What is your faith resting on?

Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 2:5, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

So the title of this blog post is, "What is your faith resting on?"  Is it your own strength or skills or abilities?  Are you telling yourself, "I got this!"?  Or are you coping with difficult situations by escaping - spending time on your phone on social media for example?  Instead, let's try resting our faith on God's power!  I love the first sentence of our scripture reading for today (Luke 4:14-21).  It starts, "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit..."  How much good comes from that?!  Struggling with what is ahead for you today?  Face it in the power of the Spirit!

In Luke 4:18, Jesus is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and He reads, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor."  We also are called to preach the good news.  Mark 16:15 says, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."  Do you feel like this is too big of a job for you?  You are correct!  However, we find encouragement from God in His Scriptures.  Acts 1:8 says, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you".  Not only does God give us the Holy Spirit, but He gives without limit! How do we know this?  John 3:34 tells us, "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit."

Luke 24:49 gives us a great picture of what this looks like.  It says, "I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."  Let's bring to mind the image of being clothed in power when we are faced with difficult situations.  Have a great week!

Widening the Table

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

The Spirit of God empowers the church to join in reaching all people. That is why our Mission Statement is: "To Be and To Make Disciples of Jesus Christ." We can't do it on our own, that isn't how it works. 

We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach out to all people. That is the mission we have been intentionally preaching and teaching about for the past few years.

While this has always been our mission, it is Jesus' mission for us too. Just look at scripture and you realize it is our calling, our duty as disciples to reach out and widen our horizons. People used to speak of the priesthood of all believers. 

In Old Testament times, people did not approach God directly. There was a priestly intermediary. Now, since Jesus' death and resurrection, we can come directly into God's presence, as Hebrews 4:16 says.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.