Daily Devotion for May 27

INTRO

This Sunday is Pentecost. 

 

SCRIPTURE:  Acts 2

2:1 When the day of pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

 

PENTECOST

Pentecost has been celebrated centuries before the birth of Christ.  In Exodus (34:22) and Deuteronomy (16:9 - 10), God gives the command to “”Celebrate the Feast of Weeks.”  It is like a harvest festival.  “Pente” means “fifty” and Pentecost takes place 50 days after Passover.  It is the culmination of the feast of weeks, which began on the third day after Passover.  The festival marks the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest.  It was a time of thanksgiving for the provisions of the Lord.  Later it was associated with time of the giving of the Law of Moses.

 

QUESTION

Pentecost is also the day that Acts 1:8 was being fulfilled.  It is the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus and is the birth of the church.  What does the Holy Spirit filling the disciples of Jesus mean to you?

 

PRAY

1. This Sunday is also Organ Dedication Worship Service @ 9 a.m.

Agno United Methodist Church (responding to the needs of the community after the devastating typhoon that hit Luzon, Philippines)

Daily Devotion for May 21

DAILY DEVOTION #3

 

INTRO 

This Sunday is Memorial Sunday.  All military personnel are invited to wear their uniform (or part).

 

SCRIPTURE:  MATTHEW 5:  43 - 48

⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

QUESTION

Would you rather love or hate your enemy?

When was the last time you prayed for someone who persecuted you?

Is this too difficult?

Ever wish you had white-out?

What do you wish this passage said?

What does your answer to #5 say about you?

What would it take to live Matthew 5:  43 – 48?

 

THOUGHT TO PONDER

But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.  Psalm 37:11

PRAY FOR

a member of our church who is seeking employment in the administrative realm. 

Daily Devotion for May 20

INTRO

This Sunday is Memorial Sunday.  All who were in the military are invited to wear a portion of their uniform.

Scripture:  Matthew 5:38 – 42

38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth’  39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

 QUESTIONS

1. Which of the above verses is the most difficult for you?
2. Are you the kind of person that does not resist an evil person?
3. Are you the kind of person that turns the other cheek?
4. Is it ethical for a person who does not do the above to dictate to another to do so (do as I say and not as I do)?
5. Does this apply to only an individual or can it apply to a group of folks?
6. What would it take for the kind of person who does not do the above to be able to do the above?

 

THOUGHT TO PONDER

Let peace begin with me.

PLEASE PRAY FOR

1.  Martha (blood clot)

2.  Bill (procedures)

Daily Devotion for May 19

SCRIPTURE:  Ecclesiastes 3:8

 A Time for War, a time for peace.

 

TENSION

On the one hand, there is “a time for war;” and on the other hand thee is a time for peace.”

 

QUESTION:  How do we know what time is it?

 

OBSERVATION 

We always have a choice.

 

POINT

To choose wisely is discernment

 

PRAYER TO PONDER

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

 

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.  Amen.       --Reinhold Niebuhr

May 15

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew 6:9

 9"This, then, is how you should pray:  " 'OUR FATHER in heaven,…”

NOTE  -  “OUR FATHER”

We have a relationship with God that is intimate and personal. 

QUESTION

What do we do with that relationship?

CONSIDERATION

When we are in a relationship with someone we make decisions/choices.  Some of those choices draw us closer with the other and other choices erode away at the relationship.  It is the same way with God, the choice to spend more time with God give growth to the relationship and produce a stronger and healthier relationship.  We make choices that draw us toward God and strengthen our relationship with God, and then there are the other choices.  If we break the rules of relationship we contribute to the erosion and death of the relationship.  But God, like the father in the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:20) is always waiting for us to return home and reestablish the relationship.

 THOUGHT TO PONDER

“OUR FATHER” waits for our return from the “lights of the big city” excitement and waits for our return home.

 LET US PRAY

1. Phineaus who’s 42 year old grand daughter passed away this morning.
2. Family of Jeanette who will come together and remember her.
3.  

