Special Post & Luke 3

I received a message from Gina this afternoon that you were in the hospital suffering from appendicitis.  I hope they are at least able to medicate to take the edge off the pain until your 7am surgery, I know it can be excruciating.  I pray for the doctors to make quick work of this operation and you come out feeling better immediately and have a quick recovery.

Luke 3
⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”


John let's us know God can do great things with any stone, even me.  But also that we better not let ourselves feel we have some right of passage, we better produce fruits with whatever gifts he has given us as a part of our repentance.  So while we can't earn our way to heaven, maybe producing fruits (doing good works and obeying his rules for us) is a reflection of someone who is genuine in their repentance?

Get healthy brother!
knut

Luke 2

There's so much in this one.....its hard to pin-point 1 thing to talk about.
I'm gonna skip the obvious, and talk about Simeon.
He had been promised to see the Messiah before he died.  I'm wondering why God chose to work it that way?  Was it a fulfillment of prophesy that Simeon would not die before he came?  Did everyone know that God had this agreement with Simeon, therefore alerting them to the Messiah?.......I don't know.  I'm glad that God is a lot smarter than me.  I'm sure there was a very well thought thru reason.  I just seems a little random on the surface.
I like how it reads from verse 27.

When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss^[d] your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

There doesn't seem to be any doubt in Simeon's mind.  There isn't any test that he gives the boy to verify anything.  No conversation with Mary and Joseph.  He immediately recognizes Jesus as the long awaited Saviour.  I love this picture.  He is so filled with the Holy Spirit that he is compeltely in-tune with what is happening around him......the bigger picture; even though it states that he is OLD!

Luke 1

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.


So upon being told by Gabriel she will become pregnant with the Son of God, knowing it is humanly impossible she needs little convincing it will happen before making the statement in v38.  Mary must have been a woman of amazing faith, I wish I was more like her.  I would have been more like Zechariah saying what are you talking about that doesn't even make sense, God would probably have to zip my lips too because of my lack of faith.  So I am going to try and keep this verse handy when I have doubts.

knut

Psalms 1

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.


This is a familiar chapter drawing the picture of how when we really study God's word and have it in our hearts it helps us grow and be strengthened like a deeply rooted tree, rather than becoming the chaff that blows away in the wind. Its comforting to think of God watching over me, crazy the God of the entire universe paying attention to me!

So originally I thought it would be nice to go back to the Old Testament for a while, but then I thought maybe during this Christmas season it would be good to stay in the New Testament, flipping through the chapters I was thinking of going back to Luke.  What do you think?  Maybe Old Testament after 1st of the year?


Random note, it was fun getting a Friend request from Ben on FaceBook!

Jude 1

HEY JUDE!  hahahaha!

Whoa, this one is really dark and gloomy.
I guess there are never too many warnings to stay on the straight and narrow, and to not follow those that are wandering in the darkness.

there is one verse that hit me in this chapter.
¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

This is a good warning for me.  Sometimes I feel like this.  Like I don't really have the Spirit.....like I'm just following a learned behavior.  That's not a good place to be, and is probably a warning sign that I need to tie my roots back into God.  I don't like it when I'm in this place, but sometimes that's where I find myself.

3 John 1

¹¹ Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

This verse struck me.  I am going to talk to Max and Ben about this one.  In general, we tend to imitate the stars and the people that we think are cool in our society.  Or even the popular kids at school. 
This is a reminder to get your mind and your behavior firmly rooted in the one place that gives life.....and to look for others that are striving in that goal, to imitate.
Hopefully, as fathers, they can look to us to be a positive influence to imitate.

tp

2 John 1

 ⁶ And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.


