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
 

February Messages

As I look at the months ahead, I wonder just what will take place in the lives of the people I know. What will be the experiences, blessings, concerns, hopes, fears of my friends? What will unfold, develop, product, happen?

These ponderings do not stifle or distress me so as to overwhelm me as I trust my Savior with the present and the future. I too have the hope that comes ...for knowing that God prepares the way in the wilderness and leads to springs of water even in dry times for those who live defined by the leading of their Creator.
The present, the now, does have a vital role for believers. It is the arena for our preparation for tomorrow. The following quote helps me see the importance of how I invest myself in today.

"Someday, in the years to come, you will be wrestling with some great temptation, or trembling under the extreme weight of some great sorrow in your life. But the real struggle is here, now ... Now it is being decided whether, in the day of that sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously succeed. The character, the personhood, the fortitude, the faith you need for that critical day cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process that begins with diligence and faith now." -quoted

This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
“They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.”
Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. -Isaiah 49:8-13

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