Good day dear friends.
I just got back from our monthly United Methodist Men's breakfast. Always great fellowship and a great meal! Pastor Ryan, our new associate shared his faith story with us. Next month we'll have the new Texas State Football coach with us to share his story. And in October, Ross Compton will be our speaker as he shares his trip to Puebla with our medical mission trip. Please make plans to attend, it's the first Wednesday of every month at 6:30 a.m. Every man is invited!
Here is our study guide for today:
Wednesday: Nehemiah 7, 8Nehemiah 8:1-12 has so many insights on spirituality and on human psychology. What matters stand out for you?
When people are all ears, they tend to hear and receive what is being shared with them. In matters of spirituality, this passage of Neh. 8:1-12, the people were all ears to hearing the Word of God. As Ezra read from The Revelation of Moses, they began to feel their hearts stirred and they uttered their approval of what was being read, and they began to weep as their spirits were touched by the moving of God's Spirit among them. They wondered what they should do as a result of this movement of God's Spirit among them and they were told to celebrate! In other words, as you feel God moving among you and you're touched by it, what should you do? You celebrate! I believe this is why Sunday lunch is so important even to this day. If you've gone to worship, and you've been "all ears" and you've felt God speaking to you and moving among you, you should celebrate! You should do something special and make the presence of God continue among you.
If you're like me you remember or still celebrate, those Sunday lunches. In my childhood home it was a standard, it was a given, that every Sunday Mom would make fried chicken. And I remember where at a youth gathering we sang a new stanza to "I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart" where the stanza said, "I've got that chicken-eatin' Methodism down in my heart" and I thought, hmm, so that's why!?But it went beyond food, it was a great time to be together and enjoy each other and discuss what had been preached (or why we had misbehaved) during church. Nellie has continued the tradition in our own way, and our girls would say that Sundays to them were a roast of some kind with mashed potatoes. Again, it's not the food, it's the company and the celebration that comes with being together and being with God.
Sharing with those who don't have, as Nehemiah said to the people there should also say a word to us. True celebration is that which goes beyond who we are, what we look like, dress like, or talk like; it's a "we're all in this together." I remember the Rockets' first NBA championship. We happened to be in Houston that weekend when the players of Choke City became the heroes of Clutch City. During that last final game, coverage of the game switched to that infamous O.J. getaway in the white Bronco. We screamed bloody murder at the household, but soon enough the game was back on and the Rockets won the first of two championships. We were there for victory parade and the feeling among all who lined the city streets said, "we're all in this together!" Can't the same be said when we've been in God's presence? Can it not be carried over into that realm which matters most?
PRAYER: Loving God, we're all in this together with You. Help our hearing and receiving today and all days, especially on Your day, Sunday, be a call to celebrate with all, that we belong to You and to each other. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
I just got back from our monthly United Methodist Men's breakfast. Always great fellowship and a great meal! Pastor Ryan, our new associate shared his faith story with us. Next month we'll have the new Texas State Football coach with us to share his story. And in October, Ross Compton will be our speaker as he shares his trip to Puebla with our medical mission trip. Please make plans to attend, it's the first Wednesday of every month at 6:30 a.m. Every man is invited!
Here is our study guide for today:
Wednesday: Nehemiah 7, 8Nehemiah 8:1-12 has so many insights on spirituality and on human psychology. What matters stand out for you?
When people are all ears, they tend to hear and receive what is being shared with them. In matters of spirituality, this passage of Neh. 8:1-12, the people were all ears to hearing the Word of God. As Ezra read from The Revelation of Moses, they began to feel their hearts stirred and they uttered their approval of what was being read, and they began to weep as their spirits were touched by the moving of God's Spirit among them. They wondered what they should do as a result of this movement of God's Spirit among them and they were told to celebrate! In other words, as you feel God moving among you and you're touched by it, what should you do? You celebrate! I believe this is why Sunday lunch is so important even to this day. If you've gone to worship, and you've been "all ears" and you've felt God speaking to you and moving among you, you should celebrate! You should do something special and make the presence of God continue among you.
If you're like me you remember or still celebrate, those Sunday lunches. In my childhood home it was a standard, it was a given, that every Sunday Mom would make fried chicken. And I remember where at a youth gathering we sang a new stanza to "I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart" where the stanza said, "I've got that chicken-eatin' Methodism down in my heart" and I thought, hmm, so that's why!?But it went beyond food, it was a great time to be together and enjoy each other and discuss what had been preached (or why we had misbehaved) during church. Nellie has continued the tradition in our own way, and our girls would say that Sundays to them were a roast of some kind with mashed potatoes. Again, it's not the food, it's the company and the celebration that comes with being together and being with God.
Sharing with those who don't have, as Nehemiah said to the people there should also say a word to us. True celebration is that which goes beyond who we are, what we look like, dress like, or talk like; it's a "we're all in this together." I remember the Rockets' first NBA championship. We happened to be in Houston that weekend when the players of Choke City became the heroes of Clutch City. During that last final game, coverage of the game switched to that infamous O.J. getaway in the white Bronco. We screamed bloody murder at the household, but soon enough the game was back on and the Rockets won the first of two championships. We were there for victory parade and the feeling among all who lined the city streets said, "we're all in this together!" Can't the same be said when we've been in God's presence? Can it not be carried over into that realm which matters most?
PRAYER: Loving God, we're all in this together with You. Help our hearing and receiving today and all days, especially on Your day, Sunday, be a call to celebrate with all, that we belong to You and to each other. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
