer in unity to You and Love for our neighbor.

To You, O Lord, be the Glory—

AMEN

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