Spiritual Food for Thought — LOVE OTHERS

 

Think of this as a road map, a guideline, or even a relational GPS… 

 9-10Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

 11-13Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

 14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

 17-19Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

 20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.                              ROMANS 12.9-21 

 

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 

   Love never gives up. 
   Love cares more for others than for self. 
   Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. 
   Love doesn’t strut, 
   Doesn’t have a swelled head, 
   Doesn’t force itself on others, 
   Isn’t always “me first,” 
   Doesn’t fly off the handle, 
   Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 
   Doesn’t revel when others grovel, 
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
   Puts up with anything, 
   Trusts God always, 
   Always looks for the best, 
   Never looks back, 
   But keeps going to the end. 8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 11When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 12We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

                                                                                1 Corinthians 13 –> that’s right…the whole chapter

Alright… this is our journey folks… I will see you on FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2009 @ People’s Church … starting at 9.30 Pm..

Come ready for the journey of a lifetime….

blessings—-pastorbrett

Love is the Movement….?????

For those of you who are lazy and who do not want to scroll down then I will quickly get you up to speed….

Our theme is Organic in ‘09 — so open up your Bible and turn to Matthew 22.35-40 

                                                          READ IT THROUGH!!!!!

So here is where we are right now: 

1. LOVE GOD — v. 37,38

2. LOVE OTHERS — v.39

3. LOVE YOURSELF — v. 37-39 (how can you love anything if you barely love yourself?)

and here is the real kicker for me!!! I would suggest underlining it: 

40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” NIV

40These two commandments^[a]sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets.” AMP

These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” v.40 MSG

40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” NKJV 

40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” NLT

So…. moving right along… I want to start a string of discussions centered around these 3 points.

Here is the first conversation that I would like to have, and we will facilitate a face to face discussion this Friday January 23, 2009 at 930 pm at People’s Church Edmonton (15641-96 Ave) for any and all Young Adults who are interested….

Ok…. so I’m hoping that you all wouldn’t mind rolling up your sleeves and dive into your Bible’s … basically here is what I’m looking for …

CREATE YOUR OWN DEFINITION FOR “LOVING GOD” by SEARCHING YOUR BIBLE… PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR DEFINITION WITH A MINIMUM of 3 Verses or portions of SCRIPTURE!!!!

WE WILL DISCUSS OUR FINDINGS ON FRIDAY!!! SEE YOU THEN!!!

 

peace.hope.love//pastorbrett

ORGANIC ——> Christianity

 

While I am not the first person to focus on ORGANIC CHRISTIANITY, I believe that God is really challenging not only me as person, but us as a group (this is the Blog for SHIFT.STUDY – The Young Adult Bible Study @ People’s Church in Edmonton, AB – www.peopleschurchedmonton.com)  to cut out all of the preservatives and get back to the TRUTH.

If we are going to get back to the TRUTH then we only have one place to go: Scripture. Jesus obviously was rustling feathers all throughout his earthly ministry, but the funny thing was that he kept confounding the so-called experts, so the spiritual experts of that time, decided that it would be best if they trapped Jesus in his own words, and out of this trap came one of the greatest revelations of all time: 

 

“ 34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

                                                                                                                                     Matthew 21.34-40 NIV

Here, Jesus fires back at the experts with some Old Testament Truth, referencing both Deuteronomy 6.5 and Leviticus 19.18… and here is what I can pull out of the text.

I believe that it boils down to:

1. LOVE GOD

2. LOVE OTHERS

But I believe that there is a truth that our generations needs to latch onto… the final part is 

3. LOVE YOURSELF   

The scripture insinuates that we are to treat our neighbors the same way that we are to treat ourselves, but the fact of the matter is that if we treated our neighbors the way we treat ourselves we would probably end up with no neighbors left! 

There is an epidemic of self-hate that has come coupled with our increase in obesity, and our over-saturation to a remarkably negative media which attacks us subliminally with ideals that we as ‘regular’ people can never live up too…

The scripture says that we must LOVE GOD with everything, our hearts, our souls, our our minds, and dare I say, our bodies (Romans 12.1-2)

To LOVE GOD requires that we realize who we are in Christ, sons & daughters of the King, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2.9)… it requires the we understand His sacrifice, and then it simply requires… everything … living a lifestyle of worship … living a lifestyle of LOVE

To LOVE OTHERS requires a knowledge of who we are, it requires the love of Christ in us, and it demands that we go over and above, for our enemies, and for our friends, without judgement or criticism (Romans 14/15) … and it also includes the following clause:

that we LOVE OURSELVES …

because here is the finisher, the knock-out punch by Jesus himself:

40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.v.40 NIV

37-40Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them. v.37-40 The Message

The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. v.40 NLT

Organic in ‘09

 

“Organic foods are made according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides and artificial fertilizers, free from contamination by human or industrial waste, and processed without ionizing radiation or food additives. If livestock are involved, they must be reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones, and generally fed a healthy diet. In most countries, organic produce may not be genetically modified.

