St. Matthew Lutheran Church

Discover St. Matthew
May 12, 2007
9:30-2:30

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Ascension Day Service
Thursday May 17, 2007 7:00 PM
A Service of Prayer and Healing

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June 1-3

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Columbia Heights Prayer Breakfast.

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We have made it through the entire New Testament in 40 days! I trust you have been blessed and I pray that you will continue to be in the Word and be doers of the Word for days and months and years to come.

Today we read the last chapters of the Bible, Revelation 12-22. The “Future Vision” portion of the book Revelation ends early in chapter 22, and we are brought back to the present. In the Vision, we have seen all God has done and will continue to do. We have seen His love for us. We have seen that He is in total control of history and has a glorious plan He is bringing about.

And the church has a role in it. And it shouldn’t surprise us what that role is–mission! Look at this verse toward the very end of the book:

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. Rev 22:17

First the Holy Spirit invites us to come to the life God offers. The the Church (that’s the Bride–we are the Bride of Christ), having been invited, joins in the inviting of others. Then all those who hear invite others to come and receive what Jesus wants to give. That’s mission! That’s what we are doing until Jesus returns.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
God is in control of history bringing it to the exact culmination He has planned. My job as I wait for that culmination is to invite others to receive the gifts Jesus wants to give them.

Since God tells in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
I will look for and act on opportunities to invite others to discover Jesus and His love.

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Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Today, we move into the book of Revelation. Some describe this book of the Bible as the strangest, hardest to understand book of them all. But everything that is written here, we’ve seen before. The book of Revelation is a wonderful collection of poetry like the Psalms, prophesy like Isaiah or Malachi, letters like so many that Paul, Peter, and John wrote, and descriptive stories like Genesis or the Gospels. It’s all here.

The book of Revelation is truly a letter written to several churches undergoing persecution meant to encourage them and point them to a day when Jesus would finally and completely reign over heaven and earth. Some have hypothesized that the book was written the way it was so that the censors of the day would let the letter be delivered - that those who would read it who wanted to hurt the church would simply dismiss the writings as the work of a crazy old man. But that those who were Christian would, by the power of the Holy Spirit, understand the instruction and encouragement John wrote.

Regardless, what’s important about the book of Revelation is who the book is revealing. The writing here is a revelation - a revealing - a showing - of the one who is

“…worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth” (5:9-10).

Because of who is revealed in this book, we can celebrate the events described - because we know that we are those who were purchased for God and that we are the ones who, when Jesus returns, will reign on the earth - with God - forever.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
That it is Jesus who is revealed in the book of Revelation - and we can read with joy and confidence, knowing that because of His death and resurrection, we will be given a new life in heaven with God forever.

Since God tells in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
I will ask for the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance as I read Revelation - knowing that I can learn much about God’s amazing love from this sometimes confusing book of the Bible.

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We are nearing the end of our readings. Today we read 1, 2, and 3 John and Jude. After today there is just one more book to go.

Today my thoughts turn to 1 John 3:1. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Just let that sink in for a minute.

Because I am a pastor, I am called by many different names–Bill (or Billy, but only to my mother), Pastor Bill, Pastor Hugo, Reverend Hugo. But there is one name that gets my attention above all the others. It is the one name that I am sometimes called that always gets my attention. It is “Dad.” It is the name that will cause me to come running in the middle of the night. It is the name that will turn my head in even the noisiest crowd. Dad.

Now think about about that verse again. We are called children of God. We call Him Father. We who deserve nothing are allowed to call the Creator of the Universe “Dad.” That is the lavish love that the Father has for us.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
I have a Father, a Heavenly Father, who will always respond when I say His name. His love for me is lavish.

Since God tells in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will call on my Father.

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It is Wednesday in Holy Week. We are quickly approaching the Cross of Good Friday and the gloriously empty tomb of Easter. We are observing, celebrating and being embraced by all these things that God does for us. There is one word that can sum up the whole week–GRACE.

