verseoftheday

Romans 1:15-17 NLT So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.  It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes - the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight.  This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.  As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 1:15-17 NLT Paul is keen to get to Rome, to share the Good News wherever he can...the ever expanding Kingdom...the Kingdom that has room... In my church the teaching currently is based around this idea of making room. Making room. And the key that opens the Kingdom is not my talent, abilities, achievements, how "good" I am, my church, it's traditions, my family, my history, what resources i might or might not bring, but one thing...Faith. Paul reminds us the start and finish is Faith. What does that Truth invite us to put down to...

Sunday Psalms; But I have trusted in your faithful love.  My heart will rejoice in your salvation.  Yes, I will sing to the LORD because he has been good to me. Psalms 13:5-6 CEB This song is repeats the question "How long Lord?" several times. How long Lord? If David asks the question then it's OK for us to ask it too. How long? When will this change? What's going on? How much more? David doesn't give us some neat answer, he looks back at God who he knows, he looks up in faith and trust, and he looks in and knows that he is held, held in the Bigger Story of God's Love, and then he looks out and chooses to sing anyway... When we have these questions of how long, how much more, David's song invites us into a deeper understanding and place of communion with our God, a place where we get to follow the redemptive strands deeper... #sunday #worship  #thisisourGod  #invitation #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #onedayallwillbemadenew 

Mark 8:14-16 CEB Jesus' disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, so they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He gave them strict orders: "Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees as well as the yeast of Herod." The disciples discussed this among themselves, "He said this because we have no bread." Mark 8:14-16 CEB What was Jesus trying to teach his team? What is the "yeast of the Pharisees" and the "yeast of Herod"? Maybe it's something like this...Jesus has just fed crowds from small amounts of food, we're good people, Jesus will sort this for us now, we deserve it...the yeast of the Pharisees... Jesus has fed crowds with his power, just use that now and feed all of us...the yeast of Herod... In the next few verses Jesus reminds his team of the surplus generated at those two events where the crowd was fed...perhaps Jesus was wanting them to see that they had already squandered or lost His provision for th...

Friday! Proverbs! [4] "Whoever is naive turn aside here," she says to those who lack sense.   [5] "Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed.  [6] Abandon your simplistic ways and live; walk in the way of understanding." Proverbs 9:4-6 CEB Invitations abound here...invitation to turn aside... What is it that Wisdom would call us to turn aside from today? To give up. To put down. To step away from. The invitation to step towards the feast Wisdom has prepared...what is it that Wisdom invites us to partake of today? To choose. To take up. To step towards. The invitation to abandon something that is unhelpful, unhealthy, and choose Life instead...an invitation to walk in the path of understanding...where do I need that? Step towards Living Wisdom. #proverbs  #Wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep  #invitation 

[13] I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I planned to visit you many times, although I have been prevented from coming until now. I want to harvest some fruit among you, just as I have done among the other Gentiles. [14] I have a responsibility both to Greeks and to those who don't speak Greek, both to the wise and to the foolish. Romans 1:13-14 CEB This passage and the next few verses in Romans give us an insight into what motivates Paul...but tucked in there is something else... Recently I was in a conversation about God's plan for your life... Paul wanted to visit Rome, planned to, and something happened, it didn't work out. He doesn't blame God, doesn't turn these events into a question about whether he is living in God's plan or not - this seems to just be life for Paul - we make plans and they don't always work out. Paul (just go back and read the first few verses of this chapter) is in a bigger story, a calling, and that intersects with stu...

Mark 8:11-13 CEB The Pharisees showed up and began to argue with Jesus.  To test him, they asked for a sign from heaven. With an impatient sigh, Jesus said,  "Why does this generation look for a sign?  I assure you that no sign will be given to it." Leaving them, he got back in the boat and crossed to the other side of the lake. Mark 8:11-13 CEB Jesus wasn't entering into their game, didn't buy into their argument, their test, and walked away. This can't have been the first time because Love is Patient, but Jesus patience had run out. Maybe that's part of being human.  Perhaps he could see that there was nothing he could say that wiuld shift the Pharisees because they weren't coming to Jesus wanting to learn, or discover, or understand, anything about him.  And Jesus walked away. Where does Wisdom say that we should just walk away, not enter in to someone else's agenda, someone else's argument, someone else's problem? #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #...

Romans 1:12 CEB [12] What I mean is that we can mutually encourage each other while I am with you. We can be encouraged by the faithfulness we find in each other, both your faithfulness and mine.   Romans 1:12 CEB Paul isn't trying to be some kind of guru, but wants to sit in this learning space too. None of us have all the answers. None of us have it all together all the time. We need one another. What can we discover together? What can we encourage one another in? How does your faith encourage me? How does mine encourage you? When we walk together with this mutual learning in mind, what shifts, what opens up (especially about faith)? #letters #redemptivestrands  #inthistogether