Loving Jesus Style

  Scripture Psalm 118:9-16 Beth 9      How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10     With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11     I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12     Blessed are you, O Lord ; teach me your statutes! 13     With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14     In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15     I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16     I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. [1]   Devotion             The Hebrew letter for this section is Beth. Beth is also the Hebrew word for house. Hence Bethlehem means house of bread and Bet...

  Aleph 119 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord ! 2      Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 3      who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! 4      You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5      Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes 6      Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 7      I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules 8      I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! [1] Devotion       I am beginning to write on Psalm119. It is the longest chapter in the Bible, 22 sections and of 8 verses each for a total of176 verses. In each section each of the verses begins with...

  Thanksgiving with the Virus Scripture Psalms 107:21-22 21      Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 22      And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy! [1]   Devotion This thanksgiving will be unlike any other we have experienced in our lifetimes. Families will be asked to not visit each other for fear of making some one sick with this virus. We will be able to contact each other via zoom or other computer programs. Somehow, we must get used to life in the pandemic affected world. What in the world do we have to be thankful for in this world wracked with illness? Perhaps the ancient Israelites can teach us a thing or two about giving thanks when all seemed lost. The Jewish people were well acquainted with adversity. Whether war, famine, plague they had endured it all. Yet despite their hardships they always found a w...

  Scripture: Luke 17:20-33           I want to begin this morning by telling you a story. It concerns a monk and a rabbi. It starts in a monastery that was on the brink of closure. The monks did not get along well with each other and were constantly fighting and bickering among themselves. No one wanted to join the monastery because the atmosphere turned people off. It was well known in the towns surrounding the Monastery that there was trouble there.           So, one day the leader of the monks decided to visit with a rabbi at the local Jewish Synagogue in town to see if the Rabbi had any advice for him. The monk and the Rabbi met for lunch. The monk told his story of the disorder at the monastery and the Rabbi listened intently to the monk’s story. And when he finally spoke it was to say, “your savior is one of you”. The Rabbi refused to say who specifically who it was. And the two me...

  A Prophets Hope Habakkuk 3:17-19 17     Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,        the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,        the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18     yet I will rejoice in the Lord ;            I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19     God , the Lord, is my strength;            he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places . [1]   Devotion   Today may seem like the day in which Habakkuk was writing. All of life appears to be on a downward spiral. The corona virus is ravaging our country. There is political unrest and crime in our streets. There are fires in California and tropical storms on our coasts. I...