As you read the bible, I hope you are looking for one of the most amazing aspects of this G-d we hardly know – and that is how Amazing is Our G-d’s Grace. It begins with Adam and Eve – right out of the shoot, they are disobedient – and though G-d could smite them and start again, instead they are sent forward into the world, still to experience the Grace of G-d. And then the Grace of G-d is unleashed into the world.

When you read the Bible it should be read with an ear expecting to be stunned at what you learn about G-d. I often talk to people who obviously know the Bible through and through. They can quote scripture without looking in the Bible. They often also have that smug pride about their knowledge. But I often have to question whether they “know” G-d. Oh they know the words about G-d, but do they understand that G-d is a G-d of Grace? So often they want to scare people into knowing G-d. But they are unleashing fear, not grace. We should always be amazed by G-d, especially by G-d’s amazing Grace.

I don’t think we have ever lived in a time where we know as much about the universe as we know today. And yet mysteries abound. We have drones flying over many parts of the country, especially the East Coast, and no one can say where they come from, and whose they are. We can pinpoint a missing person’s location to within two feet of their latitude and longitude, but we cannot say what is flying above our houses?

In the same manner, although we think we are getting closer to understanding the works of G-d, G-d still remains as mysterious as ever. The Bible itself is worth our study, not so we can brag about how much we know, but so we can live into the amazing Grace that the stories of the bible prove about G-d. And when we understand our G-d of Grace, we can unleash that Grace to others.

Pastor Dave

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:7, 12

“Ask”, “Seek”, and “Knock” are things we are doing when we read the bible. As we read lines of scriptures, we usually come with questions on our minds? We ask questions like: “Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?” “Did Donkeys actually talk in the Old Testament?” We ask questions like the disciples and the Pharisees and other religious leaders asked questions. We ask questions because we are seeking some understanding from Jesus’ words and teachings. And as we seek some understanding, we will usually ask questions about what we have read. And in the process of asking the questions, in seeking understanding, we pray the Holy Spirit may shed some light on the questions we are asking. The seeking then becomes the knocking as we find the doors of understanding are opened to us through the help of the Holy Spirit. You see, all of this action is not done in a vacuum – throughout the asking, seeking and knocking, the Holy Spirit is fully in the word as we read it, and as we pray and meditate upon it.

It is the Holy Spirit then who drives us (and also guides us) to living in ways that are impacted by what we read. And what we will find that is so prevalent in the teachings of Jesus is how to live in relationship with G-d and with each other. In the above text from the Gospel of St. Matthew, verse 12 reads, in part “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.” Notice the verse does not read “Expect others to do to you what you want them to do.” Too many people think the Golden Rule is about how others should treat them. The emphasis on the rule is “Do” – it is action. Which, in essence, is what you are doing by immersing yourself in G-d’s word – you are doing a necessary action that informs your “doing to others” – not learning what you expect others to do for you. G-d’s name is “I Am” – a verb – G-d was, is and is active today. Be a verb today, and “go” and “do”.

Pastor Dave