Week of September 18

Waiting on God

Sowing our Prayer… Reaping the Spirit

 

When Jesus visits the home of Lazarus, whom he has raised from the dead, death becomes a reality for Jesus.  It is there Mary anoints him for his own burial. His death is inevitable, which is the chief terror of the gospel. Here is the best man God ever made, who has done nothing but right all his life, and what is his reward? Not ripe old age with grandchildren hanging on his sleeve but early violent death on a cross. This death ruins all our efforts to turn the Bible into a manual for The Good Life. No one who has heard the story of Jesus Christ can mistake where following him will lead, which makes the gospel itself a text of terror for all who wish to avoid suffering and death. The Good News of God in Christ is heard loudest and best by those who stand on the far side of their own fresh graves.

-Bill Wylie Kellermann

Monday	John 15:18-27
Tuesday	Romans 5:1-5
Wednesday	1 Peter 4:12-19
Thursday	Matthew 5:10-16
Friday	James 1:2-12
Saturday	Philippians 1:21-30

In the country we live in, there isn’t much opportunity for Christian suffering… or is there?  Perhaps we don’t know what it means to suffer for Christ because we don’t look enough like Christ.  He says in our first passage this week that the world will hate all who follow him.  How close are you following him?  How much are you working for his mission?

Some questions to ask yourself this week:  Why is suffering important?  What are the benefits of suffering for Christ?  How can I follow Jesus more closely so that the world will know that I belong to him?

Remember to pray for the Spirit to clarify the mission for Oak Chapel and for the Spirit to give us the power to work in this mission.