Sunday, January 4, 2015

January 25, 2015

Breaking Open the Scripture Scripture for January 25th: Jonah 3:1-5,10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20; You can’t hide from destiny; Song: Rock of Ages UMH361 Jonah : This is a tale about the calling of a prophet, but also about the calling of a people. Jonah does not want to go to warn the people of Ninevah. We know that he runs away from his calling. How many of us think in our heads that there are certain people who are not worth saving? They don’t need to know the good news, and if I waste my time telling them they wont listen anyway. We forget that it is not our job to make them listen. That is God’s job. And God wants to save everybody. Thus God speaks to their hearts and prepares them to listen, when someone is able to speak. The people of ninevah realize that their only hope is to ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness. And that God’s grace was the only thing that saved them. Jonah needed to learn that lesson for himself, before he could pass that message on to others. God can do all things, God can melt all hearts. All are worthy of God’s salvation. Mark: This story is about a calling of a different kind. Jesus is building his disciple team by asking them to come and follow him. He is asking them to leave everything and to become fishers of men. Once again a calling is first to the person, and then to the people. We listen to and follow other people. In order to get others to trust God, we have to trust first. Jesus is still coming to people and saying come and follow me. God is doing a mighty things in the world. And he needs mighty people in order to do it. We all know that God can create without our help. The problem is the creation has gone awry, God does not need us, but we need God in order to get back into step with creation. Repentance is something that the people have to do. But in order to repent, someone has to show them the way. That is the point of being a disciple of Christ. Questions: What group of people are you convinced will never be saved? What can be said to get through to that group of people? How do you resist God’s call on your life? What is the consequences of that resistance? How does Christ convince you to come follow him? Where you be, if know one believed in you? Who needs your encouragement?

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