The Lord Will Seek Out His Sheep

Ezekiel 34:11-24 KJV; 14th Sunday after Pentecost; The Lord, the Good Shepherd knows you and will seek you out. He will save you even as He will judge those who persecute you.

Righteousness Sown In Peace

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (James 3:17-18 KJV)

Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (James 3:9-10)

The wise person does not insist that they are always right; that they are the righteous one. They slow down and listen as well as speak. Wisdom does not call for attacks against those who disagree with them. Wisdom seeks peace. Peace may not come in the form or the way that we desire it; but, it is still sought after. We will never be perfect here in this world; but, that doesn't mean we can't seek to live in peace.

How do we bless God for our own peace when we curse others and work to damage the peace of others? The beginnings of peace can only come when we are able to recognize how we might be affecting the peace of others around us. True peace will come only when we are united as one; like-minded in Christ. 

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)

Wisdom is about walking humbly with our God and doing good for others; not just for ourselves.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Knock And The Door Will Be Opened

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 

                                                                                  (Luke 11:5-9 KJV)

Who would not answer their door to a friend in need? Sadly, there are many who would not. They may have many reasons. Maybe, they are in bed and don't feel like getting up. Maybe they are in the middle of a game or a television show and don't feel like interrupting it. Maybe they just don't feel like helping their friend because they don't view their relationship as close as the person who is on the otherside of the door knocking. 

My parents taught me to always be there to help anyone in need and it didn't have to be a friend. I recall their door being opened to many strangers. It is what they did. It is what we do for those who may be suffering or in any kind of need.

I had to actually look up the word "importunity" from the scripture this morning in order to be sure that I knew what it meant. Importunity is when someone has to beg for help and gets that help not out of friendship or kindness or love or anything as sweet as that; but, because the person being asked finally gets annoyed enough of the begging that they give in and help the person in need.

The world today is full of fear. There are definitely dangers around us and at times might even knock at our door. Prudence and caution is a good thing when opening the doors to strangers. But; know this, even if Jesus is a stranger to you, you can knock on his door and it will be opened. He will let you into the Kingdom. You do not have to beg or be afraid to ask for his help. He already gave it to you when he suffered and died on the cross to open the door to the Kingdom for you.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Luke 11:9) 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

No Hiding From God

The Secret Hiding Place

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.   (Jer 23:24 KJV)

When my oldest grandchildren were young they, like most children, liked to play hide-n-seek. I would often walk with them to the ruins of an old stamp mill on the shores of Lake Superior. They would attempt to hide on me. I always found them pretty quickly as I could hear them as they went and they always tended to hide in their same secret hiding place.

As children get older some of them will try to hide what they are doing or where they are going. But, loving parents will usually have a pretty good idea of what they are up to no matter where they are. Parents will have taken the time to listen to and to observe them enough to know their habits. Even if the parents don't call them on everything they think their growing children are up to, they can  hide very little from their parents. 

Parents can get busy and miss some things; but, God is always observant of what His children are doing. There is no hiding from Him. There is no sense in pretending that you are innocent before God. He knows better. He knows you through and through. 

He is always near. He is always with us. So do not attempt to hide yourself or what you do from God. Rather, live in peace with God and with one another. and with yourself. Rejoice in the fact that He is with us and knows us and He will guide us if we would but listen. Do not try to hide from God; but, embrace Him and live life in His presence.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Not Of This World

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

                                                                                     (Romans 12:2-3 KJV)

How to live in this world without being conformed to it is something to ponder! Where is the line between thinking more about ourselves and the world around us than the creator and Father of all things? These things can be difficult, if not impossible, given the fact that we are after all infallible human beings, to discern.

We were born into a world that is filled with temptations to indulge ourselves and others. If you want to have a career there is some adapting that might be necessary. Being a radical in any direction may very well limit your opportunities to support yourself and your families. Being a radical is going to mean that you may just not fit into society. 

There are a lot of radicals of every kind in the world. In the end, it is better to be a radical for Jesus because we know that we can trust him to be there for us. The Lord knows what's going on in our lives.  He will take care of you.

Jesus tells us:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

                                                                                    (Matt 6:24-33)

Life's decisions can be tough. There are a lot of temptations to follow in the ways of the world rather than the way that Jesus sets before us. Sometimes, it's hard to even know what he would have us do. But, we do know what God which direction God would have us go in because we have the Holy Spirit as a counselor. We have the word given to us in the Holy Scriptures. We can know; but, the devil and the world would tell us that we are wrong. Don't believe them. Believe the Word, who is Jesus the Christ, the one who lived and died, yet lives for you.

We live in this world; but, we are not of it. We are children of our Father's Kingdom, a kingdom where there is no struggling to get ahead of ourselves or our neighbors. There is only peace.

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. (2 Thess 3:5)

God's Peace - Pr. J

He Is Risen!

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.”  John 20:15 KJV

Indeed, whom are you looking for? He is there with you, right now. Can you not see him? Then, maybe, it's really not Jesus that you are looking for. Maybe it's someone or something else that you think might satisfy you. Maybe you're looking in all the wrong places. The tomb is empty. Jesus is not among the dead; but, among the living. If you're looking for Jesus, look no further than around you. Jesus is Risen! He lives with you. He is with you now and always.

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Finder

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10 KJV)

We have a competition around the house; that is to see who is the "Finder." We just happen to lose a lot of stuff. Tools get lost on a daily basis. So does  a lot of paperwork. No one ever seems to have a clue where stuff was left. I lose my keys daily. In fact, I just had to have a key made for the car as it fell out of the fob somewhere during my daily running around. Very, very frequently, I have to have Jimmy call my cell phone when I'm at the church so that I can find it, hoping that I forgot to turn it off or down during worship so that I can hear it ring. I have finally figured out that when I lose the phone at home, I can just go on my alternate Messenger and call my own phone.

We take turns being the "Finder" at home. But, the reality is that there is no better "Finder" than Jesus. It was not just things that were lost. He did not come to find inanimate objects. He came to find the lost so that we could live in his presence. We were the lost and without Jesus we would remain lost. He came to find the lost. Thanks be to God!

God's Peace - Pr. J