Wake Up Calls
Today, the Raidna family told us what they heard in the story of Samuel from
1 Samuel 3. On a poster board, they illustrated the things that get in the way of us hearing God. When these things are removed, we can hear God and see the things that really matter.
Mary described how the people at the time of this story in Israel didn't know the stories of God. But God called Samuel and gave him a message for Eli. Samuel heard Him and responded as is necessary in a relationship with God.
Question of the week: How has God called you? How can we hear God's call amidst the noise and confusion of our world?
Labels: Old Testament
Grace in the Story of Ruth
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Today, we talked about the story of Ruth from the Old Testament. Pastor Amy read the story and asked us to look for signs of God's grace in it. One of the things that stands out to me is the faith that Ruth has been given. She must see in her husband's family's character something that she knows she must follow and this is the God of Israel. God is with Ruth when she takes the step out in faith. In the story, she follows Naomi back to Bethlehem, her life is redeemed through Boaz and as we know, she becomes part of the line to David. Boaz healed her brokeness as Christ our Redeemer heals our brokeness.
Question of the Week: When did you see God's grace during a hard time in your own life?
Like Ruth, I think it has been important to me to follow and/or be with people who I know serve the God of Israel who gave us Jesus because His people offer grace to me in different ways all the time. I have been blessed to know so many people who know Jesus.
Labels: Old Testament
Samson and a Grain of Rice
We've heard what faith the size of a mustard seed can do, but have you ever thought about what sin the size of a grain of rice does? While holding a teeny tiny grain of rice throughout all of Pastor Henry's message, all I could think about was how much it was bugging me. I was developing a cramp in my thumb and if I set it on the bump on my shirt, I had to concentrate on it too hard. When I told Henry about it after church, he told me I needed to learn to let go.
Today at MCC, we read the story of Samson from
Judges 16 and everyone was given a grain of rice. Henry asked us if Samson was good or bad. The answer to that we found out is "yes". He was good and bad. Samson thought he could handle a little bit of sin, but we saw how it distorted his whole life. When he didn't keep his eyes on God, he messed up badly.
We saw a picture of how pine beetles the size of grains of rice killed the pine trees in Colorado. Even little sins do the same thing to us, so how do we overcome them? The only way is by handing them over to God who can do something about it. He gave us Jesus for the forgiveness of sin so we look to Him.
Question of the Week: What most surprised you about the Samson story? Maybe it wasn't new, but it was interesting to note that after Samson's eyes were poked out, he really
looked to God and prayed, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more..."
Labels: Old Testament
Surprised by Jericho
The Koopman family gave us their reading on the story of Jericho today. Watch it
here!Pastor Amy told us many elements in the Jericho story found in
Joshua 6 that I had never heard before. Recall that the city of Jericho was a large wealthy city surrounded by walls in the Promised Land which the Israelites had enterred. The Israelites marched around the city 6 days in a row while blowing the shofar and on the 7th day, they marched around 7 times, shouted and the walls came down. The Israelites destroyed every living thing in the city except for Rahab and her family because she had helped them. Rahab had a real faith with deeds and that saved her.
Today's Question of the Week: What surprised you about the Jericho story?
I had never heard about the
Legend of Keret. The things which God told the Israelites to do were parallel to and maybe a mockery of the rituals of the Canaanites at that time. In addition, archeological discoveries also point to the truth of this story - for instance the 15 foot stone wall, the 3 foot layer of ash above the rubble of the walls, and the full jars of grain. I also found it interesting to think about how the "trumpets" they blasted were in reality shofars which were both military and spiritual symbols. The priest blew the shofars as a call to confession, and by blowing them around Jericho, perhaps they were calling the city to confess.
Labels: Old Testament
