A Living Sacrifice

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:1-2

January 29th Message  
       
"Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"  Hebrews 43:18-21

Isaiah is writing to the Hebrews naming God's message of hope and purpose for them.  They have lived through the chaos of oppression and exploitation and its results, where God's mercy and justice, compassion and care have been denied between people, so a whole society is crippled and crumbles. 

As Isaiah writes to claim the healing and purpose of God for the hearers of and followers of God's message he says:  Forget the former things: Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?

Jesus defines that new life we are invited to live: Love God, love your neighbor.  And naming Jesus as one's Savior means living God's mercy and justice, compassion and care.  And in such faith and practice there is no place for the oppression or exploitation of others.

Micah 6:8  "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Your Perfect Ministry

Looking into the new year I find that I am both enthused and overwhelmed by the countless possibilities before me.  Where am I (where are we) specifically to invest the energy, effort, and time of our lives as we live the faith we share in Christ Jesus?

From several sources I see this matter of being equipped and called for a purpose named.  One, in part, is the devotions from Our Daily Bread for January 11, 2012 called “A Perfect Fit”  It says, “What if we already had the perfect set of skills required to accomplish what God wants us to do? Well—as a matter of fact—we do! The spiritual gifts we possess, along with our experiences, training, natural talents, and a submissive heart make up a unique individual (and gathering) who has the skills needed for the ‘good works’ that God has ‘prepared beforehand’ (Ephesians 2:10). If God has something He wants to accomplish and that you feel He is calling you to do, He will provide what you need to complete the task. Or, as one paraphrase emphasizes, God wants us ‘to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do’ (Ephesians 2:10 The Message). The one thing He requires of us is that we ‘be found faithful’ (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Have you found a place in God's service where you can be used of Him? Let's ‘do good’ and ‘be rich in good works’ (1 Timothy 6:18)”

A second way this ideas is addressed comes from Isaiah 44:1-5 and Psalm 139.  These texts tell me God knew me before I was born and made for a purpose that was part of God’s very plan.

This idea then must apply to us as a gathering of believers as well.  God knew us before we came to be a fellowship and has had a part, the primary part in drawing us together because we have a task in God’s work that will bless those gathered and those whom God has called us to live his hope with.

A third way it is vital we seek and live this purpose of God is: ‘Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.’ (1 Corinthians 12:7)

So if our experiences, training, natural talents, and even personal faith are for the good of all, we must have a perfect task to live, because God has prepared and placed us for it.       –DR

God will provide what you need to complete the tasks, calling, & ministry that are yours as defined by God, because you are loved.

Claim a living faith:
 “True evangelical faith is of such a nature it cannot lie dormant, but spreads itself out in all kinds of righteousness and fruits of love; it dies to flesh and blood (1); it destroys all lusts and forbidden desires (2); it seeks, serves and fears God in its inmost soul (3); it clothes the naked (4); it feeds the hungry (5); it comforts the sorrowful (6); it shelters the destitute (7); it aids and consoles the sad (8); it does good to those who do it harm (9); it serves those that harm it (10); it prays for those who persecute it (11); it teaches, admonishes and judges us with the Word of the Lord (12); it seeks those who are lost (13); it binds up what is wounded (14); it heals the sick (15); it saves what is strong (sound) (16); it becomes all things to all people (17). The persecution, suffering and anguish that come to it for the sake of the Lord’s truth have become a glorious joy and comfort to it.” – 17 injunctions for embodied Christian faith, written in 1539 by Menno Simons (1496-1561) a Dutch forbearer of Anabaptist Christianity.

"I am a weak and sinful man, but God put His hands on me, that is all." - Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country, Ch. 29

Who are the Mennonite?
Might your response to
God's love
and Jesus' salvation
call you to such a life
of faith.

A celebration of Jesus' life & resurrection is ongoing as we claim the very hopes of God, living lives redeemed in Jesus our Savior.
 
1 John 4:7-12 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

"It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation."    - Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country, Ch. 20

Christian youth Taize' gathering in Chicago, May 25-28, 2012