Today in the Word for March 2-3
Today in The Word
Monday Mar 2, 2020
Love is not easy to define, but Paul helps us out. He gives us four positive characteristics of love in I Corinthians 13:7 The third is, “[Love] always hopes…”
We live in a world that is increasingly pessimistic. There is a cultural tendency to look on the dark side of situations—and people. Hope is the opposite of pessimism. Hope announces that things can get better. And beyond that, we can express hope to each other personally. We can announce that “you can get better.” Humans are not destined to keep making the same mistakes again and again. With God’s help, we can change for the better. Hope remembers that.
And hope is a key characteristic of love. When we love someone, we express hope. We tell them their circumstance can get better. And even more importantly, we announce to those we love that ‘you can get better.’
Love hopes.
And that’s The Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in The Word
Tuesday Mar 3, 2020
Love is not easy to define, but there are positive characteristics of love found in I Corinthians 13:7. The last of four is, “…[Love] always perseveres.”
One of the greatest hallmarks of love is perseverance. Love states, ’I will stick by you no matter what.’ So much of our society is basically fickle. We like people when everything is great, and then forget them when things get difficult. The old poster defines perseverance when it states, “A true friend walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” Love stays. I heard a Christian contemporary song recently that has the phrase “the God who stays.” And that is what makes God the One who expresses the greatest love. He will stay by our side no matter what. As Psalm 23 states:
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
In the darkest valley, he is the God who stays with us. He is the God who perseveres. He is the God who loves.
And that’s The Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Wednesday Mar 4, 2020
We all need a solid place to stand. Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Israel fears the super-power of the Assyrian Empire, the ‘overwhelming scourge’. So, they scramble to work out a protection with nearby nations and their gods. Isaiah 28:15-18 brings the word of God to them:
“You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death…When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic…hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled…When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.”
The Israelites think they have made a safe refuge from their ‘overwhelming scourge’, but the Lord tells them they are badly mistaken. Only the Lord is a sure foundation. Only the Lord is a solid rock on which to stand. Everything else is like the house of straw in the ‘3 Little Pigs.’
If we want to keep from panic when things get scary, we need to stand on the Lord, the only solid cornerstone on which to build a refuge.
And that’s The Word from Pastor David of Deer Lodge Assembly.
Today in the Word
Thursday Mar 5, 2020
Do you feel like you are on the outside? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Paul tells us how far on the outside we were before Jesus in Ephesians 2:11-12:
“…remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…. were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”
In the past, God had focused his communication on the people of God—the Jews. The rest of us were truly on the outside. We were ‘without hope.’ But God had a larger plan at work. Jesus opened up relationship with God to everyone on the planet. Ephesians 2:13 and 19 goes on to say:
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ…you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.”
We have been on the outside, but because of Jesus’ work on the cross to provide forgiveness to any who ask, we are now able to be on the inside. We can be part of God’s family. We can belong.
And that is the Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Friday Mar 6, 2020
Doesn’t it frustrate you when you experience racial or cultural discrimination? What is the solution to the ways we are divided? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Paul offers that solution to a church that is divided between Jews and Greeks in Ephesians 2:14-18:
“…[Jesus] himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
Jesus blood shed on the cross made it possible for all races and peoples to be one new humanity. We are now one people, united by His blood that covers our sins. Barriers of division and hostility are down because our barrier with God has collapsed. The reality is that peace with God leads to peace with others—even others that may outwardly seem very different than us. Jesus can bring peace to racial discrimination.
And that’s the Word. You can enjoy more of the Word this Sunday at 10:45 at Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.