Week 02

by Aaron Bjorklund

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17

Surrender is a gift. It’s not just a requirement for Christian living or the posture of those who have run out of options. No, surrender is always a gift because we were not designed to carry the weight of life. Part of the reason surrender is such a gift is that it frees us from the clutches of the past and the pull of the future. A surrendered soul is a soul that is present in the moment. 

Surrender often gets confused with doing nothing. Surrender is not passive. The Colossians text here shows us plenty of things to do in the present. When we wrestle too much with the past or try to control the future, we cease to surrender.

So I’ll say it again: surrender is a gift. It’s the gift of being where and when you are, while focusing on doing everything to God’s glory. We don’t need to control the outcomes, and we don’t need to let the past wear us down. We simply do the next right thing and surrender the rest. 

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by Bruce Hanson

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:1-14

There is a verse in Romans that reads as follows:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Many moons ago, the writers of the Living Bible added the word FREE before GIFT. They did so for the very reason Paul was writing to Philippi. Those dogs he spoke of were the Judaizers. They wanted to add conditions to that free gift. Paul extols his accomplishments, which were many, and then says that as notable as they may have been, they were literally dog doo when compared to that God-given free gift.  “Dung” is the literal translation of the Greek word skubalon (garbage, refuse).

Our concern right now at South Fellowship is with our spiritual and emotional health.  It is something we cannot ignore if we are to be Jesus’ ambassadors.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

We are sinners. The corollary to that truth is that if we are sinners, we are guaranteed to have sinned. Repeatedly!! The King of those Judaizers (Satan) wants us to carry those sins around with us everywhere we go. Backs broken. Spiritual lights dimmed.

God has given us a provision and it is one we must take full advantage of.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

The wonderful result of that is this:

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

Give those judaizing dogs a swift kick!! Satan wants us to stumble around with all our baggage. Wherever we go. That is not what God intends. Paul tells us to forget what is behind, and move forward as God has planned for us. There is assuredly a cost to our sinning, but leave the sins behind. If God can forget them, we certainly ought to do the same.

Put on those white robes and . . . . 

Forward March

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by  Kathleen Petersen

Not long ago, the secular counseling profession seemed to have solid answers concerning release from personal shame and guilt. Christian counselors used some of those methods and celebrated when their clients were freed from unnecessary anguish. But the celebration now seems premature. Waves of popular culture influencers are rapidly creating new definitions of irredeemable wrongdoing. Their fiery torches, lit on social media, seek and consume too many minds and hearts.

Help us Lord Jesus! As conscientious, caring Christians, we desperately need a healthy approach to facing our past transgressions — those transgressions that have caused lasting damage.

Providentially, we have the confessions of the Apostle Paul to give us insight. During his trial in Acts 22:3-21, he gave a lengthy account of his past which included his religious inheritance, religious accomplishments, and religious sins. These two verses sum up the shameful behavior impossible to “live down”
in his life. 

“As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ Acts 22:6-7 CSB

What Paul had viewed as the highest service to God, arranging for severe punishments for Jesus’ followers, was, in fact, persecution of his own Messiah. His later testimony reveals he never evaluated those heinous acts lightly. Here he describes his shame in raw terms:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
I Timothy 1:15 CSB

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “shame” this way:

A painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt, or of having done something which injures reputation; or by that of which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal.

So, our human tendency is to hide destructive past behaviors. 

How did Paul meet this challenge after recognizing he had inflicted lasting harm on so many? Although Paul realized he could never live down those harmful and murderous acts that he sometimes agonized over the memory of, he regularly turned those recollections into deep appreciation of forgiveness granted him by the death of Jesus. Here’s an expression of the Scriptural cure for shame:

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12;1-2 CSB

In Acts 2:16 Ananias gives Paul the key to freedom from shame:

Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

In Acts 22:19-21 Paul records a pivotal conversation he had with the risen Jesus: 

But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’

He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Acts 22:19-21 CSB *

This conversation outlines a time honored Scriptural practice. Once you have turned your back on sinful behavior that has damaged others, don’t try to live it down, wallow in it, or over apologize (although apologies and reconciliation may be necessary). Move forward and serve him with all your heart. 

Let God speak to you as you listen to one of these beautiful reminders. the Oslo Gospel Choir or The Power of the Cross {Grab your guitar, to strum along.}

* Although Paul immediately testified to many about his dramatic conversion experience, he was not sent on his first missionary journey to the Gentiles until he had prepared for at least another 14 years. 

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by Grace Hunter

My frame was not hidden from you
            When I was made in the secret place;

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth
            Your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me
            Were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
            How vast the sum of them!  Psalm 139:15-17 NIV

 I too, like Carolyn, have enjoyed and been blessed by reading, meditating, and praying Psalm 139 since I was in high school. It is one of my all-time favorite passages of scripture. Read through the above verses again, slowly. Ponder –– God saw and knew each of us intimately the entire 9 months we were being formed inside our mother’s womb. Realize –– there is not one day you have lived, or one thought you have had that God has not seen, known, or perceived.
My human mind finds that knowledge almost too much to grasp.

When I consider God’s thoughts, the vast number of them, all that He holds in His hand, all that He controls, loves, directs and wills –– that IS beyond my ability to comprehend. Read the above verses again, Psalm 139:15-17, perhaps in another version. What grabs your attention? What forces you to contemplate God’s greatness, His concern and compassion for each detail in our lives?

Perhaps you are not in a peaceful place in your current mental and emotional health. Perhaps there is turmoil in your thoughts and emotions today. I encourage you —- take a step back. Let God remind you –– He KNOWS you; He knew you from your very first day. Let God remind you –– He formed you exactly as you are and He has a purpose for you, even in this season of your life. Earlier in this Psalm David pens this,

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in-behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.  

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.”  Psalm 139:1-6 NIV

Let the truth of these verses wash over you, comfort you, hold you. God is not surprised by your thoughts.
Spend some time today reading over Psalm 139, praying through it to God, and receive what God, through His Holy Spirit, has to say to you today. 

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