Sow The Word Sunday: Happy Birthday Jesus

 

The Christmas Story

    This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

    But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

    All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."

    When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

    After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

    When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

    After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

    On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

    When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

    So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

    When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

    After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

    So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

        --Matthew 1:18 - 2:23 New International Version

Sow The Word Sunday: Purpose

 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD- – Isaiah 11:1-2

Notice the imagery that starts this passage. There is a stump that is assumed to be dead, but a shoot comes up from it. The Scripture gives us a pattern: Sarah gives birth when she is past child bearing age, Joseph goes from the obscurity of slavery to the Egyptian Secretary of State, and an unwed teen gives birth to the Messiah in the small town of Bethlehem. Do you feel insignificant? Rejoice, for you fit the profile of the way that God blesses the earth!

Today’s commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org

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Sow the Word Sunday : A psalm from the heart

 

Psalm 100  (The Message)

 ^1-2 On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,
      sing yourselves into his presence.

 ³ Know this: God is God, and God, God.
      He made us; we didn't make him.
      We're his people, his well-tended sheep.

 ⁴ Enter with the password: "Thank you!"
      Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
      Thank him. Worship him.

 ⁵ For God is sheer beauty,
      all-generous in love,
      loyal always and ever.

Sow the Word Sunday : My FAVORITE song EVER

 

This is my favorite song ever.  And I want you to hear it.

Sow the Word Sunday :

 

This is a children's song (to the tune of row, row, row your boat):

Sow, sow, sow the Word,
Precious seeds of Faith;
Some that fall along the path,
Are quickly snatched away. 

Sow, sow, sow the Word,
Precious seeds of Truth;
Some that fall on rocky soil,
Won't last the whole day through.

Sow, sow, sow the Word,
Precious seeds of Hope;
Some that fall among the thorns,
Grow weak from fear and woe.

Sow, sow, sow the Word,
Precious seeds of Life;
Some that fall into good soil,
Will live a life for Christ.

Now, for the real post:

Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.  ~James 3:18

The opposite of disorder is not a morally neutral order but a morally significant peace.   James wants peace for the church because peace is the context in which righteousness can flourish.

 

Sow the Word Sunday : Do Not Give Up

 

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  ~Galatians 6:7-9

 

 

Sow the Word Sunday :

"You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give."  ~Winston Churchill


Luke 6:36-38
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 

Luke 6:38 has also been much misused by many of those who raise money for their own broadcast ministries. Verse 38 says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." In this same judge-not context, Jesus is telling the people that they should be generous with people instead of judging them. This is not a verse on giving your tithes and offerings to the church or any other ministry. As a matter of fact, Matthews rendition of this verse is here in verse 2, "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." When you read it in the context of the passage, it is plain to see the sense in which Jesus said those words. As a matter of fact, money doesn't appear to be the object of this verse at all; it's forgiveness along with friendly assistance - obviously so when you compare both accounts (Matthew and Luke).

Sow the Word Sunday : A Psalm

I have had a difficult week, emotionally.  I have cried out to God to save me from myself, from my grief....from the pain of missing my children every moment of every day...for some small amount of relief from the terrible pain of their deaths.  On Wednesday night at church I read Psalm 142 while waiting for the service to start and it made me think of myself.

Being a mom to children who are dead is hard, really hard.  It's especially hard when those closest to you have no concept of your grief.  It is even harder still when people you meet, or come into contact with would rather you not talk about your children.  I want to scream, why can other mother's speak of their babes, but mine are taboo?  I will continue to talk about my children...just as every other mother speaks of hers.  They define me, and touch every part of every moment of my life.  It isn't always somber and really sad when I mention them, but they are my children and I will not stop talking about them.

Now then, on to The WORD that I believe God shared with me. 

Psalm 142 : a maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.

