A New Diet

Have you ever gone on a diet? Most people have at least attempted to diet. I am one of those people. Recently, I decided that I needed to cut back on my carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are certainly not bad for one to eat, but I found that I needed to watch what I ate in order to obtain the goal in mind.

The author of Hebrews reminds me of my adventures with dieting when he wrote: “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:18-19, NIV). I am sure that the author was not referring to my non-dieting days when he says the “former regulation.” However before the dieting days of the people of Jesus’ time, the people were at their worst. They did not have a real, personal relationship with God. Yet, Jesus provided a way for people to meet their goal by showing them how to draw near to God.

By a change in my habits, I was able to work at my goal and feel hopeful for the future. This Scripture is not referring to the Old Testament being bad, just set aside the rules and regulations which were made complete in Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus exemplified the way to draw near to God.

What might you need to set aside for a while to introduce a better hope and draw near to God like Jesus did?

Radically Testifying to Grace???

Acts 20:24 (NIV) – “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

Just before this verse, the Apostle Paul makes the statement that he is going to Jerusalem, and because the Holy Spirit has warned him, he recognizes that prison and other hardships are waiting for him. I’m not going to lie here…If I knew something bad was going to happen to me in a place, I would DEFINITELY avoid that place!!! I would be the modern-day Jonah. The person who would hide away from God as long as I possibly could until God had a big fish swallow me and practically force me to realize that I needed to do His will! Yep, that’s me! However, the Apostle Paul has come to realize that His will is all that matters!

God has given the Apostle Paul the task of “testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” What might this mean? Well, it’s pretty much telling the story of how God can give us something we can’t achieve by ourselves.

This weekend, my church taught on grace. After one of the services, I had someone come up to me and ask, “So, what’s grace?” This person was completely serious, and I honestly couldn’t explain to this person what it was. In Acts, Paul emphasizes that he isn’t called to “define” grace, but to witness, or testify, to “experiencing” grace.

Now, I realize that we don’t sit around and debate theological topics, like many of the cities that the Apostle Paul visited. Nevertheless, we MUST be the people to break through the social norms to get the Gospel of Jesus out into the world…The Gospel of Grace…How God has saved us from death and damnation when we couldn’t save ourselves. Jesus never said, “Go to the ends of the world…until a few generations pass, or until you get tired of being real disciples of mine.” Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a RADICAL idea?! It is one of the most basic parts of being a Christian.

Though I struggle with the thought of facing hardships down the line, the Gospel must be testified in all of our cities. People die (probably) daily in other countries for their beliefs in Jesus Christ, not because they hide them away and hope that someone else will take care of telling the world, but because they are a true witness to the Grace of God. Do you hide away your beliefs? Do you live ‘em out? Would you be willing to face hardship if God asked you to merely walk across the room to witness to someone who might reject you? The Apostle Paul realized that this mission meant more than life. What about you?! What do you live for?

________________________________

© Copyright 2010, Samantha Fomera

All rights reserved

Articles may not be printed in any “for profit” publication without further permission by the author. Articles may be freely distributed via e-mail, reprinted in church bulletins or in other non-profit publications without further permission. Please keep this copyright and Web Site information intact with copied articles.

Cling to Your Work

This is a sermon that I gave (with God's help) to the Christian church. The manuscript is as follows. Whether this is actually what I said is debatable! :)

CLING TO YOUR WORK ~

Good morning! My name is Samantha for those of you who don’t know me. I am currently a student getting a degree in communications after graduating from High School. And, it is an honor to come back and share with you this morning on this glorious Labor Day weekend. Speaking of which, did you know that the first labor day was 128 years ago as of TODAY?! The first one was started by a company in New York. The initial name of it was “Working Men’s Holiday.” (Yeah, back then, not many women worked outside the home.) I absolutely loved that it was called a holiday. But, since it was to honor all of those working people, I thought we would talk a little bit about work today. Now, for those of you who are unemployed, I think you begin to feel like you are employed by God by the end! So, we are going to Mark 12:28-34.

READ Mark 12:28-34.

The first time I read this passage, I was amazed! I have to do what?! In simpler terms, I have to love God with everything I have, and love people as I love myself. Actually, this passage is simplifying our lives as Christians by quite a bit. The OT contains all the rules and regulations (like for sacrifices) that the Jews followed closely. In fact, some Orthodox Jews still follow many of these rules and regulations…But, at that time, some of the leaders were getting so caught up in the rules. They even created rules about following the rules! The scribe who asked this question already knew the answer…and Jesus answered it correctly. “Yes, the sacrifices are important, but it’s more about love. It’s about loving God and loving people with all that we are.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but that last part (the loving people part) gives me a sense of WORK. It doesn’t sound easy…I love my big red dictionary…Webster defines work as physical or mental effort exerted to do or make something; purposeful activity; labor; toil...Again, toil? Effort?

