Be a 24/7 Follower of Jesus Christ the Messiah

John 9: 18-41

We should be familiar with this passage of scripture about Jesus giving sight to the man born blind. I want to focus on versus 20-23 that mention his parents. In the face of the Pharisees, his parents were comfortable acknowledging him as their son. They were able to allow the Pharisees to question their son about his miracle. But his parents were afraid to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. They did not want to be kicked out of the synagogue. They understood how they would be looked upon with disdain by others. Their position in the community might have been challenged. With this knowledge, they were accepting of the fact that their son, who was now of age, would have been treated. But what they overlooked was the power of their statement declaring Jesus as the Christ would have done in the community. Maybe their stance would have moved more people to accept Jesus as Christ. Have there been times where you did not stand tall and claim Jesus was your/the Christ? Maybe not directly, but probably indirectly. Not through your words, but by your actions. You did not show the world that you were a 24/7 follower of Christ. Can you relate to some of these examples?

Ø Drinking until intoxicated at a party on Saturday and worshipping on Sunday.
Ø Late night phone calls or visits that did not lead to sex but came very close, then trying to minister to a friend about fornication.
Ø Cursing or cursing people out up until you walk through the church doors.

We all can probably name a time or two when we, like the blind man’s parents, did not want to mention that we were followers of Jesus Christ. We can sometimes be blinded by the allure of worldly acceptance. We need to proclaim we are followers of Jesus Christ all the time through our words, actions and thoughts. Is Jesus Christ the Messiah in every area of your life?

Dear Father,
Have Mercy upon us. Forgive us of all the sins that commit each and every day. Forgive for being like the blind man parents, more concern with popular opinion than with the only opinion we will ever need, Yours. Search out every area of our lives that does not proclaim Your Son, Jesus, to be Christ. Help us not to be like the world, but to continually show the world Jesus by our words, our thoughts and our actions. Amen!

Nicole Mew
New York, New York

Do It NOW!

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day; night is coming when no one can work. John 9:4

As Jesus engages the struggle between darkness and light, between blindness and sight we feel a sense of urgency in his words. Do something to show people who God is. Do it NOW. Time is not on your side. There is a task before you and you don’t know how much time you have.

On August 24, 2008 as I was driving to a celebration that was being hosted in honor of my election to the Judicial Council of the A.M.E. Church, I lost control of the vehicle. My car flipped over and rolled across a busy freeway and into an embankment where the car began to bury itself in the dirt. In addition to worrying about my dogs who were in the car with me, I was concerned that I had been given this task and it appeared I would die before doing anything with the new duties in my hands.

So often we wrongly assume that we can borrow time from tomorrow. When we meet Jesus face to face will we be finished with our work, or explaining why we did not: clothe the naked; provide jobs for the jobless; visit the sick and in prison; help the blind to see with the light that shines from within our souls; bring tangible relief (good news) in a starving world, actively seek peace in the middle of war zones? When shall we do these things?

God who carefully shaped each of us, we remember today the urgent call on our lives to work, to toil, to actively engage in transforming our territories. Forgive us for the many times we fail to act. Forgive us for the many times we fail to act responsibly with the power you have given us. Please prosper the work of our hands today and implant in our minds, bodies and souls a sense of urgency and assurance that night is coming.

Pastor Francine Brookins
Wright Chapel AME Church
San Francisco, California

Lessons in Suffering

Scripture: Mark 8:31 – 9:1

Suffering is characterized by unpleasant feelings, agony and distress. There are days when I dread the complications of life, the struggle, the push and pull required to accomplish tasks and stay on track. When even ordinary chores seem to go wrong and simple conversations with loved ones turn into perpetual outbursts and rampant banter – you start to wonder what is the point. At times you may even think – where did I go wrong? We don’t schedule in time slots for unpleasant experiences or even foresee suffering for ourselves – our survival strategy is to avoid pain and suffering.

