August 25, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for August 25th: Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17: Theme: Being called by God to do a task Jeremiah: Today we look at the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah. For the next nine weeks, we will follow the story of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is considered one of the most important prophets of his time. He spoke to a changing world, about their need to get right with God. This scripture talks about Jeremiah being called by God to speak on God’s behalf, while he was still a child. Jeremiah felt that he did not have much to say, because he was so young. He also felt that he was not worthy of speaking for God. But God said that all of that was okay. He would purify Jeremiah so that what he has to say would make a difference. Jeremiah was from a priestly family that had a history of speaking out and challenging the status quo. In his life, he never left Israel in their suffering, he felt that he was a part of the community that he was trying to save. Hebrews: This text speaks of the need to change. Change is never easy, or pretty and it is always challenging. Jesus is trying to bring about a new people and a new understanding of our relationship with God. He contrast a regular mountain with a heavenly mountain. Paul encourages to strive for being on the heavenly mountain because that is where God is. God came to shake things up and to being a new world, but to challenge our faith. When we listen to God and do God’s will we are not only showing a glimpse of what heaven like, But we get to see heaven for ourselves. We start to develop an unshakable faith, that can get us through any circumstance. Questions: How does God speak to you? What does God want you to do? How do you deal with change? What is shakable in the world? What is unshakable I your faith?