Hebrews 5

The author of Hebrews expresses his frustration with the readers not growing up in faith. He uses the image that they are infants still drinking mild, when in fact they should be eating solid food.

What about you? Would the author be frustrated by your progress in faith? Or are you doing the acts of faith that help your faith mature? Those acts would include scripture reading, prayer, presence in worship, giving, serving others, fasting, participating in a Sunday school class or bible study....with the start of the new year it would be great time to put a plan in place for your spiritual maturing.

Hebrews 4

Hebrews 3

Hebrews 2

Hebrews 1

Luke 1

I have always found it amazing that Zechariah does not believe the angel when told that Elizabeth would have a child. Why would a priest not believe his prayer had been answered? What would he not believe the angel of God? Of course, how often do I not believe God?

I pray that you have a blessed Christmas Day.

Luke 2

I wonder what Mary is thinking as she prepares to give birth in a barn. Her pregnancy has been a miracle that was foretold by the angel Gabriel. Surely if this was the work of God she wouldn't be giving birth in a barn?

The angels appear to the shepherds. It must have been an amazing sight. The angels tell the shepherds to go and see the child. What if the shepherds visit is not so much to see the child but as an assurance to Mary? To let her know that God is still acting and she has not been forgotten.

I think we need those moments of assurance. There are times when our faith is pushed to the limit, when we feel worn down. Those little signs from God that we are not alone give us the courage to carry on with our faith.

Luke 3

I wonder what would happen if we started the Christmas Eve Candlelight service by calling the congregation "a brood of vipers"? I doubt if the message would be well received. The crowd listening to John seems to receive it very readily. In fact, the different groups ask what they must do to change. I don't think we need to communicate as John did, but I do think the question of how we should change is appropriate for us. Have you ever considered asking God in prayer what you must change about your life?

Luke 4

"Isn't this Joseph's son?"

The people of Nazareth have an image of Jesus in mind. The image is that he is just a hometown boy and he couldn't possibly be anything special. They have him trapped in an image and no amount of teaching or miraculous signs can change their image.

We lived in a small town for four years. It was a great experience. But one of the things I noticed living in the town is how people never forgot other's past. They talked about what each other did as children or young adults and never seemed to let some people grow up.

Watching them, helped me realize how I do that. I can form an image of someone in my mind and nothing can change that image. Do you do that? Do you judge a person in a particular way and keep looking for little signs that your judgement is correct? In doing so we never allow for a person's life to be changed.

Luke 5

"Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."

When Jesus told them they would catch men, do you think they could ever conceive that one day there would be 2.1 billion Christians? It is staggering when you consider how Christianity begun to think that 2.1 billion people believe today. But think about this. If those 2.1 billion Christians do not tell the next generation of people about Christ that Christianity could cease to exist. Jesus is depending upon us to tell the next generation of what God has done for us.

Luke 6

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

We are not very good at evaluating ourselves. We are much better at evaluating/criticizing, critiquing other's. In fact, don't we spend far more time talking about others than we do quietly reflecting on our own behavior? Isn't it much easier to fix the behavior of another than to change ourselves? Jesus' challenge is for us to be honest with ourselves. We have enough issues that we don't need to be harping on others.

Luke 7

The story of the sinful woman is fascinating. Consider these points:
- She was considered a "worse" sinner than the Pharisees. Do you look at some people as sinners? Do you cast judgement on others as the Pharisees did her?
- Jesus acknowledges the depth of her sin, but then compares the depth of her love. She has expressed her love to Jesus in an amazing manner.
- Jesus forgives her sins. We understand that as normal, for the people around Jesus is was a scandal.
- It doesn't matter the state of our soul or life when we meet Jesus. Jesus takes us where we are and offers us new life. Salvation is not about us, it is about the gift of God.

Luke 8

Jesus uses the parable of the sower to describe how the word of God touches our lives. As you read this passage, what type of soil is your soul? Are you open for God's word to grow deeply in your life? Does God's word grow for a short period of time and then get crowded out by other pressing matters of life? How is the soil of your soul?

Luke 9

"For he who is least among you all, he is the greatest."

One of the lessons we learn from Jesus is that God looks at the world differently than we do. The least is the greatest. The greatest is the one who serves. We are to love our enemies. We are to turn the other cheek. A vital aspect to being a Christian is learning that God sees the world differently than we do and we are to change how we see the world.

Luke 10

What struck me about Jesus sending out the 72 iwas the difficulty of their task. Jesus prepareed them for conflict and rejection. They went out knowing their job is difficult. They return with joy because of how God worked in their midst.

