July 14, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for July 14th: Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37: theme: How do we live a righteous life? Luke: Now that Jesus has others spreading his stories, people are starting to notice. They want the sense of peace and confidence that they see in his followers. So a lawyer comes to him and want to be a part of the movement. He has gotten everything that he ever wanted in life, and since he is rich, if he cannot get it he can buy it. So now he wants to know what to do in order to be a part of Jesus group. Jesus does not make it easy for him. Money does not buy him a ticket into this group. Jesus tells a parable to help him to realize this for himself. What have you done to help others? What have you done to accept those who you don’t like. The lawyer does not even want to say the word Samaritan. But in this story the Samaritan knew what he must do to be saved. Jesus tells the lawyer that if he knows right from wrong, then he should practice it. Amos: Amos is a farmer who finds it very hard to get used to the ways of the city people. God uses that uncomfortableness for Amos to give the city folk an important message. They are not thinking about how their actions affect other people. They are not trying to help those who are less fortunate than they are. So Amos judges their actions. He says that God will look at their lives and see that they are not living in keeping with his teachings. Amos tells them that until they think of others, they don’t have a right relationship with God. And if they don’t have a right relationship, then life will get worse. Today we too are encouraged to examination our life and to think about who is less fortunate than we that we can help. We can learn from the bad luck of others, and change our society before it is too late. Questions: What are you doing to help those less fortunate? How hard it is to get right with God? What does our present society need to repent from to become a better world?

July 7, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for July 7th: 2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:1-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20: Theme: evangelism – bringing others into the fold Luke: The gospel is the story of how Jesus recruiting his 12 disciples to start to do the work of the church. As Jesus’ ministry started to expand beyond just the Jews, he realized that he needed even more help. He realized that he would need to train even more people. So Jesus recruits 72 other people to go out and to make a difference in the world. He trains them how to go out into the world and to spread the good news. They cannot be afraid of strangers, but they do not need to force anyone to like them. Jesus also teaches them how to protect themselves in a very lonely world. Whatever they accomplish, they have a reward in the spirit. God will be grateful for all of the hard work that they do. Galatians: We have had a continuous reading of what it means to live life in the spirit. Life in the spirit is never a life lived in isolation. It is always a life lived in community. A life with certain challenges. Just as our personal life depends on the fruits of the spirit, so does our life in community. When we are living in the spirit, we have the authority and the responsibility to correct others. When negativity creeps up in their life, we have to encourage others to sweep it away. There is no limit to being good. It works in every situation. We can be confident that everything that we need is in Christ. there is never a reason to seek evil or to go back to worldly ways? Questions: Have you ever tried to spread the gospel to someone who didn’t know it? What do you do when you are rejected? How are you training yourself to spread the gospel? How do you correct others when they are wrong? Do you like to be with other people? Or do you prefer to be faithful all alone?

June 30, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for June 30th: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62 Theme: passing on responsibility to our kids 2 Kings: This is the story of the end of Elijah’s ministry. Elijah has a special relationship with God, so he will not end in an earthly grave, but he will be taken up to heaven. Elijah is one of the most important messengers of God. He defined what it means to have a relationship with God, yet devote your life to teach others. When Elijah is no longer with us, a great amount of wealth will be lost. Luckily, Elijah has been training another prophet to take his place – that is Elisha. Elijah and Elisha may have the same knowledge, but they are vastly different people. Elisha knows that his mentor is not going to be around forever, so he tries to learn as much as he can. His request to Elijah is that he have all of his knowledge. Elisha receives Elijah’s red mantle which is the keeper of all of his knowledge. Elisha is forever grateful for being present when God took Elijah away. Galatians: This is a continuation of last week’s conversation, of the difference between life in the flesh and life in the spirit. And that once we have changed our life, things should get better for us. Many people think that living a faithful life can hold us down and stop us. Paul says that life in the spirit actually gives us a sense of freedom. We get to turn all of our burdens over to God. we don’t have to figure out all of the answers for ourselves. Paul also tells the consequences of each life. Life of the flesh is a selfish life with selfish results. Life in the spirit is godly life, with godly results. Your receive the fruits of the spirit. We have to be careful that what should be old habits, do not reappear in our lives. Paul says that we avoid that not allowing negative emotions, anger, jealousy and arrogance come into our lives or our thoughts. Questions: What was your relationship with your mentor? What mantle of knowledge did they pass on to you? Who are your mentoring? How do you avoid negative emotions? What do you do when they are present in your life?

June 23, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for June 23rd: 1 Kings 19:1-15; Psalm 42; Galations 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39 1 Kings: I think that is one of the most important messages of the bible. When God “speaks” to Elijah through the silence. Elijah is afraid for his life and he runs. But he also asks for God to save him, so he is desparately seeking God. But he is looking for God in all of the wrong places – he is looking for God in the loud noises of life, in the exciting times, in the obvious. It is not until he is able to calm down inside that he finally realizes that God has been speaking all along. He just has not been listening. God does not save him or remove him from the threat, he tells him to go back into it and face it and deal with it. But this time Elijah knows that he does not have to run, because God is with him. Galatians: Paul talks about what life is like in the flesh and in the spirit. He says that life is different once we give our life to Christ because God helps us with our faith. Paul also stresses that gentiles who have Christ in their life are spiritually on the same level as people who have been Jewish all of their life. We become a part of God’s family when we put our faith in Christ. Even though we have different experiences, we become children of Abraham. What kind of world would it be if we treated all people as equal, even though they were different. Would that effect how we live our life? who we talk to? Who we sit next to? That is the world that Christ set out to create. Questions: What events cause you to talk to God? How do you pray? Do you pray when there is a lot going on? Or do you need a quiet space to a talk with God? Do you trust what God has to say to you? What does it mean to be equal and fair? How do you actively address the inequality of the world?

June 16, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for June 16th: Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-25: Theme: Father’s Day Proverbs: Proverbs is a mother’s advice to her son, who will one day be a prince. She knows that he is a teenager, but she does not want him to get distracted from his task by doing stupid things. In this verse, she is saying that lady wisdom shouts from the streets, but no one wants to listen. She tells her son that there is a connection between wisdom and God. Wisdom is personified as lady wisdom, or Sophia. The scriptures say that Sophia has been when God since God created the world. She has always been God’s closest advisor. So she too wants to come to earth to help people in their relationship with God. She too is in the throne room with God enjoying the presence of God. But she also likes being with the people. Romans: Paul is trying to tell us that when we have faith in God everything falls into place because we have everything that we need: We have peace, love, hope and endurance. As faithful people, we have just as much suffering as anyone else. But when we have faith we know that our suffering is never in vain. Going through the trials helps us to learn to endure pain. But it also gives us hope that trouble never comes to last forever, but hope, peace and love are ours to keep forever. The Holy Spirit never goes away, and neither does the gifts that it brings us. Questions: What advice did your mother give you growing up? Did you think of her advice as wise? What suffering have you had to endure? Did your faith help you in that journey? How?