May 13, 2018

Scriptures for May 13th: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19; Theme: Mother’s Day John: Jesus is trying to make sure that his disciples are prepared for the days to come when he will not be with them. He wants to make sure that they have all that they need, so he tells them that he is praying for them. Jesus also says that he is praying for all who believe his message. He says that God has given him everything to take care of God’s people and now He gives it to us. It is our job to give it to others. Because of these gifts, we can be assured of God’s love, but not to keep it to ourselves, but to pass it on to others, so that they can pass it on to others. Jesus gives us access to all of his blessings to tell the truth in love. Acts: This is the first crisis in the new church. Now that Judas is gone, they have to select someone to take his place. Jesus chose the original 12 disciples, and many wonder why Jesus would make such a big mistake in choosing Judas in the first place. They establish who is even qualified to take the place of the original twelve. There are 120 followers not, but the person must be someone who has been with the movement all along, someone who actually listened to Jesus. They chose Matthias as the replacement. At the same time, Paul also feels that he is a disciple. He did not walk with Jesus on Earth, but Jesus came to him in spirit. Today we don’t know much about Matthias, but Paul reached people all over the world. Christ comes to all believers in spirit to guide us. Questions: If Jesus was praying for you what do you need? How do you use the gifts God gave you to help others to know who Christ is? If we needed to choose a new apostle, what would be the qualities we would look for? What present crisis do we need Christ to guide us through? You can view Breaking Open the Scripture online at https://breakingopenthescriptures.blogspot.comYou can view Pastor Harriette’s sermons online at https://aplaceforshalom.blogspot.com