Mission Faithwalk

                     But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)                 This morning, before sitting down at my computer, I asked God for a verse I could write a blog about quickly. The verse above was the verse of the day online. It’s one of my favorite verses, so now I’m flustered and don't know where to start. Oh boy…oh boy!                 Joshua was about 110 years old. He’d spent 25-30 years leading the Israelites as they conquered the Promised Land. Before that, he had spent 40 years watching Moses lead them a...

                   I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (I Timothy 2:1-2)                 Over the past week or so, I saw lots of pleas that Christians would get out and vote, because if Christians actually vote, we can choose who gets into office. If you don’t vote, “they” will get into office and America is doomed. In the last election, it appears that lots of Christians didn’t vote, and that those who did weren’t the ideological monolith hoped for. So, quite likely, some people are going to be chastising Christians for not voting.                 And I think Scripture makes it clear that we should vo...

                [He]  made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10) Unity: the quality or state of not being multiple : oneness ; a condition of harmony : accord ;   continuity without deviation or change (as in purpose or action);   the quality or state of being made one ( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unity ) His will, His good pleasure: unity. He wants us to love one another, to get along, to work together, to cooperate, etc. You know, all those things that everyone says they want, and that many are willing to shove down the throat of anyone who disagrees with their version of. Wars are fought to produce unity. Culture wars are disagreements about what the rules of unity are going to be. In fact, that’s been ...

                 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8) “His master replied, ‘ Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:21) This is the sort of passage that some people will put in a bold font with a font size at least 20 (as above). They will gladly put it on signs with an even bigger font and shove it in the face of anyone they decide isn’t obeying it. Doing so is specifically not practicing the sort of servanthood they demand from their opponent. And before we announce that “we would never do that!” we should keep in mind that we treat other verses the ...

                 Such confidence we have through Christ before God.   Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:4-6) Competence [1590s, "rivalry" (based on compete ), also "adequate supply," both senses now obsolete; 1630s as "sufficiency of means for living at ease," from French compétence , from Latin competentia "meeting together, agreement, symmetry," from competens , present participle of competere , especially in its earlier sense of "fall together, come together, be convenient or fitting" (see compete ). Meaning "adequate range of capacity or ability, sufficiency to deal with what is at hand" is from 1790.] ( Competence - Etymology, Origin & Meaning ) Granted, the word was chosen with i...

                 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”                  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:33-39) Quick not...