Making the Most of the Light - GUMY Summer Challenge (CATCH UP WEEK: Answers: 1-5)

 

 

 

 

 

It is SUMMER!!!

 

Officially, last Friday, Summer 2013 started.

 

What I love most about summer is how long the days are.

The sun is up before 6AM and doesn't set until nearly 9PM.

There is so much light and so much time.

 

Light makes us feel like we have time to accomplish our goals or tasks for the day.

When darkness rolls in our bodies tend to go into rest mode - time to settle down and veg-out.

 

Although we need rest time each day - it is during the hours of light - during the day - that we are able to move our lives forward.

 

That is the gift that light gives us.

 

Salvation is the gift that God gives us to have eternal life.

Salvation is life moving forward - forward to heaven.

 

Both the light - our simple daylight and the light of God - and salvation help to move our lives forward. They help draw us closer to God - bringing us deeper into relationship with Him.

 

As you begin your next day - remember that each moment of light is a time to draw nearer to God - and a chance to shine in the glory of His gift of salvation. The opportunity to be with Him always:

 

"One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple."

Psalm 27:4

 

Scripture

Psalm 27

 

Quote

Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.

  ~Michael Strassfeld

 

GUMY SUMMER CHALLENGE

 

Hi ALL - This Sunday (June 30th) will be a "catch up" Sunday. No winners - but here's a chance to catch up on all of the clues to date...remember the Clue # and the Clue are important!

 

Clue/Answer #1: "You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee"

Clue / Answer #2: "We are UNSTOPPABLE"

Clue / Answer #3: Tell Him

Clue Answer #4: Praise Him

And

CLUE/ ANSWER # 5: JESUS

 

 

 



Seeking Righeousness for the Oppressed...

 

 

The LORD works righteousness

   and justice for all the oppressed.

Psalm 103:6

Righteousness is all about being right...and good...and honorable.

When the LORD looks down on each of us, He sees our lives as they truly are. Most of us are oppressed in some way or fashion.

In some parts of the world the oppression seems obvious:

• Women are oppressed in certain nations simply because of their gender.
• Christians are oppressed because the nation in which they live does not have freedom of religion.
• Children are oppressed because their entire lives have been bookended by war and poverty leaving their nations deprived of adult leadership or healthy parents.
• And the oppression and painful pits of reality turn onward...

Here in the United States, or even in Western Europe, the oppression is more insidious;

• We are oppressed by our ways of thinking or the ways that society tells us to think.
• We are oppressed by how our bodies should look or what we should wear.
• We are oppressed by where we live and the opportunities available to us.
• We are oppressed by a government of entitlement that wants to monitor our every movement or expression.
• We are oppressed because we are forced to be political correct to the point of no longer being able to express what we believe or why we believe.
• We are oppressed because the fringes of society have become more important than the mass of society.
• We are oppressed because we have told God that He is not as important as we are...

God is working to make this world right again; to seek out the righteousness in a world of corruption and corrupt able people. He wants justice for each of us and He has given us the means to find this justice through the salvation He offered us on the cross.

The oppression we face as Westerners is unique because we do not really feel oppressed. We can have nearly anything we want...but the cost is the loss of our freedom to love God above all else. By choosing "the American Way", we often choose to turn our backs, consciously and subconsciously, away from our true Redeemer. We have become satisfied with stuff rather than seeking out the salvation offered.

Today, as we countdown the five days remaining in 2011, we have the opportunity to reflect on where God sits in our lives. Is He first - granting us the freedom to live and to love as His disciples? Is He second - behind our comforts? Or is He far down on the list as an after thought proving that our desires for stuff is greater than our desire for salvation?

You are either free or you are oppressed...recognizing where you are will determine whether or not your will find release from your captor and salvation in your redeemer.

Scripture

Psalm 103

Quote of the Day

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Question of the Day

What stuff is holding you back?

Invitation in the Hands

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands

Isaiah 49:16

Our hands are amazing tools.

They can hold a hammer to pound nails. They can fly across a keyboard and type a novel. They can lift their fingers to a shoulder and offer unspoken comfort. We use our hands for nearly every activity in life.

Hands can create masterpieces, show love, offer nourishment and play games.

But one set of hands offered salvation.

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals
Luke 22:33

Jesus gave his life; allowed himself to have nails driven into the palms of his hands so that we might be released from the burden of sin. With each pounding of the nails your name, my name, all of our names, written in the palms of his hands, were washed clean by the saving grace of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

Our names are engraved on the palms of the LORD's hands. And with the nail scarred hand, Jesus reaches out to each of us and offers us a relationship of reconciliation with God the Father. Our invitation is engraved by a nail on his hands.

"I asked Jesus how much he loved me, and he said, "This much..." and he opened his arms wide as they nailed him to the cross..."

Jesus offers you an engraved invitation to spend your life with him. All you need to do is reach out your hand to his and accept the invitation of salvation.

Scripture
Isaiah 49:15-17

Quote of the Day
God loves us the way we are but too much to leave us that way.
Leighton Ford

Question of the Day

How are you going to use your hands today?



Who Will Believe?

Who do you believe?

Who do you think is trustworthy - that you can believe every word they say?

Your parents? Your teachers? Your friends?

What about the person in school or in your neighborhood who gets in trouble - a lot? If he or she told you something, would you believe what he or she said? Probably not.

We tend to have a few people in our lives who we truly believe what they say, and the rest we challenge and weigh their answers against what is reasonable or plausible, but what would make you believe the troublemaker? What could he or she say to convince you this person was speaking the truth?

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:39)

In our scripture passage today, Jesus sat down at a well to take a rest and a woman came to the well to fetch water. While they spoke, Jesus revealed to her that he knew all of the bad things she had done in her life and he explains to her that he can give her new life. This woman is so overwhelmed that he would speak to her - despite her sin - and promise her salvation she goes back into her village and tells everyone she can find about Jesus.

This woman, who was so mistrusted because of her poor choices is believed because of the transformation which happened in her life. The people of her town believed because of her encounter with Jesus. The entire town was renewed because one woman was brave enough to share the brokenness and reconciliation of her life with the community which had shunned her.

Who would you believe? Who would believe you?

When we share how Christ is working in our lives, we have an obligation to share authentically - to share how he has transformed us from mere sinners to disciples. You likely haven't faced the ridicule or shame that the woman at the well faced, but you still have a story which can lead people to Jesus so that they can come to know him personally.

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)

Because one woman was willing to humble herself and share honestly about Jesus, an entire town was changed. Imagine what could happen if you choose today to share how Jesus has changed your life...whose life could be transformed?

Scripture

John 4:1-42

Quote of the Day

"The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world."

CS Lewis

“The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.”

Seneca - 1st Century Roman Philosopher

Question of the Day

What moment this past week did you experience God in a tangible way?

Don't forget GUMY this Sunday night...