May 25, 2014 - Sixth Sunday of Easter

Scriptures for May 25th: Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21; Theme: the presence of God is everywhere Song: Spirit of the Living God UMH 393 Acts: I love this verse. Paul is speaking to the Athenians about an unknown God. He point out that they worship God even though they don’t know God. God was there even when they did not know it. When people become Christians, we are not introducing something new to their hearts. We are naming a relationship that has always been there. We are created to worship, we are created to seek God. But this world does not always give us good directions to what is already with us. Paul is telling us that we don’t find God among the brick, morter or even gold. God is a living being. God is alive and a part of our lives. God has a mind of God’s own. Our task is to pray, to read the bible, to study so that we can identify the living God. It is not enough to have a relationship with God, we have to have a living relationship with what is truly an unknown God. He is not a figment of our imagination, he is truly real. 1 Peter: Where can you go where God is not in control? Where can you go that Jesus in not the Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He is always in control. There are indeed places where we wish God was not around, we wish that we had some privacy, but that is not the case. God is with us all of the time, and in every situation. Peter is trying to help us to realize that believing in Christ is not just about our head, but about our lives. When you hear the gospel, you should be prepared to live it. To let Christ in, and know that he makes a difference in our lives. The good news is that when we are at a lost of what to do, Christ acts on our behalf. That is the meaning of grace. Once we accept Christ in the midst of our dark hidden places, that is when we come to understand what it means to be saved. Christ does not take the darkness away, he makes the light more relevant. He changes our minds and our hearts, so that we don’t need to spend as much time in the darkness. But seek the light of God. Questions: Where do you go when you need to talk with God? How do you know that God is truly real in your life? In what places in your life do you try to shut God out? How does God help you to feel comfortable in your life? How can you help others to discover the presence of God in their lives? What does it mean to be a missionary, even when you are in your hometown?