 

 

SCRIPTURE

 9"This, then, is how you should pray: 
   " 'Our Father in heaven, 
   hallowed be your name, 
 10your kingdom come, 
   your will be done 
      on earth as it is in heaven. 
 11Give us today our daily bread. 
 12Forgive us our debts, 
      as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
 13And lead us not into temptation, 
   but deliver us from the evil one.^[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

NOTE

Prayer begins with “Our Father.”  Prayer begins with the recognition of who God is and where God is (“in heaven”).  Prayer begins with the realization that all prayer is focused on God and our relationship with God.  In this model, our relationship with God is “Father.”  This relationship is a personal relationship.  It is not a relationship of the Deist, who proclaim that God is the watchmaker and has now left the watch behind and continues with no relationship with the watch (creation).  Our God, continues the relationship.

THOUGHT TO PONDER

When in prayer, remember the relationship we have with God.

May 13

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew 6:  5  - 8

 5"And when you pray, do not be like the HYPOCRITES, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him

 NOTE:  “Hypocrites”

This Greek word comes from the theater describing the character who wore a mask.  In this passage it is referring to those who pray for credit are like those who are wearing a mask and playing a role for entertainment and show.  Not revealing the true self.

 FOR ME

Prayer is that opportunity where the true self is reveal.  It is almost an unveiling of who we are, no more masks.  This is as good and this is as bad as it gets.  It is in prayer that we reveal to God the inner most of who we are.  It is God’s grace that allows this unveiling, this looking behind the mask, or dropping the mask.  In every day life, there are those who walk around the stage of life, wearing their mask.

 THOUGHT TO PONDER

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts…

“As You Like It” Jaques (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166)

 

May 12

INTRO

QUESTION:  How is it with your soul?

            This was a typical John Wesley scripture.  For me, the quick and easy answer is, “I don’t pray enough.”  Of all the spiritual disciplines (except Fasting), prayer is my weakest area.  There are several reasons.  When I go to pray, my mind goes elsewhere.  It inevitable focuses on things to do instead of things of God. 

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount taught his disciples to pray with what we traditionally have called  “The Lord’ Prayer.”  This Sunday we will wrestle with this model prayer.

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew 6:  5 - 8

 5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 QUESTION

Do you want credit for your prayers?  I certainly want tax credit for my offerings.  Has the concept of credit fallen into our prayer lives? 

 NOTE

The person (hypocrite) who wants credit receives their credit (“received their reward in full”  But is that the reason to pray?

 QUESTION

What is the reason to pray?

 THOUGHT TO PONDER

"I don't pray to change God's mind, I pray for God to change my mind."

Attributed to C.S. Lewis

Daily Devotion for May 6

QUESTION:  What is Love?

SCRIPTURE:  I Corinthians 13:  4 - 7

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

QUESTION:  Would this text make a good description of mom?

This Sunday is Mother’s Day

Perhaps you will be thinking about mom this Sunday.  What memories will be brought back?  For me, all of the memories of my mom will focus on the time she spent with me, PRESENCE.  How she sacrificed time in one realm so she could spend time in my realm.  As I think about my mom, my only regret is that I did not spend more time with her.  PRESENCE is crucial in a relationship.  It is difficult to have quality without quantity.  The quality of our relationship was based on the quantity of time, that PRESENCE she was in my life.

THOUGHT TO PONDER

The more Love-Driven mom is, the more she is mom.

REMEMBER

Bring a picture and/or object to worship this Sunday in honor of mom.

PRAY FOR

Bette Ferndandes’ family.  The memorial service is Friday @ 2 p.m.

Daily Devotion for May 5

SCRIPTURE:  I Corinthians 13:  1  - 3

1If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

 POINT:  We can have fame and everything, but if we have not loved we are nothing.

 QUESTION:  Who is the most loving person you know?

 POINT

This Sunday is Mother’s Day.  Think of your mom.  Remember all of those wonderful moments that you spent together with her.

 When people spend time with others (relationship) and it is founded and rooted in love it becomes a meaningful relationship in our lives

 THIS SUNDAY

Bring picture or an object as we remember mom.

 MAY 29 – Organ Recital (7:30 pm)

May 31 – Organ Dedication (9am)