Jesus does teach us about the nature suffering.
When we make the choice to remain in control of our lives, we actually forfeit the authentic life that is found in Christ. We should deny the perceived right to govern ourselves and submit fully to God’s will and in this pursuit we will know the cost of discipleship from a deeply personal experience. Here we confront the opposition of our will, yet when you allow our will to be crucified there is the gift of eternal life that comes through death. Your work in suffering exists the very core of your soul.
When we suffer while our world of our friends, family, and co-workers watch and whisper, at times we are likely to feel embarrassed, but Jesus cautions us not to be ashamed.
Key thought
When you to compromise your most valuable possession for moments of pleasure or popularity in the world, you put your soul at risk.

Prayer
Jesus, for the sake of my soul help me to move toward suffering with You so that I may have life.

Additional reading: Disciplines of the Spirit by Howard Thurman, “Suffering” p. 64

Hymn: It Is Well With My Soul

"It Is Well with My Soul" is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems follow the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Katherine Ellington

Hollis, New York

Hard Sayings...Great Reward

John 6:60-71

Prior to this text, Jesus fed 5000 and walked on water. His miracles were so mind boggling that it was declared in verse 14, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world”. But when Jesus said that he is the Bread of Life and drew the line in the sand; his disciples had a problem. Our text begins with the complaint, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

Now you would think that the disciples would not have a problem in agreeing with Jesus’ assessment of the truth. He had just walked on water, fed 5000 people and had to hide because the crowd wanted to declare Him King. In fact, unlike us, many of the disciples were with Jesus on a 24/7 basis. However, as Jesus surmised, most of them were hanging around for the food and entertainment.

In America, our religious freedoms allow us to state that we are Christians without much sacrifice. It is easy to go to church where the music is great or “Pastor sho’ did preach.” However when it is time to get down to the essentials…the hard teachings, many of us want to bolt. It is important that we humble ourselves and allow the Lord to enable us to get back to the essentials of the faith…Jesus Christ is Lord. The only to the Father is Christ. 5000 people participated in the physical food of Jesus, but only a few believed. Are you just participating in a few miracles for entertainment sake or as Peter, be willing to allow God to give us eternal life?

Orletta E Caldwell
Detroit, Michigan

Relationship and Purpose

Gospel: John 6:52-59

Key verse: Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53 (KJV)

Jesus had just performed the miracle of feeding the multitude with the two fish and five barley loaves. After which, a discussion arises regarding bread, the true bread of heaven and the manna (bread) which fed the Children of Israel in the desert. Jesus points out that He is the true bread of heaven and it is He who brings “life unto the world”. In the key verse, Jesus admonishes the crowd, the Jews, that if they do not “eat the flesh” and “drink the blood” of the Son of Man, they do not have life. Jesus was admonishing them, as well as us, that we must have an intimate relationship with him if we desire to have life. This life of which he speaks is our eternal life: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever (verse 58). We cannot be satisfied with believing that since we have nice clothes, nice cars and nice homes we are living or have “life”, for there will come a time when all these things will be brought to nought and if we have not eaten of the flesh and drank of the blood of Jesus, our souls will be lost.

Thought to Remember: A true relationship with Jesus is formed when an intimate relationship is developed, nurtured and maintained by a continuous feasting on the true bread of heaven.

Epistle: Romans 8:28-39

Key verse: Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Romans 8:30 (KJV)

In the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet explains how the word of the Lord came to him and let him know that before he was formed in his mother’s belly or came forth from her womb, the Lord sanctified or set him apart and ordained him to be a prophet to the nations. He was predestined to be a prophet! In this Epistle, Paul tells the church at Rome, hence tells us, that each was called by God to fulfill a purpose. And because we are predestined to or for that purpose, we who claim God as our Father cannot be separated from that purpose no matter what the enemy tries. If God be for us, who can be against us? (verse 31). We cannot see into the future, so we do not yet comprehend the great things that we can and will accomplish for the Kingdom of God. The enemy knows and is trying with every weapon he has to get us off the track that God has us following. Even in the midst of economic crisis, failed marriages, broken homes and church conflict, as God’s chosen people, we are more than mere conquerors through the God that loves us!

