This week’s scriptures reveal and recount human behavior. Along with the everlasting love that is given to us day after day. When I read these words, given to us, to help us grow closer to God, I am astonished at the depth of God’s love. Yes, I do realize my sin, yes, I do repent. But being human, I sometimes forget all the things that I have failed at, all the things that I have done and left undone. When we confess on Sunday mornings, do you feel that weight being lifted off of us? Please don’t let these words become just words. When we speak those words, let them live inside of you. Let the Holy Spirit live and guide you. Also, I am having a few technical difficulties, sorry for the various prints!!
Isaiah 35:4-7 4)Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.” 5)Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6)Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arbah. 7)The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes. How many times do you think what Isaiah says comes to pass. These words have a direct connection to the Gospel this week. When thinking about our lesson, please make the connection, notice what Jesus does in the Gospel of Mark this week.
Psalm 106 Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting. 2 Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord, Or can proclaim all His praise? 3 How blessed are those who maintain justice, Who practice righteousness at all times! 4 Remember me, Lord, in Your favor toward Your people. Visit me with Your salvation, 5 So that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the joy of Your nation, That I may boast with Your inheritance. 6 We have sinned like our fathers, We have gone astray, we have behaved wickedly. 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, So that He might make His power known.9 So He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them through the mighty waters, as through the wilderness.10 So He saved them from the hand of one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left.12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. 13 They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His plan, 14 But became lustfully greedy in the wilderness, And put God to the test in the desert.15 So He gave them their request, But sent a wasting disease among them. 16 When they became envious of Moses in the camp, And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord, 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And engulfed the company of Abiram. 18 And a fire blazed up in their company; The flame consumed the wicked.19 They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped a cast metal image. 20 So they exchanged their glory, For the image of an ox that eats grass. 21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, 22 Wonders in the land of Ham, And awesome things by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, If Moses, His chosen one, had not stood in the gap before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them. 24 Then they rejected the pleasant land; They did not believe His word, 25 But grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the Lord. 26 Therefore He swore to them that He would have them fall in the wilderness, 27 And that He would bring down their [t]descendants among the nations, And scatter them in the lands. 28 They also followed Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.29 So they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And a plague broke out among them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, And so the plague was brought to a halt. 31 And it was credited to him as righteousness, To all generations forever. 32 They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters of Meribah, So that it went badly for Moses on their account. 33 Because they were rebellious against His Spirit, He spoke rashly with his lips. 34 They did not destroy the peoples, As the Lord had commanded them, 35 But they got involved with the nations and learned their practices, 36 And served their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, 38 And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was defiled with the blood. 39 So they became unclean in their practices, And were unfaithful in their deeds.40 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people, And He loathed His inheritance. 41 So He handed them over to the nations, And those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were subdued under their power. 43 Many times He would rescue them; They, however, were rebellious in their plan, and they sank down into their guilt. 44 Nevertheless He looked at their distress when He heard their cry; 45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His mercy. 46 He also made them objects of compassion In the presence of all their captors. 47 Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise. 48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. And all the people shall say, “Amen.” Praise the Lord! Good Job making it through all of that. Like I mentioned, this Psalm reveals our nature and God’s lovingkindess.
James 2:1-10, 14-17 1)My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2)For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3)and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fines clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place, “ and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4)have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5)Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6)But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7)Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? 8)If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” YOU ARE DOING WELL 9)But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10)For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all 14)What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16)and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17)Even so faith, if it has no works, is ded, being by itself. This Scripture is really speaking to me this week. I had a fit about the vegetables that I spent the week harvesting and caring for, coming up missing on Sunday. I, in fact, was showing favoritism to my congregation, when it is God that has grown this food. Wow, talk about an awakening for me. When we realize, step up and do some spiritual growth, yes it is shameful and embarrassing but God is in this work!
Mark 7:24-37 24)Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. 25)But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26)Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter; 27)And He was saying to her, “Let the children Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” 29)And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30)And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left. 31)Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. 32)They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay his hand on him. 33)Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34)and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha” that is, “Be opened!” 35)And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36)And He gave them orders not to tell anyone: but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 37)They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” So, what Isaiah was saying in the first Scripture today, comes to pass in the work of Jesus. Jesus, the fulfillment of the prophecy, but did you notice how tired Jesus was becoming? Every step He took, every healing He made brought Him even closer to the ultimate sacrifice of Himself for us. The extension of grace, the Everloving kindness of God towards us.
Through Christ, Seek God,
D.J. Schoneweis