Mission Faithwalk

               For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. (Genesis 5:24)   As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.   Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. (II Kings 2:11-12)   Let me begin with the statement that religion is not a bad thing – or not always or entirely a bad thing. Religion and its sterile sibling, philosophy both seek to understand the nature of the universe, and to prescribe how best to live based on their individual understandings. Religions tend to include deities, while philosoph

                 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me,   so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust;   they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.   “He trusts in the  Lord ,” they say, “let the  Lord  rescue him. Let him deliver him,   since he delights in him.” (Psalm 22:1-8)                     And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice,  “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”  (which means  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ) (Mark 15:35)                    He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for h

                 The king rejoices in your strength,  Lord . How great is his joy in the victories you give! You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.   You came to greet him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—   length of days, for ever and ever. Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;   you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. Surely you have granted him unending blessings   and made him glad with the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the  Lord ; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;   your right hand will seize your foes. When you appear for battle, you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace. the  Lord  will swallow them up in his wrath, and his fire will consume them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from mankind. Thou

                 May the  Lord  answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.  May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the  Lord  grant all your requests.           Now this I know: The  Lord  gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the  Lord  our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. Lord , give victory to the king! Answer us when we call! (Psalm 20)   The  Lord  bless you and keep you; the  Lord  make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the  Lord  turn his face toward you

    The law of the  Lord  is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the  Lord  are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the  Lord  are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the  Lord  are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the  Lord  is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the  Lord  are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.   May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord , my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:7-14)   The law of the Lord is perfect. That doesn’t mean we like every part of it because the truth of the m

             The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.   Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,   their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,   like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other;   nothing is deprived of its warmth. (Psalm 19:1-6)               First, let’s deal with the nonsense some nay-sayers are likely to raise. No, the sun does not go from one end of the heavens to the other. It doesn’t even orbit the earth. The earth orbits the sun, which orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. But, this song wasn’t written by an astronomer. It was written by a shepherd, soldier, and king. And we still commonly refer to sunris

                 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created  them;  male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)     I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)     for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.   There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.   (Galatians 3:27-29)             Once upon a time – not so long ago, pronouns having gender was basically defined in terms of sexual characteristics. If you appeared to be like a being produced eggs, you were female, and the appropriate pronouns were she, her, herself. If you appeared to be like a being that produced sperm, you were a male, with appropriate pronouns. Things that didn’t look like something that produced

  Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to  maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, (Hebrews 6:1) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.   And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30) After my father died, I started trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’m still trying to figure that out. Decisions that others had forced on them by necessity much earlier in their lives, I get to make, or make again. You might call it a midlife crisis, though I’m a little older than mot people consider middle-aged. I’m supposed to already be mature, but “mature” is another of those words that describe something one can’t put on a table. I don’t have a lit of what matu

                  I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand   those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. (Psalm 17: 6-9)   These were all commended  for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised (Hebrews 11:39)   Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.     If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.   But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)   I wish I could sing this psalm, but David’s b

  Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the  Lord , “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips. Lord , you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;   surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the  Lord , who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.   I keep my eyes always on the  Lord .   With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eter