Thought to Remember: Each of us has a purpose and calling. We must, as God’s chosen, not let anything or anyone detract us from that purpose.

Rev. Ron W. Taylor
Britton’s Neck, South Carolina

Whose Child Are You?

John 6:41-51

They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’” John 6:42 

So often the circumstances of our natural birth define us for the rest of our lives.  To whom we were born, where we grew up, who raised us, and the villages that surrounded us can make us into something great, or set our course towards failure.  Our self-image is constantly being shaped by those around us.    

In the text Jesus is offering a new path, a new way of seeing, believing and being.  He is offering a change that the world around us can’t see, understand or control.  The people who “know” him can’t accept it.  They know his daddy and his momma and they simply can’t imagine that God could have chosen this child to be the Savior of the world, the bread of life.   As a result those whose vision is blinded by the world’s standards may just starve to death. 

Go and look in the mirror right now.  Whose child are you?  You are God’s child.  You are in a great big family of ordinary people through whom God has done, is doing and shall do, extraordinary things.  Remind yourself of who you really are as you go throughout your day.  Then take this a step further, remove your fault-finding lenses and look for God in the faces and voices and stories of those who seem very different than you.   

Oh God, our heavenly parent, we thank you for always using the least likely candidates to do your works.  Help us today to eat from the bread of life that cleanses us from the opinions of the unrighteous and reminds us that we are your beloved children.  Use us as your instruments to offer this bread to someone else.   
 
Rev. Francine Brookins, Pastor

Wright Chapel AME Church

San Francisco, California

 

Lord, Get My Mind Right!

Daily Reading: Rom 8:1-11

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5

Sometimes we want what we want.  I know I do.  So what happens when what we want is not according to what the Spirit desires or wills?  According to this passage of scripture, we begin to live according to the sinful nature and thus become unable to please God.  What’s wrong with the sinful nature?  It leads to death and keeps us bound to old and negative things.  It does not lead to freedom and life, the two things Jesus came to give us freely.

If we are in Christ, we are no longer bound by sin, nor are we slaves to it.  In Christ, we have been set free.  However, the process does not stop there.  Jesus sets us free, but we have to walk in it.  We have to choose to walk upright, seeking God’s will for our life, not the life we choose on our own and certainly not the one set by the world’s standard.  How do you become acquainted with the will of the Spirit for your life?  You spend time in His presence.  Here are just a few ways you do that:

Prayer—Simply talk to him and make your request, concerns, and questions known.  Do not forget that praise and worship are an important part of prayer.

Bible Time--- John 1 states that he (Jesus) is the word.  When you get in the bible, you are engaging the very presence of God.

Mediation--- Spend quality time reflecting on the word of God, what he has spoken to you, etc.  Rick Warren says that if you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate.  Worry is simply focusing on the negative and rehearsing it over and over again.  Apply that same concept to the goodness of God’s word and prepare to be amazed.

Fasting--- Sacrificing the pleasure of fleshly desires that can distract us and numb our spiritual sense is another way to obtain the mind and heart of Christ in a matter.

Listening--- Once we have done all of the above, we must prepare our         spiritual ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.  He amazingly speaks to us through the engagement of all 5 of our senses and some.  All we have to do is be available to hear.

We have the assurance that we are no longer dead in the law of sin through Christ Jesus.  Because of his sacrifice when we have moments of relapse into that former death state, we have the ability to get back into relationship and live again…and again…and again.

Father, in every area of our life we want to be in line with the will of the Spirit and not the flesh.  We repent for wanting what we want.  As we delight ourselves in you, give us the desires of our heart.  We want to be pleasing to you.  Amen

Think about it:

In what areas of your life are you seeking your own will?

Are you prepared to walk in the will of the Spirit?  

Tracey Bowen, Associate Ministry

Bethel Apostolic Temple

Miami, Florida