It is not easy to be a person of faith. We hope that somehow God will smooth everything out and make life easy. But living out our faith is no easier now than it was for the 72. God doesn't promise that it will be easy, God promises to always be with us.

Luke 11

"Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened."

When my father was alive, virtually every conversation ended with my dad asking the same question, "is there anything I can do for you?" He loved me and wanted to make sure that I had everything that I needed. That experience with my dad came to mind as I was reading this passage. I see this as an expression of God's love and care for us. God wants to be with us and help us in life. Jesus teaches in this passage that in prayer God invites us to lay out all of our needs.

Luke 12

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I want you to evaluate your life today. I want you to evaluate where your treasure is. Here are some questions I want you to use to evaluate your life:

Where do you spend most of your time?
Do you worry? If yes, what do you worry about?
What do you do with your discretionary income?
What gets you excited?
Do you have any actions that you hide from others?

There may be many more questions you would add to this list. The important thing is for us to think through our lives and what we treasure.

Luke 13

This is an interesting image that Jesus used in comparing the Kingdom of God to a mustard see. The Kingdom of God is wherever God reigns. When we submit our lives to God and live as God wants us to live, the Kingdom of God is present in that moment. A mustard seed is a tiny seed which grows into a significant tree. In comparing the mustard seed to the Kingdom of God one idea is that the seemingly insignificant acts that you do in obedience to God can be used by God to do great things.

Luke 14

Who do you invite to dinner? Do you invite your friends? Neighbors? Those who have invited you? Do you ever consider inviting "the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind"? Jesus challenges us to look at the world and others in a different way.

Luke 15

Luke 16

"You cannot serve both God and money"

I have never heard anyone say that they serve money. I have I never thought that I served money. I don't know if serving money is something that a person intentionally proclaims. I fear that serving money is something that subtlety happens in our lives. We never are quite satisfied with how much we have. We must have the newest technology. We are working the long hours to earn a better living for our families. We never proclaim that we are serving money but our actions give witness to the service.

This is a hard balance for us. We need money to live. We live in a culture that teaches us we never have enough and with just a little more we will be happy. Yet, we know that life is found in serving God not money. We have to find a way to always remember that money is a tool for living, not the reason for living.

Luke 17

In response to Jesus teaching that you should forgive a brother seven times in one day, the apostles say, "Increase our faith!" They realize they will need help to forgive as Jesus has taught them. Forgiveness for little offenses is easy. Forgiveness when we have been either repeated injured or deeply wounded is very difficult. Yet, that is what Jesus asks of us. He asks not only because it can bring healing to the relationship with the person who has harmed us, but also because of what it does for us. When we harbor animosity towards another, our soul is not right. Forgiveness brings peace to our souls that is not possible when anger/vengeance/animosity reigns within us.

Luke 18

Luke 19

Whenever I read the story of Zacchaeus, the children's song about him starts running through my mind. "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he....". I have always had good thoughts about Zacchaeus and I can't help wonder if it is because of the song.

The people in his community had bad thoughts about him, he was considered a sinner. They could not conceive of any good coming from him because of his past behavior. I wonder what they thought when he said he would give half of his possessions to the poor and pay back four times what he has cheated from anyone? Would they give him a second chance?

Do you give people a second chance? Do you allow people the opportunity to change or do you always hold their past against them?

Luke 20

"Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's"

Money provides a great challenge to the life of faith in God. We need money to live. Saving money for the future is important. Yet, there is a fine line between using money for what is necessary in life and money becoming the dominant force in life. I don't believe it is an issue that we solve with a single decision. Rather, I believe that use of money must remain an on-going issue that we are constantly evaluating.

Luke 21

Being a follower of Jesus changes the manner in which we handle our money. The opening story of the widow's generosity one of many examples that Jesus gives us about generosity. I believe that most followers of Jesus want to be generous. The struggle is how to balance our daily needs and still be generous. This struggle is compounded in America because of how much we perceive as being a "daily need". We continually raise our standard of living and struggle to be generous.

One of the ideas that my dad taught me about money was deciding how much was enough. To make decisions about what standard of living was enough and how much money in the bank was enough. If we never decide how much is enough, we will always be tempted to want more, we will never be satisfied.

Luke 22

In the midst of the final evening, Jesus tells his disciples, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." In that moment he is referring to the temptations that faced them that evening. I wonder if they took him seriously, for they immediately fell asleep.

Do you ever pray for God to keep you from falling into temptation? It might be helpful to add this to your prayer life. Such a prayer acknowledges that you fall into temptation. In addition, it might push you to face what tempts you most. On of the best ways to stay away from sin is to acknowledge what tempts you and stay away from the temptation.

Pray for Pat this morning.