SEARCHLIGHT

  MARCH 31, 2023 JAMES 5:7-11 7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door! 10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.   Planting seeds and waiting is well known to farmers and God. Every farmer and gardener knows there is planning, patience, and work involved with a harvest. So it is with us and God. How long has God wai

 MARCH 30, 2023 MARK 13:1-13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” 5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the lo

  MARCH 29, 2023 Picture Jesus. What do you see? What do you feel? Do you have a picture in your mind that resembles a painting you have seen in your grandmother’s home, maybe in your home growing up, maybe you have one that you just looked at for a moment? Do you picture an actor from one of your favorite movies about Jesus? How do you imagine Jesus’ character and demeanor? Is he gentle? Is he humble, and calm and serene? Now put that picture of Jesus along side the following Gospel story. Matthew 21:12-17 12 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” 14 The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. 15 The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful mi

  MARCH 28, 2023 Matthew 14:24-33 24  … the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25  Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.   26  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27  But Jesus immediately said to them:  “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28  “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29  “Come,”  he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.   30  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  “You of little faith,”  he said,  “why did you doubt?” 32  And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.   33  Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”    

  MARCH 27, 2023 Psalm 118:1–2, 19–29 1  Give thanks to the  Lord , for he is good;      his love endures forever. 2  Let Israel say:      “His love endures forever.” 19  Open for me the gates of the righteous;      I will enter and give thanks to the  Lord . 20  This is the gate of the  Lord      through which the righteous may enter. 21  I will give you thanks, for you answered me;      you have become my salvation. 22  The stone the builders rejected      has become the cornerstone; 23  the  Lord  has done this,      and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24  The  Lord  has done it this very day;      let us rejoice today and be glad. 25  Lord , save us!      Lord , grant us success! 26  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the  Lord .      From the house of the  Lord  we bless you. 27  The  Lord  is God,      and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession      up  to the horns of the altar. 28  You are my God, a

 MARCH  24, 2023 Luke 6:27-36 27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you. 32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. 35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as childre

 MARCH 23, 2023 ROMANS 12:9-13 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Hebrews 13:1-2 13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. In our Worship Service last Sunday we reflected on Christian Hospitality as an important aspect of sharing God’s love. A fellow worshipper, following the service, wondered about the practical outcome of desiring to show God’s love. What ways or actions might we build into our lives that can show God’s love? Today I want to suggest a few possibilities.  Before I do, let me just say, I believe a key part of disc

 MARCH 22, 2023 Matthew 5:44 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you Luke 6:28 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 1 Timothy 2:1 1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people. I have been doing a lot of thinking lately on the practical ways that we can participate in loving others. Sometimes we feel like doing this, showing God’s love needs be something spectacular, maybe even something that drives us our of comfort zones. Not that coming out of comfortable places isn’t a good thing. It occurred to me that perhaps a great way to start with sharing love with others is by praying for them. I believe we know that Prayer is powerful because prayer allows us to connect with God and that we can pour our hearts out to him. It causes us to know that we are heard!! 1 John 5:14 says, And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his

 MARCH 21, 2023 1 John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” How should our life (words, actions, and decisions) reflect our relationship as a Jesus follower? “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6) The perfect expression of God’s love for others is found in the person of Jesus. Jesus does not expect anything from us that He did not already live out in His own practice and life. The command to love one another (John 13:34) and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39) were given and modeled by Jesus, and now this lifestyle is given to us, His followers, as we with the help of God’s Spirit, walk in his steps. The Bible gives us many examples of the ways that Jesus demonstrated Love. Here are a few ways for us to ponder today. Compassion Jesus was incredibly compassionate. We see Him time and time again responding to the needs of the suffering: The sick were made well and the blind given sight (Luke 7:21) He liberated tho

 MARCH 20, 2023 NEHEMIAH 9:19-21 19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. PSALM 119:77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. COMPASSION Think about your closest relationship, whether that’s with your spouse, parent, child, or good friend. How has that relationship changed over the months or years? Maybe you have become more comfortable with that person, spend more time with them, or try to serve and bless  them more often. But above all, you might realize that you feel a growing tendernes

 MARCH 17, 2023 HEBREWS 13:1-2 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. HOSPITALITY Hospitality. Immediately, you might think of someone welcoming you into their home to share a meal. But the true heart of hospitality includes so much more than one example or image could ever contain. Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. The New Testament has many examples of hospitality. Jesus freely extends hospitality to those He encountered, regardless of who they were. In John 4:6–26, we read the story of Jesus speaking with the woman at the well. We looked at that story recently. Not only did Jesus talk with her, but He also told her how to find “living water,” or eternal life. The account of a woman anointing Jesus with expensive oil, and of Martha and Mary welcoming Jesus into

 MARCH 16, 2023 As you read today's Bible Reading write down the promises that stand out to you. Those promises that speak personally to you. Take some moments through the day to reflect on these and discern what comfort God is speaking to you. ISAIAH 49:8 - 16 8This 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, 9to 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. 10They 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. 11I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. 12See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from

 MARCH 15, 2023 MARK 1:15 “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” REPENTANCE Think about a recent time when you changed your mind and went in a completely different direction. Today, we are looking at the discipline of repentance, or as the Greek word “metanoia” indicates, “a change of mind.” Repentance is the act of examining and exploring our thoughts and behavior, recognizing what is sinful or impure, asking for God's forgiveness, and then with God’s help, turning away from these behaviors. Easy right? It seems so simple, and yet Jesus seemed to know that we would need help in this. So Jesus, promised and gave us a helper, the Holy Spirit to help us with this very thing. John 16:7–8 says, 7 But the truth is that My departure will be a gift that will serve you well, because if I don’t leave, the great Helper will not come to your aid. When I leave, I will send Him to you. 8-9 When He arrives, He will uncover the sins of the world, expose unbelief as

 MARCH 14, 2023 1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us”   PRAYER “You cannot estimate prayer power. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God because He has committed Himself to answer it”  (Leonard Ravenhill) . If a main purpose of Lent is to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, then it seems to me, that prayer must be a foundational discipline. Have you noticed that having a strong and active prayer life can be difficult to develop? Despite our best intentions to devote ourselves to prayer many of us struggle with the practice of prayer. Matthew 6:8 describes that God knows our every need before we ask. So why do we need to pray? We pray because prayer is the expression of an intimate relationship with God, an ongoing dialogue that brings Christ into every detail of our lives. Prayer can feel risky because it requires two things of us: trust in God’s g

 MARCH 13, 2023 Psalm 35:13  “I humbled myself with fasting” Fasting You are not alone if merely hearing the word “fast” makes you squirm with discomfort. Historically, the concept of fasting has been associated with deprivation, long-suffering, sorrow, and sin. If this is your understanding of fasting, you are not entirely wrong, but that is only part of the story. If we only see fasting for the discomfort it brings, then we miss the more important and delicious fruit honed by fasting, such as dependency on God, ordering of priorities, the relief found in repentance, and the discovery of Holy Spirit empowered self-control. Fasting is a cornerstone spiritual discipline practiced throughout the Old and New Testaments. As we see in Matthew 4:1–2, Jesus Himself was familiar with fasting: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry” (NIV). In the Bible, people fasted for a variety of reasons, but

 MARCH 10, 2023 1 Samuel 16:1–13 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” 5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lo

 MARCH 9, 2023 Psalm 95 1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, 8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,[ means quarrelling ] as you did that day at Massah[ means testing ] in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and th

 MARCH 8, 2023 Do you remember the Bible reading from Yesterday from John 4:7– 15?  “. . . a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of