That word shows up in an interesting way in our readings today. We read the books of James and 1 and 2 Peter. In 1 Peter 4:10, God says this: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Grace is all the undeserved things God gives us because of what Jesus did for us. At the Cross, with the death of Jesus, God gives us forgiveness of sins and heaven. That is grace. We don’t deserve it. But God gives it to us because Jesus won it for us.

Now that we have received that grace, we administer that grace. And how do we do that? By using the other gifts that God gives (also part of His grace), just as James says. Our abilities, our passions, our time, our finances are all offered to God so that we can share His grace in some way with someone else.

We have a house guest this week. His name is Asbjørn and he is from Denmark. He is a unicyclist that came over here with 11 other young people to unicycle with Christopher and his club. When he arrived, he brought us several gifts from Denmark–Danish candy, a Hans Christian Andersen book, a paper cutting, a paper weight and some Denmark t-shirts. Since he was from Denmark, he wanted to share Denmark with us.

In the same way, we are people of Grace. We want to share that grace with someone else.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
God has given me grace and He has given me ways to share that grace.

Since God tells in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will actively look for ways to use what God has given me to share the grace that God has given me.

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Welcome to Day 36! Today’s reading is Hebrews 6:13-13:25

Posted by: Susie Jones

This was a big section of scripture to absorb all at once. The two things that stood out to me as being important that I took from this were on Melchizedek and Faith of course.

Let’s begin first with Melchizedek. Melchizedek is not so much a name as it is a title or designation of honor. It is a position or office that has to be filled by a worthy candidate. The term is a transliteration of two Hebrew words, melek and tsedeq. The Hebrew melek means king, and tsedeq means righteousness… Therefore the term “Melchizedek” means literally, “king of righteousness.” Since “Melchizedek” was the epitome of righteousness, and no human including Noah, Daniel, and Job is inherently righteous, it is evident the King of Righteousness could not have been human. Had He been human, Melchizedek would have been the same as Aaron or anyone else, a sinner. As the King of Righteousness, Melchizedek was the image of God’s Spirit, see Colossians 1:15 and Hebrews 1:3. In Hebrews 7:3 Paul says the Melchizedek was without father or mother. Paul’s statement can be taken as emphasizing the deity of Melchizedek. Every human, including Adam, has had a father (Luke 3:38). All the angels have the same father as Adam, and they are referred to many times in Scripture as sons of God. The One who became Jesus Christ (Luke 1:32). But God was not the father of Melchizedek. Paul is clearly saying that Melchizedek, like the Most High God, was without parents. Neither of them had beginning of days nor end of life. The two of them had always lived and there had never been a time that each of them had not lived. Melchizedek had always possessed life inherent. Life was not given to Him; He was not anyone’s son. In order to serve as God’s Priest, Melchizedek presented Himself in a form similar to what would later be His human form (Hebrews 7:3). Before His birth however, He was not the Son of God. He looked like the Son of God would later look, but He was not the Son of God until He became human. The contact (anointing) is described in Luke 3:22 as the Holy Spirit (the One who fathered Jesus, Luke 1:35) descending upon Him in a bodily shape like a dove. The Son was anointed to become the author of salvation to all who obey Him, being called of God as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:9-10). Jesus Christ became God’s High Priest after Melchizedek because perfection and salvation were not attainable through the Levitical priesthood (Hebrew 7:11). Christ was made a Priest forever by an oath of the Most High God (Hebrews 7:20-21). It is His righteousness, which is manifested in God’s saints (Romans 8:4). The church shares in the priesthood of Christ and the resurrected saints will, like Him, forever be kings and priests after the order of Melchizedek (Revelation 5:10).