Pretty much a repeating theme here, we need to constantly be acting out the verb love everyday.  We have been reading it in several chapters, I think he means it.  Our church in Bettendorf used the simple mission of Love God, Love others and our guidepost for all we did.  As we approach the holiday season it seems like a good time to put even more focus on following God's commands, focus on loving others.  I know there are many opportunities I miss during a day to act in love for others, sometimes its selfishness others its laziness or just exhaustion that get in the way but really those are just excuses.  Maybe thinking of obeying God's commands can provide the incentive to act a little more often.

knut

1 John 5

¹⁹ We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

This chapter seems a little random to me.  Even in the ending verse, it feel s a little disconnected.  I think the important concept here is the fact that it is the wrap-up to the preceeding chapters.  If we are truly living in Christ, then we cannot keep living the same way.  If you see someone living the same way, and professing that they are living in Christ, then we need to pray for them. 
I'm not sure I've heard of the reference to the Spirit, the Blood, and the Water before.  It sounds a little like the Last Air Bender cartoon that the kids used to watch.  Its interesting.

peace
tp

1 John 4

¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I struggled with this chapter.  Basically, I got we need to love each other to be more like God.  I read and re-read it several times.  The above verse did jump out at me right before I was giving up on getting anything else out of the chapter.  

Have you ever noticed people who you know have a very strong faith also seem to have a very calm confidence about them?  Just the way they carry themselves and speak there is something that is different about them, they are not concerned what people think about them.  Its not arrogant either, its just something where they are so comfortable in their skin it appears nothing worries them.  Maybe that is what this is talking about?  If you have the love of God in you completely, maybe it drives out the fears and worries of this world and gives you a sense of peace?  Maybe I'm stretching this into something it isn't but that is what crossed my mind after about the 6th pass over the words of this chapter.

have a good one.

knut

1 John 3

¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.



This chapter is full of short convicting statements of what it means to a child of God, truly loving others.  The one verse I selected is a good one for me, I think sometimes I know the right things to say but my actions aren't always in aligned.  Its not that I necessarily do hateful things, its more my apathy for showing love through actions.  Many times I have thoughts of what I could do to show love for people but more often than not I don't get off my rear and follow through.  I pray for the nudge that gets me to act more often.

knut

























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1 John 2

⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.


11 simple words, but 1 tall challenge.  But really what more compass do you need to get through the day?  I guess the WWJD bands fit right with this verse and it really is a great reminder.

While impossible for an imperfect person to live the perfect life as Jesus did I don't think its so impossible to aspire to that.  Starting with reading the bible every day and putting God's words directly into our minds, then listening to my heart throughout the day and behaving in a way that is consistent with what my heart is telling me.  If I'm honest with myself I think most of the time when I'm acting in a way that Jesus would not live its not that I don't know it, I'm just making a bad choice.  I know and feel it, but for some reason I lack the discipline to stop it.  So I think keeping the WWJD montra in my head is a good way to try to fulfill verse 6.

knut  

1 John 1

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.


No darkness at all.  The closer I can get to Jesus and the more of him I have in me the more it will squeeze out the bad stuff and feelings that are sometimes in my mind and my heart.

knut 

2 Peter 3

¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

This chapter talks about being prepared for his return, not listening to the noise of our environment telling us not to have faith.  There is plenty of that in today's society but reading this tells me that while they didn't have 24hr news and internet spreading doubt its clear they dealt with similar societal issues.  The message of preparation speaks to continuing our daily reading, like you said a couple a days ago gathering knowledge.  Use the knowledge to prepare our hearts and help shield ourselves from the attacks on our faith that come with living in today's society (or that or 2000 yrs ago).

knut

2 Peter 2

⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.


In the verses prior to this he give examples of how God punished the unrighteous and was also able to carve out the righteous and protect them from unjust punishment.  They are real examples of how when judgement day comes for us he knows our hearts...there is no faking it, I am either with Him or against Him and he knows it so I better have my house in order.


knut

2 Peter 1

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.


At work we are constantly in process improvement mode.  We do things pretty well, but we can always finds areas that can be run more efficient or effectively all for the benefit of our customers.  This series of verses seems like a process improvement road-map for me with the benefit of my improvement being to God's glory.  

I like the 7 simple areas called out to work on.  I bet I can think of something about myself to improve in each of these areas without too much effort.

have a good day--knut.

1 Peter 5

 ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Just a good reminder that he is always there for me and cares about me no matter what may be troubling me.  I don't feel anxiety to often anymore but when I do it's usually at work and I need to remember he is there to turn to.  Have a good weekend!   From my iPhone in Portland or.