When was the last time you played with a child? Last night, I went over to a friend’s place. Her niece played with me the ENTIRE time I was there. She is three years old, and certainly has the energy of being three! We went on a walk and played an interesting game of soccer where she sat at the top of a slide and rolled the ball down the slide, and then I would ROLL the ball BACK UP the slide. Talk about work…plus, I had a tree that I kept hitting my head on….Sometimes, I didn’t get the ball to roll all the way back up the slide…I am obviously not skilled with rolling the ball back up the slide. Without the skills to do a job, it makes the job VERY difficult.

The amazing thing is that God gives us each a gift…a skill, or passion. Something to cling to in order to love Him and others more fully. We aren’t going to go there as a congregations, but Romans 12:4-8 lists about seven that you could have, but there are so many! Think about it, what are you passionate about? What do you attach yourself to? Where do you put your time and energy?

I live off-campus now, and as I moved in, I started to find random things that I needed that I never noticed its magical appearance at home. One of those things is cling wrap. Yes, I actually brought my cheap version. We all know how cling wrap works. Usually, you take it off the roll in order to cover something…usually a dish. (Or, if you are like my friend, you wrap the new bride and groom’s car…) Either way, I feel like people are sometimes like cling wrap. Let’s see, there are the people that stick to themselves…they don’t really reach out. Sometimes, they are perceived as being selfish and this can cause loneliness. Usually, when cling wrap starts sticking to itself, it becomes a big ball and gets thrown in the trash. And then there is the cling wrap that sticks to everything except for what it’s supposed to stick to. It sticks to the counter, or the other dish, or your arm. I think we as people can do this too. We turn to possessions, or money, or the strive for success…good grades…business in everything except for what God wants for us. So, the question in regards to humans as cling wrap is…do we effectively cling to the right thing? What exactly are we supposed to cling to?

The mission. Hold on tight to the mission with whatever skills God has given us. At the end of December, the numbers were tallied by a research group called the George Barna Group. They had taken a snapshot of America of where we are at spiritually. I’m not sharing the entire snapshot with you today, but here are the numbers…11% of people have no idea what sin is. Sin being missing the mark…anything that separates us from God is a sin. So, one in ten people you run into have no idea what sin is. Here’s the number that really freaks me out, 39% of people have some concern of sin but they don’t know what to do with it. They know there is something more to life than making money and watching TV…but they don’t know what it is. They don’t know Jesus…FOUR out of 10 people you see as you walk down the street or go to the grocery store know that there is something wrong with their lives but don’t know how to fix it. Furthermore, there are the people who are stuck in the church involvement circle…about 26%. They get up on Sundays, and they come to church, but certainly don’t take it out into their everyday lives. They are going through the motions, and can sometimes be stuck just as much as those who have never stepped in a church. There is less than 1% of people that this group can classify as people who truly love God and love others…We are meant to be different than the world. People…that is our mission. There are people who need to know Jesus. They need to know of His love and majesty. They need to know that there is something more to live for than sex, drugs, and money. They need to know of the break that comes…

Jesus gave us the job in the Great Commission to go to the ends of the world to…(repeat Matthew 28 in "slang")

Just so you know, there is no cheap person, unlike my cheap saran wrap…Each one of us is valuable for Christ to have died on that cross just for you. SO…Cling to the mission, and work at it with all that you are and use those special skills that God has given you to further His kingdom here on earth!

Transformed

This is for the Pray. Study. Grow. Devotional Material that comes out every week at Schweitzer UMC. So, here's the devotion that I submitted in the midst of the NT 90 series.

Acts 9-11

Reread Acts 9:19b-22. I distinctly remember what my mother said to me the first time I came home from college: “What happened to you?!” I had changed drastically in that first month of college that my personality was hard to recognize as the child she had always known. Now, I made my own decisions and lived “in the real world.” Just as that transformation happened when I left for college, a transformation happened when I became a Christian. My values shifted, my decisions were altered, and I received the gift of the Holy Spirit. I am positive that people from school and community events asked themselves…“What happened to her?!” There was evidence of a transformation.

In today’s reading, Saul puzzled the Jews by “proving that Jesus was the Messiah” (Acts 9:22). Saul used to be one who persecuted Jesus’ followers. He even approved of the stoning of Stephen in chapter seven! Obviously, there was a HUGE transformation that happened in Saul’s life because of Jesus.

We, too, have that transformation happen within our lives as we continue with Jesus. People should begin to ask, “What happened to him/her?” Our values should look different than what the world values. Our time should be spent in different ways than how the world spends their time. But we should not forget about the world, for they are the ones we must tell about the change within us!

How have you been transformed by having the love of Jesus in your life?