Chapter 11 is the best, wondering if you’re alive or not? Read this chapter! Your Spirit should leap for joy listening to it. It begins with how faith is how we can expect the existence of things we cannot see yet. Faith enabled Enoch to be taken instead of dying. Faith led Noah to listen when God warned him about the things in the future that he could not see. Faith led Moses parents to hide him for three months after he was born. Faith led Moses to leave Egypt. Faith led the walls of Jericho to fall, and so it goes on and on with examples. Chapter 12 tells us then since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. We must never give up. Interesting how immediately following the examples it goes right into receiving discipline from our Father. Did you know that worry is a sin and that not to have faith is also a sin? Chapter 13 has one of my favorite scriptures, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That should cast away any doubts as to what His will is for us today. If we see it in His word, we can trust and believe it is still for today – all the promises! We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up; press on to the high calling of Christ, press towards the mark. Pressing on often times means to wait, and that is what most of us are not good at, not in this era of the microwave mentality. We want everything and we want it now. One thing is certain: Before God moves suddenly, we will wait. Waiting for answers is a fact of life—nobody gets out of it. So the question is not if we’ll wait, but rather how we’ll wait. And I believe how will determine how long.

There are two ways to wait: One is to wait passively, and the other is to wait expectantly. A passive person hopes something good will happen and is willing to sit around waiting to see if it does. After a short time, he gives up, saying, “That’s it! I’ve waited and waited and nothing’s happened.” The passive person has a lot of wishbone but not much backbone!

The expectant person, on the other hand, is hopeful, believing the answer is just around the corner, due to arrive any minute. His belief is not a passive thing. His heart is full of hope, expecting his problem to be solved at any moment. He wakes up every morning expecting to find his answer. He may wait and wait, but suddenly what he’s been waiting for happens.

It’s just like when a woman is pregnant; it’s said that she is expecting a baby. She carries inside her the promise of a baby, and even though she can’t see it, she knows it’s there. The moment she learns of her pregnancy, she begins to plan for her baby’s arrival. She starts collecting items she’ll need and busily gets the nursery ready. She actively prepares for the arrival of the baby because she knows the promise will be fulfilled—it’s just a matter of time. She is expectant and she’ll wait as long as it takes.

We know the word wait means “to expect” or “to look for.” But remember, it also means, “to serve”—just like a waiter waits on your table at a restaurant. Our act of waiting isn’t supposed to be spent sitting around passively hoping that something will happen sometime soon.

When our hearts are eager to hear from God, He loves to rush in suddenly with His solution. In many cases this waiting period actually serves as a time of preparation for the answer. If God answered right away, many of us would be ill prepared to handle His solution.

So how do we cultivate faith, well the Bible says, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God.” So while you are waiting why not bone up on the promise your waiting for. What does the Word say about it - not what well intentioned Christians would say, but what God says!

Today, we finish Paul’s letters by reading Titus and Philemon and we begin the book of Hebrews by reading Hebrews 1:1-6:12.

Let’s begin with the obligatory Hebrews joke. A man walks into the kitchen early one morning and asks his wife for coffee. She informed him that she wasn’t making the coffee anymore. When he asked why not, she told him that it was his job to make the coffee. He said, “Who says it’s my job to make the coffee?” She said, “The Bible says so.’ Then she opened her Bible, pointed out a spot and said, “See? It says right there He brews.”

Now that we have that out of the way…

Let’s look at the very first verses of Hebrews: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I wish I had been able to see Jesus turn water into wine;” or “I wish I had been able to see some of the people involved in the Bible so my faith would be stronger?”

Certainly, the people who walked with Jesus or appeared in the text of the Bible were blessed beyond what we can imagine. But so are we. True, we weren’t there to see the actual events with our own eyes. But we have something those people don’t have. We have the entire Word of God written down for us in the Bible. We can hear God speak anytime we like. We have all that God wants us to know written down in the words of Scripture. We don’t have to wait for appear or act or speak. He already has. And He has made His appearances, His actions and His Words always available to us. We are blessed!

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
God has given us a great blessing by communicating His Word to us in the Bible.

Since God tells in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today, I will take the opportunity to hear God speak and see Him act by reading His Word.

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