Organic food production is a heavily regulated industry, distinct from private gardening for instance. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders.

Historically, organic farms have been relatively small family-run farms — which is why organic food was once only available in small stores or farmers’ markets. However, since the early 1990s organic food production has had growth rates of around 20% a year, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations. As of April 2008, organic food accounts for 1-2% of food sales worldwide.” -Wikipedia  

Over the last couple decades we have a seen a growing trend in the organic foods business, and the reason is simply this: WE ARE FAT. Stats Canada tells us that an estimated 23.1% of us are OBESE and another 36.1% of us are overweight. Of course the most recent stats I could find were for 2004, and the startling thing was that the obesity rate had gone up from 15.2% in 2003 to 23.1% in 2004… that is a shocking 7.9% growth if my handy dandy calculator is correct!! 

The rise in the popularity of organic foods is simply our way of putting our chubby foot down and saying: ENOUGH is ENOUGH — we are poisoning ourselves with fatty, synthetic foods, and now, we want to reclaim our health, and reclaim our future — and so we will pay a thick arm, and fatty leg to eat our way back to health! 

With all joking aside, my main point here is that I believe sometimes the church suffers the same demise as our society. We have been stuffing ourselves so full of the puffed up, synthetic gospel, that we have become so contented and fattened, that we sometimes begin to forget  what it really means to be a follower of Christ. We start fighting and grumbling over theology, and how we do church that we end up leaving Christ right out of Church. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR…

I’m not sure about you, but for a long time I thought that it was silly that so much focus was put onto the ringing in of a New Year. For all intents and purposes that truth is that our year actually begins in September, with the start of school, and the end of summer, we are forced into what we call a new year… and then amazingly enough 4 months later we stumble across what seems only to be a formality, the REAL new year… 

So with this in mind, when I found myself becoming excited about 2009, and the PHYSICAL new year… I was a little bewildered. I thought I didn’t care… I thought it didn’t matter, but … apparently it was a milestone that I could not ignore! 

It is my desire that as we turn the page on 2008, that we as a group will look to 2009 as an exciting new landscape filled with opportunity! 

That meaning said… I am hoping for some feedback… 

 

- What dreams or visions do you have for 2009?

- What goals have you set for yourself?

- In what way will your relationship with God change in 2009? — Will it be for the better?

- What is your SPIRITUAL expectation for 2009?

 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE respond!!! I’m hoping that 2009 will bring a new season of OPEN DIALOGUE here on the SHIFT:STUDY website!!!

peace.hope.love…pastorbrett

The Journey that will be… 2009

Well… it is apparent to all of us that we have entered into the year that history shall record as 2009!!! I don’t know about you, but I celebrated NEW YEARS EVE in the Car, picking up a couple friends from the Airport, but myself, along with my wife, and our traveling companions were given the honor of viewing the Downtown fireworks from the warmth of our vehicle as we drove north on 17 Street, coming from the Henday. 

I trust that everyone else celebrated as extravagantly as we did, or maybe even a little better! If you have a NEW YEARS EVE story as good as mine or better, PLEASE…. PLEASE….PLEASE… Share it with us!!! 

It is my sincerest hope, wish, dream, PRAYER,  that you have made it a NEW YEARS RESOLUTION COVENANT to become an active participant on this SHIFT:STUDY Blog but also in our SHIFT:YOUNG.ADULTS group!!! 

I know that it has been awhile since I have written to you … but hey… it was a busy season! 

So…. all that to say: “WELCOME BACK” and “HAPPY NEW YEAR” !!!! Our offiicial Young Adults Schedule begins next Friday — JANUARY 16, 2009 — and our beloved JON & JENNI CALLAGHAN will send out that infamous EMAIL that holds all of our hopes, dreams, ambitions, and our next event!!! 

If you do not get that email, then please send a quick little querie  note to: shift.young.adults@hotmail.com and we will make sure you get added!!! Also… check the events page of this site and we will do our best to keep you UPDATED on everything in the World of SHIFT:YOUNG.ADULTS !!!

hope&love—pastorbrett

DO YOU READ WHAT I WRITE??

