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GOOD MORNING FRIENDS!

This week we have been looking at Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

We looked at being weary and carrying heavy burdens. Sometimes life is overwhelming and seems to bring more than we can bear, But Jesus is saying that taking his ‘Interpretation of the Scripture on as a lifestyle” allows you to REST in the middle of the storms of life! Jesus called himself Humble and Gentle and this may have been in contrast to what the people were used to in the face of other “yokes”.

What I want to think about is Jesus’ words “rest for your souls” . Your Soul seems real important to God. Last week we looked at the fact that Jesus said the most important command was to love God with all of our heart, mind and SOUL. So let me ask you, how would you define SOUL? Take a shot at it…go ahead, be brave…..Take some time to look it up! Send me your thoughts at Scott@freshstartchurch.com and tomorrow I will give you mine.
Scott

PS: Hey what are you doing tonight? Come join us at 7:00 for Bible Study at the church, the discussion is awesome. Also, this weekend we are going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and finish our series CHURCH…is this what Jesus had in mind! Don’t miss it!

GOOD MORNING and Happy Weekend:

This week we have been looking at John the Baptist words to the Pharisees and Sadducees as recorded in Matthew 3: 7, but when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

So we have been talking about what he meant by fleeing God’s Wrath. I must start the discuss by saying that the meaning of this word is interpreted differently by people with different “Theological Boxes”. The word is used about 20ish times in the New Testament. As humans, we are told to be slow to wrath (James 1:19) and to put off wrath (Col. 3:8); more times the words are found talking about God’s Wrath. This raises a lot of questions? How can God be angry and then call us to put it off? How can God’s wrath be used against people and then we read that “Nothing can separate us from the love of God? (Romans 8:31) Honestly we are not going to get all the answers to these questions…..but we can wrestle with them and search the word and give them our best shot.

The wrath of God in the scriptures seems to be a future event. I do not see this coming from an angry state of mind, but as the righteous act of a judge. There is much to say about what this wrath means, and a lot of those conclusions are built around people’s theological box. Some people say that wrath of God is being cast in Hell forever, some say it is a separation from enjoying the blessings of God (as in the case of the Older Son in the story of the Prodigal Son). One of the scriptures to consider in your quest to understand what is meant here are Jesus words in Matthew 25:13 –
31″When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41″Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44″They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45″He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46″Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Most of us read this passage and understand it from the Theological Box which we have been brought up. I am not going to get into all that right now, but I would suggest that you look at what caused this situation of separation. It was not based on what “box” you hold onto…..it was based how people lived out their faith. Honestly, regardless of your theological box….you can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and help those in need. In fact, you can even do that with people who do not agree with you. So…….

Let’s go back to John’s words about fleeing God’s wrath……was he questioning what these leaders believed or how their belief lead to the way they lived?

THIS SUNDAY….we are going to talk about Jesus’ call for us to interpret the scripture to make some tough calls in life! DON’T MISS IT….this is going to be a great weekend. Also, I would highly recommend you take your family to see the new movie, Evan Almighty. I saw a pre-screening last night and it is a GREAT FLICK, for all ages! You will learn something too. See you Sunday!

Scott

Dear Friends, I am going to give us one more day to think through John’ statement to the Pharisees and Sadducees. What did he mean by “the wrath to come” Send me your thoughts Scott@freshstartchurch.com

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

We’ll, finish this up in the morning…..Hey don’t miss SUNDAY….we will continue our series with CHURCH…is this what Jesus had in mind. We are going to talk about the responsibility of Binding and Loosing….what is it and how does God want us to use it.,/br>

Scott