 ¹ I cry aloud to the LORD;
       I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
² I pour out my complaint before him;
       before him I tell my trouble.
 ³ When my spirit grows faint within me,
       it is You who knows my way.
       In the path where I walk
       men have hidden a snare for me.
 ⁴ Look to my right and see;
       no one is concerned for me.
       I have no refuge;
       no one cares for my life.
 ⁵ I cry to you, O LORD;
       I say, "You are my refuge,
       my portion in the land of the living."
 ⁶ Listen to my cry,
       for I am in desperate need;
       rescue me from those who pursue me,
       for they are too strong for me.
 ⁷ Set me free from my prison,
       that I may praise your name.
       Then the righteous will gather about me
       because of your goodness to me.

The Story of Psalm 142

This psalm is a "maskil". There are 13 psalms called maskils. They are 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89 and 142. Bible students think that "maskil" means:

     ·    either a psalm with something special to teach, like 32 and 78, or

     ·    a psalm that the *psalmist wrote in a very clever way. (The *psalmist is the person who wrote the psalms.)

David wrote this maskil in a cave. It is a *prayer to the *LORD. We say *prayers when we talk to God. David was in trouble (or "had trouble".) His enemies were trying to catch him. He does not say who these enemies were. There are two stories about David hiding in a cave. A cave is a hole in the side of a hill. One story is in 1 Samuel 22, the other is in 1 Samuel 24. David feels safe in the cave, but he does not want to stay in it. It seems as if the cave is a prison. But there are no friends to give him help. He writes "Nobody cares about me". This means "Nobody loves me enough to give me help". But the *LORD God can send him help. This psalm prays for that help.

What Psalm 142 means

Verse 1: *LORD is a special name for God. It is the *covenant name. A *covenant is when two people (or groups of people) agree. God agrees to love and send his people help. His people agree to love and obey God.

Verse 3: David wrote this psalm in Hebrew. That is because David spoke Hebrew. The words translated "when I do not feel brave" are "when my spirit feels weak" in the Hebrew Bible. Sometimes we all feel like this. There is so much trouble that we do not want to fight it. We want to run away from it! Our spirits feel weak. We do not feel brave. Our spirit is that part of us that lives after our body dies. But David knows that God will tell him what to do. His path here means what he does. David thinks that his enemies have put traps in the path for him. A *trap is what people catch animals and birds in. David’s enemies wanted to catch him. He did not know where the *trap was. But God knew!

Verses 4 and 5: No human friend cares about David, but God does! This was true for David, and it is true for us. We only have to pray to God and ask for his help.

Verse 7: "*Praise" means "tell somebody that they are very great". Here it means "*Praise God". David says "your name" but he means God. But he means more than the name God. He also means everything that God is. This includes these facts:

     ·    he loves us;

     ·    he is very powerful;

     ·    he will always be alive;

     ·    and many other things.

But who are "the *righteous"? The word means "very, very good". Only God is really *righteous. But he says that his people are *righteous too. They are *righteous if they love him and obey him. Some Bible students think that here "the *righteous" means people who are *praising God with David in the *temple in Jerusalem. The *temple was God’s house. They made it from animal skins when David was alive. Other Bible students think "the *righteous" are people who joined David’s friends. This was while David was running away from his enemies.

Sow the Word: how YOU love me

New Sunday Blog

Okay, so I have joined up with numerous blog hops on various days of the week.  But, today, I'm starting my own idea.  I'm calling it Sow the Word Sunday.  I will share from the Bible, or a Bible study, etc.  I think it's important to share my Jesus with the world, and it just so happens this is my blog and I can do that here!!

Today's selected reading is from Hebrews 13:5-6 "Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things that you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you,' so that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.'" (emphasis mine)

This is an excerpt from Oswald Chamber's book, "My Utmost for His Highest."  I couldn't have said it better, so I'll just let you read what he had to say.  I've underlined the parts that spoke so deeply to my soul.

What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ’The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

“I will never leave you . . .”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.

“I will never . . . forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?

We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.