Continuing our journey through the Gospels here is a delightful journey into the writer that is: JOHN MARK

 

AUTHOR: Mark and/or John Mark- whichever you prefer // Although there is no direct internal evidence of authorship, it was the unanimous testimony of the early church that this Gospel was written by John Mark (Acts 12.12,25; 15.37). So here are some thoughts on his authorship >>>>

1) Mark was a close associate of Peter, from who he received what some call the tradition of the things said and done by the Lord 

2) This tradition did not come to Mark as a nice and tidy finished work, but rather through the spoken word, preaching of Peter  - preaching directed to the needs of the early church communities families

3) Mark meticulously preserved the material. Hence, the conclusion drawn from this wonderful tradition is that the Gospel of Mark consists largely of the sum of things preached by Peter and arranged, shaped, and sharpened by Mark — his close associate …

Interesting Facts: Many scholars believe that the book of Mark was in fact used as a source by Matthew and Luke therefore dating this ACCOUNT somewhere in the 50’s or early 60’s…

- According to the early church tradition it seems that Mark composed his book in the regions of Italy, or more specifically — in ROME — 

- Mark wrote to the church at Rome — or so we think — or at least he wrote to Gentile readers — He explains Jewish traditions and Aramaic terms and even takes special interest in persecution and martyrdom – subjects which were known to be of special interest and concern to those Roman readers 

 

 

peace//hope//and love >>>pastorbrett

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR??

As mentioned in my previous post I had encouraged you to HEAR the VOICE of the 3 authors of “Christmas story Event”

So I thought I would start a nice little series for you that would highlight some info regarding these so-called VOICES!

So here we go:

VOICE #1: MATTHEW                                                                                                                                       So here is his Bio: His name means “gift of God,” he was a tax collector who left his work to follow Jesus (Matt. 9.9-13), In the books of Mark and Luke you may also find Matthew known by his other name, LEVI

- Some argued on the basis of its Jewish characteristics that Matthew’s Gospel was written in the early church era, possibly dated in the early part of AD 50… but the debate rages on

-The Jewish nature of Matthew’s Gospel may suggest it was written while in the Holy Land, though any think it may have originated in Syrian Antioch

-The readers of Matthew’s Gospel were obviously Greek speaking, as the Gospel was written in Greek. They also seem to be Jewish. Many elements point to a Jewish readership including: focus on fulfillment of OT; his Tracing Jesus descent to from Abraham, his use of Jewish terminology, etc…

-Matthew’s main purpose is to prove to his Jewish readers that Jesus is Messiah. He does this primarily by illustrating how Jesus life and ministry fulfilled the OT Scriptures. To accomplish this purpose, Matthew also highlights Jesus Davidic lineage…

 

So there is a brief overview … many thanks to the books on my shelf, including the works of J.S. Baxter and The NIV Study Bible research team

 

//blessings//pastorbrett

Tis The Season…

I am told that time has now shifted into what we now describe as the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR…

And so I propose this…. in your Bible reading 

Turn to Matthew, Mark and Luke and read the Christmas story EVENT over again… Try to notice the subtle nuances between writers… I am interested to hear your thoughts on the VOICES of Matthew, John Mark and Dr. Luke

blessings//pastorbrett

CHRISTMAS PARTY TIME!!!

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, but it also is the busiest!  There will be no shift this friday night due to church play practice.  But there is the annual young adults Christmas Party at the Weslosky’s on Saturday!  Please see below.  It is VERY important that you RSVP! Bring your friends!

***

Hello to all my wonderful friends!!  I love Christmas time.  It’s a good time to praise Jesus for coming to earth and it’s a time when friends seem to alter their busy schedules and make time to get together.  On that note, I would like to invite you to our Christmas party.

 

When:  Saturday, December 6/08

Time:  5:00 pm

What:  Christmas Thanksgiving Dinner

Where:  Sheldon & Charlene Weslosky’s house

What to Bring:  Warm clothing, wrapped white elephant gift (something from your house that you don’t want anymore for a gift exchange), $5 in loonies or toonies, and something to contribute to dinner.

 

Please let me know what you can bring for dinner so we have a balanced meal.  Food items that need to be brought:  Gravy, potatoes, vegetables (sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, turnips), pumpkin pies, drinks, plates & cups

 

Please e-mail me at sheldoncharlene@yahoo.ca or call me on my cell 780-497-1091 to RSVP.  If you need directions to my house give me a call.

 

I look forward to hearing from you all.

Charlene Weslosky